rts, and some few ships of that nation (French)
which remained yet unrestored, but have passed sentence of confiscation
in our high Court of Admiralty upon good grounds in justice, being
things of courtesy and good correspondence."

According to her marriage settlement the Queen Henrietta possessed a
dowry of eight hundred thousand crowns, equivalent to eight hundred
thousand ecus de trois livres, French currency. The half of that sum had
been made payable on the day before the marriage in London, and the
other half a little later. The marriage took place on June 13th, 1625,
and the first instalment was then paid. In the year 1631 the second
instalment had not been paid, and Charles I claimed it as one of the
conditions of settlement.

Some historians have stated that the king took this opportunity to have
a money question solved. If, however, the debt was legitimate, France
was obliged to pay it, and the difficulties that had occurred in the
meantime had nothing to do with the deed of marriage upon which the
claim was based. Chateauneuf had promised to pay the claim. Unless,
therefore, there was any doubt as to the right of the king to claim the
sum, it is difficult to understand why the king should be blamed.

In his letter to his ambassador at Paris Charles I alludes to documents
exchanged between Chateauneuf and Fontenay-Mareuil on the one side, and
the lords commissioners appointed to give a ruling. In this document it
is noticed that Guillaume de Caen had discussed with Kirke the value of
the goods and peltry that had been taken out of the stores at Quebec.
They disagreed both as to the number and value. De Caen claimed four
thousand two hundred and sixty-six beaver skins which had been captured
by Kirke, while Kirke pretended to have found only one thousand seven
hundred and thirteen, and that the balance of his cargo, four thousand
skins, was the result of trade with the Indians.

According to the books of the English company, Kirke had bought four
thousand five hundred and forty beaver skins, four hundred and
thirty-two elk skins, and had found in the stores one thousand seven
hundred and thirteen beaver skins. The difference in the calculation is
due to the fact that the English only mentioned the beaver skins
registered in their books, and the French included all the skins which
belonged to them when the fort surrendered, making no mention of those
that they had taken out of the fort with the permission of