HUGUENOTS IN AMERICA. The French Protestant settlements in the New World divide themselves into two classes : those of choice (or at least with time and opportunity to make choice) and those of necessity. The former extend from the middle of the 16th century down to the capture of New York by the English in 1664; the latter comprise all those dating from the increasing severity of repression that heralded the Dragonnades and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the end. The former were deliberately organized colonizations, of the same stamp as the English and from the same motives; the latter were the desperate and generally hurried resource of crowds of ruined exiles. The former were complete failures, and were soon suppressed, absorbed or exterminated; the latter sought only life and livelihood and welcomed absorp tion. The former include the abortive attempts in Brazil and Florida, the earliest settlements in Acadia and Canada, the first settlement of New York and the settlement of some of the West Indies; the latter include the feeble attempts at settlements in New England, the flood of ac cessions to the' French element in New York, the founding of New Rochelle, the migrations to Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, the promising but aborted attempt in Virginia and greatest of all, the tide of immigrants that created South Carolina.
The first attempt at creating a New-World Huguenot asylum and magazine of supplies was undertaken in 1555; Nicholas Durand de Ville gagnon pretended to undertake it for Coligny, and settled a colony in Rio Janeiro Harbor. But it was half Catholics; Villegagnon was a scamp, persecuted and scattered the Protestants and finally deserted the colony; and the Portu guese killed the remnant in 1567. A more hon est attempt was made by Jean de Ribault in 1562, at Port Royal, S. C., but failed. In 1564 Rene de Laudonniere founded a colony on the Saint John's in Florida, at Fort Caroline; but the next year Pedro Menendez de Avilles butch ered the entire settlement. Saint Bartholomew and the religious wars intervened; and no fur ther efforts were made till after the accession of Henry of Navarre, who had imbibed the ar dor for colonization from Coligny. In 1664, un
der his commission, Sieur de Monts planted a settlement to be on the basis of perfect religious equality, the first in the New World—at Port Royal, N. S.; French mercantile jealousy had the commission revoked and it perished; but two years later it was refounded by Poutrin court, and De Monts and Champlain founded Quebec. In 1613 Sir Samuel Argall (q.v.) de stroyed Port Royal, but the French stayed and bands of Protestants came to reinforce them at intervals. A small settlement was made on Newfoundland, but was broken up by the gov ernment except for a few who would turn Catholics. The founding of New Amsterdam, usually supposed to be by the Dutch, was in fact by Huguenots under Dutch auspices. The Huguenots — largely French-speaking Walloons — who had crowded into the Netherlands to escape persecutions, had tried to gain permis sion to found settlements in the English colo nies; rebuffed in this, they engaged with the Dutch, and the first shipload of emigrants that came to the future New York were entirely Huguenot, Peter Minuit himself being a Wal loon. French families bad been there already for years, the first white child born ou Manhat tan Island being French. For three generations the French element continued to be a highly important factor in the city, and composed much of the business aristocracy; even after the English occupation, all official documents were in both Dutch and French as well as English. Of the first shipload of emigrants, a Dumber went up the Hudson and founded Fort Orange (Albany). In 1660 a number of Wal loon and Vaudois exiles, who had taken refuge in the Lower Palatinate, settled near Kingston, N. Y.; later, the Vaudois founded New Paltz in the Wallkill Valley.. In 1677 a French town was founded at Hackensack, but the fast creasing Dutch soon swamped it. Small French groups settled in various parts of New jersey.