Maryland, to be a refuge for English Roman Catholics. Meanwhile,
France had not been idle in the great northern continent. The intrepid
Champlain trod boldly in the perilous footsteps of Cartier, and Port
Royal was founded in 1604, Quebec in 1608. Later still came the
splendid adventure of La Salle, who forced his way--a seventeenth
century Marchand--from the sources of the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico, thus threatening to cut off the English settlers from
expansion to the west. A glance at the map will reveal the immense
strategic importance of Newfoundland to two Powers with the
possessions and claims indicated above. No doubt a consciousness of
deeper differences underlay the keenness of commercial rivalry.

The hardy sailors, mainly from the west country, who carried on the
trade for England, came when the season began, and sailed away with
its close, returning in the following year to the portion of the beach
which each crew had pegged out for its own operations. A feeling of
proprietorship soon sprang from uninterrupted user, and signs of
jealousy appeared of any attempt at permanent settlement. This local
feeling, combining with interested influence at home, did much to
stunt the growth of the colony; the old colonization theory inherited
from Spain was still powerful, for the American Revolution had not yet
revealed the handwriting on the wall.

In 1585 English vessels and sailors were seized in Spanish waters
under the pretext of a general arrest. Accordingly, by way of reprisal
Gilbert's plan of 1577 (which has already been referred to) was
revived by Walsingham, and Sir Walter Raleigh, then vice-admiral of
the western counties, was instructed to despatch vessels for the
purpose of intercepting Spanish fishermen proceeding to the
Newfoundland waters. A flotilla under the command of Sir Barnard Drake