France and England
in
North America
A Series of Historical Narratives.
Author of the "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," "The Oregon Trail," "The Old Régime in Canada," etc.
Part Fifth.
Boston:
Little, Brown, and Company.
1877.
ii Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1877, by
Francis Parkman,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Cambridge:
Press of John Wilson and Son.
Author of "Pioneers of France in the New World," "The Jesuits in NorthAmerica," "The Discovery of the Great West," and "The Old Régimein Canada."
Boston:
Little, Brown, and Company.
1877.
iv Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1877, by
Francis Parkman,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Cambridge:
Press of John Wilson and Son.
Theevents recounted in this book group themselves in the main about asingle figure, that of Count Frontenac, the most remarkable man whoever represented the crown of France in the New World. From strangelyunpromising beginnings, he grew with every emergency, and rose equalto every crisis. His whole career was one of conflict, sometimes pettyand personal, sometimes of momentous consequence, involving thequestion of national ascendancy on this continent. Now that thisquestion is put at rest for ever, it is hard to conceive the anxietywhich it wakened in our forefathers. But for one rooted error ofFrench policy, the future of the English-speaking races in Americawould have been more than endangered.
Under the rule of Frontenac occurred the first serious collision ofthe rival powers, and the opening of the grand scheme of militaryoccupation by which France strove to envelop and hold in check theindustrial populations of theviii English colonies. It was he who madethat scheme possible.
In "The Old Régime in Canada," I tried to showfrom what inherentcauses this wilderness empire of the Great Monarch fell at last beforea foe, superior indeed in numbers, but lacking all the forces thatbelong to a system of civil and military centralization. The presentvolume will show how valiantly, and for a time how successfully, NewFrance battled against a fate which her own organic fault madeinevitable. Her history is a