named Fort Caroline. His colonists were mutinous and some of them engaged in piratical expeditions, capturing two Spanish vessels, and thus becoming the first aggressors in the New World. Shortly afterward the provisions became scarce and the colonists were in great distress, but on August 3, 1565, as they were about to abandon the settlement, Sir John Hawkins, the notorious slave merchant, arrived and ministered to their On August 28 Ribaut himself arrived with an abundant supply

wants.*

of all kinds.t

The colony, however, was not yet secure from attacks by outside parties. Philip II. of Spain had granted permission to Pedro Menendez de Avilés to conquer and occupy Florida, and also to drive out the French. On June 29, 1565, an expedition left

*

Southey, John Hawkins; R. A. S. Walling, Sea-Dog of Devon, a Life of Sir John Hawkins (1907); Edward J. Payne, Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America, 1st series, p. 55 et seq.; Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 594; Purchas, vol. iv., 1177; Anderson, History of Commerce, vol. i., p. 400.

Bancroft, vol. i., pp. 52-54 (last rev.); Parkman, Pioneers of France, pp. 48-95, and authorities cited in addition to above: letters of Laudonnière in Basanier; Le Moyne, Brevis Narratio eorum quae in Florida Americae Provincia Gallia acciderunt (Le Moyne was Laudonnière's artist and his narratives and maps form the second part of De Bry's Grand Voyages, Frankfort, 1591); Coppie d'une Lettre venant de la Floride (Paris, 1565, being a letter from one of the adventurers under Laudonnière, and reprinted in the Récueil de Pièces sur la Floride of Ternaux-Compans), Barcia (Cardenas y Cano), Ensayo Cronologico para la Historia General de la Florida (Madrid, 1723, containing many original documents); Johnson, French Pathfinders, pp. 77-91.

Spain with about 300 soldiers and more than 2,000 volunteers with the avowed object of "dealing death to the Huguenots." The expedition was somewhat weakened on the voyage by a storm, but Menendez did not delay after reaching Porto Rico and immediately set sail for the coast of Florida, being anxious to make quick work of his enemies. On August 28 land was sighted and two days later Menendez entered the harbor of St. Augustine. Here he founded a town. size, still remains, and is the oldest which, though not a place of large

town in the United States. Menendez was not long in finding the French colony and at once proceeded to the attack. The French vessels slipped their cables and went to sea intending to attack the Spanish, but a violent storm arose and the French vessels were scattered and wrecked upon the shore. Menendez therefore marched overland from St. Augustine through the forests and swamps, surprised the French fort and butchered men, women and children with the exception of a few who, having escaped to the woods and subsequently finding two small vessels in the harbor, ultimately reached Bristol. Ribaut and his shipwrecked companions, half famished, and after severe suffering, finally reached the fort only to find that it had fallen into the possession of the Spaniards. Menendez gave the French his word of honor that they would not be harmed should they surrender, but after the French had given

themselves up, they were promptly butchered under circumstances of most shocking barbarity. A number of mangled limbs of the victims were hung upon a tree with the inscription: "Not because they are Frenchmen but because they are heretics and enemies of God."*

It is needless to say that intelligence of this outrage excited a strong desire for vengeance among the people of France, and the widows and orphans of the slain invoked Charles IX. to demand recompense from the Spanish monarch, but he refused.† But the relatives of the victims did not go for long without a champion. Dominique de Gourgues, a brave

* Hildreth, vol. i., pp. 73-75; Bancroft, vol. i., pp. 54-58 (last rev.); Morris, Discoverers and Explorers of America, pp. 137-144; Johnson, French Pathfinders, p. 91 et seq.; Parkman, Pioneers of France, pp. 96-150 and authorities cited: Barcia's Ensayo Cronologico; Siete Cartas escritas al Rey por el General Pero Menendez de Avilés, Años de 1565 y 1566 (the dispatches of Menendez to Philip II.); Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, Relacion de la Jornado de Pedro Menendez de Avilés en la Florida (printed in Coleccion de Documentos In ditos del Archivo de Indias, iii., 441, a French translation of which is the Récueil de Pièces sur la Floride of Ternaux-Compans); Challeux, Discours de l'Histoire de la Floride, the story by a Huguenot carpenter who went to Florida in 1565 (Dieppe, 1566); Une Reqúčte an Roy, faite en forme de Complainte par les Femmes veufves, etc.,

a petition for redress to Charles IX. by the relatives of the slain Frenchmen, which relates many

incidents of the massacre (1566). On the work of the Catholic missionaries during this time, see Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 53 et seq.

† Parkman, Pioneers, pp. 151–156 and the principal authority cited: Lettres et Papiers d'Estat du Sieur de Forquevaulx, etc. (Bibliothèque Nationale) containing the correspondence between the Spanish and French courts. These letters are printed by Gafferal in his Histoire de la Floride Française.

