The Seigneurs of Old Canada: A Chronicle of New-World Feudalism | Page 6

in due course handed over Java as a rich patrimony to the
king of the Netherlands. France, however, was not so fortunate. True
enough, the Company of One Hundred Associates made a brave start;
its charter gave great privileges, and placed on the company large
obligations; it seemed as though a new era in French colonization had
begun. 'Having in view the establishment of a powerful military
colony,' as this charter recites, the king gave to the associates the entire
territory claimed by France in the western hemisphere, with power to
govern, create trade, grant lands, and bestow titles of nobility. For its

part the company was to send out settlers, at least two hundred of them
a year; it was to provide them with free transportation, give them free
lands and initial subsistence; it was to support priests and teachers--in
fact, to do all things necessary for the creation of that 'powerful military
colony' which His Majesty had in expectation.
It happened, however, that the first fleet the company dispatched in
1628 did not reach Canada. The ships were attacked and captured, and
in the following year Quebec itself fell into English hands. After its
restoration in 1632 the company, greatly crippled, resumed operations,
but did very little for the upbuilding of the colony. Few settlers were
sent out at all, and of these still fewer went at the company's expense.
In only two ways did the company, after the first few years of its
existence, show any interest in its new territories. In the first place, its
officers readily grasped the opportunity to make some profits out of the
fur trade. Each year ships were sent to Quebec; merchandise was there
landed, and a cargo of furs taken in exchange. If the vessel ever reached
home, despite the risks of wreck and capture, a handsome dividend for
those interested was the outcome. But the risks were great, and, after a
time, when the profits declined, the company showed scant interest in
even the trading part of its business. The other matter in which the
directors of the company showed some interest was in the giving of
seigneuries --chiefly to themselves. About sixty of these seigneuries
were granted, large tracts all of them. One director of the company
secured the whole island of Orleans as his seigneurial estate; others
took generous slices on both shores of the St Lawrence. But not one of
these men lifted a finger in the way of redeeming his huge fief from the
wilderness. Every one seems to have had great zeal in getting hold of
these vast tracts with the hope that they would some day rise in value.
As for the development of the lands, however, neither the company nor
its officers showed any such fervour in serving the royal cause. Thirty
years after the company had taken its charter there were only about two
thousand inhabitants in the colony; not more than four thousand arpents
of land were under cultivation; trade had failed to increase; and the
colonists were openly demanding a change of policy.
When Louis XIV came to the throne and chose Colbert as his chief

minister it was deemed wise to look into the colonial situation.
[Footnote: See in this Series 'The Great Intendant', chap. I.] Both were
surprised and angered by the showing. It appeared that not only had the
company neglected its obligations, but that its officers had shrewdly
concealed their shortcomings from the royal notice. The great Bourbon
therefore acted promptly and with firmness. In a couple of notable
royal decrees he read the directors a severe lecture upon their avarice
and inaction, took away all the company's powers, confiscated to the
crown all the seigneuries which the directors had granted to themselves,
and ordered that the colony should thenceforth be administered as a
royal province. By his later actions the king showed that he meant what
his edicts implied. The colony passed under direct royal government in
1663, and virtually remained there until its surrender into English
hands an even century later.
Louis XIV was greatly interested in Canada. From beginning to end of
his long administration he showed this interest at every turn. His
officials sent from Quebec their long dispatches; the patient monarch
read them all, and sent by the next ship his budget of orders, advice,
reprimand, and praise. As a royal province, New France had for its
chief official a governor who represented the royal dignity and power.
The governor was the chief military officer, and it was to him that the
king looked for the proper care of all matters relating to the defence and
peace of New France. Then there was the Sovereign Council, a body
made up of the bishop, the intendant, and certain prominent citizens of
the colony