Crusaders of New France

Crusaders of New France - A
Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in
the Wilderness - Chronicles of
America, Volume 4

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Title: Crusaders of New France A Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in the
Wilderness Chronicles of America, Volume 4
Author: William Bennett Munro
Release Date: June 5, 2004 [EBook #12523]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE

THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES

ALLEN JOHNSON EDITOR
GERHARD R. LOMER CHARLES W. JEFFERYS ASSISTANT
EDITORS

CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE
A CHRONICLE OF THE FLEUR-DE-LIS IN THE WILDERNESS
BY WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO
1918
To my good friend FATHER HENRI BEAUDÉ (_Henri d'Arles_) this
tribute to the men of his race and faith is affectionately inscribed.

CONTENTS
I. FRANCE OF THE BOURBONS II. A VOYAGEUR OF
BRITTANY III. THE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE IV. THE AGE
OF LOUIS QUATORZE V. THE IRON GOVERNOR VI. LA SALLE
AND THE VOYAGEURS VII. THE CHURCH IN NEW FRANCE
VIII. SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA IX. THE
COUREURS-DE-BOIS X. AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND
TRADE XI. HOW THE PEOPLE LIVED BIBLIOGRAPHICAL
NOTE INDEX

CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE

CHAPTER I
FRANCE OF THE BOURBONS
France, when she undertook the creation of a Bourbon empire beyond
the seas, was the first nation of Europe. Her population was larger than
that of Spain, and three times that of England. Her army in the days of
Louis Quatorze, numbering nearly a half-million in all ranks, was
larger than that of Rome at the height of the imperial power. No nation
since the fall of Roman supremacy had possessed such resources for
conquering and colonizing new lands. By the middle of the seventeenth
century Spain had ceased to be a dangerous rival; Germany and Italy
were at the time little more than geographical expressions, while

England was in the throes of the Puritan Revolution.
Nor was it only in the arts of war that the hegemony of the Bourbon
kingdom stood unquestioned. In art and education, in manners and
fashions, France also dominated the ideas of the old continent, the
dictator of social tastes as well as the grim warrior among the nations.
In the second half of the seventeenth century France might justly claim
to be both the heart and the head of Europe. Small wonder it was that
the leaders of such a nation should demand to see the "clause in Adam's
will" which bequeathed the New World to Spain and Portugal. Small
wonder, indeed, that the first nation of Europe should insist upon a
place in the sun to which her people might go to trade, to make land
yield its increase, and to widen the Bourbon sway. If ever there was a
land able and ready to take up the white man's burden, it was the
France of Louis XIV.
The power and prestige of France at this time may be traced, in the
main, to three sources. First there were the physical features, the
compactness of the kingdom, a fertile soil, a propitious climate, and a
frontage upon two great seas. In an age when so much of a nation's
wealth came from agriculture these were factors of great importance.
Only in commerce did the French people at this time find themselves
outstripped by their neighbors. Although both the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean bathed the shores of France, her people were being
outdistanced on the seas by the English and the Dutch, whose
commercial companies were exploiting the wealth of the new
continents both east and west. Yet in France there was food enough for
all and to spare; it was only because the means of distributing it were so
poor that some got more and others less than they required. France was
supporting at this time a population half as large as that of today.
Then there were qualities of race which helped to make the nation great.
At all periods in their history the French have shown an almost
inexhaustible stamina, an ability to bear disasters, and to rise from them
quickly, a courage and persistence that no obstacles seem able to thwart.
How often in the course of the centuries has France been torn apart by
internecine strife or thrown prostrate by her enemies only to astonish

the world by a superb display of recuperative powers! It was France
that first