Meanwhile De Monts was in France, striving with all the
foes of the monopoly. Thanks to the fur trade, his company
had paid its way during the first two years, despite the
losses at St Croix. The third season had been much less
prosperous, and at the same moment when the Dutch and
the Basques [Footnote: Traders from the extreme south of
France, whose chief port was St Jean de Luz. Though living
on the confines of France and Spain, the Basques were of
different racial origin from both Spaniards and French.
While subject politically to France, their remoteness
from the main ports of Normandy and Brittany kept them
out of touch with the mariners of St Malo and Havre, save
as collision arose between them in the St Lawrence. Among
the Basques there were always interlopers, even when St
Jean de Luz had been given a share in the monopoly. They
are sometimes called Spaniards, from their close
neighbourhood to the Pyrenees.] were breaking the monopoly
by defiance, the hatters of Paris were demanding that it
should be withdrawn altogether. To this alliance of a
powerful guild with a majority of the traders, the company
of De Monts succumbed, and the news which Poutrincourt
received when the first ship came in 1607 was that the
colony must be abandoned. As the company itself was about
to be dissolved, this consequence was inevitable. Champlain
in his matter-of-fact way states that De Monts sent
letters to Poutrincourt, 'by which he directed him to
bring back his company to France.' Lescarbot is much more
outspoken. Referring to the merits and struggles of De
Monts, he exclaims: