Life of Venerable Sister Margaret Bourgeois | Page 4

Henry IV., which occurred at this time, produced a great change in the affairs of the new country. The commission of Governor of Canada was transferred from M. de Monts to Champlain, by the Queen Regent--who also appointed him Lieutenant-General to the Prince of Conde, which step was intended to pave the way for his additional title of Viceroy of New France.
Champlain gave quite a different form to the Mercantile Company of Canada, and by his influence with Conde, obtained from the King letters patent and many new privileges. He returned to Canada in 1614 with a goodly number of colonists, and also a few Recollets to minister to their spiritual wants. Intending to pass the summer at Montreal, with some of his companions for the purpose of trading more advantageously with the savages, he left Quebec. But again his plans met with very partial success.
In 1620 the Prince of Conde conferred the viceroyalty of Canada on the Marechal de Montmorenci, his brother-in-law, who in turn bestowed it on the Duke de Ventadour, his nephew. Until this period the affairs of the colony had been entirely in the hands of Protestants, who sought nothing but material wealth. Everything was languishing, and there were not more than fifty persons at Quebec. Some Jesuit Fathers arrived this year, having been sent over to assist the Recollets, and it was proposed to exclude Protestants from the colony, as they were becoming more numerous than was convenient for a Catholic settlement. Cardinal Richelieu, then minister of France, during the minority of Louis XIII., lent them his powerful assistance in their designs for the glory of God. By an edict dated May, 1627, given at the camp before La Rochelle, all the old Commercial Companies of Canada were suppressed and dissolved, new ones being erected in their stead, with the express conditions and stipulations that the colony was to be exclusively French and Catholic, that the new company should, at its own expense, support a sufficient number of priests, and that agriculture should be actively encouraged.
His majesty empowered the company to make grants of land throughout the whole extent of New France, in such proportions and with such title-deeds, as they deemed most prudent for the settlement of the country. He gave them also the exclusive control of the fur-trade, particularly that of the beaver, requiring the colonists to bring this kind of merchandise to the store-houses of the company, where they were to receive fixed prices for it, in order to ensure the success of the colony during the first ten years of its existence. He promised to all classes of persons, no matter what their rank or condition of life might be, whether ecclesiastics, nobles, military men, or others, that by incorporating themselves in the association they should not in any case forfeit the privileges of their rank. The Duke de Ventadour resigned his viceroyalty to the French minister, and Cardinal Richelieu, with M. Marechal d'Effiat, were named the heads of the Association. Many ecclesiastics and seculars at once became members of the Society, and with them were soon incorporated several of the wealthiest and most enterprising merchants of the kingdom. But while the Company was being thus enthusiastically formed in France, the English made an attack on Quebec, and the effect of the edict was suspended for a season. The King came almost to the conclusion of abandoning Canada forever, as he had only been influenced by religious and honorable motives in preserving the treaty of peace he had made at St. Germain in 1632. The newly-formed company, in this predicament, began to assert their own rights. They presented Champlain to the king as the man best suited to their wants, and his Majesty at once appointed him Governor of New France. He had the command of several well-appointed ships, and many Jesuit missionaries offered to accompany him to labor for the salvation of souls in the new field that was opened to them. The Associates decided that the sons of St. Ignatius would be more useful in the colony than the Recollets, who complained that they did not find sufficient support in Canada, and who had in fact left it for a time, nor did they return until 1670, when the colony had become quite populous. Champlain died at Quebec in 1635, and the same year the Jesuits of New France began to build their first college. The following year Chevalier de Montmagni succeeded Champlain as Governor of Canada. The settlers had now become very numerous, being encouraged by their trade with the new company, and many of the savages had embraced the faith, a mission having been opened for them at Sillery, near Quebec. France again took an active part in the success of the enterprise, and as the settlements