Company of De Caen.—Dissensions and complaints still arising, the Company of Associates was summarily dissolved by Montmorency, in November, 1620, and a new company formed. At its head were the De Caens; there were, also, Guillaume Robin, Jacques de Troyes, and François Hervé, merchants; François de Troyes, chief of royal finance at Orléans; Claude Le Ragois, receiver-general of finance at Limoges; Pierre de Verton, counselor and secretary of the King; and others. The old company had resented Montmorency's order of dissolution; but within a year its membership and interests were consolidated with those of the new association. The latter received a monopoly for eleven years, to which the King added eleven more; but it also was dissolved by Richelieu, early in 1627, to make room for his "Company of New France," also known as the "Company of the Hundred Associates."
Company of New France.—This association was personally controlled and managed by Richelieu; and had members in official positions about the court, and in Paris, Rouen, and other cities of France. Among these were Marquis Deffiat, superintendent of finance; Champlain; Claude de Roquemont; the Commander de Razilly; Sebastian Cramoisy, the Parisian publisher; Jean de Lauson, long the president of the company, and intendant of Canada; Louis Houel, secretary of the King, and controller of the salt works at Brouage; and several leading merchants of Paris, Rouen, Dieppe, and Bordeaux. The reasons for the formation of this company, the royal charter granted to it, and its articles of association, are given in Mercure François, vol. xiv. (1628), pp. 232-267. For a complete list of the (107) members, see Creuxius' Hist. Canad.; for a copy of the list, with the company's charter, and other interesting particulars, see Sulte's Histoire des Canadiens-Français (Montreal, 1882-84), vol. ii., pp. 27-33. The company was granted jurisdiction over the territory extending from Florida to the Arctic Circle, and from Newfoundland to the "great fresh lake" (Huron). Only Catholics were permitted to join this association, or to settle in its colonies; and no Huguenot or foreigner might enter Canada. The capture of Quebec by the English (1629) temporarily broke up this monopoly; but it resumed operations when that region was retroceded to France (vol. [ii]., note [42]). The charter of the company obliged it to send 4,000 colonists thither before 1643; to lodge and support them during three years; and then to give them cleared lands for their maintenance. The vast expense attending this undertaking was beyond the ability of the Associates; therefore, in 1645, they transferred to the inhabitants of Quebec their monopoly of the fur trade, with their debts and other obligations,—retaining, however, their seigniorial rights. Finally (Feb. 24, 1663), the Hundred Associates abandoned their charter, and New France again became the property of the crown.
All these monopolies appear to have sought mainly their own financial interests. They sustained the Quebec settlement, but in penurious fashion, and only so far as it aided their trade with the natives; but they did nothing to make it an agricultural community, or to forward Champlain's schemes for the permanent colonization of Canada,—neither of which objects could well be attained under the feudal tenure by which the colonists held land under the companies.
For more extended accounts of these enterprises, see Parkman's Pioneers, pp. 364-366, 419-432; his Jesuits, pp. 155-157, 194, 195, 331; Ferland's Cours d'Histoire, vol. i, pp. 161, 162, 167, 185, 189, 197-201, 215, 217, 220, 226, 338-340; Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. i., pp. 128-135, 159, 163, 164, and vol. ii., pp. 65-66; Slafter's "Memoir of Champlain," in Voyages (Prince Soc.), vol. i., pp. 110-114, 122, 144-158, 187; Faillon's Colon. Fr., vol. i., pp. 132-136, 150, 160-175, 189-232, 268-272, 333-352; Winsor's Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 130, 131, 167, 168; Garneau's Canada, vol. i., pp. 63-75; and Margry's Collection de manuscrits relatifs à la Nouvelle France (Quebec, 1883), vol. i., pp. 62-85.
The losses of the De Caens at the capture of Quebec (referred to note ante, [19]) were heavy; and, as some compensation therefor, they were granted a monopoly of the fur trade in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for one year. Emery De Caen was therefore appointed provisional governor of Canada for that period, upon the restitution of the province by the English; and on July 13, 1632, he took formal possession of Quebec in the name of his King. Laverdière gives (Champlain, close of vol. ii.) numerous "Pièces justificatives;" see pp. 6-31 of these, for documents showing De Caen's losses through Kirk's attack, and his attempts to secure redress from the latter through the English government. L'Abbé H. A. B. Verreau, in Report on Canadian Archives (1874), p. 197, mentions that in Paris he found documents granting islands in the West Indies to De Caen, in 1633 and 1640.
