Yale University Library

39002002326693

^KANCE AND ENGLAND

NORTH AMERICA.

A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES.

FRANCIS PARKMAN,
AUTHOR OP "HISTOBY OF THE CONSriKAOY OF PONTIAC,':
"THE ORBGON TRAIL," ETC.

PART FOURTH.

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BKOWN, AND COMPANY
1885.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
FRANOIS PARKMAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

University Press: John Wilson & Son.
Cambridge.

THE OLD REGIME

IN

CANADA.

BY

FRANCIS PARKMAN,
AUTHOR OF "PIONEERS OF FRANCE IN THE NEW WORLD." " THE
JESUITS IS NORTH AMERICA," AND "THE PISCOVEBY
OF THE GREAT WSBT."

FOURTEENTH EDITION.

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1885.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
FRANCIS PARKMAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

TO

GEORGE EDWARD ELLIS, D.D.

Mt dear De. Ellis :
When, in my youth, I proposed to write a series of books on the
French in America, you encouraged the attempt, and your helpful
kindness has followed it from that day to this. Pray accept the dedica
tion of this volume in token of the grateful regard of
Very faithfully yours,
FRANCIS PARKMAN.

PREFACE.

" The physiognomy of a government," says De
Tocqueville, "can best be judged in its colonies,
for there its characteristic traits usually appear
larger and more distinct. "When I wish to judge
of the spirit and the faults of the administration
of Louis XIV., I must go to Canada. Its deform
ity is there seen as through a microscope."
The monarchical administration of France, at
the height of its power and at the moment of
its supreme triumph, stretched an arm across the
Atlantic and grasped the North American conti
nent. This volume attempts to show by what
methods it strove to make good its hold, why it
achieved a certain kind of success, and why it
failed at last. The political system which has
fallen, and the antagonistic system which has pre
vailed, seem, at first sight, to offer nothing but
contrasts; yet out of the tomb of Canadian abso
lutism come voices not without suggestion even to
us. Extremes meet, and Autocracy and Democ
racy often touch hands, at least in their vices.

Vlll PREFACE.
The means of knowing the Canada of the past
are ample. The pen was always busy in this out
post of the old monarchy. The king and the min
ister demanded to know every thing ; and officials
of high and low degree, soldiers and civilians,
friends and foes, poured letters, despatches, and
memorials, on both sides of every question, into
the lap of government. These masses of paper
have in the main survived the perils of revolutions
and the incendiary torch of the Commune. Add
to them the voluminous records of the Superior
Council of Quebec, and numerous other documents
preserved in the civil and ecclesiastical depositories
of Canada.
The governments of New York and of Canada
have caused a large part of the papers in the
French archives, relating to their early history, to
be copied and brought to America, and valuable
contributions of material from the same quarter
have been made by the State of Massachusetts and
by private Canadian investigators. Nevertheless,
a great deal has still remained in France, uncopied
and unexplored. In the course of several visits to
that country, I have availed myself of these sup
plementary papers, as well as of those which had
before been copied, sparing neither time nor pains
to explore every part of the field. With the help
of a system of classified notes, I have collated the
evidence of the various writers, and set down

PREFACE. IX
without reserve all the results of the examination,
whether favorable or unfavorable. Some of them
are of a character which I regret, since they cannot
be agreeable to persons for whom I have a very
cordial regard. The conclusions drawn from the
facts may be matter of opinion, but it will be
remembered that the facts themselves can be
overthrown only by overthrowing the evidence
on which they rest, or bringing forward counter-
evidence of equal or greater strength ; and neither
task will be found an easy one.1
I have received most valuable aid in my inqui
ries from the great knowledge and experience of
M. Pierre Margry, Chief of the Archives of the
Marine and Colonies at Paris. I beg also warmly
to acknowledge the ldnd offices of Abbe Henri
Raymond Casgrain and Grand Vicar Cazeau, of
Quebec, together with those of James LeMoine,
Esq., M. Eugene Tachg, Hon. P. J. 0. Chauveau,
and other eminent Canadians, and Henry Har-
risse, Esq.
The few extracts from original documents, which
are printed in the appendix, may serve as samples
of the material out of which the work has been
constructed. In some instances their testimony
i Those who wish to see the subject from a point of view opposite to
mine cannot do better than consult the work of the Jesuit Charlevoix,
with the excellent annotation of Mr. Shea. (History and General De
scription of New France, by the Rev. P. F. X de Charlevoix, 8 J., trans-
lated with notes by John Gilmary Shea. 6 vols. New Tork : 1866-1872.

X PREFACE.
might be multiplied twenty-fold. When the place
of deposit of the documents cited in the margin
is not otherwise indicated, they will, in nearly all
cases, be found in the Archives of the Marine
and Colonies.
In the present book we examine the political
and social machine; in the next volume of the
series we shall see this machine in action.
Boston, July 1, 1874.

CONTENTS.

I.
T«E PERIOD OP TRANSITION.
. CHAPTER L
1653-1658.
the jesuits at onondaga. Page
The Iroquois War. — Father Poncet. — His Adventures. — Jesuit
Boldness. — Le Moyne's Mission. — Chaumonot and Dablon. —
— Iroquois Ferocity. — The Mohawk Kidnappers. — Critical
Position. — The Colony of Onondaga. — Speech of Chaumonot.
— Omens of Destruction. — Device of the Jesuits. — The Medi-
•owe Feast. — The Escape  1
CHAPTER H.
1642-1661.
THE HOLT WARS OF MONTREAL.
Pnuversiere. — Mance and Bourgeoys. — Miracle. — A Pious De
faulter. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Montreal in 1659. — The
, Hospital Nuns. — The Nuns and the Iroquois. — More Miracles.
— The Murdered Priests. — Brigeac and Closse. — Soldiers of
the Holy Family  41
CHAPTER HL
i 1660, 1661.
THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT.
Suffering and Terror. — Francois Ilertel. — The Captive Wolf.—
The threatened Invasion. — Daulac des Ormeaux. — The Ad
venturers at the Long Saut. — The Attack. — A Desperate
Defence. — A Final Assault. — The Fort taken  63

XU CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
1657-1668.
THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. PA03
Domestic Strife. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Abbe" Queylus. — Fran
cois de Laval. — The Zealots of Caen. — Gallican and Ultra
montane. — The Rival Claimants. — Storm at Quebec. — Laval
Triumphant  88
CHAPTER V.
1659, 1660.
LAVAL AND ARGENSON.
Francois de Laval. — His Position and Character. — Arrival ot
Argenson. — The Quarrel  108
CHAPTER VI.
1658-1663.
LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR.
Reception of Argenson. — His Difficulties. — His Recall. — Dubois
d'Avaugour, — The Brandy Quarrel. — Distress of Laval. —
Portents. — The Earthquake  » . . 115
CHAPTER VII.
1661-1664.
LAVAL AND DUMESNIL.
Peronne Dumesnil. — The Old Council. — Alleged Murder. — The
New Council. — Bourdon and Villeray. — Strong Measures. —
Escape of Dumesnil. — Views of Colbert  181
CHAPTER VTII.
1657-1665.
LAVAL AND MEZT.
The Bishop's Choice. — A Military Zealot. — Hopeful Beginnings.
— Signs of Storm. — The Quarrel. — Distress of Mezy.  Ho
Refuses to Yield. — His Defeat and Death  145

CONTENTS. Xlll
CHAPTER IX.
1662-1680.
laval and the seminary. Page
Laval's Visit to Court. — The Seminary. — Zeal of the Bishop.
— His Eulogists. — Church and State. — Attitude of Laval . . 159

H.
THE COLONY AND THE KING.
CHAPTER X.
1661-1665.
ROYAL INTERVENTION.
Fontainebleau. — Louis XIV. — Colbert. — The Company of the
West. — Evil Omens. — Action of the King. — Tracy, Courcelle,
and Talon. — The Regiment of Carignan-Salieres. — Tracy at
Quebec. — Miracles. — A Holy War  169
CHAPTER XL
1666, 1667.
THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED.
Courcelle's March. — His Failure and Return. — Courcelle and the
Jesui ts. — Mohawk Treachery. — Tracy's Expedition. — Burning
of the Mohawk Towns.' — French and English. — Dollier de Cas-
son at St. Anne. — Peace. — The Jesuits and the Iroquois . . 186
CHAPTER XIL
1665-1672.
PATERNAL GOVERNMENT.
Talon . — Restriction and Monopoly. — Views of Colbert. — Political
Galvanism.— A Father of the People  207

xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIIL
1661-1673.
MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. PAGE
Shipment of Emigrants. — Soldier Settlers. — Importation of
Wives. — Wedlock. — Summary Methods. — The Mothera of
Canada.— Bounties on Marriage.— Celibacy Punished. — Boun
ties on Children. — Results  215
CHAPTER XIV.
1665-1672.
THE NEW HOME.
Military Frontier. — The Canadian Settler. — Seignior and Vassal.
— Example of Talon. — Plan of Settlement. — Aspect of
Canada. — Quebec. — The River Settlements. — Montreal. —
The Pioneers  281
CHAPTER XV.
1663-1763.
CANADIAN FEUDALISM.
Transplantation of Feudalism . — Precautions. — Faith and Homage.
— The Seignior. — The Censitaire. — Royal Intervention. — The
Gentilhomme. — Canadian Noblesse  243

CHAPTER XVI.
1668-1763.
THE RULERS OP CANADA.
Nature of the Government. — The Governor. — The Council. —
Courts and Judges. — The Intendant. — His Grievances. — Strong
Government. — Sedition and Blasphemy. — Royal Bounty. —
Defects and Abuses  264

CONTENTS XV
CHAPTER XVIL
1663-1763.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY PAGB
Trade in Fetters. — The Huguenot Merchants. — Royal Patronage.
— The Fisheries. — Cries for Help. — Agriculture. — Manufact
ures. — Arts of Ornament. — Finance. — Card Money. — Repudi
ation. — Imposts. — The Beaver Trade. — The Fair at Montreal.
— Contraband Trade. — A Fatal System. — Trouble and
Change. — The Coureurs de Bois. - The Forest. — Letter of
Carheil  289
CHAPTER XVIH.
1663-1702.
THE MISSIONS. THE BRANDY QUESTION.
The Jesuits and the Iroquois. — Mission Villages. — Michilliraack-
inae. — Father Carheil. — Temperance. — Brandy and the
Indians. — Strong Measures. — Disputes. — License and Pro
hibition. — Views of the King. — Trade and the Jesuits . . . 816
CHAPTER XIX.
1663-1763.
PRIESTS AND PEOPLE.
'Jhurch and State. — The Bishop and the King. — The King and
the Cures. — The New Bishop. — The Canadian Curd. — Ecclesi
astical Rule. — Saint- Vallier and Denonville. — Clerical Rigor.
— Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Courcelle and Chatelain. — The Re-
collets. — Heresy and Witchcraft. — Canadian Nuns. — Jeanne
X,e Ber, — Education. — The Seminary. — Saint Joachim. —
Miracles of Saint Anne. — Canadian Schools  331
CHAPTER XX.
1640-1763.
MORALS AND MANNERS
Social Influence of the Troops. — A Petty Tyrant. — Brawls. —
Violence and Outlawry.— State of the Population.— Views of
Denonville. — Brandy. — Beggary. — The Past and the Present.
— Inns.— State of Quebec. —Fires. — The Country Parishes.
— Slavery. — Views of La Hontan. — Of Hocquart. — Of
Bougainville. —Of Kalm. — Of Charlevoix  368

XVI CONTENia.
CHAPTER XXL
1663-1763.
canadian absolutism. Pagb
Formation of Canadian Character. — The Rival Colonies. — Eng
land and France. — New England . — Characteristics of Race. —
Military Qualities. — The Church. — The English Conquest . . 394
APPENDIX. A. The Hermitage of Caen  403
B. Laval and Argenson  407
C. Peronne Dumesnil  409
D. Laval and Me'sy  413
E. Marriage and Population  416
F. Chateau St. Louis  419
G. Trade and Industry  422
H. Letter of Father Carheil  427
I. The Government and the Clergy  432
J. Canadian Cures. Education. Discipline  43K
INDEX  441

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1.
THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION.

CHAPTER I.
1653-1658.
THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA.
The Iroquois War. — Father Poncet. — His Adventures. —
Jesuit Boldness. — Le Motne's Mission. — Chaumonot and
Dablon. — Iroquois Ferocity. — The Mohawk Kidnappers. —
Critical Position. — The Colony op Onondaga. — Speech op
Chaumonot. — Omens op Destruction. — Device op the Jes
uits. — The Medicine Feast — The Escape.
In the summer of 1653, all Canada turned to
fasting and penance, processions, vows, and suppli
cations. The saints and the Virgin were beset with
unceasing prayer. The wretched little colony was
like some puny garrison, starving and sick, com
passed with inveterate foes, supplies cut off, and
succor hopeless.
At Montreal, the advance guard of the settle
ments, a sort of Castle Dangerous, held by about
fifty Frenchmen, and said by a pious writer of the
day to exist only by a continuous miracle, some
two hundred Iroquois fell upon twenty-six French
men. The Christians were outmatched, eight to
one ; but, says the chronicle, the Queen of Heaven

2 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1653
was on their side, and the Son of Mary refuses
nothing to his holy mother.1 Through her inter
cession, the Iroquois sho^ so wildly that at their
first fire every bullet missed its mark, and they
met with a bloody defeat. The palisaded settle
ment of Three Rivers, though in a position less
exposed than that of Montreal, was in no less
jeopardy. A noted war-chief of the Mohawk Iro
quois had been captured here the year before, and
put to death ; and his tribe swarmed out, like a
nest of angry hornets, to revenge him. Not con
tent with defeating and killing the commandant,
Du Plessis Bochart, they encamped during winter
in the neighboring forest, watching for an oppor
tunity to surprise the place. Hunger drove them
off, but they returned in spring, .infesting every
field and pathway ; till, at length, some six hundred
of their warriors landed in secret and lay hidden in
the depths of the woods, silently biding their time.
Having failed, however, in an artifice designed to
lure the French out of their defences, they showed
themselves on all sides, plundering, burning, and
destroying, up to the palisades of the fort.2
Of the three settlements which, with their feeble
dependencies, then comprised the whole of Canada,
Quebec was least exposed to Indian attacks, being
partially covered by Montreal and Three Rivers.
Nevertheless, there was no safety this year, even
1 Le Mercier, Relation, 1653, 3.
' So bent were they on taking the place, that they brought then
families, in order to make a permanent settlement. — Marie de lTncarna
?ion, Lcttre du.6 Sept., 1653.

^53.1 PACIFIC OVERTURES. 3
under the cannon of Fort St. Louis. At Cap
Rouge, a few miles above, the Jesuit Poncet saw
a poor woman who had a patch of corn beside her
cabin, but could find nobody to harvest it. The
father went to seek aid, met one Mathurin
Franchetot, whom he persuaded to undertake the
charitable task, and was returning with him, when
they both fell into an ambuscade of Iroquois, who
seized them -and dragged them off. Thirty-two
men embarked in canoes at Quebuc to follow the
retreating savages and rescue the prisoners. Push
ing rapidly up the St. Lawrence, they approached
Three Rivers, found it beset by the Mohawks,
and bravely threw themselves into it, to the great
joy of its defenders and discouragement of the
assailants. Meanwhile, the intercession of the Virgin wrought
new marvels at Montreal, and a bright ray of hope
beamed forth from the darkness and the storm to
cheer the hearts of her votaries. It was on the
26 th of June that sixty of the Onondaga Iroquois
appeared in sight of the fort, shouting from a dis
tance that they came on an errand of peace, and
asking safe-conduct for some of their number.
Guns, scalping-knives, tomahawks, were all laid
aside ; and, with a confidence truly astonishing, a
deputation of chiefs, naked and defenceless, came
into the midst of those whom they had betrayed
so often. The French had a mind to seize them,
and pay them in kind for past treachery ; but they
refrained, seeing in this wondrous change of heart
the manifest hand of Heaven. Nevertheless, it can

jb?i

4 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1°5;
be explained without a miracle. The Iroquois, oii
at least, the western nations of their league, hip
just become involved in war with their neighbors
the Eries,1 and " one war at a time " was the mre
maxim of their policy. /
All was smiles and blandishment in the fort at
Montreal ; presents were exchanged, and the depu
ties departed, bearing home golden reports of the
French. An Oneida deputation soon followed ; but
the enraged Mohawks still infested Montreal and
beleaguered Three Rivers, till one of their prin
cipal chiefs and four of their best warriors were
captured by a party of Christian Hurons. Then,
seeing themselves abandoned by the other nations
of the league and left to wage the war alone, they,
too, made overtures of peace.
A grand council was held "at Quebec. Speeches
were made, and wampum-belts exchanged. The
Iroquois left some of their chief men as pledges of
sincerity, and two young soldiers offered them
selves as reciprocal pledges on the part of the
French. The war was over ; at least Canada had
found a moment to take breath for the next
struggle. The fur trade was restored again, with
promise of plenty ; for the beaver, profiting by the
quarrels of their human foes, had of late greatly
multiplied. It was a change from death to life ;
for Canada lived on the beaver, and, robbed of this,

1 See Jesuits in North America, 438. The Iroquois, it will be remem
bered, consisted of five "nations," or tribes, — the Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. For an account of them, see the
work just cited, Introduction.

1653.] CELESTIAL INTERVENTION. 5
her only sustenance, had been dying slowly since
the strife began.1
" Yesterday," writes Father Le Mercier, " all was
dejection and gloom ; to-day, all is smiles and
gayety. On Wednesday, massacre, burning, and
pillage ; on Thursday, gifts and visits, as among
friends. If the Iroquois have their hidden designs,
so, too, has God.
" On the day of the Visitation of the Holy
Virgin, the chief, Aontarisati,2 so regretted by the
Iroquois, was taken prisoner by our Indians, in
structed by our fathers, and baptized ; and, on the
same day, being put to death, he ascended to
heaven. I doubt not that he thanked the Virgin
for his misfortune and the blessing that followed,
and that he prayed to God for his countrymen.
" The people of Montreal made a solemn vow to
celebrate publicly the fete of this mother of all
blessings ; whereupon the Iroquois came to ask for
peace. " It was on the day of the Assumption of this
Queen of angels and of men that the Hurons took
at Montreal that other famous Iroquois chief, whose
capture caused the Mohawks to seek our alliance.
' ' On the day when the Church honors the Nativity
of the Holy Virgin, the Iroquois granted Father

1 According to Le Mercier, beaver to the value of from 200,000 to
300,000 livres was yearly brought down to the colony before the destruc
tion of the Hurons (1649-50). Three years later, not one beaver skin
was brought to Mcntreal during a twelvemonth, and Three Rivers and
Quebec had barely enough to pay for keeping the fortifications in
repair. 2 The chief whose death had so enraged the Mohawks.

(; THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1653.
Poncet his life ; and he, or rather the Holy Virgin
and the holy angels, labored so well in the work of
peace, that on St. Michael's Day it was resolved in
a council of the elders that the father should be
conducted to Quebec, and a lasting treaty made
with the French." J
Happy as was this consummation, Father Ponce t's
path to it had been a thorny one. He has left us
his own rueful story, written in obedience to the
command of his superior. He and his companion
in misery had been hurried through the forests,
from Cap Rouge on the St. Lawrence to the Indian
towns on the Mohawk. He tells tis how he slept
among dank weeds, dropping with the cold dew ;
how frightful colics assailed him as he waded Avaist-
deep through a mountain stream ; how one of his
feet was blistered and one of his legs benumbed ;
how an Indian snatched away his reliquary and lost
the precious contents. " I had," he says, " a picture
of Saint Ignatius with our Lord bearing the cross,
and another of Our Lady of Pity surrounded by the
five wounds of her Son. They were my joy and
my consolation ; but I hid them in a bush, lest the
Indians should laugh at them." He kept, however,
a little image of the crown of thorns, in which he
found great comfort, as Well as in communion with
his patron saints, Saint Raphael, Saint Martha, and
Saint Joseph. On one occasion he asked these celes
tial friends for something to soothe his thirst, and
for a bowl of broth to revive his strength. Scarcely
had he framed the petition when an Indian gave
l Relation, 1653, 18.

1653.J THE WOES OF FATHER PONCET. 7
him some wild plums ; and in the evening, as he lay
fainting on the ground, another brought him the
coveted broth. Wearv and forlorn, he reached at
%f 7
last the lower Mohawk town, where, after being
stripped, and, with his companion, forced to run
the gauntlet, he was placed on a scaffold of bark,
surrounded by a crowd of grinning and mocking
.savages. As it began to rain, they took him into
one of their lodges, and amused themselves by
making him dance, sing, and perform various fan
tastic tricks for their amusement. He seems to
have done his best to please them; "but," adds
the chronicler, " I will say in passing, that as he
did not succeed to their liking in these buffooneries
(singeries), they would have put him to death, if a
young Huron prisoner had not offered himself to
sing, dance, and make wry faces in place of the
father, who had never learned the trade."
Having sufficiently amused themselves, they left
him for a time in peace ; when an old one-eyed .
Indian approached, took his hands, examined them,
selected the left forefinger, and calling a child four
or five years old, gave him a knife, and told him
to cut it off, which the imp proceeded to do, his
victim meanwhile singing the Vexilla Regis. After
this preliminary, they would have burned him, like
Franchetot, his unfortunate companion, had not a
squaw happily adopted him in place, as he says, of
a deceased brother. He was installed at once in
the lodge of his new relatives, where, bereft of
every rag of Christian clothing, and attired in leg-
gins, moccasins, and a greasy shirt, the astonished

8 ' THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1658
father saw himself transformed into an Iroquois.
But his deliverance was at hand. A special agree
ment providing for it had formed a part of the treaty
concluded at Quebec ; and he now learned that he
was to be restored to his countrymen. After a
march of almost intolerable hardship, he saw him
self once more among Christians; Heaven, as he
modestly thinks, having found him unworthy of
martyrdom. "At last," he writes, "we reached Montreal on
the 21st of Oct.j'^r, the nine weeks of my captivity
being accomplisned, in honor of Saint Michael and
all the holy angels. On the 6th of November the
Iroquois who conducted me made their presents to
confirm the peace ; and thus, on a Sunday evening,
eighty-and-one days after my capture, — that is to
say, nine times nine days, — this great business of
the peace was happily concluded, the holy angels
showing by this number nine, which is specially
dedicated to them, the part they bore in this holy
work."1 This incessant supernaturalism is the key
to the early history of New France.
Peace was made ; but would peace endure ?
There was little chance of it, and this for several
reasons. First, the native fickleness of the Iro
quois, who, astute and politic to a surprising degree,
were in certain respects, like all savages, mere
grown-up children. Next, their total want of con
trol over their fierce and capricious young warriors,
any one of whom could break the peace with im-
1 Poncet in Relation, 1653, 17. On Poncet's captivity see also Momtt
Pratique des J&uiles, vol. xxxiv. (4to) chap. xii.

1653.] IROQUOIS DESIGNS. 9
punity whenever he saw fit ; and, above all, the
strong probability that the Iroquois had made
peace in order, under cover of it, to butcher or
kidnap the unhappy remnant of the Hurons who
were living, under French protection, on the island
of Orleans, immediately below Quebec. I have
already told the story of the destruction of this
people and of the Jesuit missions established among
them.1 The conquerors were eager to complete
their bloody triumph by seizing upon the refugees
of Orleans, killing the elders, and strengthening
their own tribes by the adoption of the women,
children, and youths. The Mohawks and the
Onondagas were competitors for the prize. Each
coveted the Huron colony, and each was jealous
lest his rival should pounce upon it first.
When the Mohawks brought home Poncet, they
covertly gave wampum-belts to the Huron chiefs,
and invited them to remove to their villages. It
was the wolf's invitation to the lamb. The Hurons,
aghast with terror, went secretly to the Jesuits,
and told them that demons had whispered in their
ears an invitation to destruction. So helpless were
both the Hurons and their French supporters, that
they saw no recourse but dissimulation. The
Hurons promised to go, and only sought excuses
to gain time.
The Onondagas had a deeper plan. Their towns
were already full of Huron captives, former con
verts of the Jesuits, cherishing their memory and
constantly repeating their praises. Hence their
1 Jesuits in North America

10 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1654
tyrants conceived the idea that by planting al
Onondaga a colony of Frenchmen under the direc
tion of these beloved fathers, the Hurons of Orleans,
disarmed of suspicion, might readily be led to join
them. Other motives, as we shall see, tended to
the same end, and the Onondaga deputies begged,
or rather demanded, that a colony of Frenchmen
•should be sent among them.
Here was a dilemma. Was not this, like the
Mohawk invitation to the Hurons, an invitation to
butchery ? On the other hand, to refuse would
probably kindle the war afresh. The Jesuits had
long nursed a project bold to temerity. Their
great Huron mission was ruined ; but might not
another be built up among the authors of this ruin,
and the Iroquois themselves, tamed by the power
of the Faith, be annexed to the kingdoms of Heaven
and of France ? Thus would peace be restored to
Canada, a barrier of fire opposed to the Dutch and
English heretics, and the power of the Jesuits
vastly increased. Yet the time was hardly ripe
for such an attempt. Before thrusting a head into
the tiger's jaws, it would be well to try the effect
of thrusting in a hand. They resolved to compro
mise with the danger, and before risking a colony
at Onondaga to send thither an envoy who could
soothe the Indians, confirm them in pacific designs,
and pave the way for more decisive steps. The
choice fell on Father Simon Le Moyne.
The errand was mainly a political one ; and this
sagacious and able priest, versed in Indian lan
guages and customs, was well suited to do it.

1654.] FATHER LE MOYNE. 1]
" On the second day of the month of July, the fes
tival of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin,
ever favorable to our enterprises, Father Simon
Le Moyne set out from Quebec for the country
of the Onondaga Iroquois." In these words does
Father Le Mercier chronicle the departure of his
brother Jesuit. Scarcely was he gone when a band
of Mohawks, under a redoubtable half-breed known
as the Flemish Bastard, arrived at Quebec ; and,
when they heard that the envoy was to go to the
Onondagas without visiting their tribe, they took
the imagined slight in high dudgeon, displaying
such jealousy and ire that a letter was sent after
Le Moyne, directing him to proceed to the Mohawk
towns before his return. But he was already be
yond reach, and the angry Mohawks were left to
digest their wrath.
At Montreal, Le Moyne took a canoe, a young
Frenchman, and two or three Indians, and began
the tumultuous journey of the Upper St. Lawrence.
Nature, or habit, had taught him to love the wil
derness life. He and his companions had strug
gled all day against the surges of La Chine, and
were bivouacked at evening by the Lake of St.
Louis, when a cloud of mosquitoes fell upon them,
followed by a shower of warm rain. The father,
stretched under a tree, seems clearly to have en
joyed himself. " It is a pleasure," he writes, " the
sweetest and most innocent imaginable, to have
no other shelter than trees planted by Nature since
the creation of the world." Sometimes, during
their journey, this primitive tent proved insuf-

12 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [*654.
ficient, and they would build a bark hut or find a
partial shelter under their inverted canoe. Now
they glided smoothly over the sunny bosom of the
calm and smiling river, and now strained every
nerve to fight their slow way against the rapids,
dragging their canoe upward in the shallow water
by the shore, as one leads an unwilling horse by
the bridle, or shouldering it and bearing it through
the forest to the smoother current above. Game
abounded ; and they saw great herds of elk quietly
defiling between the water and the woods, with
little heed of men, who in that perilous region
found employment enough in hunting one another.
At the entrance of Lake Ontario they met a
party of Iroquois fishermen, who proved friendly.
and guided them on their way. Ascending the
Onondaga, they neared their destination ; and now
all misgivings as to their reception at the Iroquois
capital were dispelled. The inhabitants came to
meet them, bringing roasting ears of the young
maize and bread made of its pulp, than which they
knew no luxury more exquisite. Their faces
beamed welcome. Le Moyne was astonished. " I
never," he says, " saw the like among Indians be
fore." They were flattered by his visit, and, for
the moment, were glad to see him. They hoped
for great advantages from the residence of French
men among them ; and, having the Erie war on
their hands, they wished for peace with Canada.
" One would call me brother," writes Le Moyne ;
" another, uncle ; another, cousin. I never had
so many relations."

1654.J LE MOYNE AT ONONDAGA. 13
He was overjoyed to find that many of the
Huron converts, who had long been captives at
Onondaga, had not forgotten the teachings of their
Jesuit instructors. Such influence as they had
with their conquerors was sure to be exerted in
behalf of the French. Deputies of the Senecas,
Cayugas, and Oneidas at length arrived, and, on
the 10th of August, the criers passed through the
town, summoning all to hear the words of Onontio.
The naked dignitaries, sitting, squatting, or lying
at full length, thronged the smoky hall of council
The father, knelt and prayed in a loud voice, in
voking the aid of Heaven, cursing the demons who
are spirits of discord, and calling on the tutelar
angels of the country to open the ears of his lis
teners. Then he opened his packet of presents
and began his speech. "I was full two hours,"
he says, "in making it, speaking in the tone of
a chief, and walking to and fro, after their fashion,
like an actor on a theatre." Not only did he im
itate the prolonged accents of the Iroquois orators,
but he adopted and improved their figures of
speech, and addressed them in turn by their re
spective tribes, bands, and families, calling their
men of note by name, as if he had been born among
them. They were delighted; and their ejacula
tions of approval — hoh-hoh-hoh — came thick and
fast at every pause of his harangue. Especially
were they pleased with the eighth, ninth, tenth,
and eleventh presents, whereby the reverend
speaker gave to the four upper nations of the
league four hatchets to strike their new enemies,

14 THE JEfDITS AT ONONDAGA.

11654.

the Eries ; while by another present he metaphor
ically daubed their faces with the war-paint. How
ever it may have suited the character of a Christian
priest to hound on these savage hordes to a war
of extermination which they had themselves pro
voked, it is certain that, as a politician, Le Moyne
did wisely ; since in the war with the Eries lay the
best hope of peace for the French.
The reply of the Indian orator was friendly to
overflowing. He prayed his French brethren to
choose a spot on the lake of Onondaga, where they
might dwell in the country of the Iroquois, as they
dwelt already in their hearts. Le Moyne promised,
and made two presents to confirm the pledge.
Then, his mission fulfilled,- he set out on his return,
attended by a troop of Indians. As he approached
the lake, his escort showed him a large spring of
water, possessed, as they told him, by a bad spirit.
Le Moyne tasted it, then boiled a little of it, and
produced a quantity of excellent salt. He had
discovered the famous salt-springs of Onondaga.
Fishing and hunting, the party pursued their way
till, at noon of the 7th of September, Le Moyne
reached Montreal.1
When he reached Quebec, his tidings cheered for
a while the anxious hearts of its tenants ; but an
unwonted incident soon told them how hollow was
the ground beneath their feet. Le Moyne, accom
panied by two Onondagas and several Hurons and
Algonquins, was returning to Montreal, when he
and his companions were set upon by a war-party
1 Journal du Pere Le Moine, Relation, 1654, chaps, vi. viL

1654-55.' MOHAWK OUTRAGES. 15
of Mohawks. The Hurons and Algonquins were
killed. One of the Onondagas shared their fate,
and the other, with Le Moyne himself, was seized
and bound fast. The captive Onondaga, however,
was so loud in his threats and denunciations, that
the Mohawks released both him and the Jesuit.1
Here was a foreshadowing of civil war, Mohawk
against Onondaga, Iroquois against Iroquois. The
quarrel was patched up, but fresh provocations
were imminent.
The Mohawks took no part in the Erie war, and
hence their hands were free to fight the French
and the tribes allied with them. Reckless of their
promises, they began a series of butcheries, fell
upon the French at Isle aux Oies, killed a lay
brother of the Jesuits at Sillery, and attacked Mont
real. Here, being roughly handled, they came
for a time to their senses, and offered terms, prom
ising to spare the French, but declaring that they
would still wage war against the Hurons and Al
gonquins. These were allies whom the French
were pledged to protect; but so helpless was the
colony, that the insolent and humiliating proffer
was accepted, and another peace ensued, as hollow
as the last. The indefatigable Le Moyne was sent
to the Mohawk towns to confirm it, " so far," says
the chronicle, " as it is possible to confirm a peace
made by infidels backed by heretics."2 The Mo
hawks received him with great rejoicing ; yet his
1 Compare Relation, 1654, 33, and Lettre de Marie de I' Incarnation, 18
Octobre, 1654.
2 Copie de Deux Lettres envoy&s de la Nouvelle France au Pere Procureia
des Missions de la Compagnie de Je~sus.

