was a wealthy
Huguenot, who was commissioned viceroy of New France, with full powers to settle and rule in a region extending over six degrees of latitude, from
Cape May to
Quebec.
The domain was named Cadie in the charter (see
Acadia). Vested with the monopoly of the fur-trade in the region of the river and
gulf of St. Lawrence, they attempted to make a settlement on the former.
Making arrangements with
Champlain as chief navigator,
De Monts sailed from
France in March, 1604, with four ships, well manned, accompanied by his bosom friend, the
Baron de Poutrincourt, and
Pont-Greve as his lieutenants; and finding the
St. Lawrence icebound, on his arrival early in April, he determined to make a settlement farther to the southward.
The ships also bore a goodly company of Protestant and
Roman Catholic emigrants, with soldiers, artisans, and convicts.
There were several Jesuits in the company.
Passing around Cape Breton and the peninsula of
Nova Scotia into the
Bay of Fundy, they anchored in a fine harbor on the northern shore of that peninsula early in May.
Poutrincourt was charmed with the country, and was allowed to remain with a part of the company, while
De Monts, with the remainder, seventy in number, went to
Passamaquoddy Bay, and on an island near the mouth of the
St. Croix, built a fort, and there spent a terribly severe winter, that killed half of them.
In the spring they returned to
Poutrincourt's settlement, which he had named
Port Royal—now
Annapolis,
N. S. Early the next autumn
De Monts and
Poutrincourt returned to
France, leaving
Champlain and
Pont-Greve to make further explorations.
There was a struggle for rule and existence at
Port Royal for a few years.
Poutrincourt returned to
France for recruits for his colony.
Jesuit
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81]
priests who accompanied him on his return to
Acadia (
Nova Scotia) claimed the right to supreme rule by virtue of their holy office.
Poutrincourt resisted their claim stoutly, saying, “It is my part to rule you on earth; it is your part to guide me to heaven.”
When he finally left
Port Royal (1612) in charge of his son, the
Jesuit priests made the same claim on the fiery young
Poutrincourt, who threatened them with corporal punishment, when they withdrew to
Mount Desert Island and set up a cross in token of sovereignty.
They were there in 1613, when
Samuel Argall, a freebooter of the seas, went, under the sanction of the governor of
Virginia, to drive the
French from
Acadia as intruders on the soil of a powerful English company.
The
Jesuits at
Mount Desert, it is said, thirsting for vengeance, piloted
Argall to
Port Royal.
He plundered and burned the town, drove the inhabitants to the woods, and broke up the settlement.
Unable to contend with the
English company,
De Monts abandoned
Acadia and proposed to plant a colony on the
St. Lawrence River, under the direction of
Champlain and
Pont-Greve.
But his monopoly was partially revoked in 1608.
Under the auspices of a company of merchants at
Dieppe and St. Malo, settlements were begun at
Quebec and
Montreal.
Soon afterwards the fortune of
De Monts was so much reduced that he could not pursue his scheme of colonization, and it was abandoned.