Chap. I.} 1534. Sept. 5. |
1534. |
1535. May 19. |
1535. Aug. 10. |
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for Europe, and, in less than thirty days,1 entered the
harbor of St. Malo in security.
His native city and France were filled with the tidings of his discoveries.
The voyage had been easy and successful.
Even at this day, the passage to and fro is not often made more rapidly or more safely.
Could a gallant nation, which was then ready to contend for power and honor with the united force of Austria and Spain, hesitate to pursue the career of discovery, so prosperously opened?
The court listened
to the urgency of the friends of Cartier;2 a new commission was issued; three well-furnished ships were provided by the king; and some of the young nobility of France volunteered to join the new expedition.
Solemn preparations were made for departure; religion prepared a splendid pageant, previous to the embarkation; the whole company, repairing to the cathedral, received absolution and the bishop's blessing.
The
adventurers were eager to cross the Atlantic; and the squadron sailed3 for the New World, full of hopes of discoveries and plans of colonization in the territory which now began to be known as New France.4
It was after a stormy voyage, that they arrived within sight of Newfoundland.
Passing to the west of that island on the day of St. Lawrence, they gave the
name of that martyr to a portion of the noble gulf which opened before them; a name which has gradualy
1 Holmes's Annals, i. 65. ‘He returned in April.’ Not so. Compare Hakluyt, III. 261, or Belknap, i. 163. The excellent annalist rarely is in error, even in minute particulars. He merits the gratitude of every student of American history. Purchas, i. 931, edition of 1617, says,—‘Francis I. sent thither James Breton.’ This person can be no other than James Cartier, a Breton.
2 Charlevoix, N. F. i. 9.
3 See the original account of the voyage in Hakluyt, III. 262—285 Compare Charlevoix, N. F. i. 8—15; Belknap's Am. Biog. i. 164—178. Purchas is less copious
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1859.
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