16 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1655.
life was not safe for a moment. A warrior, feign
ing madness, raved through the town with uplifted
hatchet, howling for his blood; but the saints
watched over him and balked the machinations of
hell. He came off alive and returned to Montreal,
spent with famine and fatigue.
Meanwhile a deputation of eighteen Onondaga
chiefs arrived at Quebec. There was a grand
council. The Onondagas demanded a colony of
Frenchmen to dwell among them. Lauson, the
governor, dared neither to consent nor to refuse.
A middle course was chosen, and two Jesuits, Chau
monot and Dablon, were sent, like Le Moyne, partly
to gain time, partly to reconnoitre, and partly to
confirm the Onondagas in such good intentions as
they might entertain. Chaumonot was a veteran
of the Huron mission, who, miraculously as he him
self supposed, had acquired a great fluency in the
Huron tongue, which is closely allied to that of the
Iroquois. Dablon, a new-comer, spoke, as yet, no
Indian. Their voyage up the St. Lawrence was enlivened
by an extraordinary bear-hunt, and by the antics
of one of their Indian attendants, who, having
dreamed that he had swallowed a frog, roused the
whole camp by the gymnastics with which he tried
to rid himself of the intruder. On approaching
Onondaga, they were met by a chief who sang a
song of welcome, a part of which he seasoned with
touches of humor, apostrophizing the fish in the
river Onondaga, naming each sort, great or small,
and calling on them in turn to come into the nets

1655.| CHAUMONOT'S ELOQUENCE. 17
of the Frenchmen and sacrifice life cheerfully foi
their behoof. Hereupon there was much laughter
among the Indian auditors. An unwonted cleanli
ness reigned in the town; the streets had been
cleared of refuse, and the arched roofs of the Ions
houses of bark were covered with red-skinned chil
dren staring at the entry of the "black robes."
Crowds followed behind, and all was jubilation.
The dignitaries of the tribe met them on the way,
and greeted them with a speech of welcome. A
ieast of bear's meat awaited them; but, unhap
pily, it was Friday, and the fathers were forced
to abstain.
" On Monday, the 15th of November, at nine in
the morning, after having secretly sent to Paradise
a dying infant by the waters of baptism, all the
elders and the people having assembled, we opened
the council by public prayer." Thus writes Father
Dablon. His colleague, Chaumonot, a Frenchman
bred in Italy, now rose, with a long belt of wam
pum in his hand, and proceeded to make so effec
tive a display of his rhetorical gifts that the Indians
were lost in admiration, and their orators put to
the blush by his improvements on their own meta
phors. " If he had spoken all day," said the de
lighted auditors, " we should not have had enough
of it." " The Dutch," added others, " have neither
brains nor tongues ; they never tell us about Para
dise and Hell ; on the contrary, they lead us into
bad ways."
On the next day the chiefs returned their an
swer. The council opened with a song or chant,
2

18 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1655
which was divided into six parts, and which, ac
cording to Dablon, was exceedingly well sung.
The burden of the fifth part was as follows: —
"Farewell war; farewell tomahawk; we have
been fools till now ; henceforth we will be brothers ;
yes, Ave will be brothers."
Then came four presents, the third of which
enraptured the fathers. It was a belt of seven
thousand beads of wampum. " But this," says
Dablon, " was as nothing to the words that accom
panied it." " It is the gift of the faith," said the
orator ; " it is to tell you that we are believers ; it
is to beg you not to tire of instructing us ; have
patience, seeing that we are so dull in learning
prayer; push it into our heads and our hearts."
Then he led Chaumonot into the midst of the as
sembly, clasped him in his arms, tied the belt about
his waist, and protested, with a suspicious redun-
danc}7 of words, that as he clasped the father, so
would he clasp the faith.
What had wrought this sudden change of heart?
The eagerness of the Onondagas that the French
should settle among them, had, no doubt, a large
share in it. For the rest, the two Jesuits saw
abundant signs of the fierce, uncertain nature of
those with whom they were dealing. Erie prison
ers were brought in and tortured before their eyes,
one of them being a young stoic of about ten years,
who endured his fate without a single outcry.
Huron women and children, taken in war and
adopted by their captors, were killed on the slight
est provocation, and sometimes from mere caprice.

1056.] DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES. 19
For several days the whole town was in an uproar
with the crazy follies of the " dream feast," L and
one of the Fathers nearly lost his life in this Indian
Bedlam. One point was clear ; the French must make a
settlement at Onondaga, and that speedily, or, de
spite their professions of brotherhood, the Onon
dagas would make war. Their attitude became
menacing ; from urgency they passed to threats ;
and the two priests felt that the critical posture of
affairs must at once be reported at Quebec. But
here a difficulty arose. It was the beaver-hunting
season ; and, eager as were the Indians for a
French colony, not one of them would offer to
conduct the Jesuits to Quebec in order to fetch
one. It was not until nine masses had been said
to Saint. John the Baptist, that a number of Indians
consented to forego their hunting, and escort
Father Dablon home.2 Chaumonot remained at
Onondaga, to watch his dangerous hosts and soothe
their rising jealousies.
It was the 2d of March when Dablon began his
journey. His constitution must have been of iron,
or he would have succumbed to the appalling hard
ships of the way. It was neither winter nor spring.
The lakes and streams were not yet open, but the
half -thawed ice gave way beneath the foot. One
of the Indians fell through and was drowned.
Swamp and forest were clogged with sodden snow,
1 See Jesuits in North America, 67.
a De Quen, Relation, 1656, 35. Chaumonot, in his Autobiography,
ascribes the miracle to the intercession of the deceased BnJbeuf.

20 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1658
and ceaseless rains drenched them as they toiled
on, knee-deep in slush. Happily, the St. Lawrence
was open. They found an old wooden canoe by
the shore, embarked, and reached Montreal after
a journey of four weeks.
Dablon descended to Quebec. There was long
and anxious counsel in the chambers of Fort St.
Louis. The Jesuits had information that, if the
demands of the Onondagas were rejected, thev
would join the Mohawks to destroy Canada. But
why were they so eager for a colony of French
men ? Did they want them as hostages, that they
might attack the Hurons and Algonquins without
risk of French interference ; or would they mas
sacre them, and then, like tigers mad with the taste
of blood, turn upon the helpless settlements of the
St. Lawrence ? An abyss yawned on either hand.
Lauson, the governor, was in an agony of indeci
sion, but at length declared for the lesser and
remoter peril, and gave his voice for the colony.
The Jesuits were of the same mind, though it was
they, and not he, who must bear the brunt of dan
ger. " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church," said one of them, " and, if we die by the
fires of the Iroquois, we shall have won eternal life'
by snatching souls from the fires of Hell."
Preparation was begun at once. The expense
fell on the Jesuits, and the outfit is said to have
cost them seven thousand livres, — a heavy sum
for Canada at that day. A pious gentleman, Zach-
ary Du Puys, major of the fort of Quebec, joined
the expedition with ten soldiers; and between

1658.] • 'DEPARTURE. 2]
thirty and forty other Frenchmen also enrolled them
selves, impelled by devotion or destitution. Four
Jesuits, Le Mercier, the superior, with Dablon,
Menard, and Fremin, besides two lay brothers of
the order, formed, as it were, the pivot of the
enterprise. The governor made them the grant of a
hundred square leagues of land in the heart of the
Iroquois country, — a preposterous act, which, had
the Iroquois known it, would have rekindled the
war ; but Lauson had a mania for land-grants, and
was himself the proprietor of vast domains which he
could have occupied only at the cost of his scalp.
Embarked in two large boats and followed by
twelve canoes filled with Hurons, Onondagas, and
a few Senecas lately arrived, they set out on the
17th of May " to attack the demons," as Le Mer
cier writes, "in their very stronghold." With
shouts, tears, and benedictions, priests, soldiers, and
inhabitants waved farewell from the strand. They
passed the bare steeps of Cape Diamond and the
mission-house nestled beneath the heights of Sil-
lery, and vanished from the anxious eyes that
watched the last gleam of their receding oars.1
Meanwhile three hundred Mohawk warriors had
taken the war-path, bent on killing or kidnapping
the Hurons of Orleans. When they heard of the
departure of the colonists for Onondaga, their rage
was unbounded ; for not only were they full of
jealousy towards their Onondaga confederates, but
they had hitherto derived great profit from the
l Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettres, 1656. Le Mercier, Relation, 1657,
ehap. iv. Chaulmer, Nouveau Monde, II. 265, 322, 319.

22 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. f1056-
control which their local position gave them over
the traffic between this tribe and the D^itch of the
Hudson, upon whom the Onondagas, in common
with all the upper Iroquois, had been dependent
for their guns, hatchets, scalping-knives, beads,
blankets, and brandy. These supplies would now
be furnished by the French, and the Mohawk spec
ulators saw their occupation gone. Nevertheless,
they had just made peace with the French, and,
for the moment, were not quite in the mood to
break it. To wreak their spite, they took a mid
dle course, crouched in ambush among the bushes
at Point St. Croix, ten or twelve leagues above
Quebec, allowed the boats bearing the French to
pass unmolested, and fired a volley at the canoes
in the rear, filled with Onondagas, Senecas, and
Hurons. Then they fell upon them with a yell,
and, after wounding a lay brother of the Jesuits
who was among them, flogged and bound such of
the Indians as they could seize. The astonished
Onondagas protested and threatened; whereupon
the Mohawks feigned great surprise, declared that
they had mistaken them for Hurons, called them
brothers, and suffered the whole party to escape
without further injury.1
The three hundred maurauders now paddled
their large canoes of elm-bark stealthily down
the current, passed Quebec undiscovered in the
dark night of the 19th of May, landed in early
morning on the island of Orleans, and ambushed
l Compare Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre 14 Aout, 1656, Le Jeuna
Relation, 1657, 9. ' *

1666.] MOHAWK INSOLENCE. 23
themselves to surprise the Hurons as they came
to labor in their cornfields. They were tolerably
successful, killed six, and captured more than
eighty, the rest taldng refuge in their fort, where
the Mohawks dared not attack them.
At noon, the French on the rock of Quebec saw
foity canoes approaching from the island of Or
leans, and defiling, with insolent parade, in front of
the town, all crowded with the Mohawks and their
prisoners, among whom were a great number of
Huron girls. Their captors, as they passed, forced
them to sing and dance. The Hurons were the
allies, or rather the wards of the French, who
were in every way pledged to protect them. Yet
the cannon of Fort St. Louis were silent, and the
crowd stood gaping in bewilderment and fright.
Had an attack been made, nothing but a complete
success and the capture of many prisoners to serve
as hostages could have prevented the enraged Mo
hawks from taking their revenge on the Onondaga
colonists. The emergency demanded a prompt and-
clear-sighted soldier. The governor, Lauson, was
a gray-haired civilian, who, however enterprising
as a speculator in wild lands, was in no way matched
to the desperate crisis of the hour. Some of the
Mohawks landed above and below the town, and
plundered the houses from which the scared inhab
itants had fled. Not a soldier stirred and not a gun
was fired. The French, bullied by a horde of naked
savages, became an object of contempt to their
own allies.
The Mohawks carried their prisoners home,

24 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA [1650
burned six of them, and adopted or rather en
slaved the rest.1
Meanwhile the Onondaga colonists pursued their
perilous way. At Montreal they exchanged their
heavy boats for canoes, and resumed their journey
with a flotilla of twenty of these sylvan vessels. A
few days after, the Indians of the party had the
satisfaction of pillaging a small band of Mohawk
hunters, in vicarious reprisal for their own wrongs.
On the 26th of June, as they neared Lake Ontario,
they heard a loud and lamentable voice from the
edge of the forest; whereupon, having beaten their
drum to show that they were Frenchmen, they be
held a spectral figure, lean and covered with scars,
which proved to be a pious Huron, one Joachim
Ondakout, captured by the Mohawks in their de
scent on the island of Orleans, five or six weeks
before. They had carried him to their village and
begun to torture him ; after which they tied him
fast and lay down to sleep, thinking to resume
their pleasure on the morrow. His exits and burns
being only on the surface, he had the good fortune
to free himself from his bonds, and, naked as he was,
to escape to the woods. He held his course north-
wcstAvard, through regions even now a Avilderness,
gathered wild straAvberries to sustain life, and, in
fifteen days, reached the St. Lawrence, nearly dead
with exhaustion. The Frenchmen gave him food
and a canoe, and the living skeleton paddled Avith
a light heart for Quebec.
The colonists themselves soon began to suffei
1 See authorities just cited, and Perrot, Moeurs des Sauvages, 106.

1656.] FAMINE. 25
from hunger. Their fishing failed on Lake Ontario,
and they were forced to content themselves with
cranberries of the last year, gathered in the mead
ows. Of their Indians, all but five deserted them.
The Father Superior fell ill, and when they reached
the mouth of the Oswego many of the starving
Frenchmen had completely lost heart. Weary and
faint, they dragged their canoes up the rapids, when
suddenly they were cheered by the sight of a stran
ger canoe swiftly descending the current. The
Onondagas, aware of their approach, had sent it to
meet them, laden Avith Indian corn and fresh salmon.
Two more canoes followed, freighted like the first ;
and uoav all was abundance till they reached their
journey's end, the Lake of Onondaga. It lay before.
them in the July sun, a glittering mirror, framed
in forest verdure.
They knew that Chaumonot with a crowd of In
dians Avas awaiting them at a spot on the margin
of the Avater, which he and Dablon had chosen as
the site of their settlement. Landing on the strand,
they fired, to give notice of their approach, five
small cannon which they had brought in their
canoes. Waves, woods, and hills resounded Avith
the thunder of their miniature artillery. Then re-
embarking, they advanced in order, four canoes
abreast, towards the destined spot. In front floated
their banner of white silk, embroidered in large
letters with the name of Jesus. Here Avere Du
Puys and his soldiers, with the picturesque uni
forms and quaint Aveapons of their time ; Le Mer
cier and his Jesuits in robes of black ; hunters and

26 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656
bush-rangers ; Indians painted and feathered for a
festal day. As they neared the place where a spring
bubbling from the hillside is still known as the
"Jesuits' Well," they saw the edge of the forest
dark Avith the muster of savages whose yells of
welcome answered the salvo of their guns. Happily
for them, a flood of summer rain saved them from
the harangues of the Onondaga orators, and forced
Avhite men and red alike to seek such shelter as
they could find. Their hosts, Avith hospitable in
tent, AA-ould fain have sung and danced all night ;
but the Frenchmen pleaded fatigue, and the court
eous savages, squatting around their tents, chanted
in monotonous tones to lull them to sleep. In
the -morning they Avoke refreshed, sang Te
Deum, reared an altar, and, Avith a solemn mass,
took possession of the country in the name of
Jesus.1 Three things, which they saw or heard of in their
neAV home, excited their astonishment. The first
AAras the Arast flight of AAild pigeons which in spring
darkened the air around the Lake of Onondaga;
the second AAras the salt springs of Salina ; the third
was the rattlesnakes, which Le Mercier describes
with excellent precision, adding that, as he learns
from the Indians, their tails are gqod for toothache
and their flesh for feA^er. These reptiles, for reasons
best knoAvn to themselves, haunted the neighbor
hood of the salt-springs, but did not intrude their
presence into the abode of the French.
On the 17th of July, Le Mercier and Chamnonot,
1 Le Mercier, Relation, 1657, 14.

1666. | THE IROQUOIS CAPITAL. 27
escorted by a file of soldiers, set out for Onondaga,
scarcely five leagues distant. They followed the
Indian trail, under the leafy arches of the woods,
by hill and holloAV, still swamp and gurgling brook,
till through the opening foliage they saAV the Iro
quois capital, compassed with cornfields and girt
with its rugged palisade. As the Jesuits, like black
spectres, issued from the shadoAvs of the forest, fol- ,
lowed by the plumed soldiers with shouldered ar
quebuses, the red-skinned population SAvarmed out
like bees, and they defiled to the town through
gazing and admiring throngs. All conspired to
welcome them. Feast followed feast throughout
the afternoon, till, what Avith harangues and songs,
bear's meat, beaver-tails, and venison, beans, corn,
and grease, they were Avellnigh killed with kindness.
" If, after this, they murder us," writes Le Mercier,
" it Avill be from fickleness, not premeditated treach
ery." But the Jesuits, it seems, had not sounded
the depths of Lroquois dissimulation.1
There Avas one exception to the real or pretended
joy. Some Mohawks Avere in the town, and their
orator Avas insolent and sarcastic ; but the ready
tongue of Chaumonot turned the laugh against him
and put him to shame.
Here burned the council fire of the Iroquois, and
at this very time the deputies of the five tribes
Avere assembling. The session opened on the 24th.
1 The Jesuits were afterwards told by Hurons, captive among the
Mohawks and the Onondagas, that, from the first, it was intended to
massacre the French as soon as their presence had attracted the remnant
of the Hurons of Orleans into the power of the Onondagas. Lettre du P.
Bagueneau au R. P. Provincial, 31 Aout, 1658.

28 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656.
In the great council house, on the earthen flooi
and the broad platforms beneath the smoke-
begrimed concave of the bark roof, stood, sat, or
squatted, the Avisdom and valor of the confederacy ;
Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Sen-
ecas ; sachems, counsellors, orators, warriors fresh
from Erie victories ; tall, stalwart figures, limbed
like Grecian statues.
The pressing business of the council over, it was
Chaumonot's turn to speak. But, first, all the
Frenchmen, kneeling in a row, with clasped hands
sang the Vent Creator, amid the silent admiration
of the auditors. Then Chaumonot rose, with an
immense Avampum-belt in his hand.
" It is not trade that brings us here. Do you
think that your beaver skins can pay us for all our
toils and dangers ? Keep them, if you like ; or, if
any fall into our hands, Ave shall use them only for
your service. We seek not the things that perish.
It is for the Faith that we have left our homes to
live in your hovels of bark, and eat food which the
beasts of our country would scarcely touch. We
are the messengers whom God has sent to tell you
that his Son became a man for the love of you ;
that this man, the Son of God, is the prince and
master of men ; that he has prepared in heaven
eternal joys for those who obey him, and kindled
the fires of hell for those who Avill not receive his
word. If you reject it, AA'hoever you are, — Onon
daga, Seneca, Mohawk, Cayuga, or Oneida, — know
that Jesus Christ, who inspires my heart and my
A'oice, will plunge you one day into hell. Avert

1656.] THE NEW MISSION 29
this ruin ; be not the authors of your own destruc
tion ; accept the truth ; listen to the voice of the
Omnipotent." Such, in brief, was the pith of the father's ex
hortation. As he spoke Indian like a native, and
as his voice and gestures answered to his words,
Ave may believe what Le Mercier tells us, that his
hearers listened with mingled wonder, admiration,
and terror. The work was well begun. The Jesuits
struck Avhile the iron was hot, built a small chapel
for the mass, installed themselves in the toAvn, and
preached and catechised from morning till night.
The Frenchmen at the lake Avere not idle. The
chosen site of their settlement Avas the croAvn of a
hill commanding a broad view of waters and forests.
The axemen fell to their work, and a ghastly wound
soon gaped in the green bosom of the woodland.
Here, among the stumps and prostrate trees of the
unsightly clearing, the blacksmith built his forge,
saAV and hammer plied their trade ; palisades Avere
shaped and beams squared, in spite of heat, mos
quitoes, and fever. At one time twenty men Avere
ill, and lay gasping under a wretched shed of bark ;
but they all recovered, and the work went on till
at length a capacious house, large enough to hold
the whole colony, rose above the ruin of the forest.
A palisade was set around it, and the Mission of
Saint Mary of Gannentaa1 Avas begun.
France and the Faith were intrenched on the
Lake of Onondaga. How long would they remain
1 Gannentaa or Ganuntaah is still the Iroquois name for Lake Onon
daga. According to Morgan, it means " Material for Council Fire."

30 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656
there ? The future alone could tell. The mission,
it must not be forgotten, had a double scope,
half ecclesiastical, half political. The Jesuits had
essayed a fearful task, — to convert the Iroquois to
God and to the king, thAvart the Dutch heretics of
the Hudson, save souls from hell, avert ruin from
Canada, and thus raise their order to a place of
honor and influence both hard earned and Avell
earned. The mission at Lake Onondaga Avas but
a base of operations. Long before they Avere lodged
and fortified here, Chaumonot and Menard set out
for the Cayugas, Avhence the former proceeded to
the Senecas, the most numerous and poAverful of
the five confederate nations ; and in the folloAving
spring another mission Avas begun among the On-
eidas. Their reception was not unfriendly ; but
such Avas the reticence and dissimulation of these
inscrutable savages, that it Avas impossible to fore
tell results. The women proved, as might be ex
pected, far more impressible than the men ; and in
them the fathers placed great hope ; since in this,
the most savage people of the continent, Avomen
held a degree of political influence neArer perhaps
equalled in any civilized nation.1
1 Women, among the Iroquois, had a council of their own, which,
according to Lafitau, who knew this people well, had the initiative in
discussion, subjects presented by them being settled in the council of
chiefs and elders. In this latter council the women had an orator, often
of their own sex, to represent them. The matrons had a leading voice in
determining the succession of chiefs. There were also femalc'chiefs, one
of whom, with her attendants, came to Quebec with an embassy in 1655
(Marie de l'lncarnation). In the torture of prisoners, great deference.
was paid to the judgment of the women, who, says Champlain, were
thought more skilful and subtle than the men.
The learned Lafitau, whose book appeared in 1724, dwells at length

1657.] JESUIT COURAGE. 3]
But while infants Avere baptized and squaAVS con
verted, the crosses of the mission Avere many and
great. The devil bestirred himself Avith more than
his ordinary activity ; " for," as one of the fathers
writes, " Avhen in sundry nations of the earth men
are rising up in strife against us (the Jesuits), then
hoAV much more the demons, on Avliom Ave con
tinually Avage Avar ! " It Avas these infernal sprites,
as the priests believed, avIio engendered suspicions
and calumnies in the dark and superstitious minds
of the Iroquois, and prompted them in dreams to
destroy the apostles of the faith. Whether the
foe Avas of earth or hell, the Jesuits were like those
who tread the lava-crust that palpitates Avith the
throes of the coming eruption, AA'hile the molten
death beneath their feet glares white-hot through
a thousand crevices. Yet, Avith a sublime enthu
siasm and a glorious constancy, they toiled and
they hoped, though the skies around Avere black
with portent.
In the year in which the colony at Onondaga
was begun, the Mohawks murdered the Jesuit Gar-
reau, on his Avay up the OttaAva. In the following
spring, a hundred MohaAvk warriors came to Quebec,
to carry more of the Hurons into slavery, though
the remnant of that unhappy people, since the
catastrophe of the last year, had sought safety in a
on the resemblance of the Iroquois to the ancient Lycians, among whom,
according to Grecian writers, women were in the ascendant. " Gynecoc-
racy, or the rule of women," continues Lafitau, "which was the founda
tion of the Lycian government, was probably common in early times to
nearly all the barbarous people of Greece." Mceurs des Salvages, I. 460
(ed. in 4to)

32 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1657.
palisaded camp within the limits of the French
town, and immediately under the ramparts of Fort
St. Louis. Here, one might think, they would
have been safe ; but Charny, son and successor of
Lauson, seems to have been even more imbecile
than his father, and listened meekly to the threats
of the insolent strangers who told him that unless
he abandoned the Hurons to their mercy, both they
and the French should feel the weight of Mohawk
tomahaAvks. They demanded further, that the
French should give them boats to carry their
prisoners ; but, as there were none at hand, this
last humiliation was spared. The Mohawks were
forced to make canoes, in which they carried off as
many as possible of their victims.
When the Onondagas learned this last exploit of
their riArals, their jealousy kneAV no bounds, and a
troojj of them descended to Quebec to claim their
share in the human plunder. Deserted by the
French, the despairing Hurons abandoned them
selves to their fate, and about fifty of those whom
the Mohawks had left obeyed the behest of their
tyrants and embarked for Onondaga. They reached
Montreal in July, and thence proceeded tOAvards
their destination in company Avith the Onondaga
warriors. The Jesuit Ragueneau, bound also foi
Onondaga, joined them. Five leagues above Mon
treal, the warriors left him behind ; but he found
an old canoe on the bank, in which, after abandon
ing most of his baggage, he contrived to folloAV
with two or three Frenchmen who were Avith him.
There Avas a rumor that a hundred MohaAvk war-

1657.] ONONDAGA TREACHERY. 33
riors were lying in wait among the Thousand
Islands, to plunder the Onondagas of their Huron
prisoners. It proved a false report. A speedier
catastrophe awaited these unfortunates.
Towards evening on the 3d of August, after the
party had landed to encamp, an Onondaga chief
made advances to a Christian Huron girl, as he had
already done at every encampment since leaving
Montreal. Being repulsed for the fourth time, he
split her head with his tomahawk. It was the
beginning of a massacre. The Onondagas rose
upon their prisoners, killed seven men, all Chris
tians, before the eyes of the horrified Jesuit, and
plundered the rest of all they had. When Rague-
neau protested, they told him with insolent mockery
that they were acting by direction of the governor
and the superior of the Jesuits, The priest him
self was secretly warned that he was to be killed
during the night; and he was surprised in the
morning to find himself alive.1 On reaching Onon
daga, some of the Christian captives were burned,
including several women and their infant chil
dren.2 The confederacy was a hornet's nest, buzzing
with preparation, and fast pouring out its wrathful
swarms. The indomitable Le Moyne had gone again
to the Mohawks, whence he wrote that two hundred
of them had taken the war-path against the Algon-
quins of Canada ; and, a httle later, that all were
gone but women, children, and old men. A great
1 Lettre de Ragueneau au R. P. Provincial, 9 Ao&t, 1667 (Rel., 1667).
1 Ibid., 21 Ao&t, 1658 (Rel., 1658).

34 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1657.
war-party of twelve hundred Iroquois from all
the five cantons was to advance into Canada in the
direction of the OttaAva. The settlements on the
St. Lawrence were infested with prowling warriors,
who killed the Indian allies of the French, and
plundered the French themselves, whom they
treated with an insufferable insolence ; for they
felt themselves masters of the situation, and knew
that the Onondaga colony was in their power. Near
Montreal they killed three Frenchmen. " They
approach like foxes," writes a Jesuit, " attack like
lions, and disappear like birds." Charny, fortu
nately, had resigned the government in despair, in
order to turn priest, and the brave soldier Aille-
bout had taken his place. He caused twelve of
the Iroquois to be seized and held as hostages.
This seemed to increase their fury. An embassy
came to Quebec and demanded the release of the
hostages, but were met with a sharp reproof and a
flat refusal.
At the mission on Lake Onondaga the crisis
was drawing near. The unbridled young warriors,
whose capricious laAvlessness often set at naught
the monitions of their crafty elders, killed wantonly
at various times thirteen Christian Hurons, cap
tives at Onondaga. Ominous reports reached the
ears of the colonists. They heard of a secret council
at which their death was decreed. Again, they
heard that they were to be surprised and captured,
that the froquois in force were then to descend
upon Canada, lay waste the outlying settlements,
and torture them, the colonists, in sight of their

1658] FRIGHTFUL POSITION. 35
countrymen, by which they hoped to extort what
terms they pleased. At length, a dying Onondaga,
recently converted and baptized, confirmed the
rumors, and revealed the whole plot.
It Avas to take effect before the spring opened ;
but the hostages in the hands of Aillebout em
barrassed the conspirators and caused delay. Mes
sengers were sent in haste to call in the priests
from the detached missions, and all the colonists,
fifty-three in number, were soon gathered at their
fortified house on the lake. Their situation Avas
frightful. Fate hung over them by a hair, and
escape seemed hopeless. Of Du Puys's ten soldiers,
nine wished to desert, but the attempt would have
been fatal. A throng of Onondaga warriors Avere
day and night on the watch, bivouacked around
the house. Some of them had built their huts of
bark before the gate, and here, with calm, impas
sive faces, they lounged and smoked their pipes ;
or, wrapped in their blankets, strolled about the
yards and outhouses, attentive to all that passed.
Their behavior was very friendly. The Jesuits,
themselves adepts in dissimulation, Avere amazed at
the depth of their duplicity; for the conviction had
been forced upon them that some of the chiefs had
nursed their treachery from the first. In this ex
tremity Du Puys and the Jesuits shoAved an admi
rable coolness, and among them devised a plan of
escape, critical and full of doubt, but' not devoid
of hope.
First, they must provide means of transporta
tion ; next, they must contrive to use them undis-

36 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. |1658.
covered. They had eight canoes, all of which
combined would not hold half their company.
Over the mission-house was a large loft or garret,
and here the carpenters were secretly set at work
to construct two large and light flat-boats, each
capable of carrying fifteen men. The task was
soon finished. The most difficult part of their plan
remained. There was a beastly superstition prevalent among
the Hurons, the Iroquois, and other tribes. It con
sisted of a " medicine " or mystic feast, in which it
was essential that the guests should devour every
thing set before them, however inordinate in quan
tity, unless absolved from duty by the person in
Avhose behalf the solemnity was ordained ; he, on
his part, taldng no share in the banquet. So grave
was the obligation, and so strenuously did the
guests fulfil it, that even their ostrich digestion
was sometimes ruined past redemption by the
excess of tnis benevolent gluttony. These festins
a manger tout had been frequently denounced as
diabolical by the Jesuits, during their mission
among the Hurons ; but now, with a pliancy of
conscience as excusable in this case as in any
other, they resolved to set aside their scruples,
although, judged from their point of view, they
were exceedingly well founded.
Among the French was a young man who had
been adopted by an Iroquois chief, and who spoke.
the language fluently. He now told his Indian
father that it had been revealed to him in a dream
that he would soon die unless the spirits were

1658.] THE MEDICINE FEAST. 37
appeased by one of these magic feasts. Dreams
were the oracles of the Iroquois, and woe to those
Avho slighted them. A day was named for the
sacred festivity. The fathers killed their hogs to
meet the occasion, and, that nothing might be
wanting, they ransacked their stores for all that
might give piquancy to the entertainment. It
took place in the evening of , the 20th of March,
apparently in a large enclosure outside the palisade
surrounding the mission-house . Here, while blazing
fires or glaring pine-knots shed their glow on the
wild assemblage, Frenchmen and Iroquois joined in
the dance, or vied with each other in games of
agility and skill. The politic fathers offered prizes
to the winners, and the Indians entered with zest
into the sport, the better, perhaps, to hide their
treachery and hoodwink their intended victims;
for they Httle suspected that a subtlety, deeper
this time than their own, was at work to counter
mine them. Here, too, were the French musicians ;
and drum, trumpet, and cymbal lent their clangor
to the din of shouts and laughter. Thus the even
ing wore on, till at length the serious labors of the
feast began. The kettles were brought in, and
their steaming contents ladled into the wooden
bowls which each provident guest had brought
with him. Seated gravely in a ring, they fell to
their work. It was a point of high conscience not
to flinch from duty on these solemn occasions ; and
though they might burn the young man to-morrow,
they would gorge themselves like vultures in his
behoof to-day.

38 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165a
Meantime, while the musicians strained their
lungs and their arms to drown all other sounds,
a band of anxious Frenchmen, in the darkness of
the cloudy night, with cautious tread and bated
breath, carried the boats from the rear of the mis
sion-house down to the border of the lake. It was
near eleven o'clock. The miserable guests were
choking with repletion. They prayed the young
Frenchman to dispense them from further surfeit.
" Will you suffer me to die ? " he asked, in piteous
tones. They bent to their task again, but Nature
soon reached her utmost limit, ; and they sat help
less as a conventicle of gorged turkey-buzzards,
Avithout the power possessed by those unseemly
birds to rid themselves of the burden. " That Avill
do," said the young man ; " you haA'-e eaten enough;
my life is saved. Now you can sleep till we come
in the morning to waken you for prayers." x And
one of his companions played soft airs on a A'iolin
to lull them to repose. Soon all were asleep, or
in a lethargy akin to sleep. The few remaining
Frenchmen now silently withdrew and cautiously
descended to the shore, where their comrades, al
ready embarked, lay on their oars anxiously await
ing them. Snow was falling fast as they pushed
out upon the murky waters. The ice of the winter
had broken up, but recent frosts had glazed the
surface with a thin crust. The two boats led the
way, and the canoes followed in their wake, while
men in the bows of the foremost boat broke the
ice with clubs as they advanced. They reached
1 Lettre de Marie de V Incarnation a son Jils, 4 Octobre, 1658.

1658.] PERPLEXITY OF THE IROQUOIS. 39
the outlet and rowed swiftly down the dark cur
rent of the Oswego. When day broke, Lake Onon
daga was far behind, and around them was the
leafless, lifeless forest.
When the Indians woke in the morning, dull anc
stupefied from their nightmare slumbers, they were
astonished at the silence that reigned in the mission-
house. They looked through the palisade. Noth
ing was stirring but a bevy of hens clucking and
scratching in the snow, and one or two dogs im
prisoned in the house and barking to be set free
The Indians waited for some time, then climbed
the palisade, burst in the doors, and found the
house empty. Their amazement was unbounded.
How, without canoes, could the French have es
caped by water ? and how else could they escape ?
The snow which had fallen during the night com
pletely hid their footsteps. A superstitious awe
seized the Iroquois. They thought that the " black-
robes " and their flock had flown off through the
air. Meanwhile the fugitives pushed their flight with
the energy of terror, passed in safety the rapids
of the Oswego, crossed Lake Ontario, and de
scended the St. Lawrence with the loss of three
men drowned in the rapids. On the 3d of April
they reached Montreal, and on the 23d arrived at
Quebec. They had saved their lives ; but the mis
sion of Onondaga was a miserable failure.1
1 On the Onondaga mission, the authorities are Marie de l'lncarna-
tion, Leltres Historiques, and Relations des Je'suites, 1657 and 1658, where
the story is told at length, accompanied with several interesting letters
and journals. Chaumonot, in his Autobiographie, speaks only of the

40 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. L1658.
Seneca mission, and refers to the Relations for the rest. Dollier de Cas-
son, in his Histoire du Montreal, mentions the arrival of the fugitives at
that place, the sight of which, he adds complacently, cured them of their
fright. The Journal des Supe'rieurs des Jesuites chronicles with its usual
brevity the ruin of the mission and the return of the party to Quebec.
The Jesuits, in their account, say nothing of the superstitious charac
ter of the feast. It is Marie de lTncarnation who lets out the secret.
The Jesuit Charlevoix, much to his credit, repeats the story without
reserve. The Sulpitian 'Allet, in a memoir printed in the Morale Pratique des
Je~suites, says that the French placed effigies of soldiers, made of straw, in
the fort, to deceive the Indians. He adds that the Jesuits found very
little sympathy at Quebec.

