ttention--an attempt at the colonization
of the New World with emigrants of the reformed faith, and the
organization of the first Protestant church in France. Through the
countenance and under the patronage of an illustrious personage whose
name will, from this time forward, frequently figure on these
pages--Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France--a knight of Malta named
Villegagnon, Vice-admiral of Brittany, obtained from Henry "two large
ships of two hundred tons burthen," fully equipped and provided with the
requisite armament, as well as a third vessel carrying provisions.[601]
Having embarked with a large number of gentlemen, artisans, and sailors,
and having lost some time by being driven back into port to refit after
a storm, he at length set sail for America, and anchored in the bay of
Rio de Janeiro on the thirteenth of November, 1555. Most of the
colonists were adherents of the religion at this time violently
persecuted in France; and it is said that Coligny's support had been
gained for the enterprise by the promise, on the part of Villegagnon,
that in America the reformed should find a safe asylum.[602]

[Sidenote: Fort Coligny founded.]

No sooner, therefore, had the small company effected a lodgment on a
small and rocky islet, opposite the present city of Rio de Janeiro, than
Villegagnon conferred on the fort he had erected the name of Coligny,
and wrote to the admiral, as he did subsequently to Calvin, requesting
that pastors should be sent from Geneva.[603] The petition being
granted, Pierre Richier and Guillaume Chartier were despatched--the
first Protestant ministers to cross the Atlantic. They were received by
the vice-admiral with extravagant demonstrations of joy. A church was
instituted on the model of that of Geneva; and Villegagnon recognized
the validity of its rites by partaking of the holy communion when for
the first time administered, on the shores of the Western Continent,
according to the reformed practice.

[Sidenote: Villegagnon becomes an enemy to the Protestants,]

[Sidenote: and brings ruin to the expedition.]

Before long, however, a complete revolution of sentiment and plan was
disclosed. The pretext was an animated discussion touching the
eucharist, between the Protestant pastors, on the one hand, and
Villegagnon, supported by Jean Cointas, a former doctor of the Sorbonne,
on the other.[604] The solicitations of the Cardinal of Lorraine,
together with a keener appreciation of t