House of Hapsburg, was disorganized and intolerable. Nor
did he recognize that, for the French, the desire to
emigrate required even greater encouragement than the
commercial instinct. He compelled his company to transport
settlers, but the number was not large, and he kindled
no popular enthusiasm for the cause of colonization.
France had once led the crusade eastward. Under proper
guidance she might easily have contributed more than she
did to the exodus westward.

At any rate Richelieu, 'a man in the grand style, if ever
man was,' had decided that New France should no longer
languish, and the Company of One Hundred Associates was
the result. In 1627 he abolished the office of viceroy,
deprived the De Caens of their charter, and prepared to
make Canada a real colony. The basis of the plan was an
association of one hundred members, each subscribing
three thousand livres. Richelieu's own name heads the
list of members, followed by those of the minister of
finance and the minister of marine. Most of the members
resided in Paris, though the seaboard and the eastern
provinces were also represented. Nobles, wealthy merchants,
small traders, all figure in the list, and twelve titles
of nobility were distributed among the shareholders to
help in the enlistment of capital. The company received
a monopoly of trade for fifteen years, and promised to
take out three hundred colonists annually during the
whole period covered by the grant. It also received the
St Lawrence valley in full ownership. One notable provision
of the charter was that only Roman Catholics should be