re
restored to France. Champlain returned to Quebec, but the Company of the
Hundred Associates had been severely crippled by the ill-luck which
attended its first venture, and was able to do very little for the
struggling colony during the three remaining years of Champlain's life.

The Recollets or Franciscans, who had first come to the country in 1615,
now disappeared, and the Jesuits assumed full control in the wide field
of effort that Canada offered to the missionary. The Jesuits had, in
fact, made their appearance in Canada as early as 1625, or fourteen
years after two priests of their order, Ennemond Masse and Pierre Biard,
had gone to Acadia to labour among the Micmacs or Souriquois. During the
greater part of the seventeenth century, intrepid Jesuit priests are
associated with some of the most heroic incidents of Canadian history.

When Champlain died, on Christmas-day, 1635, the French population of
Canada did not exceed 150 souls, all dependent on the fur-trade. Canada
so far showed none of the elements of prosperity; it was not a colony
of settlers but of fur-traders. Still Champlain, by his indomitable
will, gave to France a footing in America which she was to retain for a
century and a quarter after his death. His courage amid the difficulties
that surrounded him, his fidelity to his church and country, his ability
to understand the Indian character, his pure unselfishness, are among
the remarkable qualities of a man who stands foremost among the pioneers
of European civilization in America.

From the day of Champlain's death until the arrival of the Marquis de
Tracy, in 1665, Canada was often in a most dangerous and pitiable
position. That period of thirty years was, however, also distinguished
by the foundation of those great religious communities which have always
exercised such an important influence upon the conditions of life
throughout French Canada. In 1652 Montreal was founded under the name of
Ville-Marie by Paul Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and a number of
other religious enthusiasts. In 1659, the Abbe de Montigny, better known
to Canadians as Monseigneur de Laval, the first Roman Catholic bishop,
arrived in the colony and assumed charge of ecclesiastical affairs under
the titular name of Bishop of Petraea. Probably no single man has ever
exercised such powerful and lasting influence on Canadian institutions
as that famous divine. Possessed of great tenacity of purpose, most
ascetic in his