Inspired by the jealous Company of the North, he refused to grant
Radisson prize money for the capture of the contraband ship, restored
the vessel to Gillam, and gave him clearance to sail for Boston.[13]
For this La Barre was sharply reprimanded from France; but the
reprimand did not mend the broken fortunes of the two explorers, who
had given their lives for the extension of the French domain.[14] M.
Colbert summoned Radisson and Groseillers to return to France and give
an account of all they had done; but when they arrived in Paris, on
January 15, 1684, they learned that the great statesman had died. Lord
Preston, the English envoy, had lodged such complaints against them for
the defeat of the Englishmen in Hudson Bay, that France hesitated to
extend public recognition of their services.
[1] Within ten years so many different regulations were promulgated on
the fur trade that it is almost impossible to keep track of them. In
1673 orders came from Paris forbidding French settlers of New France
from wandering in the woods for longer than twenty-four hours. In 1672
M. Frontenac forbade the selling of merchandise to _coureurs du bois_,
or the purchase of furs from them. In 1675 a decree of the Council of
State awarded to M. Jean Oudiette one-fourth of all beaver, with the
exclusive right of buying and selling in Canada. In 1676 Frontenac
withdrew from the _Cie Indes Occidentales_ all the rights it had over
Canada and other places.
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