640 



CANADA. 



forwards Aubeit, a master of a vessel belonging to 

 Dieppe, carried over to France some ot tin- natives of 

 ( '. Several years, however, passed away before pub- 

 lic attention wns again turned to it. In 1524, Francis 

 1. sent four ships under Verazani, a Florentine, to 

 prosecute discoveries in this country. The |>urticulars 

 ut his first expedition are not known. He returned to 

 France, and, the next year, undertook a second, 

 which appears to ha\e produced no beneficial result. 

 On a third voyage, lie and all his company perished. 

 In April, 1534, James Cartier, of St Maloes, sailed, 

 liy cmmiiisMoii froiii the king, with two small ships 

 and 1 -'.' men, and, May 10, came in sight of New- 

 foundland ; but the earth was covered with snow, and 

 great quantities of ice were about the shore. Having 

 sailed lo the 51st degree of latitude, in the vain hope 

 of passing to China, he returned to France without 

 making a settlement. In the following year, he 

 sailed a second time from France, with three ships, 

 proceeded up the St Lawrence 300 leagues, to a 

 _rcat and swift fall ; built a fort, and wintered in the 

 country. The French were well received by the na- 

 tives, but were soon infected with the scurvy, of which 

 disease twenty-five of their number died. The next 

 spring, Cartier returned, with the remains of his crew, 

 to France. Between 1 540 and 1 549, a nobleman of 

 Plainly, de la Roque, lord of Roberval, made an at- 

 tempt to found a colony in C., but perished, on his 

 second voyage, with a great number of adventurers. 

 At last, Henry IV. appointed the marquis de la 

 Roche lieutenant-general of C. and the neighbouring 

 countries. In 1598, he landed on the isle of Sable, 

 which he absurdly imagined to be a suitable place for 

 the establishment of a colony, though it was without 

 any port, and produced no other crop than briers. 

 Here he left about forty malefactors, the gleanings of 

 the French jails. After cruising, for some time, on 

 the coast of Nova Scotia, without being able to re- 

 lieve these unfortunate settlers, he returned to France. 

 His colony must have perished, had not a French 

 ship been wrecked on the island, from which a few 

 sheep were driven ashore. With the boards of the 

 ship they erected huts, and, while the sheep lasted, 

 they lived upon them, feeding afterwards upon fish. 

 Their clothes wearing out, they made garments of 

 seal-skins, and, in this miserable condition, spent 

 seven years, when Henry IV. ordered them to be 

 brought home to France, and, on seeing their miser- 

 able appearance, was so much moved, that he forgave 

 them their offences, and presented each with fifty 

 crowns to begin the world anew. In 1600, one 

 Chauvtn, a commander in the French navy, made a 

 voyage to C. from which he returned with a profitable 

 cargo of furs. Tiie public now began to turn more 

 attention to this country. An armament was equipped, 

 and the command given to Pontgran. He sailed in 

 J603. In 1608, the city of Quebec was founded, and 

 from this period the establishment of a permanent 

 French colony commenced. The settlement, was, for 

 many years, in a feeble condition, and was often in 

 danger of being totally exterminated by the Indians. 

 The French, however, concluded a treaty of peace 

 with them, and, finally, by their address, obtained en- 

 tire control over them, to the great inconvenience of 



the neighbouring English settlements. In 1628, n 

 company of French merchants obtained a patent for 

 the exclusive trade with Canada. The next year, an 

 English expedition, under Sir David Keith, took pos- 

 se.sMoii of Quebec ; but it was surrendered again to the 

 French, by the treaty of St Germain's. In 16M, the 

 charter of the company of merchants was taken away, 

 anil new privileges were granted, for forty years, to 

 the West India company. From this period, C. ap- 

 pears to have remained in a state of tranquillity until 

 1690, when a bold attempt was made by the people 

 of New England to reduce it to subjection to the 

 crown of England. An armament was equipped tor 

 this service, and the command given to Sir William 

 Phipps. The effective men, to the number of be- 

 tween 12 and 1300, landed a little below the town 

 of Quebec, and were fired on from the woods by the 

 French and Indians. Having found the place loo 

 strong for them, they re-embarked with precipitation, 

 and returned to Boston. The attempt was renewed, 

 in 1711, by a powerful force of British veteran troops, 

 assisted by about 4000 provincials and Indians. Such 

 were the difficulties and losses, however, experienced 

 in passing up the river, that the design was aban- 

 doned by the British officers, to the great mortifica- 

 tion of the provincial troops. C. continued in the 

 occupation of the French, without any further moles- 

 tation, until the breaking out of the war between 

 France and England, in 1756. Great preparations 

 were then made, on both sides, for attack and de- 

 fence. In 1759, the British government formed the 

 project of attempting the conquest of C. by three 

 different but simultaneous attacks. One division of 

 the army was to ascend the St Lawrence, and lay 

 siege to Quebec. The central and main body was to 

 be conducted against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 

 The third was to proceed against Niagara, and, after 

 the reduction of that place, to descend the St Lawrence 

 to Montreal. The division which ascended the St 

 Lawrence was commanded by general Wolfe, and 

 was defeated in its first operations by the French. 

 The English, however, finally obtained possession of 

 Quebec, after a gallant resistance on the part of the 

 French, whose brave commander, Montcalm, had 

 been killed in the action. The British general 

 Wolfe was also killed. Soon afterwards, the whole 

 province of C. was subdued by the British forces, and 

 was confirmed to Great Britain by the treaty of 1763. 

 In 1775, C. was invaded by a body of provincial 

 troops, under general Montgomery. Montreal was 

 taken, and a gallant but unsuccessful attempt was 

 made on Quebec, in which the brave Montgomery 

 was killed. No other attempt was made on this pro- 

 vince during the revolutionary war. We have few re- 

 cords of Canadian history from this period until the 

 late war between the United States and Britain. Up- 

 per C. then became the theatre of a sanguinary con- 

 test. The American troops were unable, however, 

 to make any permanent conquests, and the province 

 has since remained subject to Great Britain. In 

 1825, the restrictions upon its commerce, under which 

 it had laboured, with the other colonies of Great Bri- 

 tain, were principally removed, and its trade lias since 

 greatly increased. 



END OF VOLUME FIRST. 



GLASGOW: 

 VILL/vriELU. 



