s to the fact that the cause of
failure is not to be found in the individual French emigrant. There
have never been more valiant or tenacious colonists than the peasants
of Normandy who cleared away the Laurentian wilderness and explored the
recesses of North America. France in the age of De Monts and Champlain
possessed adequate resources, if only her effort had been concentrated
on America, or if the Huguenots had not been prevented from founding
colonies, or if the crown had been less meddlesome, or if the quest of
beaver skins farther north had not diverted attention from Chesapeake
Bay and Manhattan Island. The best chance the French ever had to effect
a foothold in the middle portion of the Atlantic coast came to them in
1604, when, before any rivals had established themselves, De Monts
was at hand for the express purpose of founding a colony. It is quite
probable that even if he had landed on Manhattan Island, the European
preoccupations of France would have prevented Henry IV from supporting
a colony at that point with sufficient vigour to protect it from the
English. Yet the most striking aspect of De Monts' attempt in Acadia is
the failure to seize a chance which never came again to the French race.
In 1607 Champlain sailed away from Port Royal and the English founded
Jamestown. In 1608 Champlain founded Quebec, and thenceforth for over a
century the efforts of France were concentrated on the St Lawrence.
When at length she founded Louisbourg it was too late; by that time the
English grasp upon the coast could not be loosened.

Meanwhile De Monts, to whom the future was veiled, left Port Mouton and,
creeping from point to point, entered the Bay of Fundy--or, as Champlain
calls it, 'the great Baye Francoise, so named by Sieur de Monts.' The
month was June, but no time could be lost, for at this juncture the aim
of exploration was the discovery of a suitable site, and after the site
had been fixed the colonists needed what time remained before winter
to build their houses. Hence De Monts' first exploration of the Baye
Francoise was not exhaustive. He entered Annapolis Basin and glanced at
the spot which afterwards was to be Port Royal. He tried in vain to find
a copper-mine of which he had heard from Prevert of St Malo. He coasted
the Bay of St John, and on June 25 reached St Croix Island. 'Not finding
any more suitable place than this island,' says Champlain, the leaders
of the colony decided that it should be f