[boceinot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA. 7 



the struggling settlement of Fort Royal, and also prevented the establish- 

 ment of a Jesuit mission in the vicinity of the Island of Monts-Déserts, 

 which owes its name to Charaplain, who explored the coast of New 

 England as far as Cape Cod. Baron de Poutrincourt, a ruined man, soon 

 after met with a soldier's death, during the civil war then disturbing 

 France. His eldest son and a few Frenchmen did not, however, leave the 

 country, but remained in the neighbourhood of the ruins of the Fort Eoyal, 

 which was originally built on the Granville or the north side of the basin, 

 about five miles from the present town.' 



The history of Acadia as a French possession was chiefly noted for 

 feuds between rival chiefs, and for the etïbrts of the people of New 

 England to obtain control of Port Royal, which was an ever-standing 

 menace to English colonial interests. After the destruction of the 

 French fort by Argall, Biencourt established a post at Cape Sable, and 

 subsequently ceded all his rights in Acadia to Charles de la Tour, who 

 had come to the country at an early age with his father Claude, who 

 represented himself of noble birth, though it is not now possible to verify 

 his claims. Both, however, were men of energy and courtly manners, 

 which enabled the father in later years to win for his wife one of the 

 ladies in attendance on Queen Henrietta of England. He also became 

 one of the baronets" who formed an important feature of the plan of 

 settlement devised by Sir William Alexander, when he obtained from the 

 English king a grant of Acadia, and first named Nova Scotia. He inter- 

 ested the elder La Tour in his scheme, but the son remained faithful to 

 France, and hoped to be lord of Acadia when the country was restored 

 to France, in 1632, by the treaty of St. G-ermain-en-Laye, and the Scotch 

 settlers at Port Royal were removed by the orders of Charles the First of 

 England. Charles de la Tour, however, was superseded by Claude de 

 Razilly, a knight of Malta, who established his headquarters at La Hève. 

 Among those who came to the countiy at the same time and engaged in 

 trading was Nicholas Denys, who afterwards made settlements in Cape 

 Breton and was its first governor. When Razilly died his friend and lieuten- 

 ant, Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charnisay became his successor. Charles 

 de la Tour, then on the St. John River, where he had built a fort, was 

 deeply incensed at the success of his rival, who had influence at the 

 French court and was made the king's lieutenant in Acadia. For years 

 a deadly feud raged between the two men, and the cautious merchants of 

 Boston were constantly perplexed which of the two they could support 

 with the best prospect of profit to themselves. Eventually, in 1645, 

 Charnisay succeeded in taking possession of La Tour's fort on the St. 

 John, though his wife defended it with great bravery. A number of the 



1 See Bourlnot's " Story of Canada " (Nations' series) London, New York and 

 Toronto, 1897, for short history of the early settlement of Acadie. 



2 See infra, p. 36. 