CHAPTER H.
1642-1661.
THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL.
Dauversiere. — Mance and Bourgeois. — Miracle. — A Pious De
faulter. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Montreal in 1659. — Tub
Hospital Nuns. — The Nuns and the Iroquois. — More Mir
acles. — The Murdered Priests. — Bsigeao and Closse. —
Soldiers op the Holt Family.
On the 2d of July, 1659, the ship " St. Andre" "
lay in the harbor of Rochelle, crowded with pas
sengers for Canada. She had served two years as
a hospital for marines, and was infected with a
contagious fever. Including the crew, some two
hundred persons were on board, more than half of
whom were bound for Montreal. Most of these
were sturdy laborers, artisans, peasants, and sol
diers, together with a troop of young women, their
present or future partners ; a portion of the com
pany set down on the old record as " sixty virtu
ous men and thirty-two pious girls." There were
two priests also, Vignal and Le Maitre, both des
tined to a speedy death at the hands of the Iro
quois. But the most conspicuous among these
passengers for Montreal were two groups of women
in the habit of nuns, under the direction of Mar-

42 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1659.
guerite Bourgeoys and Jeanne Mance. Marguerite
Bourgeoys, whose kind, Avomanly face bespoke her
fitness for the task, was foundress of the school for
female children at Montreal; her companion, a
tall, austere figure, worn with suffering and care,
was directress of the hospital. Both had returned
to France for aid, and were now on their way back,
each Avith three recruits, three being the mystic
number, as a type of the Holy Family, to whose
worship they Avere especially devoted.
Amid the bustle of departure, the shouts of sail
ors, the rattling of cordage, the flapping of sails,
the tears and the embracings, an elderly man, with
heaA'y plebeian features, sallow with disease, and in
a sober, half-clerical dress, approached Mademoi
selle Mance and her three nuns, and, turning his
eyes to heaven, spread his hands over them in
benediction: It was Le Royer de la Dauversiere,
founder of the sisterhood of St. Joseph, to which
the three nuns belonged. " Now, 0 Lord," he ex
claimed, with the look of one whose mission on
iarth is fulfilled, " permit thou thy servant to de
part in peace ! "
Sister Maillet, who had charge of the meagre
treasury of the community, thought that some
thing more than a blessing was due from him;
and asked where she should apply for payment of
the interest of the twenty thousand livres which
Mademoiselle Mance had placed in his hands for
nxvestment. Dauversiere changed countenance,
and replied, with a troubled voice : " My daughter,
God will provide for you. Place your trust in

1642-57.] MANCE AND BOURGEOYS. 43
Him."1 He was bankrupt, and had used the
money of the sisterhood to pay a debt of his own,
leaving the nuns penniless.
I have related in another place 2 hoAV an associa
tion of devotees, inspired, as they supposed, from
heaA^en, had undertaken to found a religious col
ony at Montreal in honor of the Holy Family.
The essentials of the proposed establishment were
to be a seminary of priests dedicated to the Virgin,
a hospital to Saint Joseph, and a school to the Infant
Jesus ; Avhile a settlement Avas to be formed around
them simply for their defence and maintenance.
This pious purpose had in part been accomplished.
It was seventeen years since Mademoiselle Mance
had begun her labors in honor of Saint Joseph. Mar
guerite Bourgeoys had entered upon hers more
recently ; yet even then the attempt Avas prema
ture, for she found no Avhite children to teach. In
time, hoAvever, this want Avas supplied, and she
opened her school in a stable, which answered to
the stable of Bethlehem, lodging with her pupils
in the loft, and instructing them in Roman Cath
olic Christianity, with such rudiments of mundane
knowledge as she and her advisers thought fit to
impart. Mademoiselle Mance found no lack of hospital
work, for blood and blows were rife at Montreal,
where the woods were full of Iroquois, and not a
moment was without its peril. Though years be-
1 Faillon, Vie de M'tte Mance, I. 172. This volume is illustrated witV
a portrait of Dauversiere.
2 The Jesuits in North America,

44 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [165H
gan to tell upon her, she toiled patiently at her
dreary task, till, in the winter of 1657, she fell on
the ice of the St. Lawrence, broke her right arm,
and dislocated the wrist. Bonchard, the surgeon
of Montreal, set the broken bones, but did not
discover the dislocation. The arm in consequence
became totally useless, and her health wasted away
under incessant and violent pain. Maisonneuve,
the civil and military chief of the settlement, ad
vised her to go to France for assistance in the work
to which she was no longer equal ; and Marguerite
Bourgeoys, whose pupils, white and red, had greatly
multiplied, resolved to go with her for a similar ob
ject. They set out in September, 1658, landed at
Rochelle, and went thence to Paris. Here they
repaired to the seminary of St. Sulpice; for the
priests of this community Avere joined Avith them
in the work at Montreal, of which they were after
wards to become the feudal proprietors.
Now ensued a Avonderful event, if we may trust
the evidence of sundry devout persons. Olier, the
founder of St. Sulpice, had lately died, and the two
pilgrims would fain pay their homage to his heart,
which the priests of his community kept as a pre
cious relic, enclosed in a leaden box. The box was
brought, when the thought inspired Mademoiselle
Mance to try its miraculous efficacy and invoke the
intercession of the departed founder. She did so,
touching her disabled arm gently with the leaden
casket. Instantly a grateful warmth pervaded the
shrivelled limb, and from that hour its use was
restored. It is true that the Jesuits ventured to

1658-59.] THE UNKNOWN BENEFACTRESS. 45
doubt the Sulpitian miracle, and even to ridicule
it ; but the Sulpitians will show to this day the at
testation of Mademoiselle Mance herself, written
with the fingers once paralyzed and powerless.1
Nevertheless, the cure was not so thorough as to
permit her again to take charge of her patients.
Her next care was to visit Madame de Bullion,
a devout lady of great wealth, who was usually
designated at Montreal as " the unknown benefac
tress," because, though her charities were the main
stay of the feeble colony, and though the source
from which they proceeded Avas well known, she
affected, in the interest of humility, the greatest
secrecy, and required those who profited by her
gifts to pretend ignorance whence they came.
Overflowing with zeal for the pious enterprise, she
received her visitor with enthusiasm, lent an open
ear to her recital, responded graciously to her ap
peal for aid, and paid over to her the sum, munifi
cent at that day, of twenty-two thousand francs.
Thus far successful, Mademoiselle Mance repaired
to the town of La Fleche to visit Le Royer de la
DauA^ersiere. It was this wretched fanatic who, through visions
and revelations, had first conceived the plan of a
hospital in honor of Saint Joseph at Montreal.2 He
had found in Mademoiselle Mance a zealous and
efficient pioneer ; but the execution of his scheme
required a community of hospital nuns, and thero
1 For an account of this miracle, written in perfect good faith and
supported by various attestations, see Faillon, Vie de M'lle Mance, chap. i»
a See The Jesuits in North America.

46 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1659.
fore he had labored for the last eighteen years to
form one at La Fleche, meaning to despatch its
members in due time to Canada. The time at length
was come. Three of the nuns were chosen, Sisters
Bresoles, Mace, and Maillet, and sent under the
escort of certain pious gentlemen to Rochelle.
Their exit from La Fleche was not without its
difficulties. Dauversiere was in ill odor, not only
from the multiplicity of his debts, but because, in
his character of agent of the association of Mon
treal, he had at various times sent thither those
whom his biographer describes as " the most Airtu-
ous girls to be found at La Fleche," intoxicating
them with religious excitement, and shipping them
for the New World against the will of their parents.
It was noised through the town that he had kid
napped and sold them ; and now the report spread
abroad that he was about to crown his iniquity by
'uring away three young nuns. A mob gathered
at the convent gate, and the escort were forced to
draw their swords to open a way for the terrified
sisters. Of the twenty-two thousand francs which she had
received, Mademoiselle Mance kept two thousand
for immediate needs, and confided the rest to the
hands of Dauversiere, who, hard pressed by his
creditors, used it to pay one of his debts; and
then, to his horror, found himself unable to replace
it. Racked by the gout and tormented by re
morse, he betook himself to his bed in a state of
body and mind truly pitiable. One of the miracles,
so frequent in the early annals of Montreal, was

1659.1 DELAY AND DIFFICULTY. 47
vouchsafed in answer to his prayer^ and he was
enabled to journey to Rochelle and bid fareAvell to
his nuns. It was but a brief respite ; he returned
home to become the prey of a host of maladies, and
to die at last a lingering and painful death.
While Mademoiselle Mance Avas gaining recruits
in La Fleche, Marguerite Bourgeoys Avas no less
successful in her native toAvn of Troyes, and she
rejoined her companions at Rochelle, accompanied
by Sisters Chatel, Crolo, and Raisin, her destined
assistants in the school at Montreal. Meanwhile,
the Sulpitians and others interested in the pious
enterprise, had spared no effort to gather men to
strengthen the colony, and young women to serve
as their wives; and all were now mustered at
Rochelle, waiting for embarkation. Their wait
ing was a long one. Laval, bishop at Quebec, Avas
allied to the Jesuits, and looked on the colonists
of Montreal with more than coldness. Sulpitian
writers say that his agents used every effort to
discourage them, and that certain persons at Ro
chelle told the master of- the ship in Avhich the
emigrants were to sail that they Avere not to be
trusted to pay their passage-money. Hereupon
ensued a delay of more than two months before
means could be found to quiet the scruples of the
prudent commander. At length the anchor was
weighed, and the dreary voyage begun.
The woe-begone company, crowded in the filthy
and infected ship, were tossed for two months more
on the relentless sea, buffeted by repeated storms.
and wasted by a contagious fever, Avhich attacked

48 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1659.
nearly all of them and reduced Mademoiselle Mance
to extremity. Eight or ten died and were dropped
overboard, after a prayer from the two priests. At
length land hove in sight ; the piny odors of the
forest regaled their languid senses as they sailed
up the broad estuary of the St. Lawrence and
anchored under the rock of Quebec.
High aloft, on the brink of the cliff, they saw
the. fleur-de-lis waving above the fort of St. Louis,
and, beyond, the cross on the tower of the cathe
dral- traced against the sky ; the houses of the mer
chants on the strand below, and boats and canoes
drawn up along the bank. The bishop and the
Jesuits greeted them as co-workers in a holy cause,
with an unction not wholly sincere. Though a
unit against heresy, the pious founders of New
France were far from unity among themselves.
To the thinking of the Jesuits, Montreal was a
government within a government, a wheel within
a wheel. This rival Sulpitian settlement was, in
their eyes, an element of disorganization adverse
to the disciplined harmony of the Canadian Church,
which they would fain have seen, with its focus at
Quebec, radiating light unrefracted to the utter
most parts of the colony. That is to say, they
wished to control it unchecked, through their ally,
the bishop.
The emigrants, then, were received with a studi
ous courtesy, which veiled but thinly a stiff and
persistent opposition. The bishop and the Jesuits
were especially anxious to prevent the La Fleche
nuns from estabhshing themselves at Montreal,

1659.] MONTREAL. 49
where they would form a separate community,
under Sulpitian influence ; and, in place of the
neAvly arrived sisters, they Avished to substitute
nuns from the Hotel Dieu of Quebec, who would
be under their oavii control. That which most
strikes the non-Catholic reader throughout this
affair is the constant reticence and dissimulation
practised, not only between Jesuits and Montreal
ists, but among the Montrealists themselves. Their
self-devotion, great as it Avas, was fairly matched
by their disingenuousness.1
All difficulties being overcome, the Montrealists
embarked in boats and ascended the St. LaAvrence,
leaving Quebec infected Avith the contagion they
had brought. The journey now made in a single
night cost them fifteen days of hardship and
danger. At length they reached their' new home.
The little settlement lay before them, still gasping
betwixt life and death, in a puny, precarious in
fancy. Some forty small, compact houses Avere
ranged parallel to the river, chiefly along the line
of Avhat is now St. Paul's Street. On the left there
was a fort, and on a rising ground at the right a
massive windmill of stone, enclosed with a wall or
palisade pierced for musketry, and ansAvering the
purpose of a redoubt or block-house.2 Fields,
studded with charred and blackened stumps, be-
1 See, for example, chapter iv. of Faillon's Life of Mademoiselle
Mance. The evidence is unanswerable, the writer being the partisan
and admirer of most of those whose pieuse tromperie, to use the expression
of Dollier de Casson, he describes in apparent unconsciousness that any
body will see reason to cavil at it,
2 Le-ttre du Vicomte d' Argenson, Govverneur du Canada, 4 Aout, 1059, MS
4

50 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
tween which crops were growing, stretched away
to the edges of the bordering forest; and the
green, shaggy back of the mountain towered
over all.
There were at this time a hundred and sixty
men at Montreal, about fifty of whom had famihes,
or at least wives. They greeted the new-comers
wi th a Avelcome which, this time, was as sincere as
it was Avarm, and bestirred themselves Avith alacrity
to provide them with shelter for the winter. As
for the three nuns from La Fleche, a chamber was
hastily made for them over two low rooms which
had served as Mademoiselle Mance's hospital. This
chamber Avas twenty-five feet square, Avith four
cells for the nuns, and a closet for stores and cloth
ing, which for the present Avas empty, as they had
landed in such destitution that they Avere forced to
sell all their scanty equipment to gain the bare
necessaries of existence. Little could be hoped
from the colonists, Avho were scarcely less destitute
than they. Such was their poverty, — thanks to
Dauversiere's breach of trust, — that when 'heir
clothes were Avorn out, they were unable to replace
them, and Avere forced to patch them Avith such
material as came to hand. Maisonneuve, the gov
ernor, and the pious Madame d'Aillebouf, being
once on a visit to the hospital, amused themselves
with trying to guess of what stuff the habits of the
nuns had originally been made, and were unable
to agree on the point in question.1
l Annates des Hospitalieres de ViUemarie, par la Somr Morin, e. con
temporary record, from which Faillon gives long extracts.

1657-61.] SISTER MACE. 51
Their chamber, which they occupied for many
years, being hastily built of ill-seasoned planks, let
in the piercing cold of the Canadian winter through
comitless cracks and chinks ; and the driving snow
sifted through in such quantities that they were
sometimes obliged, the morning after a storm, to
remove it Avith shovels. Their food would freeze
on the table before them, and their coarse broAvn
bread had to be thaAved on the hearth before they
could cut it. These Avomen had been nurtured in
ease, if not in luxury. One of them, Judith de
Bresoles, had in her youth, by advice of her con
fessor, run aAvay from parents Avho were devoted
to her, and immured herself in a convent, leaving
them in agonies of doubt as to her fate. She uoav
acted as superior of the little community. One of
her nuns records of her that she had a fervent
devotion for the Infant Jesus ; and that, along Avith
many more spiritual graces, he inspired her with
so transcendent a skill in cookery, that " with a
small piece of lean pork and a few herbs she could
make soup of a marvellous relish." 1 Sister Mace
was charged with the care of the pigs and hens, to
whose Avants she attended in person, though she,
too, had been delicately bred. In course of time,
the sisterhood was increased by additions from
without ; though more than twenty girls who
entered the hospital as novices recoiled from the
hardship, and took husbands in the colony. Among
• " C'dtait par son recours a l'Enfant Jesus qu'elle trouvait tous ces
secrets et d'autres semblables," writes in our own day the excellent
annalist, Faillon.

52 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61
a feAV who took the vows, Sister Jumeau should
not pass unnoticed. Such was her humility, that,
though of a good family and unable to divest her
self of the marks of good breeding, she pretended
to be the daughter of a poor peasant, and per
sisted in repeating the pious falsehood till the
merchant Le Ber told her flatly that he did not
believe her.
The sisters had great need of a man to do the
heavy Avork of the house and garden, but found no
means of luring one, Avhen an incident, in Avhich
they saw a special providence, excellently supplied
the Avant. There was a poor colonist named Jouan-
eaux to Avhom a piece of land had been given at
some distance from the settlement. Had he built
a cabin upon it, his scalp would soon have paid the
forfeit ; but, being bold and hardy, he devised a
plan by Avhich he might hope to sleep in safety
without abandoning the farm which Avas his only
possession. Among the stumps of his clearing there
was one hollow with age. Under this he dug a
sort of 'cave, the entrance of which AATas a small hole
carefully hidden by brushwood. The hollow stump
was easily converted into a chimney ; and by creep
ing into his burrow at night, or when he saw signs
of danger, he escaped for some time the notice of
the Iroquois. But, though he could dispense with
a house, he needed a barn for his hay and corn ;
and while he was bunding one, he fell from the
ridge of the roof and was seriously hurt. He was
carried to the Hotel Dieu, where the nuns showed
him every attention, until, after a long confinement,

1657 -61 J PERIL OF THE NUNS. 53
he at last recovered. Being of a grateful nature
and enthusiastically devout, he was so touched by
the kindness of Ins benefactors, and so moved by
the spectacle of their piety, that he' conceived the
wish of devoting his life to their service. To this
end a contract was draAvn up, by Avhich he pledged
himself to Avork for them as long as strength re
mained ; and they, on their part, agreed to main
tain him in sickness or old age.
This stout-hearted retainer proved invaluable ;
though, had a guard of soldiers been added, it
would have been no more than the case demanded.
Montreal was not palisaded, and at first the hospital
was a? much exposed as the rest. The Iroquois
would skulk at night among the houses, like wolves
in a camp of sleeping travellers on the prairies ;
though the human foe was, of the two, incompar
ably the bolder, fiercer, and more bloodthirsty.
More than once one of these prowling savages was
known to have crouched all night in a rank growth
of wild mustard in the garden of the nuns, vainly
hoping that one of them would come out.Avithin
reach of his tomahaAvk. During summer, a month
rarely passed without a fight, sometimes within
sigh t of their windows. A burst of yells from the
ambushed marksmen, followed by a clatter of mus-
ketiy, would announce the opening of the fray,
and promise the nuns an addition to their list of
patients. On these occasions they bore themselves
according to their several natures. Sister Morin,
who had joined their number three years after
their arrival, relates that Sister Br6soles and she

54 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61
used to run to the belfry and ring the tocsin to
call the inhabitants together. "From our high
station," she writes, " we could sometimes see the
combat, Avliich terrified us extremely, so that we
came doAvn again as soon as we could, trembling
with fright, and thinking that our last hour Avas
come. When the tocsin sounded, my Sister Maillot
would become faint A\ith excess of fear ; and my
Sister Mace, as long as the alarm continued, Avould
remain speechless, in a state pitiable to see. They
would both get into a corner of the rood-loft, before
the Holy Sacrament, so as to be prepared for death;
or else go into their cells. As soon as I heard that
the Iroquois Avere gone, I Avent to tell them, Avhich
comforted them and seemed to restore them to life.
My Sister Bresoles was stronger and more coura
geous ; her terror, which she could not help, did not
prevent her from attending the sick and receiving
the dead and wounded who Avere brought in."
The priests of St. Sulpice, Avho had assumed the
entire spiritual charge of the settlement, and aaIio
were soon to assume its entire temporal charge
also, had for some years no other lodging than a
room at the hospital, adjoining those of the patients.
They caused the building to be fortified with pali
sades, and the houses of some of the chief inhabi
tants Avere placed near it, for mutual defence. They
also built two fortified houses, called Ste. Marie and
St. Gabriel, at the two extremities of the settle
ment, and lodged in them a considerable number
of armed men, whom they employed in clearing
and cultivating the surrounding lands, the property

1657-61.1 PRODIGIES. • 55
of their community. All other outlying houses
were also pierced Avith loopholes, and fortified as
well as the slender means of their OAvners Avould
permit. The laborers always carried their guns to
the field, and often had need to use them. A feAV
incidents Avill show the state of Montreal and the
character of its tenants.
In the autumn of 1657 there was a truce with
the Iroquois, under cover of Avhich three or four of
them came to the settlement. Nicolas Gode and
Jean Saint-Pere were on the roof of their house,
laying thatch ; when one of the visitors aimed his
arquebuse at Saint-Pere, and brought him to the
ground like a wild turkey from a tree. Noav en
sued a prodigy ; for the assassins, having cut off
his head and carried it home to their village, were
amazed to hear it speak to them m good Iroquois,
scold them for their perfidy, and threaten them
with the vengeance of Heaven ; and they con
tinued to hear its voice of admonition even after
scalping it and throAving away the skull.1 This
story, circulated at Montreal on the alleged au
thority of the Indians themselves, found believers
among the most intelligent men of the colony.
Another miracle, which occurred several years
later, deserves to be recorded. Le Maitre, one of
the two priests who had sailed from France Avith
Mademoiselle Mance and her nuns, being one day at
the fortified house of St. Gabriel, Avent out AAith the
laborers, in order to watch Avhile they Avere at their
work. In Aiew of a possible enemy, he had girded
l Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, 1657, 1668.

56 • THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61
himself with an earthly sword ; but seeing no sign
of danger, he presently took out his breviary, and,
while reciting his office Avith eyes bent on the
page, walked into an ambuscade of Iroquois, who
rose before him Avith a yell.
He shouted to the laborers, and, drawing- his
SAVord, faced the whole sa\rage crew, in order, prob
ably, to give the men time to snatch their guns.
AfraiJ to approach, the Iroquois fired and killed
him ; then rushed upon the working party, who
escaped into the house, after losing several of their
number. The victors cut off the head of the
heroic priest, and tied it in a Avhite handkerchief
which they took from a pocket of his cassock. It
is said that on reaching their villages they were
astonished to find the handkerchief without the
slightest stain of blood, but stamped indelibly with
the features of its late owner, so plainly marked
that none wTho had known him could fail to recog
nize them.1 This not A*ery original miracle, though
it found eager credence at Montreal, was received
coolly, like other Montreal miracles, at Quebec ;
and Sulpitian writers complain that the bishop, in
a long letter which he wrote to the Pope, made no
mention of it whatever.
Le Maitre, on the voyage to Canada, hal been
accompanied by another priest, Guillaume de
Vignal, who met a fate more deplorable than that
of his companion, though unattended by any re-
1 This story is told by Sister Morin, Marguerite Bourgeoys, and
Dollier de Casson, on the authority of one Lavigne, then a prisoner
among the Iroquois, who declared that he had seen the handkerchief ;«
the hands of the returning warriors.

t657-61.| DEATH OF VIGNAL. 57
corded miracle. Le Maitre had been killed in
August. In the October folloAving, Vignal went
with thirteen men, in a flat-boat and several canoes,
to Isle a la Pierre, nearly opposite Montreal, to get
stone for the seminary Avhich the priests had re
cently begun to build. With him Avas a pious and
valiant gentleman named Claude de Brigeac, who,
though but thirty years of age, had come as a sol
dier to Montreal, in the hope of dying in defence
of the true church, and thus reaping the reward
of a martyr. Vignal and three or four men had
scarcely landed when they Avere set upon by a
large band of Iroquois Avho lay among the bushes
waiting to receiA'-e them. The rest of the party,
who were still in their boats, with a coAvardice rare
at Montreal, thought only of saving themselves.
Claude de Brigeac alone leaped ashore and ran
to aid his comrades. 'Vignal was soon mortally
wounded. Brigeac shot the chief dead Avith his
arquebuse, and then, pistol in hand, held the whole
troop for an instant at bay ; but his arm was shat
tered by a gun-shot, and he Avas seized, along Avith
Vignal, Rene" - Cuille'rier, and Jacques Dufresne.
Crossing to the main shore, immediately opposite
Montreal, the Iroquois made, after their custom, a
small fort of logs and branches, in which they en
sconced themselves, and then began to dress the
wounds of their prisoners. Seeing that Vignal was
unable to make the journey to their villages, they
killed him, divided his flesh, and roasted it for food.
Brigeac and his felloAvs in misfortune spent a
woful night in this den of wolves; and in the

58 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61
morning their captors, having breakfasted on the
remains of Vignal, took up their homeAvard march,
dragging the Frenchmen Avith them. On reaching
Oneida, Brigeac was tortured to death Avith the
customary atrocities. Cuillerier, who Avas present,
declared that they could AATring from him no cry of
pain, but that throughout he ceased not to pray for
their coirversion. The AAitness himself expected the
same fate, but an old squaw happily adopted him,
arid thus saved his life. He eArentually escaped to
Albany, and returned to Canada by the circuitous
but comparatively safe route of New York and
Boston. In the following winter, Montreal suffered an
irreparable loss in the death of the braA'o Major
Closse, a man Avhose intrepid coolness Avas never
knoAvn to fail in the direst emergency. Going to
the aid of a party of laborers attacked by the Iro
quois, he Avas met by a crowd of savages, eager to
kill or capture him. His servant ran off. He
snapped a pistol at the foremost assailant, but it
missed fire. His remaining pistol seized him no
better, and he was instantly shot. doAA'n " He
died," Avri'tes Dollier de Casson, "like a braA-e sol
dier of Christ and the king." Some of his friends
once remonstrating Avith him on the temerity Avith
which he exposed his life, he replied, " Messieurs,
I came here only to die in the service of God ; and
if I thought I could not die here, I woidd leave
this country to fight the Turks, that I might not
be deprived of such a glory." *¦
1 Dollier de Casson, Hisioir s du Montreal, 1661, 1662.

1657-61.] A YEAR OF DISASTER. 59
The fortified house of Ste. Marie, belonging to
the priests of St. Sulpice, Avas the scene of several
hot and bloody fights. Here, too, occurred the
folloAAlno; nocturnal adventure. A man named
'LaAigne, Avho had lately returned from captivity
among the Iroquois, chancing to rise at night and
look out of the AvindoAV, saw by the bright moon
light a number of naked warriors stealthily gliding
round a corner and crouching near the door, in
order to kill the first Frenchman Avho should go
out in the morning. He silently Avoke his com
rades ; and, having the rest of the night for con
sultation, they arranged their plan so well, that
some of them, sallying from the rear of the house,
came cautiously round upon the Iroquois, placed
them between two fires, and captured them all.
The summer of 1661 was marked by a series of
calamities scarcely paralleled even in the annals
of this disastrous epoch. Early in February, thir
teen colonists were surprised and captured ; next
came a fight between a large band of laborers and
two hundred and sixty Iroquois ; in the folloAving
month, ten more Frenchmen were killed or taken ;
and thenceforth, till Avinter closed, the settlement
had scarcely a breathing space. " These hobgob
lins," Avrites the author of the Relation of this year,
" sometimes appeared at the edge of the Avoods,
assailing us Avith abuse; sometimes 'they glided
stealthily into the midst of the fields, to surprise
the men at work; sometimes they approached
the houses, harassing us Avithout ceasing, and,
like importunate harpies or birds of prey, SAVOop-

60 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL [1057-01.
ing down on us whenever they could take us
unawares." 2
Speaking of the disasters of this year, the sol
dier-priest, Dollier de Casson, writes : " God, who
afflicts the body only for the good of the soul,
made a marvellous use of these calamities and ter
rors to hold the people firm in their duty toAvards
Heaven. Vice was then almost unknown here, and
in the midst of war religion flourished on all sides in
a manner very different from what we now see in
time of peace."2
The Avar was, in fact, a war of religion. The
small redoubts of logs, scattered about the skirts
of the settlement to serve as points of defence in
case of attack, bore the names of saints, to whose
care they were commended. There was one placed
under a higher protection and called the Redoubt
of ihe Infant Jesus. Chomedey de Maisonneuve,
the pious and valiant governor of Montreal, to
whom its successful defence is largely due, re
solved, in view of the increasing fury and persist
ency of the Iroquois attacks, to form among the
inhabitants a military fraternity, to be called
" Soldiers of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph ; " and to this end he issued a proclama
tion, of which the following is the characteristic
beginning : —
" We, Paul de Chomedey, governor of the island
of Montreal and lands thereon dependent, on in
formation given us from divers quarters that the
1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1661, p. 3 (ed. 1858).
2 Histoire du Montreal, 1660, 1661.

1657-61.] A HOLY WAR. 61
Iroquois have formed the design of seizing upon
this settlement by surprise or force, have thought
it our duty, seeing that this island is the property
of the Holy Virgin,1 to invite and exhort those
zealous for her service to unite together by squads,
each of seven persons; and after choosing a cor
poral by a plurality of voices, to report themselves
to us for enrolment in our garrison, and, in this
capacity, to obey our orders, to the end that the
country may be saved."
Twenty squads, numbering in all one hundred
and forty men, Avhose names, appended to the
proclamation, may still be seen on the ancient
records of Montreal, ansAvered the appeal and en
rolled themselves in the holy cause.
The whole settlement Avas in a state of religious
exaltation. As the Iroquois Avere regarded as actual
myrmidons of Satan in his malign warfare against
Mary and her divine Son, those who died in fight
ing them were held to merit the reward of martys,
assured of a seat in paradise.
And now it remains to record one of the most
heroic feats of arms ever achieved on this continent.
That it may be rated as it merits, it will be Avell to
glance for a moment at the condition of Canada,
under the portentous cloud of war which constantly
overshadowed it.2

1 This is no figure of speech. The Associates of Montreal, after
receiving a grant of the island from Jean de Lauson, placed it under the
protection of the Virgin, and formally declared her to be the proprietor
of it from that day forth for ever.
2 In all that relates to Montreal, I cannot be sufficiently grateful to
the Abbe Faillon, the indefatigable, patient, conscientious chronicler of its

62 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
early history ; an ardent and prejudiced Sulpitian, a priest who three
centuries ago would have passed for credulous, and, withal, a kind-
hearted and estimable man. His numerous books on his favorite
theme, with the vast and heterogeneous mass of facts which, they
embody, are invaluable, provided their partisan character be well kept
in mind. His recent death leaves his principal work unfinished. His
Histoire de la Colonie Frangaise en Canada — it might more fitly be called
Histoire du Montreal — is unhappily little more than half complete.

CHAPTER m.
1660, 1661.
THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT.
Suffering and Terror. — Francois Hertel. — The Captive AVolf
— The threatened Invasion. — Daulac des Ormeaux. — The
Adventurehs at the Long Saut. — The Attack. — ADesperate
Defence. — A Final Assault. — The Fort taken.
Canada had Avrithed for twenty years, Avith little
respite, under the scourge of Iroquois Avar. During
a great part of this dark period the entire French
population Avas less than three thousand. What,
then, saved them from destruction ? In the first
place, the settlements were grouped around three
fortified posts, Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal,
which in time of danger gave asylum to the fugi
tive inhabitants. Again, their assailants Avere con
tinually distracted by other Avars, and never, except
at a feAV spasmodic intervals, were fully in earnest
to destroy the French colony. Canada was indis
pensable to them. The four upper nations of the
league soon became dependent on her for supplies;
and all the nations alike appear, at a very early
period, to have conceived the policy on Avhich they
afterwards distinctly acted, of balancing the rival
settlements of the Hudson and the St. Lawrence,

64 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660-61.
the one against the other. They Avould torture, but
not kill. It Avas but rarely that, in fits of fury, they
struck their hatchets at the brain ; and thus the
bleeding and gasping colony lingered on in torment.
The seneschal of New France, son of the gov
ernor Lauson, was surprised and killed on the island
of Orleans, along Avith seven companions. About
the same time, the same fate befell the son of
Godefroy, one of the chief inhabitants of Quebec.
Outside the fortifications there was no safety for
a moment. A universal terror seized the people. A
comet appeared above Quebec, and they saw in it
a herald of destruction. Their excited imagina
tions turned natural phenomena into portents and
prodigies. A blazing canoe sailed across the sky ;
confused cries and lamentations Avere heard in the
air ; and a voice of thunder sounded from mid-
heaven.1 The Jesuits despaired for their scattered
and persecuted flocks. " Everywhere," writes their
superior, " Ave see infants to be saved for heaven,
sick and dying to be baptized, adults to be instructed,
but everywhere we see the Loquois. They haunt
us like persecuting goblins. They kill our neAv-
made Christians in our arms. If they meet us on
the river, they kill us. If they find us in the
huts of our Indians, they burn us and them to
gether." 2 And he appeals urgently for troops to
destroy them, as a holy work inspired by God, and.
needful for his service.
Canada Avas still a mission, and the influence of
1 Marie de lTncarnation, Lettre, Sept., 1661.
2 Relation, 1660 (anonymous), 3.

..668.1 ARGENSON. 05
the church was paramount and pervading. At
Quebec, as at Montreal, the Avar with the Iroquois
was regarded as a Avar with the hosts of Satan. Of
the settlers' cabins scattered along the shores above
and below Quebec, many were provided with small
iron cannon, made probably by blacksmiths in the
colony ; but they had also other protectors. In
each was an image of the Virgin or some patron
saint, and every morning the pious settler knelt
before the shrine to beg the protection of a celes
tial hand in his perilous labors of the forest or the
farm. When, in the summer of 1658, the young Vi-
comte d' Argenson came to assume the thankless
task of governing the colony, the Iroquois war was
at its height. On the day after his arrival, he was
washing his hands before seating himself at dinner
in the hall of the Chateau St. Louis, when cries of
alarm were heard, and he was told that the Iroquois
were close at hand. In fact, they were so near that
their war-whoops and the screams of their victims
could plainly be heard. Argenson left his guests,
and, with such a following as he could muster at the
moment, hastened to the rescue ; but the assailants
were too nimble for him. The forests, which grew
at that time around Quebec, favored them both in
attack and in retreat. After a year or two of expe
rience, he wrote urgently to the court for troops.
He adds that, what with the demands of the har
vest, and the unmilitary character of many of the
settlers, the colony could not furnish more than a
hundred men for offensive operations. A vigorous

66 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1661
aggressive war, he insists, is absolutely necessary,
and this not only to save the colony, but to save
the only true faith; "for," to borroAV his own words,
" it is this colony alone which has the honor to be
in the communion of the Holy Church. Every
where else reigns the doctrine of England or Hol
land, to which I can give no other name, because
there are as many creeds as there are subjects who
embrace them. They do not care in the least
whether the Iroquois and the other savages of this
country have or have not a knowledge of the true
God, or else they are so malicious as to inject the
venom of their errors into souls incapable of dis
tinguishing the truth of the gospel from the false
hoods of heresy ; and hence it is plain that religion
has its sole support in the French colony, and that,
if this colony is in danger, religion is equally in
danger." 1
Among the most interesting memorials of the time
are two letters, Avritten by Francois Hertel, a youth
of eighteen, captured at Three Rivers, and carried
to the Mohawk towns in the summer of 1661. He
belonged to one of the best families of Canada, and
was the favorite child of his mother, to whom the
second of the two letters is addressed. The first
is to the Jesuit Le Moyne, who had gone to Onon
daga, in July of that year, to effect the release
of French prisoners in accordance with the terms
of a truce.2 Both letters were written on birch
bark : —
1 Papiers d' Argenson ; Mimoire sur le sujet de la metre des Iroquois, 1669
(1661)'). MS.
2 Journal dss Jesuites, 300.

t661.] FRANCOIS HERTEL. 67
Ma- Reverend Father: — The very day when you left
Three Rivers I was captured, at about three in the afternoon,
by four Iroquois of the Mohawk tribe. I would not have been
taken alive, if, to my sorrow, I had not feared that I was not
in a fit state to die. If you came here, my Father, I could
have the happiness of confessing to you ; and I do not think
they would do you any harm ; and I think that I could return
home with you. I pray you to pity my poor mother, who is
in great trouble. You know, my Father, how fond she is oi
me. I have heard from a Frenchman, who was taken at
Three Rivers on the 1st of August, that she is well, and com
forts herself with the hope that I shall see you. There are
three of us Frenchmen alive here. I commend myself to your
good prayers, and particularly to the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. I pray you, my Father, to say a mass for me. I pray
you give my dutiful love to my poor mother, and console her,
if it pleases you.
My Father, I beg your blessing on the hand that writes to
you, which has one of the fingers burned in the bowl of
an Indian pipe, to satisfy the Majesty of God which I have
offended. The thumb of the other hand is cut off; but do
not tell my mother of it.
My Father, I pray you to honor me with a word from your
hand in reply, and tell me if you shall come here before
winter. Your most humble and most obedient servant,
Francois Hertel.
The following is the letter to his mother, sent
probably, with the other, to the charge of Le
Moyne : —
My most dear and honored Mother : — I know very
well that my capture must have distressed you very much.
I ask you to forgive my disobedience. It is my sins that
have placed me where I am. I owe my life to your prayers,
and those of M. de Saint-Quentin, and of my sisters. I hope to
see you again bef >re winter. I pray you to tell the good breth-

68 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660j
ren of Notre Dame to pray to God and the Holy Virgin for me,
iny dear mother, and for you and all my sisters.
Your poor
Fanchon.
This, no doubt, was the name by which she had
called him familiarly when a child. And who was
this " Fanchon," this devout and tender son of a
fond mother ? New England can answer to her cost.
When, twenty-nine years later, a band of French
and Indians issued from the forest and fell upon
the fort and settlement of Salmon Falls, it was
Francois Hertel who led the attack ; and when the
retiring victors were hard pressed by an over
whelming force, it was he who, sword in hand, held
the pursuers in check at the bridge of Wooster
River, and covered the retreat of his men. He
was ennobled for his services, and died at the age
of eighty, the founder of one of the most distin
guished families of Canada.1 To the New England
of old he was the abhorred chief of Popish malig-
nants and murdering savages. The New England
of to-day will be more just to the brave defender
of his country and his faith.
In May, 1660, a party of French Algonquins
captured a Wolf, or Mohegan, Indian, naturalized
among the Iroquois, brought him to Quebec, and
burned him there with their usual atrocity of tor
ture. A modern Catholic writer says that the
Jesuits could not save him; but this is not so.
Their influence over the consciences of the colonists
1 His letters of nobility, dated 1716, will be found in Daniel's Histoin
des Grandes Families Francaises du Canada, 404.

