Chapter II: Introduction

The Great War has had a special meaning for Canadians. Soldiers from our shores, citizen-soldiers, have been landing on the northern coast of France in tens of thousands, and passing through the same seaport towns whence nearly four hundred years ago men sailed forth to the westward to discover a fabled land.

This country, discovered by the French and colonized by them and by the English, this land which was now French and now English as the fortune of war changed in Europe as well as in America, has become a nation, and when the time of trial came and danger threatened the ancestral homes in the two Motherlands, Canada hesitated not a moment but offered her services in the cause of freedom.

Canada has been fighting more truly perhaps than any other nation in what we speak of as “the common cause,” and it is to make clear to ourselves as well as to others the great meaning of this in the development of nationality in our Dominion that this story of the two centuries when Canada was New France has been told and in this form.

The early history of Canada is a history of men, and if Canada is to become a great nation, its future history will depend upon the development of men who can and will inspire, guide and lead us to the greater things.

This is not intended for children only, but for the youth of every age, those who are young enough to enjoy a story and who know not, or know but dimly, our wonderful history during the two hundred years of our country when its history was bound up with that of the two great empires of France and England, France of the times of Henry of Navarre and of Richelieu, England of the days of the Tudors and of the Pitts.

The frontispiece of this little book illustrates a dramatic incident in our history. The landing of the Canadians at St. Nazaire in 1915 to help Old France against the ruthless invader brings to one’s mind the landing of a French exploring expedition under Cartier nearly three hundred years ago when the flag of France was raised high upon the cliff of Gaspé and the newly discovered land was called New France. Our thanks are due to the Canadian War Memorials Committee for permission to reproduce this picture.

To the kindness of Dr. John M. Clarke, the Director of the New York State Museum, himself a contributor to the history of New France, we are indebted for the great privilege of reproducing the illustrations of the Iroquois Indian Groups which form the Myron H. Clark Memorial in the Museum at Albany. They portray the aboriginal activities of the Confederacy of the Six Nations.

GEORGE H. LOCKE.

WHEN CANADA WAS NEW FRANCE

OLD FRANCE.

Le Gaulois semble au saule verdissant:
Plus on le coupe et plus il est naissant,
Et rejetonne en branches davantage,
Prenant vigueur de son propre dommage.

—RONSARD.

The Gaul is like the verdant willow-bush:
The more you prune, the more it’s lithe and lush,
Shooting a crown of branchy twigs all round,
And draws new life and vigour from a wound.