paired her losses when the war of the Spanish Succession (see SUCCESSION WARS) broke out. This time the contest for supremacy reached a final settlement in one part at least of the New World. Nicholson's occupation of Port Royal (which he rechristened Annapolis, 1709) to gether with Marlborough's victories in Europe combined to secure Acadia to England by the Peace of Utrecht (1713) (see UTRECHT, PEACE OF). But even then the triumph of the English was not complete, for the island of Cape Breton still remained in the hands of France and the guns of Louisburg, guarding the entry to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, declared more plainly than words that the Atlantic seaboard would not be surrendered to England without a fur ther struggle. In marked contrast to their precarious hold upon Acadia, the French built up along the shores of the Saint Lawrence a colony which, whatever its shortcomings, did not change hands with every generation. Can ada was far from invulnerable, as the capture of Quebec by Kirke had already proved and as its siege by Phips (see PHIPS, SIR WILLIAM) was to prove once more in 1690; but long stretches of wilderness separated it from the English settlements, while the navigation of the river presented grave dangers to a hostile fleet. The fate of Sir Hoveden Walker, whose powerful fleet was shattered among the shoals of the Egg Islands (1710), shows that sea power could not be brought to bear against Canada so readily as against Acadia, and the fierce raids of Frontenac illustrate with equal force the ability of the French to defend them selves by land. French rule in Canada lasted long enough and was sufficiently secure to fur nish a great object lesson in colonial method.
Apart from military history and the pathos which belongs to the loss of an empire, the life of New France is more interesting in the 17th than in the 18th century. The two genera tions that elapse between the return of Cham plain (q.v.) and the death of Frontenac (q.v.) (1633-98) are marked by a series of striking exploits and the establishment of fixed institu tions. Energy and enthusiasm abound; the explorer and the missionary are lavishing their lives on causes which mean infinitely more to them than any form of personal ambition; the colonist is becoming a native, a habitant, whose concerns are increasingly associated with Amer ica; problems of Church and state are arising to vex the souls of governors and quicken the zeal of prelates. On every side there are signs of that fresh vigor which derives its impulse from the novelty and charm of the wilderness. In dealing with the progress of Canada during the middle and latter part of the 17th century it Is necessary to distinguish between the re gions which were claimed by right of discovery and those' which were effectively occupied by settlement. Before Frontenac's death lands had been cleared and rendered fit for cultivation at a good many points between Tadpussac, where the Saguenay enters the Saint Lawrence, and Mon treal. Above Lake Saint Louis there were forts at important strategic points like Kingston (then Fort Frontenac) and Detroit, but for agricul tural purposes the colonial zone stopped at the Lake of Two Mountains, an expansion of the Ottawa. Beyond the island of Montreal lay the pays d'en haul, a vast territory which was repeatedly traversed by the pioneers, whether adventurers, traders or missionaries, but which remained almost destitute of settlers. From the Saint Lawrence the French were led inev itably to the Great Lakes and thence by an easy passage to the Mississippi. Thus their explora tions belong no less to the history of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin than to that of Canada. In the Laurentian Valley the river was another Nile with a further element added, since besides being the great local thoroughfare it was a highway thatopened the route to the mother country. If, unlike the Nile, its waters could not be made to produce a rice crop, they abounded in the fish which were so necessary to the food of a Catholic community. The form
of land allotment sprang from the one cardinal condition of life on the banks of a central stream. Each peasant had his strip of water frontage, however narrow, and was able at a moment's notice to embark in his own bateau or canoe. The only towns of Canada were Quebec, Three Rivers and Montreal, all situated on the Saint Lawrence, and no permanent settlements were made in any part of the country unless within easy reach of it or its tributaries. The north shore, owing to its rugged character, was less suited to farming than the south, and in the valley of the Richeheu, the outlet of Lake Champlain, many of the best seigneuries sprang up. The settlement of the Richelieu Valley was also intended to provide a bulwark against the Iroquois.
Closely connected with the distinction which has just been made between the Laurentian Val ley and the back or upper country (pays d'en haul) is the contrast between peasant and woodsman. According to the system of land tenure that prevailed in Canada under the Old Regime rural society was divided between the seigneurs or landlords and the censitaires or tenants. In Canada, as in France, gentility and the possession of an estate Went together, but there is this important difference between the feudalism of the mother country and the colony, that whereas • in France the peasants bore ap preciable burdens during the 17th century, in Canada no censitaire could be seriously crippled by the taxes or services to which he was bound. Feudalism, an institution of the 9th century, could not be transplanted without change to the New World in the age of Louis XIV. The French of Normandy and Brittany made ad mirable colonists, when once they had been induced to embark; but some prospect of im proved conditions must be held out before emi grants would come forward. Moreover in a country of virgin forest it was impossible that peasants should be taxed as their kindred were in a land of ancient cultivation. In view of these considerations the habitants received their farms on very reasonable terms How moderate were the demands of the seigneur may be seen from a single instance. A deed of 19 June 1694 concedes a lot of land three arpents in front by 40 in depth (about a hundred acres) in consideration of 20 sous and one good live capon for each arpent of front and one sou of cens, payable at the principal manor house of the seigneury on Saint Martin's day in each year so long as the grantee shall occupy the The habitant had in a certain sense the character of a woodsman, for a large part of his time was devoted to hewing down the forest, but he was not a woodsman in the fullest sense of the word. Besides the station ary peasant who cultivated his stump fields in the valley of 'the Saint Lawrence, the population of New France embraced many restless and adventurous spirits who roved the woods, traded in beaver skins whenever they could elude the monopoly, intermarried with the Indians and evaded the restraints of civilization without punishment from civil or ecclesiastical law. The coureur de bois ("wood-runner'), to give this type of colonist his generic name, was one of the most remarkable adventurers that this continent has ever seen. Though his vices were an object of scandal to the missionaries and his lawless habits an inconvenience to the government, he possessed the virtues of fear lessness and initiative to an exceptional degree. The comrades of Magellan and Drake were no more daring or resourceful than the coureurs de bois who pressed on from the valley of the Saint Lawrence into the wilds of the pays d'en haul and found amid the dangers of forest or prairie the fullest excitements of a nomadic life. Their names, for the most part, have perished; but legends like that of the Chasse gallerie bear witness to the hold they preserve upon the memory of French Canada.