1660.] THE WOLF BURNED. 69
was at that time unbounded, and their direct po
litical power was very great. A protest on their
part, and that of the newly arrived bishop, who
was in their interest, could not have failed of effect.
The truth was, they did not care to prevent the
torture of prisoners of war, not solely out of that
spirit of compliance with the savage humor of
Indian allies which stains so often the pages of
French American history, but also, and perhaps
chiefly, from motives purely religious. Torture, in
their eyes, seems to have been a blessing in dis
guise. They thought it good for the soul, and in
case of obduracy the surest way of salvation. " We
ha\Te very rarely indeed," writes one of them,
" seen the burning of an Iroquois without feeling
sure that he was on the path to Paradise ; and we
never knew one of them to be surely on the path
to Paradise without seeing him pass through this
fiery punishment." 1 So they let the Wolf burn ;
but first, having instructed him after their fashion,
they baptized him, and his savage soul flew to
heaven out of the fire. " Is it not," pursues the
same writer, " a marvel to see a wolf changed at
one stroke into a lamb, and enter into the fold of
Christ, which he came to ravage ? "
Before he died he requited their spiritual cares
with a startling secret. He told them that eight
hundred Iroquois warriors were encamped below
Montreal ; that four hundred more, who had win
tered on the Ottawa, were on the point of joining
them ; and that the united force would swoop upon
' Relation, 1660, 31.

70 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. |1660.
Quebec, kill the governor, lay waste the town, and
then attack Three Rivers and Montreal.1 This
time, at least, the Iroquois were in deadly earnest.
Quebec was wild with terror. The Ursulines and
the nuns of the Hotel Dieu took refuge in the
strong and extensive building which the Jesuits
had just finished, opposite the Parish Church. Its
walls and palisades made it easy of defence ; and
in its yards and court were lodged the terrified
Hurons, as well as the fugitive inhabitants of the
neighboring settlements. Others found asylum in
the fort, and others in the convent of the Ursulines,
which, in place of nuns, was occupied by twenty-
four soldiers, who fortified it with redoubts, and
barricaded the doors and windows. Similar meas
ures of defence were taken at the H6tel Dieu,
and the streets of the Lower Town were strongly
barricaded. Everybody was in arms, and the
Qui vive of the sentries and patrols resounded all
night.2 Several days passed, and no Iroquois appeared.
The refugees took heart, and began to return to
their deserted farms and dwellings. Among the
rest was a family consisting of an old woman, her
daughter, her son-in-law, and four small children,
living near St. Anne, some twenty miles below
Quebec. On reaching home the old woman and
the man went to their work in the fields, while
the mother and children remained in the house.
1 Marie de l'lncarnation, Lettre, 25 Juin, 1660.
2 On this alarm at Quebec compare Marie de l'lncarnation, 25 Juin,
1660 ; Relation, 1660, 5 ; Juchereau, Histoire de l'H6tel-Dieu de Qugbec, 125
and Journal des Je"suites 282.

1660.| THE CAPTORS CAPTURED. 71
Here they were pounced upon and captured by
eight renegade Hurons, Iroquois by adoption, who
placed them in their large canoe, and paddled up
the riArer with their prize. It was Saturday, a day
dedicated to the Virgin ; and the captive mother
prayed to her for aid, " feeling," writes a Jesuit,
" a full conviction that, in passing before Quebec
on a Saturday, she would be delivered by the power
of this Queen of Heaven." In fact, as the ma
rauders and their captives glided in the darkness
of night by Point Levi, under the shadow of the
shore, they were greeted Avith a volley of musketry
from the bushes, and a band of French and Algon-
quins dashed into the water to seize them. Five
of the eight were taken, and the rest shot or
drowned. The governor had heard of the descent
at St. Anne, and despatched a party to lie in am
bush for the authors of it. The Jesuits, it is need
less to say, saw a miracle in the result. The Virgin
had answered the prayer of her votary. " Though
it is true," observes the father Avho records the
marvel, " that, in the volley, she received a mortal
wound." The same shot struck the infant in her
arms. The prisoners were taken to Quebec, where
four of them were tortured with even more f erocity
than had been shown in the case of the unfortunate
Wolf.1 Being questioned, they confirmed his story,
1 The torturers were Christian Algonquins, converts of the Jesuits.
Chaumonot, who was present to give spiritual aid to the sufferers, de
scribes the scene with horrible minuteness. "I could not," he says,
" deliver them from their torments." Perhaps not : but it is certain that
the Jesuits as a body, with or without the bishop, could have prevented
the atrocity, had they seen fit. They sometimes taught their converts to

72 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1B60
and expressed great surprise that the Iroquois had
not come, adding that they must have stopped to
attack Montreal or Three Rivers. Again all was
terror, and again days passed and no enemy
appeared. Had the dying converts, so charitably
despatched to heaven through fire, sought an un
hallowed consolation in scaring the abettors of their
torture with a lie ? Not at all. Bating a slight
exaggeration, they had told the truth. Where,
then, were the Iroquois ? As one small point of
steel disarms the lightning of its terrors, so did the
heroism of a few intrepid youths divert this storm
of war and save Canada from a possible ruin.
In the preceding April, before the designs of
the Iroquois were known, a young officer named
Daulac, commandant of the garrison of Montreal,
asked leave of Maisonneuve, the governor, to lead
a party of volunteers against the enemy. His plan
was bold to desperation. It was known that Iro
quois Avarriors m great numbers had wintered
among the forests of the Ottawa. Daulac proposed
to waylay them on their descent of the river, and
fight them without regard to disparity of force.
The settlers of Montreal had hitherto acted solely
on the defensive, for their numbers had been too
small for aggressive war. Of late their strength
had been somewhat increased, and Maisonneuve,
judging that a display of enterprise and boldness
pray for their enemies. It would have been well had they taught them
not to torture them. I can recall but one instance in which they did so.
The prayers for enemies were always for a spiritual, not a temporal good.
The fathers held the body in slight account, and cared little what hap
pened to it

i860.] DAULAC DES 0RMEAUX. 73
might act as a check on the audacity of the enemy,
at length gave his consent.
Adam Daulac, or Dollard, Sieur des Ormeaux,
was a young man of good family, who had come
to the colony three years before, at the age of
twenty-two. He had held some military command
in France, though in what rank does not appear.
It was said that he had been involved in some '
affair which made him anxious to wipe out the
memory of the past by a noteworthy exploit ; and
he had been busy for some time among the young
men of Montreal, inviting them to join him in the
enterprise he meditated. Sixteen of them caught
his spirit, struck hands with him, and pledged their
word. They bound themselves by oath to accept
no quarter; and, having gained Maisonneuve's
consent, they made their wills, confessed, and
received the sacraments. As they knelt for the
last time before the altar in the chapel of the
Hotel Dieu, that sturdy little population of pious
Indian-fighters gazed on them with enthusiasm, not
unmixed with an envy which had in it nothing
ignoble. Some of the chief men of Montreal, with
the brave Charles Le Moyne at their head, begged
them to wait till the spring sowing was over, that
they might join them ; but Daulac refused. He
was jealous of the glory and the danger, and he
wished to command, which he could not have done
had Le Moyne been present.
The spirit of the enterprise was purely mediaeval. \
The enthusiasm of honor, the enthusiasm of adven- !
ture, and the enthusiasm of faith, were its motive

74 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660
forces. Daulac was a knight of the early crusades
among the forests and savages of the New World.
Yet the incidents of this exotic heroism are definite
and clear as a tale of yesterday. The names, ages,
and occupations of the seventeen young men may
still be read on the ancient register of the parish
of Montreal; and the notarial acts of that year,
pi eserved in the records of the city, contain minute
accounts of such property as each of them possessed.
The three eldest were of twenty-eight, thirty, and
thirty-one years respectively. The age of the rest
varied from twenty-one to twenty-seven. They
were of various callings, — soldiers, armorers, lock
smiths, lime-burners, or settlers without trades.
The greater number had come to the colony as
part of the reinforcement brought by Maisonneuve
in 1653.
After a solemn farewell they embarked in sev
eral canoes well supplied with arms and ammuni
tion. They Avere very indifferent canoe-men ; and
it is said that they lost a week in vain attempts to
pass the swift current of St. Anne, at the head of
the island of Montreal. At length they were more
successful, and entering the mouth of the Ottawa,
crossed the Lake of Two Mountains, and slowly
adATanced against the current.
Meanwhile, forty warriors of that remnant of the
Hurons who, in spite of Iroquois persecutions, still
lingered at Quebec, had set out on a war-party, led
by the brave and wily Etienne Annahotaha, their
most noted chief. They stopped by the way at
Three Rivers, where they found a band of Christian

1660.] INDIAN ALLIES. 75
Algonquins under a chief named Mituvemeg An
nahotaha challenged him to a trial of courage, and
it was agreed that they should meet at Montreal,
where they were likely to find a speedy oppor
tunity of putting their mettle to the test. Thither,
accordingly, they repaired, the Algonquin with
three followers, and the Huron with thirty-nine.
It was not long before they learned the departure
of Daulac and his companions. " For," observes
the honest Dollier de Casson, " the principal fault
of our Frenchmen is to talk too much." The wish
seized them to share the adventure, and to that
end the Huron chief asked the governor for a letter
to Daulac, to serve as credentials. Maisonneuve
hesitated. His faith in Huron valor was not great,
and he feared the proposed alliance. Nevertheless,
he at length yielded so far as to give Annahotaha
a letter in which Daulac was told to accept or reject
the proffered reinforcement as he should see fit.
The Hurons and Algonquins now embarked and
paddled in pursuit of the seventeen Frenchmen.
They meanwhile had passed with difficulty thj
swift current at Carillon, and about the first of
May reached the foot of the more formidable rapid
called the Long Saut, where a tumult of waters,
foaming among ledges and boulders, barred the
onward way. It was needless to go farther. The
Iroquois were sure to pass the Saut, and could be
fought here as well as elsewhere. Just below the
rapid, where the forests sloped gently to the shore,
among the bushes and stumps of the rough clearing
made in constructing it, stood a palisade fort, the

76 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660
Avork of an Algonquin war-party in the past autumn.
It was a mere enclosure of trunks of small trees
planted in a circle,, and was already ruinous. Such
as it was, the Frenchmen took possession of it.
Their first care, one would think, should have been
to repair and strengthen it ; but this they seem
not to have done : possibly, in the exaltation of
their minds, they scorned such precaution. They
made their fires, and slung their kettles on the
neighboring shore ; and here they were soon joined
by the Hurons and Algonquins. Daulac, it seems,
made no objection to their company, and they all
bivouacked together. Morning and noon and night
they prayed in three different tongues ; .and when
at sunset the long reach of forests on the farther
shore basked peacefully in the level rays, the rapids
joined their hoarse music to the notes of their even
ing hymn.
In a day or two their scouts came in with tidings
that two Iroquois canoes were coming down the
Saut. Daulac had time to set his men in ambush
among the bushes at a point where he thought the
strangers likely to land. He judged aright. The
canoes, bearing five Iroquois, approached, and were
met by a volley fired with such precipitation that
one or more of them escaped the shot, fled into the
forest, and told their mischance to their main body.
two hundred in number, on the river above. A
fleet of canoes suddenly appeared, bounding down
the rapids, filled with warriors eager for revenge.
The allies had barely time to escape to their fort,
leaving their kettles still slung over the fires. The

1660.] THE FORT ATTACKED. 77
Iroquois made a hasty and desultory attack, and
were quickly repulsed. They next opened a parley,
hoping, no doubt, to gain some advantage by sur
prise. Failing in this, they set themselves, after
their custom on such occasions, to building a rude
fort of their own in the neighboring forest.
This gave the French a breathing-time, and they
used it for strengthening their defences. Being
provided with tools, they planted a row of stakes
within their palisade, to form a double fence, and
filled the intervening space with earth and stones
to the height of a man, leaving some twenty loop
holes, at each of which three marksmen were sta
tioned. Their work was still unfinished when the
Iroquois were upon them again. They had broken
to pieces the birch canoes of the French and their
allies, and, kindling the bark, rushed up to pile it
blazing against the palisade ; but so brisk and steady
a fire met them that they recoiled and at last gave
way. They came on again, and again were driven
back, leaving many of their number on the ground,
among them the principal chief of the Senecas.
Some of the French dashed out, and, covered by
the fire of their comrades, hacked off his head, and
stuck it on the palisade, while the Iroquois howled
in a frenzy of helpless rage. They tried another
attack, and were beaten off a third time.
This dashed their spirits, and they sent a canoe to
call to their aid five hundred of their warriors who
Avere mustered near the mouth of the Richelieu.
These were the allies whom, but for this untoward
check, they were on their way to join for a com*

78 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. L166Q
bined attack on Quebec, Three Rivers, and Mon
treal. It was maddening to see their grand project
thwarted by a few French and Indians ensconced
in a paltry redoubt, scarcely better than a cattle-
pen ; but they were forced to digest the affront as
best they might.
Meanwhile, crouched behind trees and logs, they
beset the fort, harassing its defenders day and night
with a spattering fire and a constant menace of
attack. Thus five days passed. Hunger, thirst,
and want of sleep wrought fatally on the strength
of the French and their allies, who, pent up to
gether in their narrow prison, fought and prayed
by turns. Deprived as they were of water, they
could not swalloAv the crushed Indian corn, or
" hominy," Avhich was their only food. Some of
them, under cover of a brisk fire, ran down to the
river and filled such small vessels as they had ; but
this pittance only tantalized their thirst. They dug
a hole in the fort, and were rewarded at last by a
little muddy water oozing through the clay.
Among the assailants were a number of Hurons.
adopted by the Iroquois and fighting on their side.
These renegades now shouted to their countrymen
in the fort, telling them that a fresh army was
close at hand ; that they would soon be attacked
by seven or eight hundred warriors ; and that their
only hope was in joining the Iroquois, who would
receive them as friends. Annahotaha's followers,
half dead with thirst and famine, listened to their
seducers, took the bait, and, one, two, or three at
a time, climbed the palisade and ran over to the

I660.J THE REINFORCEMENT. 79
enemy, amid the hootings and execrations of those
whom they deserted. Their chief stood firm ; and
when he saAv his nephew, La Mouche, join the other
fugitives, he fired his pistol at him in a rage. The
four Algonquins, who had no mercy to hope for,
stood fast, with the courage of despair.
On the fifth day an uproar of unearthly yells
from seven hundred savage throats, mingled with
a clattering salute of musketry, told the French
men that the expected reinforcement had come ;
and soon, in the forest and on the clearing, a crowd
of warriors mustered for the attack. Knowing
from the Huron deserters the weakness of their
enemy, they had no doubt of an easy victory. They
advanced cautiously, as Avas usual with the Iroquois
before their blood was up, screeching, leaping from
side to side, and firing as they came on ; but the
French were at their posts, and every loophole
darted its tongue of fire. Besides muskets, they
had heavy musketoons of large calibre, which, scat
tering scraps of lead and iron among the throng of
savages, often maimed several of them at one dis
charge. The Iroquois, astonished at the persistent
vigor of the defence, fell back discomfited. The fire
of the French, who were themselves completely
under coyer, had told upon them with deadly effect.
Three days more wore away in a series of futile
attacks, made with Httle concert or vigor; and
' during all this time Daulac and his men, reeling
with exhaustion, fought and grayed as before, sure
of a martyr's reward.
The uncertain, vacillating temper common to all

80 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. ¦ [1660.
Indians now began to declare itself. Some of the
Iroquois were for going home. Others revolted at
the thought, and declared that it would be an
eternal disgrace to lose so many men at the hands
of so paltry an enemy, and yet fail to take revenge.
It was resolved to make a general assault, and vol
unteers were called for to lead the attack. After
the custom on such occasions, bundles of small
sticks were thrown upon the ground, and those
picked them up who dared, thus accepting the
gage of battle, and enrolling themselves in the
forlorn hope. No precaution was neglected. Large
and heavy shields four or five feet high were made
by lashing together three spht logs with the aid of
cross-bars. Covering themselves with these man
telets, the chosen band advanced, followed by the
motley throng of warriors. In spite of a brisk fire,
they reached the palisade, and, crouching below
the range of shot, hewed furiously with their
hatchets to cut their way through. The rest fol-
loAved close, and swarmed like angry hornets
around the little fort, hacking and tearing to
get in.
Daulac had crammed a large musketoon with
powder, and plugged up the muzzle. Lighting the
fuse inserted in it, he tried to throw it over the bar
rier, to burst like a grenade among the crowd of
savages without ; but it struck the ragged top of
one of the palisades, fell back among the French
men and exploded, killing and wounding several
of them, and nearly blinding others. In the con
fusion that followed, the Iroquois got possession of

1660.] THE FORT TAKEN. 81
the loopholes, and, thrusting in their guns, fired on
those within. In a moment more they had torn a
breach in the palisade ; but, nerved with the energy
of desperation, Daulac and his followers sprang to
defend it. Another breach was made, and then
another. Daulac was struck dead, but the sur
vivors kept up the -fight. With a sword or a
hatchet in one hand and a knife in the other, they
threw themselves against the throng of enemies,
striking and stabbing with the fury of madmen ;
till the Iroquois, despairing of taking them alive,
fired volley after volley and shot them down. All
was over, and a burst of triumphant yells pro
claimed the dear-bought victory.
Searching the pile of corpses, the victors found
four Frenchmen still breathing. Three had scarcely
a spark of life, and, as no time was to be lost, they
burned them on the spot. The fourth, less for
tunate, seemed likely to survive, and they reserved
him for future torments. As for the Huron de
serters, their cowardice profited them little. The
Iroquois, regardless of their promises, fell upon them,
burned some at once, and carried the rest to their
villages for a similar fate. Five of the number had
the good fortune to escape, and it was from them,
aided by admissions made long afterwards by the
Iroquois themselves, that the French of Canada
derived all their knowledge of this glorious disaster.1
•
1 When the fugitive Hurons reached Montreal, they were unwilling
to confess their desertion of the French, and declared that they and some
others of their people, to the number of fourteen, had stood by them to
the last. This was the story told by one of them to the Jesuit Chaumo
not, and by him communicated in a letter to his friends at Quebec The
6

82 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
To the colony it proved a salvation. The Iro
quois had had fighting enough. If seventeen
Frenchmen, four Algonquins, and one Huron, be
hind a picket fence, could hold seven hundred war
riors at bay so long, what might they expect from
many such, fighting behind walls of stone ? For
that year they thought no more of capturing Quebec
and Montreal, but went home dejected and amazed,
to howl over their losses, and nurse their dashed
courage for a day of vengeance.
substance of this letter is given by Marie de l'lncarnation, in her letter to
her son of June 25, 1660. The Jesuit Relation of this year gives another
long account of the affair, also derived from the Huron deserters, who
this time only pretended that ten of their number remained with the
French. They afterwards admitted that all had deserted but Annaho
taha, as appears from the account drawn up by Dollier de Casson, in his
Histoire du Montreal. Another contemporary, Belmont, who heard the
story from an Iroquois, makes the same statement. All these writers,
though two of them were not friendly to Montreal, agree that Daulac
and his followers saved Canada from a disastrous invasion. The gov
ernor, Argenson, in a letter written on the fourth of July following,
and in his Me~moire sur le sujet de la guerre des Iroquois, expresses the same
conviction. Before me is an extract, copied from the Petit Registre de la
Cure de Montreal, giving the names and ages of Daulac's men. The
Abbe Faillon took extraordinary pains to collect all the evidence touch
ing this affair. See his Histoire de la Colonic Francaise, II. chap. xv.
Charlevoix, very little to his credit, passes it over in silence, not being
partial to Montreal.

CHAPTER IV.
1657-1668.
THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC.
Domestic Stripe. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Abbe Queylus. —
Francois de Laval. — The Zealots op Caen. — Gallican and
Ultramontane. — The Rival Claimants. — Storm at Quebec
— Laval Triumphant.
Canada, gasping under the Iroquois tomahawk,
might, one would suppose, have thought her cup of
tribulation full, and, sated with inevitable woe, have
sought consolation from the wrath without in a
holy calm within. Not so, however ; for while the
heathen raged at the door, discord rioted at the
hearthstone. Her domestic quarrels were wonder
ful in number, diversity, and bitterness. There was
the standing quarrel of Montreal and Quebec, the
quarrels of priests with each other, of priests
with the governor, and of the governor with the
intendant, besides ceaseless wranglings of riA'al
traders and rival peculators.
Some of these disputes were local and of no
special significance ; while others are very inter
esting, because, on a remote and obscure theatre,
they represent, sometimes in striking forms, the

84 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [165?
contending passions and principles of a most im
portant epoch of history. To begin with one
which even to this day has left a root of bitter
ness behind it.
The association of pious enthusiasts who had
founded Montreal1 was reduced in 1657 to a rem
nant of five or six persons^ whose ebbing zeal and
overtaxed purses were no longer equal to the de
vout but arduous enterprise. They begged the
priests of the Seminary of St. Sulpice to take it off
their hands. The priests consented ; and, though the
conveyance of the island of Montreal to these its
new proprietors did not take effect till some years
later, four of the Sulpitian fathers, Queylus, Souart,
Galinee, and Allet, came out to the colony and
took it in charge. Thus far Canada had had no
bishop, and the Sulpitians now aspired to give it
one from their own brotherhood. Many years
before, when the Recollets had a foothold in the
colony, they too, or at least some of them, had cher
ished the hope of giving Canada a bishop of their
own.2 As for the Jesuits, who for nearly thirty
years had of themselves constituted the Canadian
church, they had been content thus far to dispense
with a bishop ; for, having no rivals in the field,
they had felt no need of episcopal support.
The Sulpitians put forward Queylus as their
candidate for the new bishopric. The assembly
of French clergy, approved, and Cardinal Mazarin
1 See Jesuits in North America, chap. xv.
2 Mimoire quifaict pour I'affaire des P.P. Recollects de la prouince de St.
Dengs ditte de Paris touchant le droict qu'ils ont depuis Van i615, d'dOer en
Qjuanada soubs I'authorite de Sa Maieste", etc. 1637.

1657.] JESUIT AND SULPITIAN. 85
himself seemed to sanction, the nomination. The
Jesuits saw that their time of action was come. It
was they who had borne the heat and burden of
the day, the toils, privations, and martyrdoms, while
as yet the Sulpitians had done nothing and en
dured nothing. If any body of ecclesiastics was
to have the nomination of a bishop, it clearly be
longed to them, the Jesuits. Their might, too,
matched their right. They were strong at court ;
Mazarin withdrew his assent, and the Jesuits were
invited to name a bishop to their liking.
Meanwhile the Sulpitians, despairing of the bish
opric, had sought their solace elsewhere. Ships
bound for Canada had usually sailed from ports
within the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen,
and the departing missionaries had received their
ecclesiastical powers from him, till he had learned
to regard Canada as an outlying section of his dio
cese. Not unwilling to assert his claims, he now
made Queylus his vicar-general for all Canada,
thus clothing him with episcopal powers, and plac
ing him over the heads of the Jesuits. Queylus,
in effect, though not in name, a bishop, left his
companion Souart in the spiritual charge of Mon
treal, came down to Quebec, announced his new
dignity, and assumed the curacy of the parish.
The Jesuits received him at first with, their usual
urbanity, an exercise of self-control rendered more
easy by their knowledge that one more potent than
Queylus would soon arrive to supplant him.1
1 A detailed account of the experiences of Queylus at Quebec, imme
diately after his arrival, as related by himself, will be found in a memoir

86 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [16i> .
The vicar of the Archbishop of Rouen was a
man of many virtues, devoted to good works, as
he understood them; rich, for the Sulpitians were
under no vow of poverty ; generous in alms
giving, busy, indefatigable, overflowing with zeal,
vivacious in temperament and excitable in temper,
impatient of opposition, and, as it seems, incapable,
hke his destined rival, of seeing any way of doing
good but his own. Though the Jesuits were out
wardly courteous, their partisans would not listen
to the new cure's sermons, or listened only to find
fault, and germs of discord grew vigorously in the
parish of Quebec. Prudence was not among the
virtues of Queylus. He launched two sermons
against the Jesuits, in which he likened himself
to Christ and them to the Pharisees. " Who," he
supposed them to say, " is this Jesus, so beloved of
the people, who comes to cast discredit on us, who
for thirty or forty years have governed church and
state here, with none to dispute us?"1 He de
nounced such of his hearers as came to pick flaws
in his discourse, and told them it would be better
for their souls if they lay in bed at home, sick of
a " good quartan fever." His ire was greatly kin
dled by a letter of the Jesuit Pijart, which fell into
his hands through a female adherent, the pious
by the Sulpitian AUet, in Morale Pratique des Je'suites, XXXIV. chap.
xii. In chapter ten of the same volume the writer says that he visited
Queylus at Mont St. Valerien, after his return from Canada. "II me
prit a part ; nous nous promenames assez longtemps dans le jardin et il
m'ouvrit son coeur sur la condmte des Je'suites dans le Canada et partout
ailleurs. Messieurs de St. Sulpice savent bien ce qu'il m'en a pu dire, et je
suis assure" qu'ils ne diront pas que je l'ai da prendre pour des mensonges."
1 Journal des Je'suites, Oct., 1657.

1657.1 LAVAL. 87
Madame d'Aillebout, and in which that father de
clared that he, Queylus, was waging war on him
and his brethren more savagely than the Iroquois.1
" He was as crazy at sight of a Jesuit," writes an
adverse biographer, " as a mad dog at sight of
water."2 He cooled, however, on being shown
certain papers which proved that his position was
neither so strong nor so secure as he had supposed ;
and the governor, Argenson, at length persuaded
him to retire to Montreal.3
The queen mother, Anne of Austria, always in
clined to the Jesuits, had invited Father Le Jeune,
who was then in France, to make choice of a bishop
for Canada. It was not an easy task. No Jesuit
was eligible, for the sage policy of Loyola had ex
cluded members of the order from the bishopric.
The signs of the times portended trouble for the
Canadian church, and there was need of a bishop
who would assert her claims and fight her battles.
Such a man could not be made an instrument of
the Jesuits ; therefore there was double need that
he should be one with them in sympathy and
purpose. They made a sagacious choice. Le
Jeune presented to the queen mother the name
of Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, Abbe*
de Montigny.
Laval, for by this name he was thenceforth
known, belonged to one of the proudest families
of Europe, and, churchman as he was, there is
1 Journal des Je'suites, Oct., 1657.
2 Viger, Notice Historique sur I'Abbe'de Queylus.
8 Papiers d' Argenson.

88 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657
much in his career to remind us that in his veins
ran the blood of the stern Constable of France,
Anne de Montmorency. Nevertheless, his thoughts
from childhood had turned towards the church, or,
as his biographers Avill have it, all his aspirations
Avere heaA^enward. He received the tonsure at the
age of nine. The Jesuit Bagot confirmed and
moulded his youthful predilections ; and, at a later
period, he was one of a band of young zealots,
formed under the auspices of Bernieres de Lou-
vigni, royal treasurer at Caen, who, though a lay
man, was reputed almost a saint. It was Bernieres
who had borne the chief part in the pious fraud of
the pretended marriage through which Madame de
la Peltrie escaped from her father's roof to become
foundress of the Ursulines of Quebec.1 He had
since renounced the world, and dwelt at Caen, in a
house attached to an Ursuline convent, and known
as the Hermitage. Here he lived hke a monk, in
the midst of a community of young priests and
devotees, who looked to him as their spiritual direc
tor, and whom he trained in the maxims and prac
tices of the most extravagant, or, as his admirers
say, the most sublime ultramontane piety.2
The conflict between the Jesuits and the Jan-
senists was then at its height. The Jansenist doc
trines of election and salvation by grace, which
sapped the power of the priesthood and impugned
the authority of the Pope himself in his capacity
of holder of the keys of heaven, were to the Jesuits
1 See Jesuits in North America, chap. xiv.
2 La Tour, Vie di Laval, gives his maxims at length.

1657-62.] THE HERMITAGE OF CAEN. 89
an abomination ; while the rigid morals of the Jan-
senists stood in stern contrast to the pliancy of
Jesuit casuistry. Bernieres and his disciples were
zealous, not to say fanatical, partisans of the Jesuits.
There is a long account of the " Hermitage " and
its inmates from the pen of the famous Jansenist,
Nicole ; an opponent, it i& true, but one whose
qualities of mind and character give weight to his
testimony.1 " In this famous Hermitage," says Nicole, " the
late Sieur de Bernieres brought up a number of
young men, to whom he taught a sort of sublime
and transcendental devotion called passive prayer,
because in it the mind does not act at all, but
merely receives the divine operation ; and this
devotion is the source of all those visions and reve ¦
lations in which the Hermitage is so prolific." In
short, he and his disciples were mystics of the most
exalted type. Nicole pursues : " After having thus
subtilized their minds, and almost sublimed them
into vapor, he rendered them capable of detecting
Jansenists under any disguise, insomuch that some
of his followers said that they knew them by the
scent, as dogs know their game ; but the aforesaid
Sieur de Bernieres denied that they had so subtile
a sense of smell, and said that the mark by which
he detected Jansenists was their disapproval of his
teachings or their opposition to the Jesuits."
The zealous band at the Hermitage was aided in
1 Melmoire pour /aire connoistre I' esprit et la conduite de la Compagnu
e'tablie en la ville de Caen, appellee I' Hermitage (Bibliotheque Natbnale
Imprimis Partie Re"servee). Written in 1660.

90 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62
its efforts to extirpate error by a sort of external
association in the city of Caen, consisting of mer
chants, priests, officers, petty nobles, and others,
all inspired and guided by Bernieres. They met
every week at the Hermitage, or at the houses of
each other. Similar associations existed in other
cities of France, besides a fraternity in the Rue
St. Dominique at Paris, which was formed by the
Jesuit Bagot, and seems to have been the parent,
in a certain sense, of the others. They all acted
together when any important object was in view.
Bernieres and his disciples felt that God had
chosen them not only to watch over doctrine and
discipline in convents and in families, but also to
supply the prevalent deficiency of zeal in bishops
and other dignitaries of the church. They kept, too,
a constant eye on the humbler clergy, and when
ever a new preacher appeared in Caen, two of their
number Avere deputed to hear his sermon and report
upon it. If he chanced to let fall a word concern
ing the grace of God, they denounced him for Jan-
senistic heresy. Such commotion was once raised
in Caen by charges of sedition and Jansenism,
brought by the Hermitage against priests and laj-
men hitherto without attaint, that the Bishop of
Bayeux thought it necessary to interpose ; but even
he was forced to pause, daunted by the insinuations
of Bernieres that he was in secret sympathy with
the obnoxious doctrines.
Thus the Hermitage and its affiliated societies
constituted themselves a sort of inquisition in the
interest of the Jesuits; "for what," asks Nicole,

1657-62.] THE ZEALOTS AT CAEN. 91
" might not be expected from persons of weak minds
and atrabilious dispositions, dried up by constant
fasts, vigils, and other austerities, besides medita
tions of three or four hours a day, and told con
tinually that the church is in imminent danger of
ruin through the machinations of the Jansenists,
who are represented to them as persons who wish
to break up the foundations of the Christian faith
and subvert the mystery of the Incarnation ; who
beheve neither in transubstantiation, the invocation
of saints, nor indulgences ; who wish to abolish the
sacrifice of the Mass and the sacrament of Penitence,
oppose the worship of the Holy Virgin, deny free
will and substitute predestination in its place, and,
in fine, conspire to overthrow the authority of the
Supreme Pontiff."
Among other anecdotes, Nicole tells the follow
ing : One of the young zealots of the Hermitage
took it into his head that all Caen was full of Jan
senists, and that the cure's of the place were in league
with them. He inoculated four others Avith this
notion, and they resolved to warn the people of
their danger. They accordingly made the tour of
the streets, without hats or collars, and with coats
unbuttoned, though it was a cold winter day, stop
ping every moment to proclaim in a loud voice
that all the cures, excepting two, whom they named,
were abettors of the Jansenists. A mob was soon
following at their heels, and there was great excite
ment. The magistrates chanced to be in session,
and, hearing of the disturbance, they sent consta
bles to arrest the authors of it. Being brought to

92 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62
the bar of justice and questioned by the judge, they
answered that they were doing the work of God,
and were ready to die in the cause ; that Caen was
full of Jansenists, and that the cures had declared
in their favor, inasmuch as they denied any knowl
edge of their existence. Four of the five were
locked up for a few days, tried, and sentenced to
a fine of a hundred livres, Avith a promise of further
punishment should they again disturb the peace.1
The fifth, being pronounced out of his wits by
the physicians, was sent home to his mother, at a
village near Argentan, where two or three of his
fellow zealots presently joined him. Among them,
they persuaded his mother, who had hitherto been
devoted to household cares, to exchange them for
a life of mystical devotion. " These three or four
persons," says Nicole, " attracted others as imbecile
as themselves." Among these recruits were a num
ber of women, and several priests. After various
acts of fanaticism, " two or three days before last
Pentecost," proceeds the narrator, " they all set
out, men and women, for Argentan. The priests
had drawn the skirts of their cassocks over their
heads, and tied them about their necks with twisted
straw. Some of the women had their heads bare,
and their hair streaming loose over their shoulders.
They picked up filth on the road, and rubbed their
faces Avith it, and the most zealous ate it, saying
that it Avas necessary to mortify the taste. Some

1 Nicole is not the only authority for this story. It is also told by a
very different writer. See Notice llistoiique de I'Abbaye de Ste. Chin
d' Argentan, 124.

