The following year three other Jesuit fathers reached Quebec in a little
vessel provided by themselves; many artisans accompanied them. By the
aid of this re-enforcement, the new settlement soon assumed the
appearance of a town.

The Huguenot De Caens used their powerful influence to foment the
religious disputes now raging in the infant settlement;[110] they were
also far more interested in the profitable pursuit of the fur trade than
in promoting the progress of colonization; for these reasons, the
Cardinal de Richelieu judged that their rule was injurious to the
prosperity of the country; he revoked their privileges, and caused the
formation of a numerous company of wealthy and upright men; to this he
transferred the charge of the colony. This body was chartered under the
name of "The Company of One Hundred Associates:"[111] their capital was
100,000 crowns; their privileges as follows: To be proprietors of
Canada; to govern in peace and war; to enjoy the whole trade for
fifteen years (except the cod and whale fishery), and the fur trade in
perpetuity; untaxed imports and exports. The king gave them two ships of
300 tons burden each, and raised twelve of the principal members to the
rank of nobility. The company, on their part, undertook to introduce 200
or 300 settlers during the year 1628, and 16,000 more before 1643,
providing them with all necessaries for three years, and settling them
afterward on a sufficient extent of cleared land for their future
support. The articles of this agreement were signed by the Cardinal de
Richelieu on the 19th of April, 1627, and subsequently approved by the
king.

At this time the Indians were a constant terror to the settlers in
Canada: several Frenchmen had been assassinated by the ruthless savages,
and their countrymen were too feeble in numbers to demand the punishment
of the murderers. Conscious of their strength, the natives became daily
more insolent; no white man could venture beyond the settlement without
incurring great danger. Building languished, and much of the cleared
land remained uncultivated. Such was the disastrous state of the colony.

The commencement of the company's government was marked by heavy
misfortune. The first vessels sent by them to America fell into the
hands of the English, at the sudden breaking out of hostilities. In
1628, Sir David Kertk, a French Calvinist refugee in the British
service, reached Tadoussac with a squadron, burned the fur hou