The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pioneers Of France In The New World, by
Francis Parkman, Jr.

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Title: Pioneers Of France In The New World

Author: Francis Parkman, Jr.

Release Date: February, 2003 [Etext #3721]
Posting Date: January 16, 2010

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PIONEERS OF FRANCE IN THE NEW WORLD

By Francis Parkman

INTRODUCTION.

The springs of American civilization, unlike those of the elder world,
lie revealed in the clear light of History. In appearance they are
feeble; in reality, copious and full of force. Acting at the sources of
life, instruments otherwise weak become mighty for good and evil, and
men, lost elsewhere in the crowd, stand forth as agents of Destiny. In
their toils, their sufferings, their conflicts, momentous questions
were at stake, and issues vital to the future world,--the prevalence
of races, the triumph of principles, health or disease, a blessing or
a curse. On the obscure strife where men died by tens or by scores hung
questions of as deep import for posterity as on those mighty contests of
national adolescence where carnage is reckoned by thousands.

The subject to which the proposed series will be devoted is that of
"France in the New World,"--the attempt of Feudalism, Monarchy, and Rome
to master a continent where, at this hour, half a million of bayonets
are vindicating the ascendency of a regulated freedom;--Feudalism
still strong in life, though enveloped and overborne by new-born
Centralization; Monarchy in the flush of triumphant power; Rome, nerved
by disaster, springing with renewed vitality from ashes and corruption,
and ranging the earth to reconquer abroad what she had lost at home.
These banded powers, pushing into the wilderness their indomitable
soldiers and devoted priests, unveiled the secrets of the barbarous
continent, pierced the forests, traced and mapped out the streams,
planted their emblems, built their forts, and claimed all as their own.
New France was all head. Under king, noble, and Jesuit, the lank, lean
body would not thrive. Even commerce wo