board, spent
the summer in the St Lawrence; while during the same season Martin Pring
took a cargo of sassafras in Massachusetts Bay. From 1604. to 1607 the
French under De Monts, Poutrincourt, and Champlain were actively engaged
in the attempt to colonize Acadia. But they were not alone in setting
up claims to this region. In 1605 Waymouth, sailing from Dartmouth,
explored the mouth of the Kennebec and carried away five natives. In
1606 James I granted patents to the London Company and the Plymouth
Company which, by their terms, ran athwart the grant of Henry IV to De
Monts. In the same year Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent Pring once more to
Norumbega. In 1607 Raleigh, Gilbert, and George Popham made a small
settlement at the mouth of the Sagadhoc, where Popham died during the
winter. As a result of his death this colony on the coast of Maine was
abandoned, but 1607 also saw the memorable founding of Jamestown in
Virginia. Equally celebrated is Champlain's founding of Quebec in 1608.
In 1609 the Dutch under an English captain, Henry Hudson, had their
first glimpse of Manhattan.

This catalogue of voyages shows that an impulse existed which
governments could not ignore. The colonial movement was far from being a
dominant interest with Henry IV or James I, but when their subjects
saw fit to embark upon it privately, the crown was compelled to take
cognizance of their acts and frame regulations. 'Go, and let whatever
good may, come of it!' exclaimed Robert de Baudricourt as Joan of Arc
rode forth from Vaucouleurs to liberate France. In much the same spirit
Henry IV saw De Monts set sail for Acadia. The king would contribute
nothing from the public purse or from his own. Sully, his prime
minister, vigorously opposed colonizing because he wished to concentrate
effort upon domestic improvements. He believed, in the second place,
that there was no hope of creating a successful colony north of the
fortieth parallel. Thirdly, he was in the pay of the Dutch.

The most that Henry IV would do for French pioneers in America was to
give them a monopoly of trade in return for an undertaking to transport
and establish colonists. In each case where a monopoly was granted the
number of colonists was specified. As for their quality, convicts could
be taken if more eligible candidates were not forthcoming. The sixty
unfortunates landed by La Roche on Sable Island in 1598 were all
convicts or sturdy vagrants. Five years later only eleven were