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Gascon, determined to devote his entire fortune and time to achieving some signal and terrible retribution. Equipping three small vessels which he manned with 80 seamen and 150 troops, he crossed the Atlantic, sailed along the coast of Florida, and in 1567 landed at a river about 15 leagues distant from the River May. The Spaniards meanwhile had repaired the great fort which had been begun by the French, and to the number of 400 they awaited the attack of the French. Two smaller forts, defended by 120 soldiers and well supplied with artillery and ammunition also guarded the river mouth about two leagues below the principal fort. Though informed of the strength of the garrison and the impregnability of the fort, Gourgues obtained the assistance of some of the natives and promptly made a vigorous and desperate assault. The result of the attack was that only 15 out of the 60 Spaniards in the first fort escaped, while the entire garrison of the second fort was killed. The third fort was easily taken after a company of the garrison had sallied forth and had been killed on the spot. All of the surviving Spaniards were led away prisoners, together with the 15 who had escaped death in the attack on the first fort, and Gourgues meted out to them the same treatment that had previously been bestowed upon the French. He hung them to the boughs of the same trees, attaching to their bodies the following declara

tion : "I do not this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers and murderers." Gourgues then demolished the three forts, and considering that his force was not strong enough to remain in the country any great length of time, he returned to France, May, 1568. This marked the end of the efforts made by the French Protestants to establish settlements in Florida."

During the latter half of the 16th century France was convulsed by the long and bloody struggles between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and consequently no serious attempts at colonization in the New World were made by that nation. Peace and prosperity were restored upon the accession of Henry IV., and the relations became more harmonious by his abjuration of Protestantism and the Edict of Nantes, by the terms of which civil and religious liberty was secured to the Hugenots. Furthermore, the arts of industry and trade were fostered under the wise and skillful administration of Sully. In 1598 Marquis de la Roche obtained a commission to take possession of Canada and other neighboring countries "not possessed by any Christian prince," but the attempt was an utter failure.†

Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. ii., pp. 511522; Parkman, Pioneers of France, pp. 157-179 and authorities cited, particularly La Repriuse de la Floride par le Cappitaine Gourgue, a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale printed in the Récueil of Ternaux-Compans and containing a detailed account of the expedition of Gourgues. + Douglas, Quebec in the Seventeenth Century,

In 1600, shortly after the death of La Roche, Pierre Chauvin, a naval officer, and François Gravé, Sieur du Pont, commonly known as Pontgravé, a merchant of St. Malo, engaged in the fur trade and pursued it with much profit to himself, but did not succeed, however, in doing anything of moment toward colonization.*

Three years later, however, an expedition was organized by a company of merchants at Rouen,+ and sent out under the command of Pontgravé and Samuel de Champlain, who acted as lieutenant of the expedition. After a careful exploration and examination, Champlain selected the site of the present city of Quebec as a suitable place for a fort. On November 8, 1603, a patent was issued to Pierre du Gast, Sieur De Monts, a Huguenot gentleman of the king's chamber, which granted to him sovereignty over Acadia from the fortieth to the fortysixth degrees of north latitude, which

pp. 68-70; Parkman, p. 231 et seq.; Fiske, New France and New England, pp. 35-36; Roberts, History of Canada, pp. 20-21.

*Fiske, New France and New England, pp. 3637; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 77-80; Douglas, Quebec, pp. 70-71; Miles, Canada, pp. 30-31.

For the various companies see Morris, History of Colonization, vol. i., p. 366 et seq.

Parkman, Pioneers of France, pp. 235–242. Champlain's account of his first voyage to the St. Lawrence was published at Paris in 1604 under the title Des Sauvages. See also Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 80-88.

On the early Indian settlements along the St. Lawrence see Fiske, New France and New England, pp. 38-49; Colden, History of the Five Indian Nations (London, 1755); Morgan, League of the Iroquois.

included a tract of territory from about the latitude of Philadelphia as far north as Cape Breton.* De Monts was also granted a monopoly of the fur trade. On April 7, 1604, the expedition, consisting of four ships, set sail for its destination, and accompanying it were De Monts, Champlain, Pontgravé, the subsequently celebrated historian, Marc Lescarbot, and Jean de Biencourt, Sieur De Poutrincourt. The last named had obtained permission to remain in the harbor which he called Port Royal, but Champlain decided to continue his explorations. He therefore sailed around the Bay of Fundy, discovered and named the St. John's River and selected a site for a settlement on the Island St. Croix, at the river of the same name. The site chosen was not well situated, and in the following year, 1605, the colony was removed to Port Royal, afterward renamed Annapolis by the English. This was the first actual settlement by the French on the American continent. Attempts were made also to establish settlements in the vicinity of Cape Cod, but the natives were so hostile that the project was abandoned. During the following

*The charter or patent to Acadia in Latin will be found in Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, vol. iii., pp. 1619-1620.