[22] (p. [171]).—Champlain, in thorough accord with the policy then dominant at the court of France, was fully as desirous of establishing the Christian religion among the savages of America as of gaining new possessions for France. He had tried, in 1612, to induce Madame de Guercheville to send the Jesuits to Quebec, and to aid De Monts in establishing a colony there; see his Voyages (1632), pt. i., pp. 112, 113. This proposal was rejected, on account of De Monts's Calvinistic faith. But when the Company of Merchants was formed, two years later, Champlain at once made plans for the establishment of missions in New France. Consulting Louis Houel, of Brouage, the latter advised him to apply to the Récollets (vol. [ii]., of the present series, note [41]), who had already won renown from their successful missions in Spanish America.
That Order gladly responded to the appeal; and, having secured the consent of the King of France and of the Pope, and assurances of aid from the Company of Merchants, the first Récollet missionaries to Canada departed from France, April 24, 1615.—See Introduction, vol. i., pp. xx., xxi. Other Récollets were sent over, from time to time; and, in 1620-21, they built a convent and chapel (the first in Canada) on St. Charles River, about half a French league from the fort of Quebec. This they named Notre-Dame des Anges; it was situated (according to Laverdière) on the spot where now stands the General Hospital.
By 1624, five Récollet missions had been established—at Tadoussac, Quebec, and Three Rivers; at Carhagouha, in the Huron country; and among the Nipissings. There was another, in Acadia, on St. John River, founded in 1619, conducted by three Récollets from Aquitaine, and supported by certain commercial companies at Bordeaux. This mission was closed in July, 1624; and, immediately thereafter, its priests joined their brethren at Quebec.
Just before their arrival, a conference of the Récollet missionaries was held at Quebec, at which they resolved to ask the coöperation of the Jesuits (also noted for the success of their foreign missions) in the Canadian field, which was far too large and arduous for their limited resources, hoping that the latter order would send some missionaries at its own expense. The Récollets, even more austere than the other Franciscan orders, were forbidden by their rules to own property; hence their missionaries could not look to their own order for aid. The Company of Merchants had agreed with Champlain to support six of the Récollets; but, as many of its members were Protestants, this outlay was probably an unwelcome burden to them. Moreover, the religious dissensions constantly arising between the Huguenots and the Catholics were felt to be a hindrance to the labors of the missionaries, who would have preferred that Protestants should be entirely excluded from the management of affairs. Sagard says (Canada, pp. 860, 861) that he complained to Montmorency of the disorders in Canada, for which he blamed the Huguenots; and that the Récollet provincial at Paris, with Father Irenæus Piat (envoy from the Canadian missionaries, to negotiate with the Jesuits), made formal charges against them in the council, to the same effect. The viceroy (in Rochemonteix's phrase, "a man of the world, who loved pleasures quite as well as honors") had meanwhile gladly disposed of his troublesome Canadian dignities (January, 1625) to his nephew Henri de Lévis, duke of Ventadour, a pious man who cared not for trade or conquest, but only for the conversion of the savages. De Lévis's spiritual director was a Jesuit; the application of the Récollets for aid from the Society of Jesus came at an opportune time for both orders. It is also probable that the influences of the court, at that time strongly inclined toward the Jesuits, helped to bring about the arrangement. There was, however, considerable opposition to its consummation, especially from the Company of Merchants; but, according to Faillon, the new viceroy asserted his authority over them, and obliged them to yield. In accordance with the agreement, the Jesuit fathers Lalemant, Massé, and Brébeuf, with the coadjutors François Charreton, Jean Goffestre, and Gilbert Burel, were sent to New France in April, 1625. There they pursued their missionary labors until the capture of Quebec by the English, four years later. After that event, Kirk sent all the missionaries back to France, by way of England. When the French returned (1632), they were accompanied solely by Jesuit priests, for Richelieu would not allow the Récollets to resume their Canadian missions.
For accounts of this transaction, from a Récollet standpoint, see Shea's Le Clercq, pp. 224-233; and Sagard's Canada, pp. 860-865. The Jesuit view is given in Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. i., pp. 137-153. Cf. Faillon's Colon. Fr., vol. i., pp. 206-212.