1657-62.J MORE EXTRAVAGANCE. 93
held stones in their hands, which they knocked
together to draw the attention of the passers-by.
They had a leader, whom they were bound to obey ;
and when this leader saw any mud-hole particularly
deep and dirty, he commanded some of the party
to roll themselves in it, which they did forthwith.1
" After this fashion, they entered the town of
Argentan, and marched, two by two, through all
the streets, crying with a loud voice that the Faith
was perishing, and that whoever wished to save it
must quit the country and go with them to Canada,
whither they were soon to repair. It is said that
they still hold this purpose, and that their leaders
declare it revealed to them that they will find a
vessel ready at the first port to which Providence
directs them. The reason why they choose Canada
for an asylum is, that Monsieur de Montigny
(Laval), Bishop of Petrasa, who lived at the Her
mitage a long time, where he was instructed in
mystical theology by Monsieur de Bernieres, exer
cises episcopal functions there ; and that the Jesuits,
who are their oracles, reign in that country."
This adventure, like the other, ended in a colli
sion with the police. " The priests," adds Nicole,
" were arrested, and are now waiting trial, and the
rest were treated as mad, and sent back with shame
and confusion to the places whence they had
come."
1 These proceedings were probably intended to produce the result
which was the constant object of the mystics of the Hermitage ; namely,
the " annihilation of self," with a view to a perfect union with God. To
become despised of men was an important, if not an essential, step in thi»
mystical suicide.

94 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62
Though these pranks took place after Laval had
left the Hermitage, they serve to characterize the
school in which he was formed; or, more justly
speaking, to show its most extravagant side. That
others did not share the views of the celebrated
Jansenist, may be gathered from the following pas
sage of the funeral oration pronounced over the
body of Laval half a century later : —
" The humble abbe was next transported into
the terrestrial paradise of Monsieur de Bernieres.
It is thus that I call, as it is fitting to call it, that
famous Hermitage of Caen, Avhere the seraphic
author of the ' Christian Interior ' (Bernieres) trans
formed into angels all those who had the happiness
to be the companions of his solitude and of his
spiritual exercises. It was there that, during four
years, the fervent abb6 drank the living and abound
ing waters of grace which have since flowed so be
nignly over this land of Canada. In this celestial
abode his ordinary occupations were prayer, mor
tification, instruction of the poor, and spiritual
readings or conferences; his recreations were to
labor in the hospitals, wait upon the sick and poor,
make their beds, dress their wounds, and aid them
in then most repulsive needs."1
In truth, Laval's zeal was boundless, and the
exploits of self-humihation recorded of him were
unspeakably1 revolting.2 Bernieres himself regarded
1 Eloge funebre de Messire Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, par
Messire de la Colombiere, Vicaire General.
2 See La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. I. Some of them were closely akin
to that of the fanatics mentioned above, who ate " immondires d'animaux "
to mortify the taste.

1657-62.] GALLICAN AND ULTRAMONTANE. 95
him as a light by which to guide his own steps in
ways of hohness. He made journeys on foot about
the country, disguised, penniless, begging from
door to door, and courting scorn and opprobrium,
" in order," says his biographer, " that he might
suffer for the love of God." Yet, though living at
this time in a state of habitual religious exaltation,
he was by nature no mere dreamer ; and in what
ever heights his spirit might wander, his feet were
always planted on the solid earth. His flaming
zeal had for its servants a hard, practical nature,
perfectly fitted for the battle of life, a narrow in
tellect, a stiff and persistent will, and, as his ene
mies thought, the love of domination native to his
blood. Two great parties divided the Catholics of
France, — the Gallican or national party, and the
ultramontane or papal party. The first, resting
on the Scriptural injunction to give tribute to
Caasar, held that to the king, the Lord's anointed,
belonged the temporal, and to the church the
spiritual power. It held also that the laws and
customs of the church of France could not be
broken at the bidding of the Pope.1 The ultra
montane party, on the other hand, maintained that
the Pope, Christ's vicegerent on earth, was su
preme over earthly rulers, and should of right hold
jurisdiction over the clergy of all Christendom, with
powers of appointment and removal. Hence they
claimed for him the right of nominating bishops in
«
1 See the famous Quatre Articles of 1682, in which the liberties of tlie
Gallican Church are asserted.

96 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [I65i.
France. This had anciently been exercised by
assembhes of the French clergy, but in the reign of
Francis I. the king and the Pope had combined to
wrest it from them by the Concordat of Bologna.
Under this compact, winch was still in force, the
Pope appointed French bishops on the nomination
of the king, a plan which displeased the Galli-
cans, and did not satisfy the ultramontanes.
The Jesuits, then as now, were the most forcible
exponents of ultramontane principles. The church
to rule the world ; the Pope to rule the church ;
the Jesuits to rule the Pope : such was and is the
simple programme of the Order of Jesus, and to it
they have held fast, except on a few rare occa
sions of misunderstanding with the Vicegerent of
Christ.1 In the question of papal supremacy, as
in most things else, Laval was of one mind with
them. Those versed in such histories will not be sur
prised to learn that, when he received the royal
nomination, humility would not permit him to
accept it; nor that, being urged, he at length
bowed in resignation, still protesting his unworthi-
ness. Nevertheless, the royal nomination did not
take effect. The ultramontanes outflanked both
the king and the GaUicans, and by adroit strategy
made the new prelate completely a creature of the
papacy. Instead of appointing him Bishop of Que
bec, in accordance with the royal initiative, the
Pope made him his vicar apostolic for Canada,
1 For example, not long after this time, the Jesuits, having a dispute
with Innocent XI., threw themselves into the party of opposition.

1657] LAVAL AND QUEYLUS. 97
thus evading the king's nomination, and affirming
that Canada, a country of infidel savages, was ex
cluded from the concordat, and under his (the
Pope's) jurisdiction pure and simple. The GaUi
cans were enraged. The Archbishop of Rouen
vainly opposed, and the parliaments of Rouen and
of Paris vainly protested. The papal party pre
vailed. The king, or rather Mazarin, gave his
consent, subject to certain conditions, the chief of
which was an oath of allegiance ; and Laval, grand
vicar apostolic, decorated Avith the title of Bishop
of Petrasa, sailed for his Avilderness diocese in the
spring of 1659.1 He was but thirty-six years of
age, but even when a boy he could scarcely have
seemed young.
Queylus, for a time, seemed to accept the situa
tion, and tacitly admit the claim of Laval as his
ecclesiastical superior ; but, stimulated by a letter
from the Archbishop of Rouen, he soon threw him-
seff into an attitude of opposition,2 in which the
popularity which his generosity to the poor had
won for him gave him an advantage very annoying
to his adversary. The quarrel, it wUl be seen, was
three-sided, — GaUican against ultramontane, Sul
pitian against Jesuit, Montreal against Quebec.
To Montreal the recalcitrant abbe-, after a brief
visit to Quebec, had again retired ; but even here,
girt with his Sulpitian brethren and compassed with
1 Compare La Tour, Vie de Laval, with the long statement in Faillon,
Colonic Franqaise, H. 315-335. Faillon gives various documents in full,
including the royal letter of nomination and those in which the King
gives a reluctant consent to the appointment of the vicar apostolic.
2 Journal des Je'suites, Sept., 1657. 7

98 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1059.
partisans, the arm of the vicar apostohc was long
enough to reach him.
By temperament and conviction Laval hated a
divided authority, and the very shadow of a schism
was an abomination in his sight. The young king,
who, though abundantly jealous of his royal power,
was forced to concUiate the papal party, had sent
instructions to Argenson, the governor, to support
Laval, and prevent divisions in the Canadian
church.1 These instructions served as the pretext
of a procedure sufficiently summary. A squad of
soldiers, commanded, it is said, by the governor
himself, went up to Montreal, brought the indignant
Queylus to Quebec, and shipped him thence for
France.2 By these means, writes Father Lalemant,
order reigned for a season in the church.
It was but for a season. Queylus was not a
man to bide his defeat in tranquillity, nor were his
brother Sulpitians disposed to sUent acquiescence.
Laval, on his part, was not a man of half measures.
He had an agent in France, and partisans strong at
court. Fearing, to borrow the words of a Catholic
writer, that the return of Queylus to Canada would
prove " injurious to the glory of God," he bestirred
himself to prevent it. The young king, then at
Aix, on his famous journey to the frontiers of
Spain to marry the Infanta, was induced to write
to Queylus, ordering him to remain in France.3
Queylus, however, repaired to Rome; but even
1 Lettre du Roi a d' Argenson, 14 Mai, 1659.
2 Belmont, Histoire du Canada, a.d. 1659. Memoir by Abbe d'AUet,
in Morale Pratique des Je'suites, XXXI V. 725.
8 Lettre du Roi a Queylus, 27 Feb., 1660.

1660-61.] ANOTHER STORM. 99
against this movement provision had been made :
accusations of Jansenism had gone before him, and
he met a cold welcome. Nevertheless, as he had
powerful friends near the Pope, he succeeded in
removing these adverse impressions, and even in
obtaining certain bulls relating to the establishment
of the parish of Montreal, and favorable to the Sul
pitians. Provided with these, he set at nought the
king's letter, embarked under an assumed name,
and sailed to Quebec, where he made his appear
ance on the 3d of August, 1661,1 to the extreme
wrath of Laval.
A ferment ensued. Laval's partisans charged
the Sulpitians with Jansenism and opposition to the
will of the Pope. A preacher more zealous than
the rest denounced them as priests of Antichrist ;
and as to the bulls in their favor, it was affirmed
that Queylus had obtained them by fraud from the
Holy Father. Laval at once issued a mandate for
bidding him to proceed to Montreal tUl ships should
arrive with instructions from the King.2 At the
same time he demanded of the governor that he
should interpose the civU power to prevent Queylus
from leaving Quebec.3 As Argenson, who wished
to act as peacemaker between the belligerent
fathers, did not at once take the sharp measures
required of him, Laval renewed his demand on the
next day, caning on him, in the name of God and
the king, to compel Queylus to yield the obedience
• Journal des Je'suites, Aout, 1661.
2 Lettre de Laval a Queylus, 4 Aout, 1661.
' Lettre de Laval a d' Argenson, Ibid.

100 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1661.
due to him, the vicar apostolic.1 At the same
time he sent another to the offending abbe", threat
ening to suspend him from priestly functions if he
persisted in his rebeUion.2
The incorrigible Queylus, who seems to have
lived for some months in a simmer of continual in
dignation, set at nought the vicar apostolic as he
had set at nought the king, took a boat that very
night, and set out for Montreal under cover of dark
ness. Great was the ire of Laval when he heard
the news in the morning. He despatched a letter
after him, declaring him suspended ipso facto, if he
did not instantly return and make his submission.3
This letter, like the rest, f aUed of the desired effect ;
but the governor, who had received a second man
date from the king to support Laval and prevent
a schism,4 now reluctantly interposed the secular
arm, and Queylus was again compeUed to return
to France.5
His expulsion was a Sulpitian defeat. Laval,
always zealous for unity and centralization, had
some time before taken steps to repress what he
regarded as a tendency to independence at Mon
treal. In the preceding year he had written to the
Pope : "There are some secular priests (Sulpitians)
at Montreal, whom the Abbe" de Queylus brought
out with him in 1657, and I have named for the
1 Lettre de Laval a d' Argenson, 5 Aout, 1661.
2 Lettre de Laval a Queylus, Ibid.
» Ibid, 6 Aout, 1661.
4 Lettre du Roi a d' Argenson, 13 Mai, 1660.
5 For the governor's attitude in this affair, consult the Papiers oVArgen-
son, containing his despatches.

1661.] VICTORY OF LAVAL. 101
functions of cure" the one among them whom I
thought the least disobedient." The bulls which
Queylus had obtained from Rome related to this
very curacy, and greatly disturbed the mind of the
vicar apostolic. He accordingly wrote again to the
Pope : " I pray your Holiness to let me know your
will concerning the jurisdiction of the Archbishop
of Rouen. M. TAbbe" de Queylus, who has come
out this year as vicar of this archbishop, has tried to
deceive us by surreptitious letters, and has obeyed
neither our prayers nor our repeated commands to
desist. But he has received orders from the king
to return immediately to France, to render an ac
count of his disobedience, and he has been compeUed
by the governor to conform to the will of his
Majesty. What I now fear is that, on his return
to France, by using every kind of means, employ
ing new artifices, and falsely representing our
affairs, he may obtain from the court of Rome
powers which may disturb the peace of our church ;
for the priests whom he brought .with him from
France, and who live at Montreal, are animated
with the same spirit of disobedience and division ;
and I fear, Avith good reason, that all belonging to
the seminary of St. SiUpice, who may come here
after to join them, Avill be of the same disposition.
If what is said is true, that by means of fraudulent
letters the right of patronage of the pretended
parish of Montreal has been granted to the supe
rior of this seminary, and the right of appointment
to the Archbishop of Rouen, then is altar reared
against altar in our church of Canada; for the

102 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. 11668.
clergy of Montreal wiU always stand in opposition
to me, the vicar apostolic, and to my successors." *
These dismal forebodings were never realized.
The Holy See annuUed the obnoxious bulls ; the
Archbishop of Rouen renounced his claims, and
Queylus found his position untenable. Seven years
later, when Laval was on a visit to France, a recon
ciliation was brought about between them. The
former vicar of the Archbishop of Rouen made
his submission to the vicar of the Pope, and returned
to Canada as a missionary. Laval's triumph was
complete, to the joy of the Jesuits, sUent, if not
idle, spectators of the tedious and complex quarrel.
1 Lettre de Laval au Pope, 22 Oct., 1661. Printed by Faillon, from the
original in the archives of the Propaganda.

CHAPTER V.
1659, 1660.
LAVAL AND ARGENSON.
Francois de Laval. — His Position and Character. — Arrival
op Argenson. — The Quarrel.
We are touching delicate ground. To many
exceUent Catholics of our own day Laval is an
object of veneration. The Catholic university of
Quebec glories in bearing his name, and certain
modern ecclesiastical writers rarely mention him
in terms less reverent than "the virtuous prel
ate," or " the holy prelate." Nor are some of his
contemporaries less emphatic in eulogy. Mother
Juchereau de Saint-Denis, Superior of the HOtel
Dieu, wrote immediately after his death : " He began
in his tenderest years the study of perfection, and we
have reason to think that he reached it, since every
virtue which Saint Paul demands in a bishop was
seen and admired in him ;" and on his first arrival
in Canada, Mother Marie de l'lncarnation, Superior
of' the Ursulines, wrote to her son that the choice
of such a prelate was not of man, but of God. " I
wiU not," she adds, " say that he is a saint, but I
may say with truth that he lives like a saint and

104 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659.
an apostle." And she describes his austerity of
life; how he had but two servants, a gardener —
whom he lent on occasion to his needy neigh
bors — and a valet; how he lived in a small hired
house, saying that he would not have one of his
own if he could buUd it for only five sous ; and
how, in his table, furniture, and bed, he showed the
spirit of poverty,, even, as she thinks, to excess.
His servant, a lay brother named Houssart, testified,
after his death, that he slept on a hard bed, and
would not suffer it to be changed even when it
became full of fleas ; and, what is more to the pur
pose, that he gave fifteen hundred or two thousand
francs to the poor every year.1 Houssart also gives
the f oUowing specimen of his austerities : " I have
seen him keep cooked meat five,, six, seven, or
eight days in the heat of summer, and when it was
aU mouldy and wormy he washed it in warm water
and ate it, and told me that it was very good."
The old servant was so impressed by these and
other proofs of his master's sanctity, that " I deter- •
mined," he says, " to keep every thing I could
that had belonged to his holy person, and after his
death to soak bits of linen in his blood when his
body was opened, and take a few bones and carti
lages from his breast, cut off his hair, and keep hia
clothes, and such things, to serve as most precious
relics." These pious cares were not in vain, for
the relics proved greatly in demand.
1 Lettre du Frere Houssart, ancien serviteur de Mg'r de Laval a M.
Tremblay, 1 Sept., 1708. This letter is printed, though with one or two
important omissions, in the Abeille, Vol. L (Quebec, 1848.)

1659.] FRANCOIS DE LAVAL. 105
Several portraits of Laval are extant. A drooping
nose of portentous size ; a well-formed forehead ;
a brow strongly arched ; a bright, clear eye ; scanty
hair, half hidden by a black skullcap ; thin lips,
compressed and rigid, betraying a spirit not easy
to move or convince ; features of that indescribable
cast which marks the priestly type : such is Laval,
as he looks grimly down on us from the dingy can
vas of two centuries ago.
He is one of those concerning whom Protestants
and CathoUcs, at least ultramontane Catholics, wiU
never agree in judgment. The task of eulogizing
him may safely be left to those of his own way
of thinking. It is for us to regard him from
the standpoint of secular history. And, first, let
us credit him with sincerity. He beUeved firmly
that the princes and rulers of this world ought
to be subject to guidance and control at the
hands of the Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth.
But he himself was the Pope's vicar, and, so far as
the bounds of Canada extended, the Holy Father
had clothed him with his own authority. The glory
of God demanded that this authority should suffer
no abatement, and he, Laval, would be guUty before
Heaven if he did not uphold the supremacy of the
church over the powers both of earth and of hell.
Of the faults which he owed to nature, the prin
cipal seems to have been an arbitrary and domi
neering temper. He was one of those who by
nature lean always to the side of authority ; and in
the English Revolution he would inevitably have
stood for the Stuarts ; or, in the American Revolu-

106 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659.
tion, for the Crown. But being above all things
a CathoUc and a priest, he was drawn by a consti
tutional necessity to the ultramontane party, or
the party of centralization. He fought lustUy, in
his way, against the natural man ; and hunulity was
the virtue to the culture of which he gave his
chief attention, but soil and climate were not fav
orable. His life was one long assertion of the
authority of the church, and this authority was
lodged in himself. In his stubborn fight for eccle
siastical ascendancy, he was aided by the impulses
of a nature that loved to rule, and could not endure
to yield. His principles and his instinct of domina
tion were acting in perfect unison, and his con
science was the handmaid of his fault. Austerities
and mortifications, playing at beggar, sleeping in
beds full of fleas, or performing prodigies of gratu
itous dirtiness in hospitals, however fatal to seff-
respect, could avaU little against influences working
so powerfully and so insidiously to stimulate the
most subtle of human vices. The history of the
Roman church is full of Lavals.
The Jesuits, adepts in human nature, had made
a sagacious choice when they put forward this con
scientious, zealous, dogged, and pugnacious priest
to fight their battles. Nor were they ill pleased
that, for the present, he was not Bishop of Canada,
but only vicar apostohc ; for, such being the case,
they could have him recaUed if, on trial, they did
not hke him, while an unacceptable bishop would
be an evil past remedy.
Canada was entering a state of transition. Hith-

1659.] APPROACHING CHANGE. 107
erto ecclesiastical influence had been aU in all. The
Jesuits, by far the most educated and able body of
men in the colony, had controUed it, not alone in
things spiritual, but virtually in things temporal
also ; and the governor may be said to have been
little else than a chief of police, under the direction
of the missionaries. The early governors were them
selves deeply imbued with the missionary spirit.
Champlain was earnest above aU things for con
verting the Indians; Montmagny was half -monk,
for he was a Knight of Malta; AUlebout was so
insanely pious, that he lived with his wife like monk
and nun. A change was at hand. From a mission
and a trading station, Canada was soon to become,
in the true sense, a colony ; and civil government
had begun to assert itself on the banks of the St.
Lawrence. The epoch of the martyrs and apostles
was passing away, and the man of the sword and
the man of the gown — the soldier and the legist —
were threatening to supplant the paternal sway of
priests ; or, as Laval might have said, the hosts of
this world were beleaguering the sanctuary, and
he was caUed of Heaven to defend it. His true
antagonist, though three thousand nnles away, was
the great minister Colbert, as purely a statesman
as the vicar apostoHc was purely a priest. Laval,
no doubt, could see behind the statesman's back
another adversary, the devU.
Argenson was governor when the crozier and the
sword began to clash, which is merely another way
of saying that he was governor when Laval arrived.
He seems to have been a man of education, modera-

108 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659.
tion, and sense, and he was also an earnest Catholic ;
but if LaA^al had his duties to God, so had Argenson
his duties to the king, of whose authority he was
the representative and guardian. If the first colli
sions seem trivial, they Avere no less the symptoms
of a grave antagonism. Argenson could have pur
chased peace only by becoming an agent of the
church. The vicar apostolic, or, as he was usuaUy styled,
the bishop, being, it may be remembered, titular
Bishop of Petrasa in Arabia, presently feU into a
quarrel with the governor touching the relative
position of their seats in church, — a point which,
Tby the way, was a subject of contention for many
years, and under several successive governors. This
time the case was referred to the ex-governor,
AUlebout, and a temporary settlement took place.1
A few weeks after, on the f§te of Saint Francis
Xavier, when the Jesuits were accustomed to ask
the dignitaries of the colony to dine in their refec
tory after mass, a fresh difficulty arose, — Should
the governor or the bishop have the higher seat at
table ? The question defied solution ; so the fathers
invited neither of them.2
Again, on Christmas, at the midnight mass, the
deacon offered incense to the bishop, and then, in
obedience to an order from him, sent a subordinate
to offer it to the governor, instead of offering it
himself. Laval further insisted that the priests of
the choir should receive incense before the gover-
1 Lalemant, in Journal des Je'suites, Sept., 1659.
2 Ibid., Dec, 1659.

1659-60.| DISPUTES OF PRECEDENCE. 109
nor received it. Argenson resisted, and a bitter
quarrel ensued.1
The late governor, AUlebout, had been church
warden ex officio ; 2 and in this pious community the
office was esteemed as an addition to his honors.
Argenson had thus far held the same position; but
Laval declared that he should hold it no longer.
Argenson, to whom the bishop had not spoken on
the subject, came soon after to a meeting of the
wardens, and, being challenged, denied Laval's right
to dismiss him. A dispute ensued, in which the
bishop, according to his Jesuit friends, used lan
guage not very respectful to the representative of
royalty.3 On occasion of the " solemn catechism," the
bishop insisted that the children should salute him
before saluting the governor. Argenson hearing
of this, dechned to come. A compromise was con
trived. It was agreed that when the rival digni
taries entered, the children should be busied in
some manual exercise which should prevent their
saluting either. Nevertheless, two boys, " enticed
and set on by their parents," saluted the governor
first, to the great indignation of Laval. They were
whipped on the next day for breach of orders.4
Next there was a sharp quarrel about a sentence
pronounced by Laval against a heretic, to which
the governor, good Catholic as he was, took excep-
1 Lalemant, in Journal des Je'suites, Dec, 1659 ; Lettre d' Argenson &
MM. de la Compagnie de St. Sulpice.
2 Livre des Deliberations de la Fabrique de Quebec.
8 Journal des JesuHes, Nov., 1660.
* Ibid., Feb., 1661

110 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1661.
tion.1 Palm Sunday came, and there could be no
procession and no distribution of branches, because
the governor and the bishop could not agree on
points of precedence.2 On the day of the Fe~te
Dieu, however, there was a grand procession, which
stopped from time to time at temporary altars, or
reposoirs, placed at intervals along its course. One
of these was in the fort, where the soldiers were
drawn up, waiting the arrival of the procession.
Laval demanded that they should take off their
hats. Argenson assented, and the soldiers stood
uncovered. Laval now insisted that they should
kneel. The governor replied that it was their duty
as soldiers to stand ; whereupon the bishop refused
to stop at the altar, and ordered the procession to
move on.8
The above incidents are set down in the private
journal of the superior of the Jesuits, which was
not meant for the public eye. The bishop, it will
be seen, was, by the showing of his friends, in most
cases the aggressor. The disputes in question,
though of a nature to provoke a snule on irrev
erent lips, were by no means so puerile as they
appear. It is difficult in a modern democratic
socisty to conceive the substantial importance of
the signs and symbols of dignity and authority,
at a time and among a people where they were
adjusted with the most scrupulous precision, and
accepted by all classes as exponents of relative
degrees in the social and political scale. Whether
1 Journal des Je'suites, Feb., 1661.
2 Ibid., Avril, 1661. » Ibid., Juin, 1661.

1661.] APPEAL OF ARGENSON. HI
the bishop or the governor should sit in the higher
seat at table thus became a political question, for
it defined to the popular understanding the posi
tion of church and state in their relations to
government. Hence it is not surprising to find a memorial,
drawn up apparently by Argenson, and addressed
to the councU of state, asking for instructions when
and how a governor — lieutenant-general for the
king — ought to receive incense, holy water, and
consecrated bread ; whether the said bread should
be offered him with sound of drum and fife ; what
should be the position of his seat at church ; and
what place he should hold in various religious cere
monies-; whether in feasts, assemblies, ceremonies,
and councils of a purely civil character, he or the
bishop was to hold the first place ; and, finally, if
the bishop could excommunicate the inhabitants or
others for acts of a civil and political character,
when the said acts were pronounced lawful by the
governor. The reply to the memorial denies to the bishop
the power of excommunication in civU matters,
assigns to him the second place in meetings and
ceremonies of a civU character, and is very reticent
as to the rest.1
Argenson had a brother, a counsellor of state,
and a fast friend of the Jesuits. Laval was in
correspondence with him, and, apparently sure of
sympathy, wrote to him touching his relations with
the governor. "Your brother," he begins, "re-
1 Advis et Resolutions demandes sur la Nouvelle France.

112 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659-00.
ceived me on my arrival with extraordinary kind
ness ; " but he proceeds to say that, perceiving Avith
sorrow that he entertained a groundless distrust of
those good servants of God, the Jesuit fathers, he,
the bishop, thought it his duty to give him in pri
vate a candid warning which ought to have done
good, but which, to his surprise, the governor had
taken amiss, and had conceived, in consequence, a
prejudice against his monitor.1
Argenson, on his part, writes to the same brother,
at about the same time. " The Bishop of Petraea is
so stiff in opinion, and so often transported by his
zeal beyond the rights of his position, that he makes
no difficulty in encroaching on the functions of
others; and this with so much heat that he will
listen to nobody. A few days ago he carried off
a servant girl of one of the inhabitants here, and
placed her by his own authority in the Ursuline
convent, on the sole pretext that he wanted to have
her instructed, thus depriving her master of her
services, though he had been at great expense in
bringing her from France. This inhabitant is M.
Denis, who, not knowing who had carried her off,
came to me with a petition to get her out of the
convent. I kept the petition three days without
answering it, to prevent the affair from being noised
abroad. The Reverend Father Lalemant, Avith
Avhom I communicated on the subject, and who
greatly blamed the Bishop of Petraea, did all in
his power to have the girl given up quietly, but
1 Lettre de Laval a M. d' Argenson, frere du Gouverneur, 20 Oct.,
1659.

1659-60.] CLERICAL VIGOR. 113
without the least success, so that I was forced to
answer the petition, and permit M. Denis to take
his servant wherever he should find her ; and, if I
had not used means to bring about an accommoda
tion, and if M. Denis, on the refusal which was
made him to give her up, had brought the matter
into court, I should have been compelled to take
measures which would have caused great scandal ;
and aU from the self-wUl of the Bishop of Petraea.
who says that a bishop can do what he likes, and
threatens nothing but excommunication." :
In another letter he speaks in the same strain of
this redundancy of zeal on the part of the bishop,
which often, he says, takes the shape of obstinacy
and encroachment on the rights of others. "It
is greatly to be wished," he observes, " that the
Bishop of Petraea would give his confidence to
the Reverend Father Lalemant instead of Father
Ragueneau ; " 2 and he praises Lalemant as a per
son of exceUent sense. " It would be well," he adds,
" if the rest of their community were of the same
mind ; for in that case they would not mix them
selves up with various matters in the way they do,
and would leave the government to those to whom
God has given it in charge." 3
One of Laval's modern admirers, the Avorthy
Abbe Ferland, after confessing that his zeal may
now and then have savored of excess, adds in his
defence, that a vigorous hand was needed to com-
1 " — Qui diet quun Evesque peult ce qu'il veult et ne menace que dex-
communication." Lettre d' Argenson a son Frere, 1659.
2 lettre d' Argenson a son Frhe, 21 Oct., 1659.
3 Ibid., 7 July, 1660. 8

114 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [165t 60.
pel the infant colony to enter " the good path ; "
meaning, of course, the straitest path of Roman
Catholic orthodoxy. We may hereafter see more
of this stringent system of colonial education, its
success, and the results that foUowed.

CHAPTER VI.
1658-1663.
LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR.
Reception op Argenson. — His Difficulties. — His Recall. —
Dubois d'Avauoour. — The Brandt Quarrel. — Distress ov
Laval. — Portents. — The Earthquake.
When Argenson arrived to assume the govern
ment, a curious greeting had awaited him. The
Jesuits asked him to dine ; vespers foUowed the
repast ; and then they conducted him into a haU,
where the boys of their school — disguised, one as
the Genius of New France, one as the Genius of
the Forest, and others as Indians of various friendly
tribes — made him speeches by turn, in prose and
verse. First, Pierre du Quet, who played the
Genius of New France, presented his Indian retinue
to the governor, in a complimentary harangue.
Then four other boys, personating French colonists,
made him four flattering addresses, in French verse.
Charles Denis, dressed as a Huron, followed, bewail
ing the ruin of his people, and appealing to Argen
son for aid. Jean Francois Bourdon, in the character
of an Algonquin, next advanced on the platform,
boasted his courage, and declared that he was

116 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1658.
ashamed to cry like the Huron. The Genius of
the Forest now appeared, with a retinue of wUd
Indians from the interior, who, being unable to
speak French, addressed the governor in their
native tongues, which the Genius proceeded to
interpret. Two other boys, in the character of
prisoners just escaped from the Iroquois, then came
forward, imploring aid in piteous accents ; and, in
conclusion, the whole troop of Indians, from far
and near, laid their bows and arrows at the feet of
Argenson, and hailed him as their chief.1
Besides these mock Indians, a crowd of genuine
savages had gathered at Quebec to greet the new
" Ononthio." On the next day — at his own cost,
as he writes to a friend — he gave them a feast,
consisting of " seven large kettles full of Indian
corn, peas, prunes, sturgeons, eels, and fat, which
they devoured, haAing first sung me a song, after
their fashion." 3
These festivities over, he entered on the serious
business of his government, and soon learned that
his path was a thorny one. He could find, he says,
but a hundred men to resist the twenty-four hun
dred warriors of the Iroquois ; 3 and he begs the
proprietary company which he represented to send
him a hundred more, who could serve as soldiers
or laborers, according to the occasion.
1 La Reception de Monseigneur le Vicomte d' Argenson par toutes les nations
du pais de Canada a son entree au gouoernement de la Nouvelle France; a
Qiteliecq au College de la Contpagnie de Jesus, le 28 de Juillet de I'annee 1658.
The speeches, in French and Indian, are here given verbatim, with the
names of all the boys who took part in the ceremony.
- Papiers d' Argenson. Kebeu, 0 Sept., 1G58.
3 Memoire sur le subject (sic) de la Guerre des Iroquois, 1659.

1658-59.] TROUBLES OF ARGENSON. H7
The company turned a deaf ear to his appeals.
They had lost money in Canada, and were griev
ously out of humor Avith it. In their view, the
first duty of a governor was to collect their debts,
which, for more reasons than one, was no easy
task. While they did nothing to aid the colony
in its distress, they beset Argenson with demands
for the thousand pounds of beaver-skins, which the
inhabitants had agreed to send them every year, in
return for the privilege of the fur trade, a privi
lege which the Iroquois war made for the present
worthless. The perplexed governor vents his feel
ings in sarcasm. " They (the company) take no
pains to learn the truth ; and, when they hear of
settlers carried off and burned by the Iroquois,
they wiU think it a punishment for not settling
old debts, and paying over the beaver-skins." J "I
wish," he adds, " they would send somebody to
look after their affairs here. I would gladly give
him the same lodging and entertainment as my
own." Another matter gave him great annoyance. This
was the virtual independence of Montreal; and
here, if nowhere else, he and the bishop were of
the same mind. On one occasion he made a visit
to the place in question, where he expected to be
received as governor-general; but the local gov
ernor, Maisonneuve, declined, or at least postponed,
to take his orders and give him the keys of the
fort. Argenson accordingly speaks of Montreal as
" a place which makes so much noise, but which is
1 Papiers d' Argenson, 21 Oct., 1659.

118 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1658 -5S
of such small account."1 He adds that, besides
wanting to be independent, the. Montrealists want
to monopolize the fur trade, which would cause
civil Avar ; and that the king ought to interpose to
correct their obstinacy.
In another letter he complains of AUlebout, who
had preceded him in the government, though him
self a Montrealist. Argenson says that, on going
out to fight the Iroquois, he left AUlebout at Que
bec, to act as his lieutenant ; that, instead of doing
so, he had assumed to govern in his own right;
that he had taken possession of his absent supe
rior's furniture, drawn his pay, and in other
respects behaved as if he never expected to see
him again. " When I returned," continues the
governor, "I made him director in the council,
Avithout pay, as there was none to giATe him. It
was this, I think, that made -him remove to Mon
treal, for Avhich I do not care, provided the glory
of our Master suffer no prejudice thereby." 2
These extracts may, perhaps, give an unjust
impression of Argenson, who, from the general
tenor of his letters, appears to haAre been a tem
perate and reasonable person. His patience and his
nervous system seem, however, to have been taxed
to the utmost. His pay could not support him.
" The costs of living here are horrible," he Avrites.
" I have only two thousand crowns a year for all
my expenses, and I have already been forced to
1 Papiers d' Argenson, 4 Aout, 1659.
1 Ibid. Double de la lettre escripte par le Vaisseau du Gaigneur, parti U
5 Septembre (1658).

1658-59.] TROUBLES OF ARGENSON. ]1<J
run into debt to the company to an equal amount." J
Part of his scanty income was derived from a
fishery of eels, on which sundry persons had en
croached, to his great detriment.2 " I see no rea
son," he adds, " for staying here any longer. When
I came to this country, I hoped to enjoy a little
repose, but I am doubly deprived of it; on one
hand by enemies without, and incessant petty dis
putes within ; and, on the other, by the difficulty
I find in subsisting. The profits of the fur trade
have been so reduced that all the inhabitants are
in the greatest poverty. They are all insolvent,
and cannot pay the merchants their advances."
His disgust at length reached a crisis. " I am
resolved to stay here no longer, but to go home
next year. My horror of dissension, and the mani
fest certainty of becoming involved in disputes
Avith certain persons Avith whom I am unwilling to
quarrel, oblige me to anticipate these troubles, and
seek some way of living in peace. These excessive
fatigues are far too much for my strength. I am
Avriting to Monsieur the President, and to the gen
tlemen of the Company of New France, to choose
some other man for this government." 3 And again,
" if you take any interest in this country, see that
the person chosen to command here has, besides the
true piety necessary to a Christian in every condi
tion of life, great firmness of character and strong
bodily health. I assure you that without these
1 Ibid. Lettre a. M de Morangi, 5 Sept., 1658.
8 Deliberations de la Compagnie A la Nouvelle France.
' Papiers a" Argenson. Lettre a son Frere, 1659.

