THE COLONIZATION OF ACADIA.

ENGLAND'S DEVELOPMENT—REIGN OF ELIZABETH—INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE—TYRANNY OF THE KINGS—JACQUES CARTIER—DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE—QUEBEC FOUNDED—ACADIA COLONIZED—TRANSFERRED TO ENGLAND—EXTRACTS FROM LONGFELLOW'S POEM—VIRGINIA SETTLED.

In previous chapters we have traced the instrumentalities which God used in the unshackling of the minds of men from the superstitions of the past, and disciplining them for the reception of higher truths. We have seen how, amidst the rage of tyrants and in spite of the opposition of the powers of evil, society had gradually climbed to a loftier intellectual eminence than that to which she had attained in any previous age. The time had at length arrived, when, far from the jarring scenes of Europe's strife, a nation was to come into existence, earnest in its love of human liberty, and vigorous in the execution of its purposes—a nation, which should accomplish some of the mightiest achievements of the human race; and where, under the benign influences of its political institutions, and in the Lord's due time, the gospel should be again revealed and the Kingdom of God set up among the children of men.

To rightly understand the history and character of an individual, we must know something of his parentage and the circumstances of his early life. Hence to understand the character of the American people, we must know something of their great national mother, the people of England.

The defeat of the great Spanish armada delivered England from the control of continental Europe, and marked a critical epoch in her development. From that hour England's destiny was fixed. She was to be the great protestant power. Her sphere of action was to be upon the seas. She was to take a leading part in the new world of the west. The time was coming when her commerce should surpass all the nations of ancient or modern times; but, above all, her language and literature were fast developing, by means of which her laws and influence would effect the remotest nations of the earth. Hitherto England had lagged behind in the intellectual development of Europe. In the single reign of Elizabeth she leaped to the first rank among the nations of the earth; nay more, she was to become the mother of nations. An impression, vague and shadowy indeed, but none the less real, penetrated the minds of the English people, that they were to be the repository of the divine will, and the executor of His purposes—that the blessings and prerogatives of ancient Israel, were to be their inheritance.

Beneath the rough exterior and blunt manners of that age, lay the new sense of a prophetic power—the sense of a divine commission. And who will say that they were wrong, or prove that they were not divinely commissioned to break down the barriers to human progress, and to some extent prepare society for the "dispensation of the fullness of times?"

The English translation of the Bible, became the great rule of life. The whole moral effect which is now produced by the newspaper, the sermon, the lecture and the circulating library was then produced by the Bible alone; and its effect on the national character was simply amazing. Religion was no longer confined to the cloister and cathedral, but became a subject of thought for every individual. The profound meditations that Shakspeare puts into the mouth of Hamlet were but a transcript of the thoughts and feelings of the earnest men of that age, who saw themselves day by day in the theater of a mighty struggle between the powers of light and the powers of darkness—their souls the prize of an eternal conflict between heaven and hell.

It was this phase of thought that gave to the world the sublime conceptions of Milton, the realistic dreams of Bunyan, as well as the stern and solemn character of Oliver Cromwell and his followers; and made these liberty-loving peasants more than a match for the chivalry and iron-clad knights of King Charles I.

Nor was this feeling confined to any one class. It permeated all ranks and conditions, even to the sovereign. Tradition still points out the tree in Hatfield Park, beneath which Elizabeth was sitting when she received the news of her peaceful accession to the throne. She fell on her knees and exclaimed: "It is the Lord's doing, and marvelous in our eyes." To the end of her reign these words remained stamped on the golden coinage of the realm. Through all her long and eventful life, the feeling seems never to have left her, that her preservation and her reign were the issues of a direct interposition of God.

The foregoing may help us to understand the character of the English people at the time they commenced to plant the institutions of liberty on this continent. Who can read the thrilling narrative of English history during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries without acknowledging the hand of God, in moulding the character of the British people?

