Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada
When the French received the news of the loss of Canada, opinion was
much divided as to the wisdom of seeking to regain the captured
settlement.[113] Some thought its possession of little value in
proportion to the expense it caused, while others deemed that the fur
trade and fisheries were of great importance to the commerce of France,
as well as a useful nursery for experienced seamen. Champlain strongly
urged the government not to give up a country where they had already
overcome the principal difficulties of settlement, and where, through
their means, the light of religion was dawning upon the darkness of
heathen ignorance. His solicitations were successful, and Canada was
restored to France at the same time with Acadia and Cape Breton, by the
treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye[114] (1632). At this period the fort of
Quebec, surrounded by a score of hastily-built dwellings and barracks,
some poor huts on the island of Montreal, the like at Three Rivers and
Tadoussac, and a few fishermen's log-houses elsewhere on the banks of
the St. Lawrence, were the only fruits of the discoveries of Verazzano,
Jacques Cartier, Roberval, and Champlain, the great outlay of La Roche
and De Monts, and the toils and sufferings of their followers, for
nearly a century.[115]
By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye the company were restored to all
their rights and privileges, and obtained compensation for the losses
they had sustained, but it was some time before the English could be
effectually excluded from the trade which they had established with the
Indians during their brief possession of the country. In 1633 Champlain
was reappointed governor of New France, and on his departure for the
colony took with him many respectable settlers: several Protestants were
anxious to join him; this, however, was not permitted. Two Jesuits,
Fathers de Brebeuf and Enemond Masse, accompanied the governor: they
purposed to devote themselves to the conversion of the Indians to
Christianity, and to the education of the youth of the colony. The
Recollets had made but little progress in proselytism; as yet, very few
of the natives had been baptized, nor were the Jesuits at first[116]
much more successful: these persevering men were, however, not to be
disheartened by difficulties, and they were supported by the hope that
when they became better acquainted with the language and manners of
their pupils, their instructions would yield a richer harvest.[117]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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