CHAPTER V
1640-1641
MONTREAL
THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL [36]
PREVIOUS COLONIZATION REVIEWED—MONTREAL CEDED TO SIEUR DE CHAUSSEE IN 1636 AND LATER TO DE LAUSON—THE DESIGN OF THE SETTLEMENT OF MONTREAL ENTERS THE MIND OF M. DE LA DAUVERSIERE—THE FIRST ASSOCIATES OF THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL—THE CESSION OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL TO THEM IN 1640—THE RELIGIOUS NATURE OF THE NEW COLONIZING COMPANY—TRADING FACILITIES CRIPPLED—POLITICAL DEPENDENCE ON QUEBEC SAFEGUARDED—M. OLIER FOUNDS THE CONGREGATION OF ST. SULPICE IN PARIS IN VIEW OF THE MONTREAL MISSION—PREPARATIONS FOR THE FOUNDATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FULLY ORGANIZED SETTLEMENT OF "VILLA MARIE"—PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE CHOSEN AS LOCAL GOVERNOR—THE CALL OF JEANNE MANCE TO FOUND THE HOTEL-DIEU—THE EXPEDITION STARTS—MAISONNEUVE ARRIVES AT QUEBEC—THE FIRST CLASH OF THE GOVERNORS—MONTMAGNY OFFERS THE ISLE OF ORLEANS FOR THE NEW SETTLEMENT—MAISONNEUVE IS FIRM FOR THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL—THE FIRST FORMAL POSSESSION OF MONTREAL AT PLACE ROYALE—WINTER AT ST. MICHEL AND STE. FOY—FRICTION BETWEEN THE RIVAL GOVERNORS.
The survey of the colonization of New France up to 1641 shows that it had been singularly unfruitful. The government of France had never been more than lukewarm after Cartier's voyages. He had given a poor account of the climate of the country, and the loss of a quarter of his crew from scurvy must have confirmed it. Roberval sent on a government expedition, lost fifty of his company and thereafter the private companies all had their disasters from famine and disease to record, beginning with that of Chauvin's, who, having left sixteen men at Tadoussac for the winter, found eleven there on his return.
Were it not for the insatiable desire for commercial gain, through fur monopolies, Canada would have been utterly deserted. There were no industries developed to attract colonists. There had been no gold mines or other treasures exploited to create rushes into a new and harsh country, such as that of the Yukon of late years.
Agriculture, under difficult circumstances, and unsupported by government, or by the companies pledged to encourage it, had also failed. At the end of little more than one hundred years after Jacques Cartier's visit to the St. Lawrence there were only 200 Frenchmen near its waters. Of these about a hundred were fur traders, and their employees, at once furriers and soldiers; and the rest for the greater part were the religious, of three institutions, and their dependents.