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.