1627, when the Company of New France was founded, and
1632, when Canada was restored to France, the Swedes
under Gustavus Adolphus had won a series of brilliant
victories over the Catholic and Hapsburg forces in Germany,
After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, Richelieu
attacked the Emperor Ferdinand II in great force, thereby
conquering Alsace.] In 1632 the political problems of
Western and Central Europe had assumed an aspect quite
different from that which they had worn five years earlier.
More and more France was drawn into the actual conflict
of the Thirty Years' War, impelled by a sense of new and
unparalleled opportunity to weaken the House of Hapsburg.
This, in turn, meant the preoccupation of Richelieu with
European affairs, and a heavy drain upon the resources
of France in order to meet the cost of her more ambitious
foreign policy. Thus the duel with Austria, as it progressed
during the last decade of the cardinal's life, meant a
fresh check to those colonial prospects which seemed so
bright in 1627.

Richelieu's first step in resuming possession of Canada
was to compose matters between the De Caens and the
Company of New France. Emery de Caen and his associates
were given the trading rights for 1632 and 79,000 livres
as compensation for their losses through the revocation
of the monopoly. Dating from the spring of 1633, the
Company of New France was to be placed in full possession
of Canada, subject to specific obligations regarding
missions and colonists. Conformably with this programme,
Emery de Caen appeared at Quebec on July 5, 1632, with