120 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUB. [1661
qualities he cannot succeed. Besides, it is abso
lutely necessary that he should be a man of prop
erty and of some rank, so that he will not be
despised for humble birth, or suspected of coming
here to make his fortune ; for in that case he can
do no good whatever." 2
His constant friction with the head of the church
distressed the pious governor, and made his lecall
doubly a relief. According to a contemporary
writer, Laval was the means of delivering him from
the burden of government, having Avritten to the
President Lamoignon to urge his removal.2 Be
this as it may, it is certain that the bishop was not
sorry to be rid of him.
The Baron Dubois d'Avaugour arrived to take
his place. He was an old soldier of forty years
service,3 blunt, imperative, and sometimes obsti
nate to perverseness ; but full of energy, and of
a probity which even his enemies confessed. " He
served a long time in Germany whUe you were
there," writes the minister Colbert to the Marquis
de Tracy, " and you must have known his talents,
as weU as his bizarre and somewhat impracticable
temper." On landing, he would have no recep
tion, being, as Father Lalemant observes, " an
enemy of all ceremony." He went, however,
to see the Jesuits, and " took a morsel of food in
our refectory."4 Laval was prepared to receive
1 Ibid. Lettre (a son Frere ?), 4 Nov., 1660. The originals of Argen-
son's letters were destroyed in the burning of the library of the Louvro
by the Commune.
2 Lachenaye, Memoire sur le Canada.
8 Avaugour, Memoire, 4 Aout, 1663.
* Lalemant, Journal des Jesuites, Sept., 1661.

1661-62.] THE BRANDY QUARREL. 121
him with aU solemnity at the church; but the
governor would not go. He soon set out on a tour
of observation as far as Montreal, whence he re
turned delighted with the country, and immediately
wrote to Colbert in high praise of it, observing
that the St. Lawrence was the most beautiful river
he had ever seen.1
It was clear from the first that, while he had a
prepossession against the bishop, he wished to be
on good terms with the Jesuits. He began by
placing some of them on the council ; but they and
Laval were too closely united; and U Avaugour
thought to separate them, he signally failed. A few
months only had elapsed when Ave find it noted in
Father Lalemant's private journal that the governor
had dissolved the council and appointed a new one,
and that other " changes and troubles " had befaUen
The inevitable quarrel had broken out; it was a
complex one, but the chief occasion of dispute was
fortunate for the ecclesiastics, since it placed them,
to a certain degree, morally in the right.
The question at issue was not new. It had
agitated the colony for years, and had been the
spring of some of Argenson's many troubles. Nor
did it cease with Avaugour, for Ave shall trace its
course hereafter, tumultuous as a tornado. It was
simply the temperance question; not as regards
the colonists, though here, too, there was great
room for reform, but as regards the Indians.
Their inordinate passion for brandy had long
been the source of excessive disorders. They drank
1 Lettre d' Avaugour au Ministre, 1661.

122 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1C6 1- 02
expressly to get drunk, and when drunk they were
like wUd beasts. Crime and violence of all sorts
ensued; the priests saw their teachings despised
and their flocks ruined. On the other hand, the
sale of brandy was a chief source of profit, direct
or indirect, to all those interested in the fur trade,
including the principal persons of the colony. In
Argenson's time, Laval launched an excommunica
tion against those engaged in the abhorred traffic ;
for nothing less than total prohibition would con
tent the clerical party, and besides the spiritual
penalty, they demanded the punishment of death
against the contumacious offender. Death, in
fact, was decreed. Such was the posture of affairs
Avhen Avaugour arrived ; and, willing as he was to
conciliate the Jesuits, he permitted the decree to
take effect, although, it seems, with great repug
nance. A few weeks after his arrival, two men
were shot and one Avhipped, for selling brandy
to Indians.1 An extreme though partially sup
pressed excitement shook the entire settlement,
for most of the colonists were, in one degree or
another, implicated in the offence thus punished.
An explosion soon foUowed; and the occasion of
it was the humanity or good-nature of the Jesuit
Lalemant. A Avoman had been condemned to imprisonment
for the same cause, and Lalemant, moved by com
passion, came to the governor to intercede for her.
Avaugour could no longer contain himself, and
answered the reverend petitioner with character-
1 Journal des Jesuites, Oct., 1661.

i661-62.j THE BRANDY QUARREL. 123
istic bluntness. "You and your brethren were
the first to cry out against the trade, and now you
want to save the traders from punishment. I will
no longer be the sport of your contradictions.
Since it is not a crime for this woman, it shall not
be a crime for anybody." 1 And in this posture
he stood fast, with an inflexible stubbornness.
Henceforth there Avas full license to liquor deal
ers. A violent reaction ensued against the past
restriction, and brandy flowed freely among French
and Indians alike. The ungodly drank to spite
the priests and revenge themselves for the " con
straint of consciences," of which they loudly com
plained. The utmost confusion followed, and the
principles on which the pious colony Avas buUt
seemed upheaved from the foundation. Laval was
distracted Avith grief and anger. He outpoured
himself from the pulpit in threats of diAine Avrath,
and launched fresh excommunications against the
offenders ; but such Avas the popular fury, that ho
Avas forced to yield and revoke them.3
Disorder grew from bad to , worse. " Men gave
no heed to bishop, preacher, or confessor," Avrites
Father Charlevoix. " The French have despised
the remonstrances of our prelate, because they are
supported by the civU power, ' says the superior of
the Ursulines. "He is almost dead w:th grief,
and pines away before our eyes."
Laval could bear it no longer, but sailed for
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. V.
2 Journal des Jesuites, Feb., 1662. The sentence of excommunication
is printed in the Appendix to the Esquisse de la Vie de Laval. It bears
date February 24. It was on this very day that he was forced to revoke it.

124 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1662-63
France, to lay his complaints before the court, and
urge the removal of Avaugour. He had, besides,
two other important objects, as wUl appear here
after. His absence brought no improvement.
Summer and autumn passed, and the commotion
did not abate. Winter was drawing to a close,
when, at length, outraged Heaven interposed an
awful warning to the guUty colony.
Scarcely had the bishop left his flock when the
skies grew portentous with signs of the chastisement
to come. "We beheld," gravely writes Father
Lalemant, "blazing serpents which flew through
the air, borne on wings of fire. We beheld above
Quebec a great globe of flame, which lighted up
the night, and threw out sparks on all sides. This
same meteor appeared above Montreal, where it
seemed to issue from the bosom of the moon, with
a noise as loud as cannon or thunder, and after
sailing three leagues through the air it disappeared
behind the mountain whereof this island bears the
name." '
Still greater marvels foUowed. First, a Christian
Algonquin squaw, described as " innocent, simple,
and sincere," being seated erect in bed, wide awake,
by the side of her husband, in the night between
the fourth and fifth of February, distinctly heard a
A'oice saying, " Strange things avUI happen to-day ;
the earth wUl quake ! " In great alarm she whis
pered the prodigy to her husband, who told her
that she lied. This silenced her for a time ; but
when, the next morning, she went into the forest
1 Lalemant, Relation, 1663, 2.

1663.] PORTENTS. 125
with her hatchet to cut a faggot of wood, the same
dread voice resounded through the solitude, and
sent her back in terror to her hut.1
These things were as nothing compared with
the marvel that befell a nun of the hospital, Mother
Catherine de Saint-Augustin, who died five years
later, in the odor of sanctity. On the night of the
fourth of February, 1663, she beheld in the spirit
four furious demons at the four corners of Quebec,
shaking it with a violence which plainly showed
their purpose of reducing it to ruins ; " and this
they would have done," says the story, "if a per
sonage of admirable beauty and ravishing majesty
[Christ], Avhom she saw in the midst of them, and
who, from time to time, gave rein to their fury, had
not restrained them when they were on the point
of accomplishing their wicked design." She also
heard the conversation of these demons, to the
effect that people were now well frightened, and
many would be converted ; but this would not last
long, and they, the demons, would have them in
time. " Let us keep on shaking," they cried, en
couraging each other, " and do our best to upset
every thing." 2
Now, to pass from visions to facts : " At half -past
five o'clock on the morning of the fifth," writes
Father Lalemant, " a great roaring sound was
heard at the same time through the whole extent
1 Lalemant, Relation, 1663, 6.
2 Ragueneau, Vie de Catherine de St. Augustin, Liv. IV. chap. i. The
Bame story is told by Juchereau, Lalemant, and Marie de l'lncarnation,
to whom Charlevoix erroneously ascribes the vi'ion, as does also the
Abbe" La Tour.

126 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1668.
of Canada. This sound, which produced an effect
as if the houses Avere on fire, brought everybody
out of doors ; but instead of seeing smoke and flame,
they were amazed to behold the waUs shaking, and
all the stones moving as if they Avould drop from
their places. The houses seemed to bend first to
one side and then to the other. Bells sounded of
themselves ; beams, joists, and planks cracked ;
the ground heaved, making the pickets of the
palisades dance in a Avay that would have seemed
incredible had we not seen it in divers places.
"Everybody was in the streets; animals ran
wildly about ; children cried ; men and women,
seized with fright, knew not where to take refuge,
expecting every moment to be buried under the
ruins of the houses, or SAvaUowed up in some abyss
opening under their feet. Some, on their knees in
the snoAV, cried for mercy, and others passed the
night in prayer ; for the earthquake continued
without ceasing, with a motion much like that of
a ship at sea, insomuch that sundry persons felt the
same qualms of stomach which they would feel on
the water. In the forests the commotion was far
greater. The trees struck one against the other as
U there were a battle between them ; and you would
have said that not only their branches, but even
their trunks started out of their places and leaped
on each other with such noise and confusion that
the Indians said that the Avhole forest was drunk."
Mary of the Incarnation gives a simUar account,
as does also Frances Juchereau de Saint-Ignace ;
and these coutemporary records are sustained to

1663.] THE EARTHQUAKE. 127
some extent by the evidence of geology.1 A re
markable effect was produced on the St. LaAvrence,
which Avas so charged with mud and clay that for
many weeks the water was unfit to drink. Con
siderable bills and large tracts of forest slid from
their places, some into the river, and some into
adjacent valleys. A number of men in a boat near
Tadoussac stared aghast at a large hill covered
with trees, which sank into the Avater before their
eyes ; streams were turned from their courses ;
water-falls were leveUed ; springs were dried up in
some places, whUe in others new springs appeared.
Nevertheless, the accounts that have come down to
us seem a httle exaggerated, and sometimes ludi
crously so ; as when, for example, Mother Mary of
the Incarnation teUs us of a man Avho ran all night
to escape from a fissure in the earth which opened
behind him and chased him as he fled.
It is perhaps needless to say that " spectres and
phantoms of fire, bearing torches in their hands,"
took part in the convulsion. " The fiery figure of
a man vomiting flames " also appeared in the air,
with many other apparitions too numerous to men
tion. It is recorded that three young men were on
their way through the forest to seU brandy to the
Indians, when one of them, a little in advance of
the rest, was met by a hideous spectre which nearly
1 Professor Sterry Hunt, whose intimate knowledge of Canadian
geology is well known, tells me that the shores of the St. Lawrence are to a
great extent formed of beds of gravel and clay resting on inclined strata
of rock, so that earth-slides would be the necessary residt of any convul
sion like that of 1663. He adds that the evidence that such slides have
taken place on a great scale is very distinct at various points along tha
river, especially at Les Eboulemens, on the north shore,

128 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1663.
kUled him with fright. He had scarcely strength
enough to rejoin his companions, who, seeing his
terror, began to laugh at him. One of them, how
ever, presently came to his senses, and said : " This
is no laughing matter ; we are going to seU liquor to
the Indians against the prohibitions of the church,
and perhaps God means to punish our disobedi
ence." On this they all turned back. That night
they had scarcely lain down to sleep when the
earthquake roused them, and they ran out of their
hut just in time to escape being swaUowed up along
with it.1
With every allowance, it is. clear that the con
vulsion must have been a severe one, and it is
remarkable that in aU Canada not a hfe was lost.
The writers of the day see in this a proof that God
meant to reclaim the guilty and not destroy them.
At Quebec there was for the time an intense re
vival of religion. The end of the world was thought
to be at hand, and everybody made ready for the
last judgment. Repentant throngs beset confes
sionals and altars ; enemies were reconcUed ; fasts,
prayers, and penances fiUed the whole season of
Lent. Yet, as we shall see, the devU could still
find wherewith to console himself.
It was midsummer before the shocks wholly
ceased and the earth resumed her wonted calm.
An extreme drought was foUowed by floods of
rain, and then Nature began her sure work of
1 Marie de l'lncarnation, Lettre du 20 Aout, 1663. It appears from
Morton, Josselyn, and other writers, that the earthquake extended to New
England and New Netherlands, producing similar effects on the imagi
nation of the people.

1663.] AVAUGOUR RECALLED. 129
reparation. It was about this time that the thorn
which had plagued the church was at length
plucked out. Avaugour was summoned home.
He took his recaU with magnanimity, and on his
way wrote at Gaspe* a memorial to Colbert, in
which he commends New France to the attention
of the king. " The St. LaAvrence," he says, " is
the entrance to what may be made the greatest
state in the world ; " and, in his purely mUitary
way, he recounts the means of realizing this
grand possibility. Three thousand soldiers should
be sent to the colony, to be discharged and turned
into settlers after three years of service. During
these three years they may make Quebec an im
pregnable fortress, subdue the Iroquois, build a
strong fort on the river where the Dutch have
a miserable wooden redoubt, called Fort Orange
[Albany], and finally open a way by that river to
the sea. Thus the heretics Avill be driven out, and
the king wUl be master of America, at a total cost
of about four hundred thousand francs yearly for
ten years. He closes his memorial by a short aUu-
sion to the charges against him, and to his forty
years of faithful service ; and concludes, speaking
of the authors of his recall, Laval and the Jesuits :
" By reason of the respect I owe their cloth, I wUl
rest content, monseigneur, with assuring you that
I have not only served the king with fidelity, but
also, by the grace of God, with very good success,
considering the means at my disposal."1 He had,
in truth, borne himself as a brave and experienced
1 Avaugour, Memoire, Gaspe, 4 Aout 1663.
9

130 . LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1663.
soldier; and he soon after died a soldier's death,
while defending the fortress of Zrin, in Croatia,
against the Turks.1
1 Lettre de Colbert au Marquis de Tracy, 1664. Memoire du Roy, pour
tervir d' instruction au Sieur Talon

CHAPTER VII.
1661-1664.
LAVAL AND DUMESNIL
Peronne Dumesnil. — The Old Council — Alleged Murder. —
The New Council — Bourdon and Villerat. — Strong Meas
ures. — Escape op Dumesnil. — Views op Colbert.
Though the proposals of Avaugour's memorial
were not adopted, it seems to' have produced a
strong impression at court. For this impression
the minds of the king and his minister had already
been prepared. Two years before, the mhabitants
of Canada had sent one of their number, Pierre
Boucher, to represent their many grievances and
ask for aid.1 Boucher had had an audience of the
young king, who listened with interest to his state
ments ; and when in the foUowing year he returned
to Quebec, he was accompanied by an officer named
Dumont, who had under his command a hundred
soldiers for the colony, and was commissioned to
report its condition and resources.2 The move-
1 To promote the objects of his mission, Boucher wrote a little book,
Histoire Veritable et Naturelle des Marurs et Productions du Pays de la Nou
velle France. He dedicates it to Colbert.
2 A long journal of Dumont is printed anonymously in the Relation
of 1663.

132 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1660-63
incnt seemed to betoken that the government Avas
wakening at last from its long inaction.
MeamvhUe the Company of NeAv France, feudal
lord of Canada, had also shown signs of returning
life. Its Avhole history had been one of mishap,
followed by discouragement and apathy; and it is
difficult to say whether its ownership of Canada
had been more hurtful to itseK or to the colony.
At the eleventh hour it sent out an agent invested
with powers of controller-general, intendant, and
supreme judge, to inquire into the state of its
affairs. This agent, Peronne Dumesnil, arrived
early in the autumn of 1660, and set himself with
great vigor to his Avork. He was an advocate of
the Parliament of Paris, an active, aggressive, and
tenacious person, of a temper well fitted to rip up
an old abuse or probe a delinquency to the bottom.
His proceedings quickly raised a storm at Quebec.
It may be remembered that, many years before,
the company had ceded its monopoly of the fur
trade to the inhabitants of the colony, in considera
tion of that annual payment in beaver-skins which
had been so tardily and so rarely made. The direc
tion of the trade had at that time been placed in
the hands of a council composed of the governor,
the superior of the Jesuits, and several other mem
bers. Various changes had since taken place, and
the trade was now controlled by another council,
established Avithout the consent of • the company,1
and composed of the principal persons in the col
ony. The members of this councU, with certain
1 Registres du Conseil du Roy ; Reponse a la requeste presentee au Roy.

1660-63] MONOPOLISTS. 133
prominent merchants in league with them, en
grossed all the trade, so that the inhabitants at
large profited nothing by the right which the com
pany had ceded ; 1 and as the councillors controlled
not only the trade but all the financial affairs of
Canada, Avhile the remoteness of their scene of
operations made it difficult to supervise them, they
were able, with little risk, to pursue their own
profit, to the detriment both of the company and
the colony. They and their allies formed a petty
trading oligarchy, as pernicious to the prosperity of
Canada as the Iroquois war itself.
The company, always anxious for its beaver-
skins, made several attempts to control the pro
ceedings of the councUlors and call them to account,
but with little success, tiU the vigorous Dumesnil
undertook the task, when, to their wrath and con
sternation, they and their friends found themselves
attacked by wholesale accusations of fraud and em
bezzlement. That these charges were exaggerated
there can be httle doubt ; that they were unfounded
is incredible, in view of the effect they produced.
The councillors refused to acknowledge Dumes-
nil's powers as controUer, intendant, and judge, and
declared his proceedings null. He retorted by
charging them with usurpation. The excitement
increased, and DumesnU's hfe Avas threatened.
He had two sons in the colony. One of them,
Peronne de Maze, was secretary to Avaugour, then
on his way up the St. Lawrence to assume the
1 Arret du Conseil d'Etat, 7 Mars, 1657. Also Papiers d' Argenson, and
Bxtrait des Registies du Conseil d'Etat, 15 Mars, 1656.

134 LAVAL AND DUMESNDJ. [1661
government. The other, Peronne des Touches,
Avas Avith his father at Quebec. ToAvards the end
of August this young man was attacked in the
street in broad daylight, and received a kick Avhich
proved fatal. He was carried to his father's house,
Avhere he died on the twenty-ninth. Dumesnil
charges four persons, aU of Avhom were among
those into whose affairs he had been prying, with
having taken part in the outrage ; but it is Arery
uncertain Avho was the immediate cause of Des
Touches's death. Dumesnil, himself the supreme
judicial officer of the colony, made complaint to
the judge in ordinary of the company; but he says
that justice was refused, the complaint suppressed
by authority, his allegations torn in pieces, and the
whole affair hushed.1
At the time of the murder, DumesnU Avas con
fined to his house by illness. An attempt was made
to rouse the mob against him, by reports that he
had come to the colony for the purpose of laying
taxes ; but he sent for some of the excited inhab
itants, and succeeded in convincing them that he
was their champion rather than their enemy. Some
Indians in the neighborhood were also instigated
to kill him, and he was forced to concUiate them
by presents.
1 Dumesnil, Memoire. Under date August 31 the Journal des ./{suites
makes this brief and guarded mention of the affair: "Le tils de Mons.
du Mesnil . . fut enterre' le mesme iour, tu<5 d'vn coup de pie' par N."
Who is meant by N. it is difficult to say. The register of the parish
church records the burial as follows : —
"L'an 1661. Le 30 Aoust a estc enterre au Cemetiere de Quebec
Michel peronne dit Sr. des Touches fils de Mr. du Mesnil deced^ le Jour
precedent a sa Maison."

1662-63.] THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 135
He soon renewed his attacks, and in his quality
of intendant called on the counciUors and their
allies to render their accounts, and' settle the long
arrears of debt due to the company. They set his
demands at naught. The war continued month
after month. It is more than likely that when in
the spring of 1662 Avaugour dissolved and recon
structed the council, his action had reference to
these disputes ; and it is clear that when in the
folloAving August Laval saUed for France, one of
his objects was to restore the tranquUlity which
Dumesnil's proceedings had disturbed. There was
great need ; for, what with these proceedings arid
the quarrel about brandy, Quebec was a little hell
of discord, the earthquake not having as yet fright
ened it into propriety.
The bishop's success at court was triumphant.
Not only did he procure the removal of Avaugour,
but he Avas invited to choose a new governor to
replace him.1 This was not aU ; for he succeeded
in effecting a complete change in the government
of the colony. The Company of New France was
called upon to resign its claims ; 2 and, by a royal
edict of AprU, 1663, all poAver, legislative, judicial,
and executive, Avas vested in a councU composed
of the governor whom Laval had chosen, of Laval
himself, and of five councUlors, an attorney-gen
eral, and a secretary, to be chosen by Laval and
the governor jointly.3 Bearing with them blank
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. V.
2 See the deliberations and acts to this end in Edits et Ordonnancei
umcernunt le Canada, I. 30-32.
' Edit de Creation du Conseil Superieur de Quebec.

136 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL [1663.
commissions to be fiUed with the names of the ueAV
functionaries, Laval and his governor saUed for
Quebec, where ' they landed on the fifteenth of
September. With them came one Gaudais-Dupont,
a royal commissioner instructed to inquire into the
state of the colony.
No sooner had they arrived than Laval and
Mezy, the new governor, proceeded to construct the
new council. Mezy knew nobody in the colony,
and Avas, at this time, completely under Laval's
influence. The nominations, therefore, Avere vir
tually made by the bishop alone, in whose hands,
and not in those of the governor, the blank com
missions had been placed.1 Thus for the moment
he had complete control of the government ; that
is to say, the church was mistress of the civil
power. Laval formed his councU as follows : Jean Bour
don for attorney-general ; Rouer de ViUeray, Juch-
ereau de la Ferte", Ruette d'Auteuil, Le Gardeur
de TUly, and Matthieu Damours for councillors;
and Peuvret de Mesnu for secretary. The royal
commissioner, Gaudais, also took a prominent place
at the board.2 This functionary was on the point
of marrying his niece to a son of Robert Giffard,
1 Commission actroyee au Sieur Gaudais. Memoire pour servir d'lnstruc-
tim au Sieur Gaudais. A sequel to these instructions, marked secret,
shows that, notwithstanding Laval's extraordinary success in attaining
his objects, he and the Jesuits were somewhat distrusted. Gaudais is
directed to make, with great discretion and caution, careful inquiry into
the bishop's conduct, and with equal secrecy to ascertain why the Jesuits
had asked for Avaugour's recall.
2 As substitute for the intendant, an officer who had been appointed
but who had not arrived.

1663.] THE COUNCIL. 137
who had a strong interest in suppressing Dumes-
nil's accusations.1 DumesnU had laid his statements
before the commissioner, who quickly rejected
them, and took part with the accused.
Of those appointed to the new council, their
enemy Dumesnil says that they were " incapable
persons," and their associate Gaudais, in defending
them against worse charges, declares that they
were " unlettered, of little experience, and nearly
all unable to deal Avith affairs of importance." This
was, perhaps, unavoidable ; for, except among the
ecclesiastics, education was then scarcely known in
Canada. But if Laval may be excused for putting
incompetent men in office, nothing can excuse
him for making men charged with gross public
offences the prosecutors and judges in their own
cause ; and his course in doing so gives color to the
assertion of Dumesnil, that he made up the coun
cil expressly to shield the accused and smother
the accusation.2
The two persons under the heaviest charges
received the two most important appointments:
Bourdon, attorney-general, and VUleray, keeper of
1 Dumesnil here makes one of the few mistakes I have been able to
detect in his long memorials. He says that the name of the niece of
Gaudais was Marie Nau. It was, in fact, Michelle-Therese Nau, who mar
ried Joseph, son of Robert Giffard, on the 2'2d of October, 1663. Dumes
nil had forgotten the bride's first name. The elder Giffard was surety for
Repentigny, whom Dumesnil charged with liabilities to the company,
amounting to 644,700 livres. Giffard was also father-in-law of Juchcreau
de la Ferte, one of the accused.
2 Dumesnil goes further than this, for he plainly intimates that the
removing from power of the company, to whom the accused were respon
sible, and the placing in power of a council formed of the accused them
selves, was a device contrived from the first by Laval and the Jesuits, to
get their friends out of trouble.

138 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
the seals. La Fert^ was also one of the accused.1
Of ViUeray, the governor Argenson had Avritten
in 1659 : " Some of his quahties are good enough,
but confidence cannot be placed in him, on account
of his instabUity." 2 In the same year, he had
been ordered to France, " to purge himself of sun
dry crimes Avherewith he stands charged."3 He
was not yet free of suspicion, having returned to
Canada under an order to make up and render his
accounts, which he had not yet done. Dumesnil
says that he first came to the colony in 1651, as
valet of the governor Lauson, who had taken him
from the jail at RocheUe, where he Avas imprisoned
for a debt of seventy-one francs, " as appears by
the record of the jail of date July eleventh in that
year." From this modest beginning he became in
time the richest man in Canada.4 He Avas strong in
orthodoxy, and an ardent supporter of the bishop
and the Jesuits. He is alternately praised and
blamed, according to the partisan leanings of the
writer.
1 Bourdon is charged with not having accounted for an immense
quantity of beaver-skins which had passed through his hands during
twelve years or more, and which are valued at more than 300,000 livres.
Other charges are made against him in connection with large sums bor
rowed in Lauson's time on account of the colony. In a memorial ad
dressed to the king in council, Dumesnil says that, in 1662, Bourdon,
according to his own accounts, had in his hands 37,516 livres belonging
to the company, which he still retained.
Villeray's liabilities arose out of the unsettled accounts of his father-
in-law, Charles Sevestre, and are set down at more than 600,000 livres.
La Ferte's are of a smaller amount. Others of the council were indi
rectly involved in the charges.
2 Lettre d' Argenson, 20 Nov., 1659.
» Edit du Roy, 13 Mai, 1659.
* Lettre de Colbert a Frontenac, 17 Mai, 1674.

1663.] STRONG MEASURES 139
Bourdon, though of humble origin, was, perhaps,
the most intelligent man in the council. He was
chiefly known as an engineer, but he had also been
a baker, a pamter, a syndic of the inhabitants,
chief gunner at the fort, and coUector of customs
for the company. Whether guilty of embezzle
ment or not, he was a zealous devotee, and Avould
probably have died for his creed. Like ViUeray,
he was one of Laval's stanchest supporters, Avhile
the rest of the councU were also sound in doctrine
and sure in aUegiance.
In virtue of their new dignity, the accused now
claimed exemption from accountability; but this
Avas not aU. The abandonment of Canada by the
company, in leaAing Dumesnil without support,
and depriving him of official character, had made
his charges far less dangerous. Nevertheless, it
was thought best to suppress them altogether, and
the first act of the neAV government Avas to this
end. On the twentieth of September, the second day
after the establishment of the council, Bourdon,
in his character of attorney-general, rose and de
manded that the papers of Jean Pe'ronne Dumesnil
should be seized and sequestered. The council con
sented, and, to complete the scandal, ViUeray was
commissioned to make the seizure in the presence
of Bourdon. To color the proceeding, it was alleged
that DumesnU had obtained certain papers unlaw
fully from the greffe or record office. " As he Avas
thought," says Gaudais, "to be a violent man,'

140 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. 11663
Bourdon and VUleray took Avith them ten soldiers,
well armed, together with a locksmith and the
secretary of the council. Thus prepared for every
contingency, they set out on their errand, and
appeared suddenly at DumesnU's house between
seven and eight o'clock in the evening. " The
aforesaid Sieur DumesnU," further says Gaudais,
" did not refute the opinion entertained of his
violence ; for he made a great noise, shouted rob
bers! and tried to rouse the neighborhood, out
rageously abusing the aforesaid Sieur de VUleray
and the attorney-general, in great contempt of the
authority of the councU, which he even refused to
recognize." They tried to sUence him by threats, but Avith
out effect ; upon which they seized him and held
him fast in a chair; "me," writes the wrathful
Dumesnil, "av1io had lately been their judge."
The soldiers stood over him and stopped his mouth
while the others broke open and ransacked his
cabinet, draAvers, and chest, from which they took
aU his papers, refusing to give him an inventory, or
to permit any Avitness to enter the house. Some of
these papers were private ; among the rest were, he
says, the charges and specifications, nearly finished,
for the trial of Bourdon and VUleray, toge ther with
the proofs of their " peculations, extortions, and
malversations." The papers Avere enclosed under
seal, and deposited in a neighboring house, whence
they Avere afterwards removed to the council-
chamber, and DumesnU never saw them again. It

1663] DESIGNS OF THE COUNCIL. 141
may well be believed that this, the inaugural act
of the new councU, was not aUowed to appear or.
its records.1
On the twenty-first, VUleray made a formal re
port of the seizure to his coUeagues ; upon which,
"by reason of the insults, violences, and irrever
ences therein set forth against the aforesaid Sieur
de VUleray, commissioner, as also against the
authority of the councU," it was ordered that the
offending Dumesnil should be put under arrest;
but Gaudais, as he declares, prevented the order
from being carried into effect.
Dumesnil, who says that during the scene at his
house he had expected to be murdered like his
son, now, though unsupported and alone, returned
to the attack, demanded his papers, and was so
loud in threats of complaint to the king that the
councU were seriously alarmed. They again decreed
his arrest and imprisonment ; but resolved to keep
the decree secret tiU the morning of the day when
the last of the returning ships was to saU for France.
In this ship DumesnU had taken his passage, and
they proposed to arrest him unexpectedly on the
point of embarkation, that he might have no time
to prepare and despatch a memorial to the court.
Thus a full year must elapse before his complaints
could reach the minister, and seven or eight months
more before a reply could be returned to Canada.
During this long delay the affair would have time
to cool. DumesnU received a secret warning of
1 The above is drawn from the two memorials of Gaudais and ol
D imesnil. They do not contradict each other as to the essential facts.

142 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
this plan, and accordingly went on board another
vessel, which was to saU immediately. The council
caused the six cannon of the battery in the Lower
Town to be pointed at her, and threatened to sink
her if she left the harbor; but she disregarded
them, and proceeded on her way.
On reaching France, DumesnU contrived to draw
the attention of the minister Colbert to his accusa
tions, and to the treatment they had brought upon
him. On this Colbert demanded of Gaudais, who
had also returned in one of the autumn ships, why
he had not reported these matters to him. Gaudais
made a lame attempt to explain his sUence, gave
his statement of the seizure of the papers, answered
in vague terms some of DumesnU's charges against
the Canadian financiers, and said that he had
nothing to do with the rest. In the foUowing
spring Colbert wrote as foUows to bis relative
Terron, intendant of marine : —
" I do not know what report M. Gaudais has
made to you, but family interests and the connec
tions which he has at Quebec should cause him
to be a httle distrusted. On his arrival in that
country, having constituted himself chief of the
council, he despoUed an agent of the Company of
Canada of aU his papers, in a manner very violent
and extraordinary, and this proceeding leaves no
doubt whatever that these papers contained matters
the knowledge of which it was wished absolutely
to suppress. I think it wUl be very proper that
you should be informed of the statements made by
this agent, in order that, through him, an exact

1663.] CHARGES OF DUMESNTL. 143
tnoAvledge may be acquired of every thing that has
taken place in the management of affairs."1
Whe'ther Terron pursued the inquiry does not
appear. Meanwhile new quarrels had arisen at
Quebec, and the questions of the past were obscured
in the dust of fresh commotions. Nothing is more
noticeable in the whole history of Canada, after it
came under the direct control of the Crown, than
the helpless manner in which this absolute govern
ment was forced to overlook and ignore the dis
obedience and rascality of its functionaries in this
distant transatlantic dependency.
As regards DumesnU's charges, the truth seems
to be, that the financial managers of the colony,
being ignorant and unpractised, had kept imper
fect and confused accounts, which they themselves
could not always unravel ; and that some, U not aU
of them, had made Ulicit profits under cover of this
confusion. That their stealings approached the
enormous sum at which Dumesnil places them is not
to be believed. But, even on the grossly improbable
assumption of their entire innocence, there can be
no apology for the means, subversive of all justice,
by which Laval enabled his partisans and support
ers to extricate themselves from embarrassment.

1 Lettre de Colbert a Terron, Rochelle, 8 Fev., 1664. " II a spolie un
agent de la Compagnie de Canada de tous ses papiers d'une maniere
fort violente et extraordinaire, et ce procedc ne laisse point a douter
que dans ces papiers il n'y eut des choses dont on a voulu absolument
supprimer la connaissance." Colbert seems to have received an ex
aggerated impression of the part borne by Gaudais in the seizure of,
the papers.

144 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663
Note. — Dumesnil's principal memorial, preserved in the ar
chives of the Marine and Colonies, is entitled Memoire concernant les
Affaires du Canada, qui monlre et fait voir que sous pre'texte de la
Ghire de Dieu, d' Instruction des Sauvages, de servir le Roy et de
/aire la nouvelle Colonic, il a e'te pris et diverti trois millions de livres
ou environ. It forms in the copy before me thirty-eight pages of
manuscript, and bears no address ; but seems meant for Colbert,
or the council of state. There is a second memorial, which is
little else than an abridgment of the first. A third, bearing the
address Au Roy et a nos Seigneurs du Conseil (d'Etat), and signed
Peronne Dumesnil, is a petition for the payment of 10,132 livres
due to him by the company for his services in Canada, " ou il a
perdu son fils assassine par les comptables du dit pays, qui n'ont
voulu rendre compte au dit suppliant, Intendant, et ont pille sa
maison, ses meuhles et papiers le 20 du mois de Septembre dernier,
dont il y a acte."
Gaudais, in compliance with the demands of Colbert, gives his
statement in a long memorial, Le Sieur Gaudais Dupont a Mon-
seigneur de Colbert, 1664.
Dumesnil, in his principal memorial, gives a list of the alleged
defaulters, -with the special charges against each, and the amounts
for which he reckons them liable. The accusations cover a period
of ten or twelve years, and sometimes more. Some of them are
curiously suggestive of more recent "rings." Thus Jean Gloria
makes a charge of thirty-one hundred livres (francs) for fireworks
to celebrate the king's marriage, when the actual cost is said to
have been about forty livres. Others are alleged to have embezzled
the funds of the company, under cover of pretended payments to
imaginary creditors ; and Argenson himself is said to have eked out
his miserable salary by drawing on the company for the pay of
soldiers who did not exist.
The records of the Council preserve a guarded silence about this
affair. I find, however, under date 20 Sept., 1663, " Pouvoir a M.
de A'illeray de faire recherche dans la maison d'un nomme du Mes
ial des papiers appartenants an Conseil concernant Sa Majeste ; "
and under date IS March, 1664, " Ordre pour l'ouverture du coffre
contenaut les papiers de Dumesnil," and also an " Ordre pour
mettre l'Inventaire des biens du Sr. Dumesnil entre les "mains du
Sr. Pillion."

