"LOUIS."

"_February_ 21, 1643."


Furnished with this letter, Messrs. de Maisonneuve and Dauversiere
labored in concert to procure a third fleet and a new set of recruits,
and they were quite as successful as on the two former occasions. The
volunteers were select and numerous, their voyage across the Atlantic
safe and pleasant, and at the end of July that year they arrived at
Ville-Marie. The death of Louis XIII. occurring at that period, the
Associates deemed it prudent to apply to the Queen Regent, mother of
Louis XIV., for a confirmation of their former privileges, which she
freely granted, permitting them also to organize militia companies for
their future safety, and to secure the services of such ecclesiastics as
they should judge most useful for the rising colony. Yet,
nothwithstanding repeated royal favors, and untiring exertions to
promote the general prosperity, the colony was languishing, and had much
to suffer from the increasing ferocity of the Indians. But de
Maisonneuve was always equal to the occasion, and derived advantage from
their fury, that is, spiritual advantage. Many and many a time, he had
the consolation to see those barbarous warriors throw down the bloody
tomahawk and embrace Christianity. He was truly an apostle in their
midst, attracting them as much by affability, as by the benefits he
conferred, and it was his greatest pleasure to act as sponsor for them
in baptism. Almighty God blessed the new settlement so visibly as to
cause astonishment and admiration in the hearts of all devoted to His
glory. Jean Mance also labored zealously in the service of the sick, who
were cared for in the hospital she established, and already the work was
greater than she alone could accomplish. Madame de la Peleterie, who