THE UNITED COLONIES. 113 mutual safety and welfare," under the name of "the United Colonies of New England." The reasons given for making the confederation include the statement. that the colonists were "encompassed with people of several nations and strange languages," the injuries. sustained from the Indians, and specially "those sad distractions in England," which marked the beginning of the war between King and Commons, which might make it essential that those in the distant colonies who sympathized with the Commons should be united if a call for action should come. Times had changed since Connecticut had made her suggestion of a union six years before. The sentiment in favor of union seemed to spread, and the next year there was a plan which, however, never reached a practical stage, for a confederation of all the English colonies of the Western Continent. Thus was formed the first union of the English on this continent. It lasted until the advent of Governor Andros, in 1686. In the interim between the overthrow of that person and the receipt of the new charter, Massachusetts * proposed a congress of all the colonies, and its General Court sent letters to all the colonies, as far, at least, as Maryland. The body which convened in pursuance of this call, which Mr. Bancroft calls "The first Anglo-American Congress," met at New York, May 1, 1690, and resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada and the invasion of Acadie. The union of 1643 naturally led the home government to determine to strengthen its hold on its dis *"Massachusetts, the parent of so many States, is certainly the parent of the American Union."- Bancroft. tant dependencies, and to take steps to that end, but the time for effective action of the sort had passed. The germs of independence had been planted; a selfgoverning confederation of self-governing commonwealths had already been formed in America, and the step was not to be retraced. The patent under which and Council for New England acted was surrendered to the Crown in 1635. The London company planted but one colony, that of Virginia; and when, in 1624, its patents were cancelled, Virginia was declared a royal province. The northern company had established a number of plantations, but they were permitted to govern themselves. One of them, Massachusetts, did this under a royal charter. CHAPTER VI. SETTLEMENTS BY THE FRENCH MR. R. PARKMAN says that the story of the French efforts to colonize America begins with a tragedy. We have read that tragedy in the story of the Huguenot plantation under Ribault, and we have seen how the slaughter of the colonists was avenged by De Gourgues. A new chapter now opens. Two years less than a century and a half intervened between the discovery of the mouth of the St. Lawrence, by Jacques Cartier, in 1534, and the exploration of the Mississippi to its mouth in 1682, by the Chevalier de La Salle. In each case the country was solemnly taken possession of in the name of the king of France, and the name "New France" was given to most of the northern portion of the continent on some of the early maps. The adventures of the French during this century were thrilling in their interest, and full of import in the opening of the new country. The explorers all professed the same desire to promote the extension of the Christian religion that we have found characteristic of the English and Spaniards, but they adopted different means and left more lasting memorials of the success they attained. They fraternized with the In 1763, France formally renounced all claim to territory in North America. natives in a manner not thought of by men of any other nationality. They entered the wigwam, shared the blanket and the fare of the Indian, married his daughters, and in some cases were at length scarcely to be distinguished from him. Nicollet, the explorer of Wisconsin, is an example of this. The names connected with the efforts of the French remain attached to the rivers, cities, and mountains of Canada, Nova Scotia, the Western Lake Region, and the valley of the Mississippi. The chief CARTIER IN CANADA. 117 explorers sent from France were Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Jacques Marquette, and Robert, Chevalier de La Salle. Cartier was commissioned by Francis I. to explore the New World, and left St. Malo in the spring of 1534. He reached the shores of Newfoundland after a short voyage, and landed on the coast of Labrador, taking possession of the country, and planting a cross in testimony of the fact. He explored the bay of Chaleurs (which received its name. from the heat that his company experienced there), and entered the mouth of the St. Lawrence, without being aware that he was in a river. He arrived in France in September, and was back again in June, 1535. He now sailed up the St. Lawrence, found a town called Hochelaga, which he named Mount Royal, now Montreal. Like Smith, when he ascended the Chickahominy, Cartier hoped to find a passage to the westward by the St. Lawrence. He wintered near the mouth of the St. Croix, now the St. Charles, and after having taken solemn possession of the country. by erecting a cross bearing the arms of France and an inscription, he sailed homeward in May, 1536, carrying with him ten chiefs whom he had faithlessly kidnapped. He had suffered great hardship and many of his men had died during the winter, but he was nothing daunted, and returned in 1541, with five vessels. The winter was passed cheerlessly at Hochelaga. The natives were not so cordial as they had been on the former occasion, and in May Cartier sailed for France, giving up all attempts to make his settlement permanent.* man. See "Pioneers of France in the New World," by Francis Park- |