+ Parkman, Pioneers of France, pp. 243-257; Sagard, Histoire du Canada (1636); Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. ii. (1612); Winsor, pp. 90-91; Fiske, New France and New England, pp. 49–58; Johnson, French Pathfinders, pp. 101-115; Miles, Canada, pp. 30-35; Roberts, Canada, pp. 22-27; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 19 (last rev.).

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ten years, numerous and successful efforts to convert the natives were made by the Jesuit and other priests, among whom were Fathers Peter Biard, Enemond Massé, Joseph Le Caron, William Poulain, etc.*

In 1608 the monopoly of De Monts was revoked, but not before Quebec was founded. This was principally due to Champlain. He had foreseen that the nation which first planted a strong settlement on the St. Lawrence would be able to control a large portion of the fur trade, as this river was a great highway for the canoe of the savage and the ship of the white man. Pontgravé, the associate of Champlain in this enterprise, had sailed to Canada shortly before Champlain, and upon his arrival at Tadoussac, a trading-post situated at the confluence of the Saguenay with the St. Lawrence, he found there some Basques, who were carrying on a thriving fur trade with the Indians. Pontgravé immediately forbade this traffic under the terms of the royal patent, but the Basques refused to discontinue their profitable trade and opened fire on the French, wounding Pontgravé. Champlain soon arrived, how

*For details of which see Parkman, pp. 258323; Fiske, pp. 72-97; R. P. Auguste Carayon, Premiere Mission des Jesuites au Canada (Paris, 1864), containing a collection of letters from the Jesuit priests; Lescarbot's Histoire (ed. of 1618); Lescarbot, Muses de la Nouvelle France; the Relation of the Jesuit Biard; Reuben G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations; Rev. T. J. Campbell, S. J., Pioneer Priests of North America, vol. ii., pp. 3–61 (1910); Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 129 et seq.

ever, and compelled the Basques to relinquish their trade.

Leaving Pontgravé to fill his ships with furs and return to France, Champlain sailed up the river and founded Quebec, the modest beginnings of the now splendid city consisting of three wooden buildings, a storehouse and a fort with two or three small cannon.* Soon afterward the Basques formed a plot with some of Champlain's men to capture the new settlement and massacre the inhabitants, but Champlain seized the leaders and hanged them, after which he experienced no further trouble from that source.† With 28 men, Champlain now prepared to withstand the rigors of their first winter, but the scurvy attacked them and by spring only eight of the 28 remained alive. Fortunately, Pontgravé arrived in the summer with stores of provisions and further reinforcements.

In 1609 Champlain set out on an exploring expedition in the hope of finding a route to China, at the same time planning to aid the Algonquins and Hurons by joining them in an attack on the Iroquois. Ascending the St. Lawrence River, the party came to the Richelieu or Sorel River, up which they went, penetrating the Iroquois country for many miles.

In

* McMullen, History of Canada, pp. 10-12. Charles W. Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Régime, p. 67 (1908); Douglas, Quebec, pp. 8688; Parker and Bryan, Old Quebec, p. 27. Miles, Canada, pp. 36–37.

a short time Champlain came to that beautiful lake which bears his name and perpetuates his memory, down which it was his intention to pass, thence into Lake George, and then to the Hudson and the Mohawk settlements. But while on Lake Champlain, a war party of Iroquois was met, and on July 30, 1609, a bloody battle was fought. Champlain and his men astonished and frightened the Indians by killing some with their guns, and the Iroquois became panicstricken and fled in terror, the result being a complete victory for the French.* What might have been Champlain's motive in joining the enemies of the Iroquois is not for us to speculate upon here; what concerns us is the fact that the fight, though insignificant in itself, had tremendous and far-reaching consequences, as it aroused the hatred and anger of the Five Nations against the French, which even the labors of the Jesuit priests were unable to appease.† In the early part of 1610, Champlain again aided the Algonquins to defeat an invading party of Iroquois, and in this battle he was wounded. In the summer of 1611 he returned to France.

*For the details see Parkman, Pioneers of France, p. 339 et seq.; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 96-97; Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Régime, pp. 68-73; Miles, Canada, pp. 37-40; R. G. Thwaites, Champlain's Battle with the Iroquois, in Ripley Hitchcock's Decisive Battles of America, pp. 27–30 (1909); Roberts, New York, vol. i., p. 11 et seq.

Douglas, Quebec, p. 90 et seq.

Douglas, pp. 96-98; McMullen, Canada, p. 14.