It was not a pleasant world which the men and women of Europe had to live in during the sixteenth century. Fighting was the constant occupation of the kings of that time; civil wars were also frequent. In these confused strifes men slew their acquaintances and friends as the only method they knew of deciding who was to fill the throne. Feeble commerce was crushed under the iron heel of war. No such thing as security for life and property was expected. The fields of the husbandman were trodden down by the march of armies. Disbanded or deserted soldiers wandered as lawless men over the country and robbed and murdered at their will. Epidemic diseases of strange type, the result of insufficient and unwholesome food, and the poisonous air of undrained lands and filthy streets destroyed the inhabitants. Under what hardships and miseries the men of the sixteenth century passed their days, it is scarcely possible for us now to conceive.

From the persecutions of the old world they fled to the wilds of the new. The thrilling story of their adventures, though indeed real, sounds more like romance than reality. Unlike the history of eastern nations, which frequently loses itself in mists of antiquity, the history of the American people begins at a comparatively recent date. It is less than four hundred years since Columbus and his companions first saw the western continent, and less than two hundred and seventy-five years since the first colony was planted in the territory which formed the thirteen original states.

Another peculiarity is, that from the very first this land has been an asylum for the persecuted and oppressed of every nation.

It was in the beautiful month of May, 1535, that Jacques Cartier, a bold navigator in the service of the king of France, sailed along the shores of the gulf of St. Lawrence, stopping here and there to examine the country and lay out plats for future settlements. In July he entered the river St. Lawrence and sailed on its broad waters, amidst picturesque scenery in which was realized all his glowing expectations and dreams. Leaving his vessel at the present site of Quebec, he proceeded up the river in a small boat, as far as the Indian settlement of Hochelaga. This place he named Mount Royal. It is now the magnificent city of Montreal. However, no permanent settlements were formed, and it was not till 1604 that De Monts, Champlain and other explorers began to colonize the country, on the banks of the gulf of St. Lawrence. Quebec was founded in 1608. The whole region on the south shore of the gulf was then called Acadia. Its history shows the wonderful influence kindness exerts, even among the savage tribes of North America. Poutrincourt, the governor of the colony, caused an immense banqueting hall to be erected, which was well supplied with deer, moose, bear and all kinds of wild fowl. He made friends of the Indians and entertained the chiefs at sumptuous feasts. In the Winter evenings by the blazing pine logs, Champlain would relate the stories of his wonderful adventures among the hills, and valleys, and lakes, and streams, and cataracts, and red men of the west.

At length, by the fortunes of war, this colony was transferred to England; but its heart was still with France. The English distrusted its loyalty, and sent an armed force to surprise and attack it, and carry away the once happy people, and scatter them throughout their American domains. The Acadians were crowded into transports, their families were separated, their friendships and attachments broken up, and they were exiled among strangers, never to see each other again. The name of Acadia was blotted out. Most people are familiar with Longfellow's beautiful story of Evangeline. It is now almost the only memorial that remains of the history of that colony.

As a picture of peace and prosperity, contentment and neighborly love, worthy of imitation in this selfish age, a few lines from Longfellow's beautiful poem, may not be out of place:

"There, in the midst of its farms reposed the Acadian village,
Strongly built were the houses with frames of oak and of hemlock;
There, in the tranquil evenings when sunset had faded to twilight,
Softly the church-bell sounded calling the people to worship.
Thus dwelt in love these simple Acadian farmers,
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike they were free from
Fear that reigns with the tyrant, and envy the vice of republics,
Neither locks had they to their doors nor bars to their windows,
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance."

Meanwhile attempts at colonizing were going on farther south. The settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607. The adventures of Captain John Smith, the virtual founder of the colony, are well known to most readers, as well as the romantic story of Pocahontas, the Indian princess. Its early history is a narrative of strife and human suffering. Many of its early inhabitants were scions of nobility, men unused to toil; in some cases they were mere adventurers, actuated by a lust for gold or love of plunder. However, it teaches one important lesson, that noble birth and high-sounding titles are of little account when compared with the plain virtues of industry, honesty, and trust in God—that it is not men of wealth, but men of noble character that are of most importance in founding a commonwealth.