England and France
Henry's imagination was caught by the rich potential of the Northwest Territories and he sailed to England in the autumn of 1776 with a proposal for the Hudson's Bay Company. Bearing a Letter of introduction from Luc de la Corne to his brother Abbé Joseph-Marie de La Corne de Chaptes, Henry next went to France where he was met with "a most flattering reception". Through the influence of the Abbé, Henry was received by Marie-Antoinette at the French Court. Though a natural raconteur who was used to winning friends with ease, it was a great sadness to Henry for the rest of his days that he was met with nothing other than condescension from the young queen and her court.
Henry returned to British North America in 1777 in partnership with Jean-Baptiste Blondeau, trading at the Michipicoten River and Sault Ste Marie; all the time working closely with his old friend Cadot. Between 1778 and 1781 he visited England three times, developing friendships with Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. Having discussed the possibility at Banks' residence on Soho Square with him and Solander, on his last trip to England, Henry delivered a detailed plan to Banks for an expedition to find an overland route to the Pacific Ocean. This had seemed possible when they had studied Captain Cook's recent findings, but as it was, Cook had made a mistake so the planned expedition came to nothing.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Henry The Elder
Famous quotes containing the words england and, england and/or france:
“It is a ridiculous demand which England and America make, that you shall speak so that they can understand you. Neither men nor toadstools grow so.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Whenever an obviously well founded statement is made in England by a person specially well acquainted with the facts, that unlucky person is instantly and frantically contradicted by all the people who obviously know nothing about it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I shall not bring an automobile with me. These inventions infest France almost as much as Bloomer cycling costumes, but they make a horrid racket, and are particularly objectionable. So are the Bloomers. Nothing more abominable has ever been invented. Perhaps the automobile tricycles may succeed better, but I abjure all these works of the devil.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)