{"product_id":"2940013836082","title":"CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI. FRANCE OF THE BOURBONS\u003cbr\u003eII. A VOYAGEUR OF BRITTANY\u003cbr\u003eIII. THE FOUNDING OF NEW FRANCE\u003cbr\u003eIV. THE AGE OF LOUIS QUATORZE\u003cbr\u003eV. THE IRON GOVERNOR\u003cbr\u003eVI. LA SALLE AND THE VOYAGEURS\u003cbr\u003eVII. THE CHURCH IN NEW FRANCE\u003cbr\u003eVIII. SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA\u003cbr\u003eIX. THE COUREURS-DE-BOIS\u003cbr\u003eX. AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND TRADE\u003cbr\u003eXI. HOW THE PEOPLE LIVED\u003cbr\u003eBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\u003cbr\u003eINDEX\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFRANCE OF THE BOURBONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrance, when she undertook the creation of a Bourbon empire beyond the\u003cbr\u003eseas, was the first nation of Europe. Her population was larger than\u003cbr\u003ethat of Spain, and three times that of England. Her army in the days\u003cbr\u003eof Louis Quatorze, numbering nearly a half-million in all ranks, was\u003cbr\u003elarger than that of Rome at the height of the imperial power. No\u003cbr\u003enation since the fall of Roman supremacy had possessed such resources\u003cbr\u003efor conquering and colonizing new lands. By the middle of the\u003cbr\u003eseventeenth century Spain had ceased to be a dangerous rival; Germany\u003cbr\u003eand Italy were at the time little more than geographical expressions,\u003cbr\u003ewhile England was in the throes of the Puritan Revolution.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNor was it only in the arts of war that the hegemony of the Bourbon\u003cbr\u003ekingdom stood unquestioned. In art and education, in manners and\u003cbr\u003efashions, France also dominated the ideas of the old continent, the\u003cbr\u003edictator of social tastes as well as the grim warrior among the\u003cbr\u003enations. In the second half of the seventeenth century France might\u003cbr\u003ejustly claim to be both the heart and the head of Europe. Small wonder\u003cbr\u003eit was that the leaders of such a nation should demand to see the\u003cbr\u003e\"clause in Adam's will\" which bequeathed the New World to Spain and\u003cbr\u003ePortugal. Small wonder, indeed, that the first nation of Europe should\u003cbr\u003einsist upon a place in the sun to which her people might go to trade,\u003cbr\u003eto make land yield its increase, and to widen the Bourbon sway. If\u003cbr\u003eever there was a land able and ready to take up the white man's\u003cbr\u003eburden, it was the France of Louis XIV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe power and prestige of France at this time may be traced, in the\u003cbr\u003emain, to three sources. First there were the physical features, the\u003cbr\u003ecompactness of the kingdom, a fertile soil, a propitious climate, and\u003cbr\u003ea frontage upon two great seas. In an age when so much of a nation's\u003cbr\u003ewealth came from agriculture these were factors of great importance.\u003cbr\u003eOnly in commerce did the French people at this time find themselves\u003cbr\u003eoutstripped by their neighbors. Although both the Atlantic and the\u003cbr\u003eMediterranean bathed the shores of France, her people were being\u003cbr\u003eoutdistanced on the seas by the English and the Dutch, whose\u003cbr\u003ecommercial companies were exploiting the wealth of the new continents\u003cbr\u003eboth east and west. Yet in France there was food enough for all and to\u003cbr\u003espare; it was only because the means of distributing it were so poor\u003cbr\u003ethat some got more and others less than they required. France was\u003cbr\u003esupporting at this time a population half as large as that of today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen there were qualities of race which helped to make the nation\u003cbr\u003egreat. At all periods in their history the French have shown an almost\u003cbr\u003einexhaustible stamina, an ability to bear disasters, and to rise from\u003cbr\u003ethem quickly, a courage and persistence that no obstacles seem able to\u003cbr\u003ethwart. How often in the course of the centuries has France been torn\u003cbr\u003eapart by internecine strife or thrown prostrate by her enemies only to\u003cbr\u003eastonish the world by a superb display of recuperative powers! It was\u003cbr\u003eFrance that first among the kingdoms of Europe rose from feudal chaos\u003cbr\u003eto orderly nationalism; it was France that first among continental\u003cbr\u003ecountries after the Middle Ages established the reign of law\u003cbr\u003ethroughout a powerful realm. Though wars and turmoils almost without\u003cbr\u003eend were a heavy drain upon Gallic vitality for many generations,\u003cbr\u003eFrance achieved steady progress to primacy in the arts of peace.\u003cbr\u003eNone but a marvellous people could have made such efforts without\u003cbr\u003eexhaustion, yet even now in the twentieth century the astounding vigor\u003cbr\u003eof this race has not ceased to compel the admiration of mankind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the seventeenth century, moreover, France owed much of her national\u003cbr\u003epower to a highly-centralized and closely-knit scheme of government.\u003cbr\u003eUnder Richelieu the strength of the monarchy had been enhanced and the\u003cbr\u003epower of the nobility broken. When he began his personal rule, Louis\u003cbr\u003eXIV continued his work of consolidation and in the years of his long\u003cbr\u003ereign managed to centralize in the throne every vestige of political\u003cbr\u003epower. The famous saying attributed to him, \"The State! I am the\u003cbr\u003eState!\" embodied no idle boast. Nowhere was there a trace of\u003cbr\u003erepresentative government, nowhere a constitutional check on the\u003cbr\u003eroyal power.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47177810116848,"sku":"2940013836082","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013836082","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}