No. 112.] ^ 653 



Trance, entered with ardor and enthusiasm into the great 

 stru.^gle of the age, the field of exploration upon the new con- 

 tinent. The zeal and enterprise of the fishermen of Normandy 

 had already discovered and penetrated the gulf of St Lawrence. 

 Cartier, a French adventurer, entered in 1534, the mighty river of 

 that name. The succeeding year, he guided to his new discovery, 

 under the auspices of the royal government, a fleet, freighted 

 with many of the young nobility of France, and blessed by the 

 prayers and sanctions of the church. They dej)arted in high 

 hopes and witli brilliant auguries to colonize this new France. 

 Ascending the majestic stream, which then first received to- 

 gether with its estuary the name of ''St. Lawrence," they an- 

 chored, at wliat is now called the Isle of Orleans. Cartier pene- 

 trated from this in his open boats, to the Indian "Ilochelaga," 

 named by him Mont Real — the Montreal of the present age. 

 Here he received from the Indians the first inteMigenre, indis- 

 tinct and shadowy, of the region of Lake Champlain. The ensu- 

 ing winter was passed by the colonists at the Isle of Orleans, in 

 intense suffering, from the rigors of the climate and the pre- 

 sence of disease. 



" Having iaken possession of the country, with all the pre- 

 scribed pomp and formulas of chivalry and religion, the colo- 

 nization was abandoned and the expedition returned early 

 in the season, to tlie mother country. This experiment end- 

 ing til us inauspiciously, and the climdte and country present- 

 ing to the children of sunny France, so few allurements, all 

 schemes of furtlier colonization seem to have slumbered, for seve- 

 ral years. The " Lord of Uol)erval," received in 1540 a commis- 

 sion from the French King, conferring on him an immense and 

 almost illimitable territory, and which dignified him with tlie 

 plenary powers of vice royalty. 



This parcliment title and these titular functions over- 

 shadowed a vast region, and extended in every direction 

 along the gulf and river St. Lawrence, comprehending in its wide 

 domain tlie present limits of Now England and Nurlhern \ew- 

 York. The efforts emanatin^j from this airthority, appear to have 

 terminated without accomplishing any progress either in coloni- 

 zation or discovery. 



