and before the viceroy could receive a revenue some one
was needed to organize the chief Laurentian traders into
a company strong enough to pay Soissons or Conde a
substantial sum. Champlain was convinced that the stability
of trade (upon which, in turn, exploration depended)
could be secured only in this way. It was he who
memorialized President Jeannin; [Footnote: One of the
chief advisers of Marie de Medicis. In the early part of
his career he was President of the Parlement of Dijon
and an important member of the extreme Catholic party.
After the retirement of the Duc de Sully (1611) he was
placed in charge of the finances of France.] enlisted
the sympathy of the king's almoner, Beaulieu; appealed
to the royal council; proposed the office of viceroy to
Soissons; and began the endeavour to organize a new
trading company. Considering that early in 1612 he suffered
a serious fall from his horse, this record of activity
is sufficiently creditable for one twelve-month. Meanwhile
the Indians at Sault St Louis grieved at his absence,
and his enemies told them he was dead.

It was not until 1614 that the new programme in its
entirety could be carried out. This time the delay came,
not from the court, but from the merchants. Negotiations
were in progress when the ships sailed for the voyage of
1613, but Champlain could not remain to conclude them,
as he felt that he must keep faith with the Indians.
However, on his return to France that autumn, he resumed
the effort, and by the spring of 1614. the merchants of
Rouen, St Malo, and La Rochelle had been brought to terms