CHAPTER VHI.
1657-1665.
LAVAL AND MEZY.
The Bishop's Choice. — A Military Zealot. — Hopeful Begin
nings. — Signs op Storm. — The Quarrel. — Distress op Mezt. —
He Refuses to Yield. — His Defeat and Death.
We have seen that Laval, when at court, had
been invited to choose a governor to his liking.
He soon made his selection. There was a pious
officer, Saffray de Me'zy, major of the town and
citadel of Caen, whom he had well known during
his long stay with Bernieres at the Hermitage.
Me'zy was the principal member of the company of
devotees formed at Caen under the influence of
Bernieres and his disciples. In his youth he had
been headstrong and dissolute. Worse stUl, he had
been, it is said, a Huguenot ; but both in life and
doctrine his conversion had been complete, and the
fervid mysticism of Bernieres acting on his vehe
ment nature had transformed him into a red-hot
zealot. Towards the herniits and their chief he
showed a docUity in strange contrast with his past
history, and foUowed their inspirations with an
ardor which sometimes overleaped its mark.
10

146 LAVAL AND MEZY. [1667 -by.
Thus a Jacobin monk, a doctor of diAinity, once
came to preach at the church of St. Paul at Caen ;
on Which, according to their custom, the brother
hood of the Hermitage sent two persons to make
report concerning his orthodoxy. Mezy and an
other military zealot, "A\'ho," says the narratoi,
" hardly know hoAV to read, and assuredly do not
know their catechism," were deputed to hear hij
first sermon ; Avherein this Jacobin, haAing spoken
of the necessity of the grace of Jesus Christ in
order to the doing of good deeds, these tAvo wise
acres thought that he Avas preaching Jansenism ;
and thereupon, after the sermon, the Sieur de
Mezy Avent to the proctor of the ecclesiastical court
and denounced him."1
His zeal, though but moderately tempered with
knowledge, sometimes proved more useful than on
this occasion. The Jacobin convent at Caen Avas
divided against itself. Some of the monks had
embraced the doctrines taught by Bernieres, while
the rest held dogmas which he declared to be con
trary to those of the Jesuits, and therefore hetero
dox. A prior Avas to be elected, and, with the
help of Bernieres, his partisans gained the victory,
choosing one Father Louis, through whom the Her
mitage gained a complete control in the convent,
But the adverse party presently resisted, and com
plained to the proAlncial of then- order, who came
to Caen to close the dispute by deposing Father
Louis. Hearing of his approach, Bernieres asked
1 Nicole, Memoire pour /aire connoistre I'esprit et la conduite de la Com
pagnie appellee t' Hermitage.

1663.] SAFFRAY DE MEZY. 147
aid from his military disciple, and De Me'zy sent
him a squad of soldiers, who guarded the convent
doors and barred out the provincial.1
Among the merits of Mezy, his humility and
charity were especially admired ; and the people of
Caen had more than once seen the toAvn major
staggering across the street Avith a beggar mounted
on his back, Avhom he Avas bearing dry-shod through
the mud in the exercise of those Airtues.2 In this
he imitated his master Bernieres, of Avhom similar
acts are recorded.3 However dramatic in manifes
tation, his devotion was not only sincere but in
tense. Laval imagined that he kneAV him Avell.
Above all others, Me'zy was the man of his choice ;
and so eagerly did he plead for him, that the king
himseff paid certain debts which the pious major
had contracted, and thus left him free to saU for
Canada. His deportment on the voyage was edifying, and
the first days of his accession Avere passed in har
mony. He permitted Laval to form the neAV
council, and supplied the soldiers for the seizure of
Dumesnil's papers. A question arose concerning
Montreal, a subject on Avhich the governors and
the bishop rarely differed in opinion. The present
instance Avas no exception to the rule. Mezy re
moved Maisonneuve, the local governor, and imme
diately replaced him ; the effect being, that Avhereas

i ibid.
2 Juehereau, Histoire de V Hotel-Dieu, 149.
3 See the laudatory notice of Bernieres de Louvigny in the NouveH
Biographic Universelle.

148 LAVAL AND MEZY. [1663
he had before derived his authority from the seign
iors of the island, he now derived it from the
governor-general. It was a movement in the in
terest of centralized power, and as such was cor
dially approved by Laval
The first indication to the bishop and the Jesuits
that the new governor was not likely to prove in
their hands as clay in the hands of the potter, is
said to have been given on occasion of an inter
view with an embassy of Lroquois chiefs, to whom
Mezy, aware of their duplicity, spoke with a deci
sion and haughtiness that awed the savages and
astonished the ecclesiastics.
He seems to have been one of those natures that
run with an engrossing vehemence along any chan
nel into which they may have been turned. At
the Hermitage he was aU devotee ; but climate and
conditions had changed, and he or his symptoms
changed with them. He found himself raised sud
denly to a post of command, or one which was
meant to be such. The town major of Caen was
set to rule over a region far larger than France.
The royal authority was trusted to his keeping, and
his honor and duty forbade him to break the trust.
But when he found that those who had procured
for him his new dignities had done so that he
might be an instrument of their wUl, his ancient
pride started again into life, and his headstrong
temper broke out hke a long-smothered fire. Laval
stood aghast at the transformation. His lamb had
turned wolf.
What especiaUy stirred the governor's dudgeon

1664.] THE QUARREL BEGUN. 149
was the conduct of Bourdon, VUleray, and Au-
teml, those faithful allies whom Laval had placed on
the councU, and who, as- Mezy soon found, were
AvhoUy in the bishop's interest. On the 13th of
February he sent his friend AngovUle, major of
the fort, to Laval, with a written declaration to the
effect that he had ordered them to absent them
selves from the councU, because, having been
appointed " on the persuasion of the aforesaid
Bishop of Petraea, who knew them to be wholly his
creatures, they wish to make themselves masters in
the aforesaid councU, and have acted in divers ways
against the interests of the Icing and the public for
the promotion of personal and private ends, and
have formed and fomented cabals, contrary to their
duty and their oath of fidelity to his aforesaid
Majesty."1 He further declares that advantage
had been taken of the facUity of his disposition and
his ignorance of the country to surprise him into
assenting to their nomination; and he asks the
bishop to acquiesce in their expulsion, and join him
in calling an assembly of the people to choose others
in their place. Laval refused; on which Mezy
caused his declaration to be placarded about Quebec
and proclaimed by sound of drum.
The proposal of a public election, contrary as it
was to the spirit of the government, opposed to the
edict estabhshing the councU, and utterly odious to
the young autocrat who ruled over France, gave
1 Ordre de M. de Mezy de /aire sommation a I'Eveque de Petree, 13 Fev.,
1664. Notification du dit Ordre, merit e date. (Registre du Conseil
Superieur. )

150 LAVAL AND MEZY. [1664.
Laval a great advantage. "I reply," he wrote,
" to the request which Monsieur the Governor
makes me to consent to the interdiction of the
persons named in his declaration, and proceed to
the choice of other councUlors or officers by an
assembly of the people, that neither my conscience
nor my honor, nor the respect and obedience which
I owe to the avUI and commands of the king, nor
my fidelity and affection to his service, avUI by any
means permit me to do so."1
Mezy was dealing with an adversary armed with
redoubtable weapons. It Avas intimated to him that
the sacraments would be refused, and the churches
closed 'against him. This threw him into an agony
of doubt and perturbation ; for the emotional relig
ion which had become a part of his nature, though
overborne by gusts of passionate irritation, was still
fuU of life within him. Tossing between the old
feeling and the new, he took a course which reveals
the trouble and confusion of his mind. He threw
himself for counsel and comfort on the Jesuits,
though he kneAV them to be one with Laval against
him, and though, under cover of denouncing sin in
general, they had lashed him sharply in their ser
mons. There is something pathetic in the appeal
he makes them. For the glory of God and the
service of the king, he had come, he says, on
Laval's sohcitation, to seek salvation in Canada;
and being under obligation to the bishop, who had
recommended him to the king, he felt bound to
show proofs of his gratitude on e\Tery occasion.
1 Reponse de I'Eveque de Petree, 16 Fev., 1664.

1664.] DISTRESS OF MEZY. 151
Yet neither gratitude to a benefactor nor the
respect due to his character and person should be
permitted to interfere with duty to the king, " since
neither conscience nor honor permit us to neglect
the requirements of our office and betray the in
terests of his Majesty, after receiving orders from
his lips, and making oath of fidelity between his
hands." He proceeds to say that, having discov
ered practices of which he felt obliged to prevent
the continuance, he had made a declaration expel
ling the offenders from office ; that the bishop and
all the ecclesiastics had taken this declaration as an
offence ; that, regardless of the king's service, they
had denounced him as a calumniator, an unjust
judge, without gratitude, and perverted in con
science ; and that one of the chief among them had
come to warn him that the sacraments would be
refused and . the churches closed against him.
" This," writes the unhappy governor, " has agi
tated our soul with scruples ; and we have none
from whom to seek light save those who are our
declared opponents, pronouncing judgment on us
without knowledge of cause. Yet as our salvation
and the duty we owe the king are the things most
important to us on earth, and as Ave hold them to
be inseparable the one from the other; and as
nothing is so certain as death, and nothing so un
certain as the hour thereof ; and as there is no time
to inform his Majesty of what is passing and to
receive his commands ; and as our soul, though
conscious of innocence, is always in fear, — we feel
obliged, despite their opposition, to have recourse

152 LAVAL AND MEZY. 11664,
to the reverend father casuists of the House of
Jesus, to tell us in conscience what we can do for
the fulfilment of our duty at once to God and to
(he king."1
The Jesuits gave him httle comfort. Lalemant,
th-iir superior, replied by advising him to foUow
the directions of his confessor, a Jesuit, so far as
the question concerned spiritual matters, adding
that in temporal matters he had no advice to give.2
The distinction was Ulusory. The quarrel turned
whoUy on temporal matters, but it was a quarrel
with a bishop. To separate in such a case the
spiritual obhgation from the temporal was beyond
the skUl of Mezy, nor would the confessor have
helped him.
Perplexed and troubled as he was, he would
not reinstate Bourdon and the two councillors.
The people began to clamor at the interruption
of justice, for which they blamed Laval, Avhom a
recent imposition of tithes had made unpopular.
Mezy thereupon issued a proclamation, in which,
after mentioning his opponents as the most subtle
and artful persons in Canada, he declares that, in
consequence of petitions sent him from Quebec
and the neighboring settlements, he had called the
people to the councU chamber, and by their advice
had appointed the Sieur de Chartier as attorney-
general in place of Bourdon.3
Bourdon replied by a violent appeal from the
1 Mezy aux PP. Jesuites, Fait au Chateau de Quebec ce dernier joa
de Fevrier, 1664.
2 Lettre du P. H. Lalemant a Mr. le Gouverneur.
' Declaration du Sieur de Mezy, 10 Mars, 1664.

1664.] CONTINUED STRIFE. 153
governor to the remaining members of the councU,1
on Avhich Mezy declared him excluded from all
public functions whatever, till the king's pleasure
should be known.2 Thus church and state stUl
frowned on each other, and new disputes soon arose
to widen the breach between them. On the first
establishment of the council, an order had been
passed for the election of a mayor and two alder
men (echevins) for Quebec, which it was proposed
to erect into a city, though it had only seventy
houses and less than a thousand inhabitants. Be-
pentigny Avas chosen mayor, and Madry and Char-
ron aldermen ; but the choice was not agreeable to
the bishop, and the three functionaries dechned to
act, influence having probably been brought to bear
on them to that end. The councU now resolved
that a mayor Avas needless, and the people were
permitted to choose a syndic in his stead. These
municipal elections were always so controUed by
the authorities that the element of liberty which
they seemed to represent was httle but a mockery.
On the present occasion, after an unaccountable
delay of ten months, tAventy-tAvo persons cast their
votes in presence of the councU, and the choice
fell on Charron. The real question Avas whether
the new syndic should belong to the governor or
to the bishop. Charron leaned to the governor's
party. The ecclesiastics insisted that the people
were dissatisfied, and a new election was ordered,
but the voters did not come. The governor noAV
1 Bourdon au Conseil, 13 Mars, 1664.
2 Ordre du Gouverneur, 13 Mars, 1664.

154 LAVAL AND MEZY. 11664.
sent messages to such of the inhabitants as ho knew
to be in his interest, who gathered in the council
Uiamber, voted under bis eye, and again chose a
syndic agreeable to him. Laval's party protested
in vain.1
The councillors held office for a year, and the
year had now expired. The governor and the
bishop, it avUI be remembered, had a joint power
of appointment ; but agreement between them was
impossible. Laval was for replacing his partisans,
Bourdon, ViUeray, AuteuU, and La Ferte. Mezy
refused ; and on the eighteenth of September he
reconstructed the councU by bis sole authority,
retaining of the old councillors only Amours and
Tilly, «and replacing the rest by Denis, La Tesserie,
and Peronne de Maze-, the surviving son of Dumes
nil. Again Laval protested ; but Mezy proclaimed
his choice by sound of drum, and caused placards
to be posted, full, according to Father Lalemant, of
abuse against the bishop. On this he was excluded
from confession and absolution. He complained
loudly ; " but our reply was," says the father,
"that God knew every thing."2
This unanswerable but someAvhat irrelevant re
sponse failed to satisfy him, and it was possibly on
this occasion that an incident occurred which is re
counted by the bishop's eulogist, La Tour. He says
that Me'zy, with some unknown design, appeared
before the church at the head of a band of soldiers,
while Laval was saying mass. The service over, the
bishop presented nimself at the door, on which, tc
1 Registre du Conseil Superieur. 2 Journal des Jesuitcs, Oct., 1664.

1664.1 MEZY'S DEFEAT. 15£

0

the governor's confusion, aU the soldiers respect
fully saluted him.1 The story may have some
foundation, but it is not supported by contemporary
evidence. On the Sunday after Mezy's coup d'etat, the
pulpits resounded Avith denunciations. The people
listened, doubtless, Avith becoming respect ; but
their sympathies Avere with the governor ; and he,
on his part, had made appeals to them at more
than one crisis of the quarrel. He now fell into
another indiscretion. He banished Bourdon and
ViUeray, and ordered them home to France.
They carried with them the instruments of their
revenge, the accusations of Laval and the Jesuits
against the author of their Avoes. Of these accusa
tions one alone would have sufficed. Mezy had
appealed to the people. It is true that he did so
from no love of popular liberty, but simply to make
head against an opponent ; yet the act alone Avas
enough, and he received a peremptory recall.
Again Laval had triumphed. He had made one
governor and unmade two, U not three. The
modest Levite, as one of his biographers calls him
in his earlier days, had become the foremost power
in Canada^
Laval had a threefold strength at court; his
high birth, his reputed sanctity, and the support
of the Jesuits. This was not all, for the perma
nency of his position in the colony gave him another
advantage. The governors were named for three
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. VII. It is charitable to ascribe this
writer's many errors to carelessness.

156 LAVAL AND MEZY. [1666
years, and could be recalled at any time ; but the
vicar apostolic owed his appointment to the Pope,
and the Pope alone could revoke it. Thus he was
beyond reach of the royal authority, and the court
Avas in a certain sense obliged to conciliate him.
As for Mezy, a man of no rank or influence, he
could expect no mercy. Yet, though irritable and
violent, he seems to have tried conscientiously to
reconcile conflicting duties, or what he regarded as
such. The governors and intendants, his succes
sors, received, during many years, secret instruc
tions from the court to watch Laval, and cautiously
prevent him from assuming powers which did not
belong to him. -It is likely that simUar instruc
tions had been given to Mezy,1 and that the attempt
to fulfil them had aided to embroU him with one
who Avas probably the last man on earth with whom
he Avould willingly have quarreUed.
An inquiry was ordered into his conduct ; but a
voice more potent than the voice of the king had
called him to another tribunal. A disease, the
result perhaps of mental agitation, seized upon
liim and soon brought him to extremity. As he
lay gasping betAveen hfe and death, fear and horror
took possession of his soul. Hell yawned before
his fevered vision, peopled with phantoms which
long and lonely meditations, after the discipline of
Loyola, made real and palpable to his thought.
He smelt the fumes of infernal brimstone, and
1 The royal commissioner, Gaudais, who came to Canada with Me'zy.
had, as before mentioned, orders to inquire with great secrecy into the
conduct of Laval. The intendant, Talou, who followed immediately
after, had similar instructions.

1665.] DEATH OF MEZY. 157
heard the howlings of the damned. He saw the
frown of the angry Judge, and the fiery swords of
avenging angels, hurhng wretches like himself,
writhing in anguish and despair, into the gulf of
unutterable woe. He listened to the ghostly coun
sellors who besieged his bed, bowed his head in
penitence, made his peace with the church, asked
pardon of Laval, confessed to him, and received
absolution at his hands ; and his late adversaries,
now benign and bland, soothed him with promises
of pardon, and hopes of eternal bliss.
Before he died, he wrote to the Marquis de Tracy,
newly appointed viceroy, a letter which indicates
that even in his penitence he could not feel himself
wholly in the wrong.1 He also left a will in which
the pathetic and the quaint are curiously mingled.
After praying his patron, Saint Augustine, with
Saint John, Saint Peter, and all the other saints, to
intercede for the pardon of his sins, he directs that
his body shall be buried in the cemetery of the
poor at the hospital, as being unworthy of more
honored sepulture. He then makes various lega
cies of piety and charity. Other bequests follow,
one of which is to his friend Major Angoville, to
whom he leaves two hundred francs, his coat of
English cloth, his camlet mantle, a pair of new
shoes, eight shirts with sleeve buttons, his sword
and belt, and a new blanket for the major's servant.
Felix Aubert is to have fifty francs, with a gray
jacket, a small coat of gray serge, " which," say,'.
the testator, " has been worn for a wliile," and 8
1 Lettre de Mezy au Marquis de Tracy, 26 Avril, 1665.

158 LAVAL AND MEZY. [1665.
pair of long white stocldngs. And in a codicil he
farther leaves to AngovUle his best black coat, in
order that he may wear mourning for him.1
His earthly troubles closed on the night of the
sixth of May. He Avent to his rest among the
paupers ; and the priests, serenely triumphant, sang
requiems over his grave.
Note. — Mezy sent home charges against the bishop and the
Jesuits which seem to have existed in Charlevoix's time, but for
which, as well as for those made by Laval, I have sought in vain.
The substance of these mutual accusations is given thus by the
minister Colbert, in a memorial addressed to the Marquis de Tracy,
in 1G65 : " Les Jesuites 1'accusent d'avarice et de violences ; et lui
qu'ils voulaient entreprendre sur l'autorite qui lui a ete commise
par le Roy, en sorte que n'ayant que de leurs creatures dans le
Conseil Souverain, toutes les resolutions s'y prenaient selon leurs
sentiments." The papers cited are drawn partly from the Registres du Conseil
Sup'erieur, still preserved at Quebec, and partly from the Archives ""
of the Marine and Colonies. Laval's admirer, the abbe La Tour,
in bis eagerness to justify the bishop, says that the quarrel arose
from a dispute about precedence between Mezy and the intendant,
and from the ill-humor of the governor because the intendant
shared the profits of his office. The truth is, that there was no
inteudant in Canada during the term of Mezy's government. One
Robert had been appointed to the office, but he never came to the
colony. The commissioner Gaudais, during the two or three months
of his stay at Quebec, took the intendant's place at the council-
board ; but harmony between Laval and Mezy was unbroken till
after his departure. Other writers say that the dispute arose from
the old question about brandy. Towards the end of the quarrel
there was some disorder from this source, but even then the brandy
question was subordinate to other subjects of strife.
1 Testament du Sieur de Mezy. This will, as well as the letter, is en
grossed in the registers of the council.

CHAPTER IX.
1662-1680.
LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY.
Laval's Visit to Court. — The Seminary. — Zeal op the Bisnor. -
His Eulogists. — Church asd State. — Attitude op Laval.
TnAT memorable journey of Laval to court,
which caused the dissolution of the Company of
NeAv France, the establishment of the Supreme
Council, the recall of Avaugour, and the appoint
ment of Mezy, had yet other objects and other
results. Laval, vicar apostohc and titular bishop
of Petraea, Avished to become in title, as in fact,
bishop of Quebec. Thus he Avould gain an in
crease of dignity and authority, necessary, as he
thought, in his conflicts with the civil power ; " for,"
he wrote to the cardinals of the Propaganda, " I
have learned from long experience hoAV little secu
rity my character of vicar apostolic gives me against
those charged with political affairs : I mean the
officers of the Crown, perpetual rivals and con
temners of the authority of the church." 1

1 For a long extract from this letter, copied from the original in the
archives of the Propaganda at Rome, see Faillon, Colonie Francaise,
III. 432

160 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80.
This reason was for the Pope and the cardinals.
It may well be believed that he held a different
language to the king. To him he urged that the
bishopric was needed to enforce order, suppress
sin, and crush heresy. Both Loins XIV. and the
queen mother favored his wishes ; x but difficulties
arose and interminable disputes ensued on the
question, whether the proposed bishopric should
depend immediately on the Pope or on the Arch
bishop of Rouen. It was a revival of the old quar
rel of Galhcan and ultramontane. Laval, weary of
hope deferred, at length declared that he would
leave the colony if he could not be its bishop in
title; and in 1674, after eleven years of delay, the
king yielded to the Pope's demands, and the vicar
apostolic became first bishop of Quebec.
If Laval had to wait for his mitre, he found no
delay and no difficulty in attaining another object
no less dear to him. He wished to provide priests
for Canada, drawn from the Canadian population,
fed with sound and wholesome doctrine, reared
under his eye, and moulded by bis hand. To this
end he proposed to establish a seminary at Quebec.
The plan found favor with the pious king, and a
decree signed by bis hand sanctioned and confirmed
it. The neAv seminary was to be a corporation of
priests under a superior chosen by the bishop;
and, besides its functions of instruction, it was vested
with distinct and extraordinary powers. Laval,
1 Anne d'Autriche a Laval, 23 Avril, 1662; Louis XIV. au Pape, 28
Jan., 1664; Louis XIV. au Due de Crequy, Ambassadeur a Rome, 28
June, 1664.

1662-80.] THE PARISH PRIEST. 161
an organizer and a disciplinarian by nature and
training, would fain subject the priests of his
diocese to a control as complete as that of monks
in a convent. In France, the cure or parish priest
was, with rare exceptions, a fixture in his parish,
whence he could be removed only for grave reasons,
and through prescribed forms^of procedure. Hence
he was to a certain degree independent of the
bishop. Laval, on the contrary, demanded that
the Canadian cure should be removable at his will,
and thus placed in the position of a missionary,
to come and go at the order of his superior. In
fact, the Canadian parishes were for a long time so
widely scattered, so feeble in population, and so
miserably poor, that, besides the disciplinary advan
tages of this plan, its adoption was at first almost
a matter of necessity. It added greatly to the
power of the church ; and, as the colony increased,
the king and the minister conceived an increasing
distrust of it. Instructions for the "fixation" of
the cures were repeatedly sent to the colony, and
the bishop, whUe professing to obey, repeatedly
evaded them. Various fluctuations and changes
took place ; but Laval had built on strong founda
tions, and at this day the system of removable
cure's prevails in most of the Canadian parishes. 1
Thus he formed his clergy into a family with

1 On the establishment of the seminary. Mandement de VEveque de
Petree, pour V Etablissement du Seminaire de Quebec; Approbation du Roy
(Edits et Ordonnances, I. 33, 35); La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. VI.;
Esquisse de la Vie de Laval, Appendix. Various papers bearing on the
subject are printed in the Canadian Abeille, from originals in the archives
of the seminary. 11

162 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80,
himself at its head. His seminary, the mother who
had reared them, was further charged to maintain
them, nurse them in sickness, and support them in
old age. Under her maternal roof the tired priest
found repose among his brethren ; and thither
every year he repaired from the charge of his
flock in the wilderness, to freshen his devotion
and animate his zeal by a season of meditation
and prayer.
The difficult task remained to provide the neces
sary funds. Laval imposed a tithe of one-thirteenth
on aU products of the soil, or, as afterwards settled,
on grains alone. This tithe was paid to the sem
inary, and by the seminary to the priests. The
people, unused to such a burden, clamored and
resisted ; and Me'zy, in his disputes with the bishop,
had taken advantage of their discontent. It be
came necessary to reduce the tithe to a twenty-
sixth, Avhich, as there was little or no money among
the inhabitants, was paid in kind. Nevertheless,
the scattered and impoverished settlers grudged
even this contribution to the support of a priest
Avhom many of them rarely saAV ; and the collection
of it became a matter of the greatest difficulty and
uncertainty. Hoav the king came to the rescue,
Ave shall hereafter see.
Besides the great seminary Avhere young men
were trained for the priesthood, there was the
lesser seminary Avhere boys were educated in the
hope that they would one day take orders. This
school began in 1668, with eight French and
six Indian pupils, in the old house of Madame

1662-80.] ENDOWMENTS OF LAVAL. 163
Couillard; but so far as the Indians Avere concerned
it was a failure. Sooner or later they all ran Avild
in the woods, carrying with them as fruits of their
studies a sufficiency of prayers, offices, and chants
learned by rote, along Avith a feeble smattering of
Latin and rhetoric, Avhich they soon dropped by
the way. There was also a sort of farm-school
attached to the seminary, for the training of a
humbler class of pupils. It Avas established at the
parish of St. Joachim, below Quebec, where the
children of artisans and peasants Avere taught farm
ing and various mechanical arts, and thoroughly
grounded in the doctrine and discipline of the
church.1 The Great and Lesser Seminary still sub
sist, and form one of the most important Roman
Catholic institutions on this continent. To them
has recently been added the Laval University, rest
ing on the same foundation, and supported by the
same funds.
Whence were these funds derived? Laval, in
order to imitate the poverty of the apostles, had
divested himself of his property before he came to
Canada ; otherwise there is little doubt that in the
fulness of his zeal he would have devoted it to his
favorite object. But if he had no property he
had influence, and his family had both influence
and Avealth. He acquired vast grants of land in
the best parts of Canada. Some of these he sold
or exchanged; others he retained till the year
1 Annates du Petit Seminaire de Quebec, see Abcille, Vol. I. ; Notice His-
Unique sur le Petit Seminaire de Quebec, Ibid., Vol. II. ; Notice Ilistorique sur
la Paroisse de St. Joachim, Ibid., Vol. I. The Abeille is a journal pub
lished by the seminary.

164 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80.
1680, when he gave them, with nearly all else that
he then possessed, to his seminary at Quebec. The
lands with which he thus endowed it included the
seigniories of the Petite Nation, the island of Jesus,
and Beaupre". The last is of great extent, and at
the present day of immense value. Beginning a
few mUes below Quebec, it borders the St. Law
rence for a distance of sixteen leagues, and is six
leagues in depth, measured from the river. From
these sources the seminary stUl draws an abundant
revenue, though its seigniorial rights were com
muted on the recent extinction of the feudal tenure
in Canada.
WeU did Laval deserve that his name should
live in that of the university which a century and
a half after his death owed its existence to his
bounty. This father of the Canadian church, Avho
has left so deep an impress on one of the commu
nities which form the vast population of North
America, belonged to a type of character to which
an even justice is rarely done. With the excep
tion of the Canadian Garneau, a liberal Catholic,
those who have treated of him, have seen him
through a medium intensely Romanist, coloring,
hiding, and exaggerating by turns both his actions
and the traits of his character. Tried by the
Romanist standard, his merits were great ; though
the extraordinary influence which he exercised in
the affairs of the colony were, as already observed,
by no means due to his spiritual graces alone. To
a saint sprung from the haute noblesse, Earth and
Heaven were alike propitious. When the vicar-

1662-80.] LAVAL'S POSITION. 165
general Colombiere pronounced his funeral eulogy
in. the sounding periods of Bossuet, he did not fail
to exhibit him on the ancestral pedestal where his
virtues would shine Avith redoubled lustre. " The
exploits of the heroes of the House of Montmo
rency," exclaims the reverend orator, "form one
of the fairest chapters in the annals of Old France ;
the heroic acts of charity, humility, and faith,
achieved by a Montmorency, form one of the fairest
in the annals of New France. The combats, victo
ries, and conquests of the Montmorency in Europe
would fill whole volumes ; and so, too, would the
triumphs won by a Montmorency, in America, over
sin, passion, and the devil." Then he crowns the
high-born prelate with a halo of fourfold saintship.
" It Avas with good reason that Providence permitted
him to be caUed Francis : for the virtues of all the
saints of that name Avere combined in him ; the zeal
of Saint Francis Xavier, the charity of Saint Fran
cis of Sales, the poverty of Saint Francis of Assissi,
the self -mortification of Saint Francis Borgia ; but
poverty Avas the mistress of his heart, and he loved
her with mcontrollable transports."
The stories which Colombiere proceeds to teU of
Laval's asceticism are confirmed by other evidence,
and are, no doubt, true. Nor is there any reason
able doubt that, had the bishop stood in the place of
Brebeuf or Charles Lalemant, he would have suf
fered torture and death like them. But it Avas his
lot to strive, not against infidel savages, but against
countrymen and Catholics, who had no disposition
to burn him, and would rather have done him
reverence than wrong.

166 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80.
To comprehend his actions and motives, it is
necessary to know his ideas in regard to the rela
tions of church and state. They were those of
the extreme ultramontanes, which a recent Jesuit
preacher has expressed with tolerable distinctness.
In a sermon uttered in the Church of Notre Dame,
at Montreal, on the first of November, 1872, he
thus announced them. " The supremacy and in-
f allibUity of the Pope ; the independence and liberty
of the church ; the subordination and submission
of the state to the church; in case of conflict
between them, the church to decide, the state to
submit: for Avhoever follows and defends these
principles, life and a blessing ; for whoever rejects
and combats them, death and a curse." l
These were the principles which Laval and the
Jesuits strove to make good. Christ was to rule
in Canada through his deputy the bishop, and God's
law was to triumph over the laws of man. As in
the halcyon days of Champlain and Montmagny,
the governor was to be the right hand of the
church, to wield the earthly sword at her bidding,
and the councU Avas to be the agent of her high
behests. France was drifting toward the triumph of the
parti devot, the sinister reign of petticoat and cas
sock, the era of Maintenon and TeUier, and the
1 This sermon was preached by Father Braun, S. J., on occasion of the
" Golden Wedding," or fiftieth anniversary, of Bishop Bourget of Mon
treal. A large body of the Canadian clergy were present, some of whom
thought his expressions too emphatic. A translation by another Jesuit
is published in the "Montreal AVeekly Herald" of Nov. 2, 1872; and
the above extract is copied verbatim.

1662-80.] MENTAL CONDITION OF LAVAL. 167
fatal atrocities of the dragonnades. Yet the advanc
ing tide of priestly domination did not flow smoothly.
The unparalleled prestige which surrounded the
throne of the young king, joined to his quarrels
with the Pope and divisions in the church itself, dis
turbed, though they could not check its progress.
In Canada it was otherwise. The colony had been
ruled by priests from the beginning, and it only
remained to continue in her future the law of her
past. She was the fold of Christ ; the wolf of civil
government was among the flock, and Laval and
the Jesuits, watchful shepherds, were doing their
best to chain and muzzle him.
According to Argenson, Laval had said, "A
bishop can do what he likes ; " and his action an
swered reasonably weU to his words. He thought
himself above human law. In vindicating the
assumed rights of the church, he invaded the rights
of others, and used means from which a healthy
conscience would have shrunk. AU his thoughts
and sympathies had run from childhood in ecclesi
astical channels, and he cared for nothing outside
the church. Prayer, meditation, and asceticism had
leavened and moulded him. During four years he
had been steeped in the mysticism of the Hermi
tage, which had for its aim the annihilation of self,
and through self-annihilation the absorption into
God.1 He had passed from a life of visions to a life
of action. Earnest to fanaticism, he saw but one
great object, the glory of God on earth. He was
penetrated by the poisonous casuistry of the Jesuits,
i See the maxims of Bernieres, published by La Tour.

168 LAVAL AND THE SEMINAR r. [1662-80.
based on the assumption that aU means are per
mitted when the end is the service of God ; and as
Laval, in his own opinion, was always doing the
service of God, while his opponents were always
doing that of the devU, he enjoyed, in the use of
means, a latitude of which we have seen him avail
Iiimself,

n.
THE COLONY AOT) THE KING.

CHAPTER X.
1661-1665.
ROYAL INTERVENTION.
Fontainebleau. — Louis XIV. — Colbert. — The Company of
toe West. — Evil Omens. — Action or the Kino. — Tract,
Courcelle, and Talon. — The Regiment op Carignan-Sal-
ieres. — Tract at Quebec. — Miracles. — A Holt War.
Leave Canada behind ; cross the sea, and stand,
on an evenmg in June, by the edge of the forest of
Fontainebleau. Beyond the broad gardens, above
the long ranges of moonlit trees, rise the walls
and pinnacles of the vast chateau ; a shrine of his
tory, the gorgeous monument of lines of vanished
kings, haunted with memories of Capet, Valois, and
Bourbon. There was httle thought of the past at Fon
tainebleau in June, 1661. The present was too
dazzling and too intoxicating; the future, too
radiant with hope and promise. It was the morn
ing of a new reign; the sun of Louis XIV. was
rising in splendor, and the rank and beauty of
France were gathered to pay it homage. A youth
ful court, a youthful king ; a pomp and magnifi-

170 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1661
cence such as Europe had never seen ; a delirium
of ambition, pleasure, and love, — wrought in many
a young heart an enchantment destined to be
crueUy broken. Even old courtiers felt the fasci
nation of the scene, and tell us of the music at
evening by the borders of the lake; of the gay
groups that stroUed under the shadowing trees,
floated in gUded barges on the stUl water, or
moved slowly in open carriages around its borders.
Here was Anne of Austria, the king's mother, and
Marie Therese, his tender and jealous queen ; his
brother, the Duke of Orleans, with his bride of
sixteen, Henriette of England ; and his favorite,
that vicious butterfly of the court, the Count de
Guiche. Here, too, were the humbled chiefs of the
civU war, Beaufort and Conde, obsequious before
their triumphant master. Louis XIV., the centre
of all eyes, in the flush of health and vigor, and
the pride of new-fledged royalty, stood, as he still
stands on the canvas of Philippe de Champagne,
attired in a splendor which would have been ef
feminate but for the stately port of the youth who
Avore it.1
Fortune had been strangely bountUul to him.
The nations of Europe, exhausted by wars and dis
sensions, looked upon him with respect and fear.
Among weak and weary neighbors, he alone was
strong. The death of Mazarin had released him
from tutelage ; feudalism in the person of Conde
1 On the visit of the court at Fontainebleau in the summer of 1661,
see Memoires de Madame de Motteville, Memoires de Madame de La Fayette,
Memoires de I'Abbe de Choisy, and Walckenaer, Memoires sur Madame de
Seoigne".

