Individual speculators, very conscious of the risk,
demanded a monopoly of trade before agreeing to plant a colony. But
this caused new difficulty. The moment a monopoly was granted,
unlicensed traders raised an outcry and upbraided the government for
injustice.

Such were the problems upon the successful or unsuccessful solution of
which depended enormous national interests, and each country faced them
according to its institutions, rulers, and racial genius. It only
needs a table of events to show how fully the English, the {16} French,
and the Dutch realized that something must be done. In 1600 Pierre
Chauvin landed sixteen French colonists at Tadoussac. On his return in
1601 he found that they had taken refuge with the Indians. In 1602
Gosnold, sailing from Falmouth, skirted the coast of Norumbega from
Casco Bay to Cuttyhunk. In 1603 the ships of De Chastes, with
Champlain aboard, spent the summer in the St Lawrence; while during the
same season Martin Pring took a cargo of sassafras in Massachusetts
Bay. From 1604 to 1607 the French under De Monts, Poutrincourt, and
Champlain were actively engaged in the attempt to colonize Acadia. But
they were not alone in setting up claims to this region. In 1605
Waymouth, sailing from Dartmouth, explored the mouth of the Kennebec
and carried away five natives. In 1606 James I granted patents to the
London Company and the Plymouth Company which, by their terms, ran
athwart the grant of Henry IV to De Monts. In the same year Sir
Ferdinando Gorges sent Pring once more to Norumbega. In 1607 Raleigh,
Gilbert, and George Popham made a small settlement at the mouth of the
Sagadhoc, where Popham died during the winter. As a result of his
death this colony {17} on the coast of Maine was abandoned, but 1607
also saw the memorable founding of Jamestown in Virginia. Equally
celebrated is Champlain's founding of Quebec in 1608. In 1609 the
Dutch under an English captain, Henry Hudson, had their first glimpse
of Manhattan.

This catalogue of voyages shows that an impulse existed which
governments could not ignore. The colonial movement was far from being
a dominant interest with Henry IV or James I, but when their subjects
saw fit to embark upon it privately, the crown was compelled to take
cognizance of their acts and frame regulations. 'Go, and let whatever
good may, come of it!' exclaimed Robert de Baudricourt as Joan of Arc
rode forth from Vaucouleurs to liberate Fran