52 EKA^CE AND ENGLAND IN AMERICA. [1608-1673. 



than that supplied by the zeal of the devoted prop- 

 agandists. The priest and the soldier went hand 

 in hand ; and the cross and the jleur cle lis were 

 planted side by side. 



Foremost among the envoys of the faith were 

 the members of that mighty order, who, in another 

 hemisphere, had already done so much to turn 

 back the advancing tide of religious freedom, and 

 strengthen the arm of Rome. To the Jesuits was 

 assigned, for many years, the entire charge of the 

 Canadian missions, to the exclusion of the Francis- 

 cans, early laborers in the same barren field. In- 

 spired with a self-devoting zeal to snatch souls from 

 perdition, and win new empires to the cross ; cast- 

 ing from them every hope of earthly pleasure or 

 earthly aggrandizement, the Jesuit fathers buried 

 themselves in deserts, facing death with the courage 

 of heroes, and enduring torments with the constancy 

 of martyrs. Their story is replete with marvels — 

 miracles of patient suffering and daring enterprise. 

 They were the pioneers of Northern iVmerica.^ 

 We see them among the frozen forests of Acadia, 

 struggling on snow-shoes, with some wandering 

 Algonquin horde, or crouching in the crowded 

 hunting-lodge, half stifled in the smoky den, and 

 battling with troops of famished dogs for the last 

 morsel of sustenance. Again we see the black- 

 robed priest wading among the white rapids of 

 the Ottawa, toiling with his savage comrades to 



1 See Jesuit Relations and Lettres Edijiantes : also, Charlevoix, passim ; 

 Garneau, Hist. Canada, Book IV. Chap. 11. ; and Bancroft, Hist. U. S, 

 Chap. XX. 