1661.] LOUIS XIV. ' 171
was abject before him ; he had reduced his parlia
ments to submission ; and, in the arrest of the
ambitious prodigal Fouquet, he was preparing a
crushing blow to the financial corruption which
had devoured France.
Nature had formed him to act the part of king.
Even his critics and enemies praise the grace and
majesty of his presence, and he impressed his
courtiers with an admiration which seems to have
been to an astonishing degree genuine. He car
ried airs of royalty even into his pleasures ; and,
whUe his example corrupted all France, he pro
ceeded to the apartments of Montespan or Fon-
tanges with the majestic gravity of Olympian
Jove. He was a devout observer of the forms of
religion; and, as the buoyancy of youth passed
away, his zeal was stimulated by a profound fear
of the devU. Mazarin had reared him in igno
rance ; but his faculties were excellent in their way,
and, in a private station, would have made him an
efficient man of business. The vivacity of his
passions, and his inordinate love of pleasure, were
joined to a persistent will and a rare power of
labor. The vigorous mediocrity of his understand
ing delighted in grappling with details. His as
tonished courtiers saw him take on himself the
burden of administration, and work at it without
relenting for more than half a century. Great as
was his energy, his pride was far greater. As
king by divine right, he felt himself raised im
measurably above the highest of his subjects;
but, whUe vindicating with unparalleled haughti-

172 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1661
ness his claims to supreme authority, he was, at
the outset, fiUed with a sense of the duties of his
high place, and fired by an ambition to make his
reign beneficent to France as weU as glorious to
himseU. Above aU riders of modern times, he was the
embodiment of the monarchical idea. The famous
words ascribed to him, "I am the state," were
probably never uttered; but they perfectly ex
press his spirit. " It is God's will," he wrote in
1666, " that whoever is born a subject should not
reason, but obey ; " x and those around him were of
his mind. " The state is in the king," said Bos
suet, the great mouthpiece of monarchy ; " the
wUl of the people is merged in his wUl. Oh
kings, put forth your power boldly, for it is divine
and salutary to human kind." 2
For a few brief years, his reign was indeed salu
tary to France. His judgment of men, when not
obscured by bis pride and bis passion for flattery,
was good ; and he had at his service the generals
and statesmen formed in the freer and bolder epoch
that had ended Avith his accession. Among them
was Jean Baptiste Colbert, formerly the intendant
of Mazarin's household, a man whose energies
matched his talents, and who had preserved his
rectitude in the midst of corruption. It was a
hard task that Colbert imposed on bis proud and
violent nature to serve the imperious king, mor
bidly jealous of his authority, and resolved to
l (Euvres de Louis XIV., U. 283.
2 Bossuet, Politique tiree de I'Ecriture sainte, 370 (1843).

1664. J COLBERT. 173
accept no initiative but his own. He must counsel
while seeming to receive counsel, and lead while
seeming to follow. The new minister bent him
self to the task, and the nation reaped the profit.
A vast system of reform was set in action amid the
. outcries of nobles, financiers, churchmen, and all
who profited by abuses. The methods of this
reform were trenchant and sometimes violent, and
its principles were not always in accord with those
of modern economic science ; but the good that re
sulted was incalculable. The burdens of the labor
ing classes were lightened, the public revenues
increased, and the wholesale plunder of the public
money arrested with a strong hand. Laws Avere
reformed and codified ; feudal tyranny, which stiU
subsisted in many quarters, was repressed ; agri
culture and productive industry of all kinds were
encouraged, roads and canals opened, trade stimu
lated, a commercial marine created, and a poAverful
navy formed as if by magic.1
It is in his commercial, industrial, and colonial
policy that the profound defects of the great min
ister's system are most apparent. It was a system
of authority, monopoly, and exclusion, in which
the government, and not the individual, acted
always the foremost part. Upright, incorruptible,
ardent for the public good, inflexible, arrogant,
and domineering, he sought to drive France into
paths of prosperity, and create colonies by the
1 On Colbert, see Clement, Histoire de Colbert. Clement, Lettres et
Memoires de Colbert; Cheruel, Administration monarchique en France, II
chap. vi. Henri Martin, Histoire de France, XIII., etc.

174 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1664
energy of an imperial will. He feared, and with
reason, that the want of enterprise and capital
among the merchants would preATent the broad
and irtmediate results at Avhich he aimed ; and, to
secure these results, he established a series of great
trading corporations, in which the principles of
priAilege and exclusion were pushed to their utmost
limits. Prominent among them was the Company
of the West. The king signed the edict creating
it on the 24th of May, 1664. Any person in th°
kingdom or out of it might become a partner by
subscribing, within a certain time, not less than
three thousand francs. France was a mere patch
on the map, compared to the vast domains of the
new association. Western Africa from Cape Verd
to the Cape of Good Hope, South America be
tween the Amazon and the Orinoco, Cayenne, the
Antilles, and all New France, from Hudson's Bay
to Virginia and Florida were bestowed on it for
ever, to be held of the CroAvn on the simple condi
tion of faith and homage. As, according to the
edict, the glory of God Avas the chief object in
vieAV, the company was required to supply its pos
sessions AAith a sufficient number of priests, and
diligently to exclude aU teachers of false doctrine.
It was empowered to buUd forts and war-ships,
cast cannon, wage Avar, make peace, establish
courts, appoint judges, and otherwise to act as
sovereign within its own domains. A monopoly
of trade was granted it for forty years.1 Sugar
from the AntUles, and furs from Canada, were the
1 Edit d'Etablissement de la Compagnie des Indes Occidentales.

1664-68.] MONOPOLY. 175
chief source of expected profit ; and Africa was to
supply the slaves to raise the sugar. Scarcely
Was the grand machine set in motion, when its
directors betrayed a narrowness and blindiress of
policy which boded the enterprise no good. Can
ada Avas a chief sufferer. Once more, bound hand
and foot, she was handed over to a selfish league
of merchants ; monopoly in trade, monopoly in
religion, monopoly in government. Nobody but
the company had a right to bring her the necessa
ries of lUe ; and nobody but the company had a
right to exercise the traffic which alone could give
her the means of paying for these necessaries.
Moreover, the supplies which it brought were in
sufficient, and the prices which it demanded Avere
exorbitant. It was throttling its wretched victim.
The Canadian merchants remonstrated.1 It was
clear that, if the colony Avas to live, the system
must be changed ; and a change was accordingly
ordered. The company gave up its monopoly of
the fur trade, but reserved the right to levy a
duty of one-fourth of the beaver-skins, and one-
tenth of the moose-skins : and it also reserved the
entire trade of Tadoussac ; that is to say, the trade
of all the tribes between the lower St. LaAvrence and
Hudson's Bay. It retained besides the exclusive
right of transporting furs in its own ships, thus
controlling the commerce of Canada, and discour
aging, or rather extinguishing, the enterprise of
Canadian merchants. On its part, it was required
1 Lettre du Conseil Souverain a Colbert, 1668.

176 ROYAL INTERVENTION [^ol-Oe.
to pay governors, judges, and all the colonial offi
cials out of the duties which it levied.1
Yet the king had the prosperity of Canada at
heart ; and he proceeded to show his interest in
her after a manner hardly consistent with his late
action in handing her over to a mercenary guardian.
In fact, he acted as if she had still remained under
his paternal care. He had just conferred the right
of naming a governor and intendant upon the new
company ; but he now assumed it himself, the com
pany, with a just sense of its own unfitness, readUy
consenting to this suspension of one of its most im
portant privileges. Daniel de Remy, Sieur de Cour-
ceUe, was appointed governor, and Jean Baptiste
Talon intendant.2 The nature of this duplicate
government wiU appear hereafter. But, before
appointing rulers for Canada, the king had ap
pointed a representative of the Crown for aU his
American domains. The Mare"chal d'Estrades had
for some time held the title of viceroy for Amer
ica ; and, as he could not fulfil the duties of that
office, being at the time ambassador in HoUand,
the Marquis de Tracy was sent in his place, with
the title of lieutenant-general.3
1 Arret du Conseil du Roy qui accorde a la Compagnie le quart des castors,
le dixieme des orignaux et la traite de Tadoussac : Instruction a Monseigneur de
Tracy et a Messieurs le Gouverneur et I' Intendant.
This company prospered as little as the rest of Colbert's trading
companies. AVithin ten years it lost 3,523,000 livres, besides blighting
the colonies placed under its control. Recherches sur les Finances, cited by
Clement, Histoire de Colbert.
- Commission de Lieutenant General en Canada, etc., pour M. de Courcelle,
23 Mars, 16U5 ; Commission d'Intendant de la Justice, Police, et Finances en
Canada, etc., pour M. Talon, 23 Mars, 1665.
3 Commission de Lieutenant Gen&al de I'Amerique Meridionale et Sep
UmtrUmale pour M. Prouvills de Tracy, 19 Nov., 1663.

1665.J ARRIVAL OF TRACY. 177
Canada at this time was an object of very con
siderable attention at court, and especially in what
was known as the parti devot. The Relations of
the Jesuits, appeahng equaUy to the spirit of re
ligion and the spirit of romantic adventure, had, for
more than a quarter of a century, been the favor-
,ite reading of the devout, and the visit of Laval at
court had greatly stimulated the interest they had
kindled. The letters of Argenson, and especiaUy
of Avaugour, had shown the vast political possi
bilities of the young colony, and opened a vista of
future glories alike for church and for king.
So, when Tracy set saU he found no lack of
followers. A throng of young nobles embarked with
him, eager to explore the marvels and mysteries of
the western world. The king gave him two hundred
soldiers of the regiment of Carignan-Salieres, and
promised that a thousand more should follow.
After spending more than a year in the West In
dies, where, as Mother Mary of the Incarnation
_ expresses it, " he performed marvels and. reduced
everybody to obedience," he at length sailed up
the St. Lawrence, and, on the thirtieth of June,
1665, anchored in the basin of Quebec. The broad,
white standard, blazoned with the arms of France,
proclaimed the representative of royalty ; and Point
Levi and Cape Diamond and the distant Cape
Tourmente roared back the sound of the saluting
cannon. All Quebec was on the ramparts or at the
landing-place, and all eyes were strained at the
two vessels as they slowly emptied their croAvded
decks into the boats alongside. The boats at length
12

178 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1665.
drew near, and the heutenant-general and his suite
landed on the quay with a pomp such as Quebec
had never seen before.
Tracy was a veteran of sixty-two, portly and
tall, " one of the largest men I ever saw," writes
Mother Mary ; but he was saUow with disease, for
fever had seized him, and it had fared iU with him
on the long voyage. The Chevalier de Chaumont
walked at his side, and young nobles surrounded
him, gorgeous in lace and ribbons and majestic in
leonine wigs. Twenty-four guards in the king's
livery led the way, followed by four pages and six
valets ; 1 and thus, AvhUe the Frenchmen shouted and
the Indians stared, the august procession threaded
the streets of the LoAver Toavii, and chmbed the
steep pathway that scaled the cliffs above. Breath
ing hard, they reached the top, passed on the left
the dilapidated waUs of the fort and the shed of
mingled Avood and masonry which then bore the
name of the Castle of St. Louis ; passed on the
right the old house of Couillard and the site of
Laval's neAV seminary, and soon reached the square
betAvixt the Jesuit coUege and the cathedral. The
bells Avere ringing in a phrensy of welcome. Laval
in pontificals, surrounded by priests and Jesuits,
stood Avaiting to receive the deputy of the king ;
and, as he greeted Tracy and offered him the holy
water, he looked with anxious curiosity to see
Avhat manner of man he was. The signs were aus
picious. The deportment of the lieutenant-general
1 Jncheroau says that this was his constant attendance when he went
abroad.

1665.] THE REINFORCEMENT. 179
left nothing to desire. Aprie-dieu had been placed
for him. He declined it. They offered him a cush
ion, but he would not have it ; and, fevered as
he was, he knelt on the bare pavement Avith a
devotion that edified every beholder. Te Deum
was sung, and a day of rejoicing foUowed.
There was good cause. Canada, it Avas plain,
was not to be whoUy abandoned to a trading com
pany. Louis XIV. was resolved that a neAV France
should be added to the old. Soldier's, settlers, horses,
sheep, cattle, young women for Avives, Avere all sent
out in abundance by his paternal benignity. Before
the season was over, about two thousand persons
had landed at Quebec at the royal charge. "At
length," writes Mother Juchereau, " our joy was
completed by the arrival of two vessels Avith Mon
sieur de Courcelle, our governor ; Monsieur Talon,
our intendant, and the last companies of the
regiment of Carignan." More state and splendor
more young nobles, more guards and A'alets: for
CourceUe, too, says the same chronicler, " had a
superb train ; and Monsieur Talon, Avho naturally
loves glory, forgot nothing which could do honor
to the king." Thus a sunbeam from the court fell
for a moment on the rock of Quebec. Yet all Avas
not sunshine ; for the voyage had been a tedious
one, and disease had broken out in the ships. That
which bore Talon had been a hundred and seven
teen days at sea,1 and others were hardly more fortu
nate. The hospital was croAvded Avith the sick ; so,
too, were the church and the neighboring houses ;
1 Talon au ministre, 4 Oct., 1565.

180 ROYAL INTERVENTION. 11665
and the nuns were so spent with their labors that
seven of them were brought to the point of death.
The priests were busied in converting the Hugue
nots, a number of whom were detected among the
soldiers and emigrants. One of them proved re
fractory, declaring with oaths that he would never
renounce Ins faith. FaUing dangerously ill, he
Avas carried to the hospital, where Mother Cath
erine .de Saint- Augustin bethought her of a plan
of conversion. She ground to powder a small
piece of a bone of Father Brebeuf, the Jesuit mar
tyr, and secretly mixed the sacred dust with the
patient's gruel; Avhereupon, says Mother Juche-
reau, " this intractable man forthwith became gentle
as an angel, begged to be instructed, embraced the
faith, and abjured his errors publicly with an ad
mirable fervor." "
Two or three years before, the church of Quebec
had received as a gift from the Pope, the bodies
or bones of two saints ; Saint Flavian and Saint
Felicite. They were enclosed in four large coffers
or reliquaries, and a grand procession was now
ordered in their honor. Tracy, CourceUe, Talon,
and the agent of the company, bore the canopy of
the Host. Then came the four coffers on four
decorated litters, carried by the principal ecclesi
astics. Laval foUowed in pontificals. Forty-seven
priests, and a long file of officers, nobles, soldiers,
and inhabitants, followed the precious relics amid
the sound of music and the roar of cannon.2
1 Le Mercier tells the same story in the Relation of 1665.
2 Compare Marie de l'lncarnation, Lettre, 16 Oct., 1666, with La Tour
Vie de Laval, chap. x.

1665.] REGIMENT OF CARIGNAN. 181
" It is a ravishing thing," says Mother Mary,
" to see how marvellously exact is Monsieur de
Tracy, at aU these holy ceremonies, where he is
always the first to come, for he would not lose a
single moment of them. He has been seen in
church for six hours together, without once going
out." But whUe the lieutenant-general thus edified
the colony, he betrayed no lack of qualities equally
needful in his position. In Canada, as in the West
Indies, he showed both vigor and conduct. First
of all, he had been ordered to subdue or destroy
the Iroquois, and the regiment of Carignan-Sali-
eres was the weapon placed in his hands for this
end. Four companies of this corps had arrived
early in the season, four more came with Tracy,
more yet with Saheres, their colonel, and now the
number was complete. As with slouched hat and
plume, bandoleer, and shouldered firelock, these
bronzed veterans of the Turkish wars marched at
the tap of drum through the narrow street, or
mounted the rugged way that led up to the fort,
the mhabitants gazed with a sense of profound
relief. Tame Indians from the neighboring mis
sions, wild Indians from the woods, stared in silent
wonder at their new defenders. Their numbers,
then1 discipline, their uniform, and their martial
bearing, filled the savage beholders with admira
tion. Carignan-Salieres was the first regiment of regu
lar troops ever sent to America by the French
government. It was raised in Savoy by the Prince
of Carignan in 1644, but was soon employed in the

182 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1665.
service of France ; where, in 1652, it took a con
spicuous part, on the side of the king, in the battle
with Conde and the Fronde at the Porte St.
Antoine. After the peace of the Pyrenees, the
Prince of Carignan, unable to support the regiment,
gave it to the king, and it was, for the first time,
incorporated into the French armies. In 1664, it
distinguished itself, as part of the allied force of
France, in the Austrian war against the Turks.
Iu the next year it was ordered to America, along
with the fragment of a regiment formed of Ger
mans, the whole being placed under the command
of Colonel de Saheres. Hence its double name.1
FUteen heretics were discovered in its ranks,
and quickly converted.9 Then the new crusade
was preached ; the crusade against the Iroquois,
enemies of God and tools of the devU. The sol
diers and the people were filled with a zeal half
warlike and hah religious. " They are made to
understand," writes Mother Mary, " that this is a
holy war, all for the glory of God and the salva
tion of souls. The fathers are doing wonders in
inspiring them with true sentiments of piety and
1 For a long notice of the regiment of Carignan-Salieres (Lorraine),
see Susane, Ancienne Infanterie Franqaise V. 236. The portion of it which
returned to France from Canada formed a nucleus for the reconstruction
of the regiment, which, under the name of the regiment of Lorraine,
did not cease to exist as a separate organization till 1794. When it came
to Canada it consisted, says Susane, of about a thousand men, besides
about two hundred of the other regiment incorporated with it. Compare
Memoire du Roy pour servir d'instruction au Sieur Talon, which corresponds
very nearly with Susane's statement.
' 2 Besides these, there was Berthier, a captain, " Voila " writes Talon to
the king, " le 16me converti ; ainsi vntre Majeste moissonne dejk a pleines
mains de la gloire pour Dieu, et pour elle bien de la renommee dans toute
I'ciendue de la Chretiente " Lettre du 7 Oct., 1665.

1665.] A HOLY WAR. 183
devotion. Fully five hundred soldiers have taken
the scapulary of th,e Holy Virgin. It is Ave (the
Ursulines), who make them ; it is a real pleasure
to do such work ; " and she proceeds to relate a
" beau miracle," by which God made known his
satisfaction at the fervor of his mUitary servants.
The secular motives for the war were in them
selves strong enough ; for the growth of the
colony absolutely demanded the cessation of Iro
quois raids, and the French had begun to learn
the lesson that, in the case of hostUe Indians, no
good can come of attempts to concUiate, unless
respect is first imposed by a sufficient castigation.
It is true that the writers of the time paint Iroquois
hostilities in their worst colors. In the innumer
able letters which Mother Mary of the Incarnation
sent home every autumn, by the returning ships,
she spared no means to gain the sympathy and aid
of the devout ; and, with simUar motives, the
Jesuits in their printed Relations, took care to
extenuate nothing of the miseries which the pious
colony endured. Avaugour, too, in urging the
sending out of a strong force to fortify and hold
the country, had advised that, in order to furnish
a pretext and disarm +he jealousy of the English
and Dutch, exaggerated accounts should be given
of danger from the side of the savage confederates.
Yet, with every aUowance, these dangers and suff er-
ings were sufficiently great.
The three upper nations of the Iroquois were
comparatively pacific ; but the two lower nations,
the Mohawks and Oneidas, were persistently hos-

184 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1666
tile ; making inroads into the colony by way of
Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, murdering and
scalping, and then vanishing like ghosts. Tracy's
first step was to send a strong detachment to the
Richeheu to build a picket fort below the rapids
of Chambly, which take their name from that of
the officer in command. An officer named Sorel
soon afterwards built a second fort on the site of
the abandoned pahsade work buUt by Montmagny,
at the mouth of the river, where the town of Sorel
now stands ; and Salieres, colonel of the regiment,
, added a third fort, two or three leagues above
Chambly.1 These forts could not whoUy bar the
passage against the nimble and wUy warriors who
might pass them in the night, shouldering their
canoes through the woods. A blow, direct and
hard, was needed, and Tracy prepared to strike it.
Late in the season an embassy from the three
upper nations — the Onondagas, Cayugas, and
Senecas — arrived at Quebec, led by Garacontie-, a
famous chief whom the Jesuits had won over, and
who proved ever after a staunch friend of the
French. They brought back the brave Charles
Le Moyne of Montreal, whom they had captured
some three months before, and now restored as
a peace-offering, taking credit to themselves that
" not even one of his nails had been torn out, nor
any part of his body burnt." 2 Garacontie" made a

1 See the map in the Rdation of 1665. The accompanying text of
the Relation is incorrect.
2 Explanation of the deven Presents of the Iroquois Ambassadors, N. Y
Colonial Docs., IX. 37.

1665] PACIFIC OVERTURES. 185
peace speech, which, as rendered by the Jesuits,
was an admirable specimen of Iroquois eloquence ;
but, whUe joining hands with him and his com
panions, the French still urged on their prepara
tions to chastise the contumacious Mohawks.

CHAPTER XI.
1666, 1667.
THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED.
Courcelle's March. — His Failure and Return. — Courcelli
and the Jesuits. — Mohawk Treachert. — Tract's Expedi
tion. — Burning of the Mohawk Towns. — French and Eng
lish. — Dollier de Casson at St. Anne. — Peace. — Thb
Jesuits and the Iroquois.
The governor, CourceUe, says Father Le Mer
cier, " breathed nothing but war," and was bent
on immediate action. He was for the present sub
ordinate to Tracy, who, however, forebore to cool
his ardor, and allowed him to proceed. The result
was an enterprise bold to rashness. CourceUe,
with about five hundred men, prepared to march
in the depth of a Canadian winter to the Mohawk
towns, a distance estimated at three hundred
leagues. Those who knew the country, vainly
urged the risks and difficulties of the attempt.
The adventurous governor held fast to his pur
pose, and only waited tiU the St. Lawrence should
be well frozen. Early in January, it was a solid
floor ; and on the ninth the march began. Officers
and men stopped at SUlery, and knelt in the
little mission chapel before the shrine of Saint

1666.] COURCELLE'S MARCH. 187
Michael, to ask the protection and aid of the war
like archangel; then they resumed their course,
and, with their snow-shoes tied at their backs,
walked with difficulty and toil over the bare and
shppery ice. A keen wind swept the river, and
the fierce cold gnawed them to the bone. Ears,
noses, fingers, hands, and knees were frozen;
some feU in torpor, and were dragged on by their
comrades to the shivering bivouac. When, after a
march of ninety miles, they reached Three Rivers,
a considerable number were disabled, and had to
be left behind; but others joined them from the
garrison, and they set out again. Ascending the
Richelieu, and passing the new forts at Sorel and
Chambly, they reached at the end of the month
the third fort, caUed Ste. Therese. On the thirtieth
they left it, and continued their march up the
frozen stream. About two hundred of them
were Canadians, and of these seventy were old
Indian-fighters from Montreal, versed in wood
craft, seasoned to the chmate, and trained among
dangers and alarms. CourceUe quickly learned
their value, and his "Blue Coats," as he called
them, were always placed in the van.1 Here,
wrapped in their coarse blue capotes, with blank
ets and provisions strapped at their backs, they
strode along on snow-shoes, which recent storms
had made indispensable. The regulars followed
as they could. They were not yet the tough and
experienced woodsmen that they and their de
scendants afterwards became ; and their snow-
1 Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, a.d. 1666, 1666.

188 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. |1666
shoes embarrassed them, burdened as they were
with the heavy loads which all carried alike, from
CourceUe to the lowest private.
Lake Champlain lay glaring in the winter sun,
a sheet of spotless snow ; and the wavy ridges of
the Adirondacks bordered the dazzling landscape
with the cold gray of their denuded forests. The
long procession of weary men crept slowly on
under the lee of the shore ; and when night came
they bivouacked by squads among the trees, dug
away the snow with their snow-shoes, pUed it in a
bank around them, built their fire in the middle,
and crouched about it on beds of spruce or hem
lock ; 1 while, as they lay close packed for mutual
warmth, the winter sky arched them like a vault
of burnished steel, sparkhng with the cold diamond
lustre of its myriads of stars. This arctic serenity
of the elements was varied at times by heavy
snow-storms ; and, before they reached their jour
ney's end, the earth and the ice were buried to the
unusual depth of four feet. From Lake Cham-
plain they passed to Lake George,2 and the frigid
glories of its snow- wrapped mountains; thence
crossed to the Hudson, and groped their way
through the woods in search of the Mohawk
towns. They soon went astray ; for thirty Algon
quins, whom they had taken as guides, had found
1 One of the men, telling the story of their sufferings to Daniel Goo-
kin, of Massachusetts, indicated this as their mode of encamping. See
Mass. Hist. Coll., first series, I. 161.
2 Carte des grands lacs, Ontario et autres . . . et des pays traversez pat
MM. de Tracy et Courcelle pour aller attaquer les agnie's (Mohawks),
1666.

1666.J FAILURE OF COURCELLE. 189
the means of a grand debauch at Fort Ste. Therese,
drunk themselves into helplessness, and lingered
behind. Thus Courcelle and his men mistook the
path, and, marching by way of Saratoga Lake and
Long Lake,1 found themselves, on Saturday the
twentieth of February, close to the little Dutch
hamlet of Corlaer or Schenectady. Here the chief
man in authority told them that most of the
Mohawks and Oneidas had gone to war with an
other tribe. They, however, caught a few strag
glers, and had a smart skirmish with a party of
warriors, losing an officer and several men. Half
frozen and half starved, they encamped in the
neighboring woods, where, on Sunday, three en
voys appeared from Albany, to demand why they
had invaded the territories of his Royal Highness
the Duke of York. It was now that they learned
for the first time that the New Netherlands had
passed into English hands, a change which boded
no good to Canada. The envoys seemed to take
their explanations in good part, made them a
present of wine and provisions, and allowed them
to buy further supplies from the Dutch of Sche
nectady. They even invited them to enter the
village, but CourceUe declined, partly because the
place could not hold them all, and partly because
he feared that Ins men, once seated in a chimney-
corner, could never be induced to leave it.
Their position was cheerless enough; for the
vast beds of snow around them were soaking
slowly under a sullen rain, and there was danger
1 Carte . . . des pays traversez par MM. de Tracy et Courcelle, etc.

191) THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
that the lakes might thaw and cut off their retreat.
" Ye Mohaukes," says the old English report of the
affair, " were all gone to their Castles Avith resolu
tion to fight it out against the french, Avho, being
refresht and supplyed Avtb the aforesaid provisions,
made a shew of marching towards the Mohaukes
Castles, but with faces about, and great sylence and
dUligence, returh'd towards Cannada." " Surely,"
observes the narrator, " so bould and hardy an
attempt hath not hapned in any age." 2 The end
hardly answered to the beginning. The retreat,
which began on Sunday night, was rather precipi
tate. The Mohawks hovered about their rear, and
took a few prisoners ; but famine and cold proved
more deadly foes, and sixty men perished before
they reached the shelter of Fort Ste. Therese.
On the eighth of March, Courcelle came to the
neighboring fort of St. Louis or Chambly. Here
he found the Jesuit Albanel acting as chaplain;
and, being in great iU humor, he charged him with
causing the faUure of the expedition by detaining
the Algonquin guides. This singular notion took
such possession of him, that, when a few days after
he met the Jesuit Fremin at Three Rivers, he em
braced him ironicaUy, saying, at the same time,
"My father, I am the unluckiest gentleman in
the world ; and you, and the rest of you, are the
cause of it." 2 The pious Tracy, and the prudent

1 A Relation of the Governr. of Cannada, his March with 600 Voluwtein
into y° Territoryes of His Royall Highnesse the Duke qfYorke in America.
See Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 71.
3 Journal des Jesuites, Mars, 1666.

1666.] MOHAWK TREACHERY. ] 91
Talon, tried to disarm his suspicions, and Avith such
success that he gave up an intention he had enter
tained of discarding his Jesuit confessor, and for
got or forgave the imagined wrong.
Unfortunate as this expedition was, it produced
a strong effect on the Iroquois by convincing them
that their forest homes were no safe asylum from
French attacks. In May, the Senecas sent an
embassy of peace ; and the other nations, including
the Mohawks, soon foUowed. Tracy, on his part,
sent the Jesuit Bechefer to learn on the spot the
real temper of the saATages, and ascertain whether
peace could safely be made with them. The Jesuit
was scarcely gone Avhen news came that a party of
officers hunting near the outlet of Lake Champlain
had been set upon by the Mohawks, and that seven
of them had been captured or killed. Among the
captured was Leroles, a cousin of Tracy, and
among the killed was a young gentleman named
Chasy, his nepheAv.
On this the Jesuit envoy Avas recalled ; twenty-
four Iroquois deputies were seized and imprisoned ;
and Sorel, captain in the regiment of Carignan, was
sent with- three hundred men to chastise the per
fidious Mohawks. If, as it seems, he was expected
to attack their fortified towns or " castles," as the
English caU them, his force was too small. This
time, however, there was no fighting. At two days
from his journey's end, Sorel met the famous chief
caUed the Flemish Bastard, bringing back Leroles
and his feUow-captives, and charged, as he aUeged,
to offer full satisfaction for the murder of Chasy.

192 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
Sorel believed him, retraced his course, and with
the Bastard in his train returned to Quebec.
Quebec was full of Iroquois deputies, aU bent on
peace or pretending to be so. On the last day of
August, there was a grand councU in the garden
of the Jesuits. Some days later, Tracy invited the
Flemish Bastard and a Mohawk chief named Aga-
riata to his table, when aUusion was made to the
murder of Chasy. On this the Mohawk, stretching
out his arm, exclaimed in a braggart tone, " This
is the hand that split the head of that young man."
The indignation of the company may be imagined.
Tracy told his insolent guest that he should never
kiU anybody else ; and he was led out and hanged
in presence of the Bastard.1 There was no more
talk of peace. Tracy prepared to march in person
against the Mohawks with aU the force of Canada.
On the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, " for
whose glory," says the chronicler, " this expedi
tion is undertaken," Tracy and CourceUe left
Quebec with thirteen hundred men. They crossed
Lake Champlain, and launched their boats again on
the waters of St. Sacrament, now Lake George.
It was the first of the warhke pageants that have
made that fair scene historic. October had begun,
and the romantic wilds breathed the buoyant lUe
of the most inspiring of American seasons, when
1 This story rests chiefly on the authority of Nicolas Perrot, Mceurs
des Saurages, 113. La Potherie also tells it, with the addition of the chief's
name. Colden follows him. The Journal des Jesuites mentions that the
chief who led the murderers of Chasy arrived at Quebec on the sixth of
September. Marie de l'lncarnation mentions the hanging of an Iroquois
at Quebec, late in the autumn, for violating the peace.

1666.] MARCH OF TRACY. 193
the blue-jay screams from the woods ; the wild
duck splashes along the lake ; and the echoes of
distant mountains prolong the quavering cry of
the loon ; when weather-stained rocks are plumed
with the fiery crimson of the sumac, the claret hues
of young oaks, the amber and scarlet of the maple,
and the sober purple of the ash ; or when gleams
of sunlight, shot aslant through the rents of cool
autumnal clouds, chase fitfully along the glowing
sides of painted mountains. Amid this gorgeous
euthanasia of the dying season, the three hundred
boats and canoes trailed in long procession up the
lake, threaded the labyrinth of the Narrows, that
sylvan fairy-land of tufted islets and quiet waters,
and landed at length where Fort William Henry
was afterwards built.1
About a hundred miles of forests, swamps, rivers,
and mountains, stUl lay between them and the Mo
hawk towns. There seems to have been an Indian
path ; for this was the ordinary route of the Mo
hawk and Oneida war-parties : but the path was
narrow, broken, full of gullies and pitfaUs, crossed
by streams, and in one place interrupted by a lake
which they passed on rafts. A hundred and ten
" Blue Coats," of Montreal, led the way, under
Charles Le Moyne. Repentigny commanded the
levies from Quebec. In aU there were six hundred
Canadians ; six hundred regulars ; and a hundred In
dians from the missions, who ranged the woods in
front, flank, and rear, like hounds on the scent.
Red or white, Canadians or regulars, aU were full
1 Carte . . . des pays traversez par MM. de Tracy et Courcelle, etc.
13

194 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666
of zeal. " It seems to them," writes Mother Mary,
" that they are going to lay siege to Paradise, and
win it and enter in, because they are fighting for
religion and the faith." J Their ardor was rudely
tried. Officers as weU as men carried loads at
their backs, whence ensued a large blister on the
shoulders of the Chevalier de Chaumont, in no
way used to such burdens. Tracy, old, heavy, and
infirm, was inopportunely seized with the gout. A
Swiss soldier tried to carry him on his shoulders
across a rapid stream ; but midway his strength
faUed, and he was barely able to deposit his pon
derous load on a rock. A Huron came to his
aid, and bore Tracy safely to the farther bank.
CourceUe was attacked with cramps, and had to be
carried for a time like his commander. Provisions
gave out, and men and officers grew faint with
hunger. The Montreal soldiers had for chaplain a
sturdy priest, Dollier de Casson, as large as Tracy
and far stronger ; for the incredible story is told of
him that, when in good condition, he coiUd hold
tAvo men seated on his extended hands.2 Now,
however, he was equal to no such exploit, being
not only deprived of food, but also of sleep, by the
necessity of listening at night to the confessions of
his pious flock ; and his shoes, too, had faUed him,
nothing remaining but the upper leather, which
gave him little comfort among the sharp stones.
He bore up manfully, being by nature brave and
1 Marie de l'lncarnation, Lettre du 16 Oct., 1666.
2 Graadet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, extract given by J.
Viger in appendix to Histoire du Montreal (Montreal, 1868).

1666.1 THE MOHAWK TOWNS. 195
light-hearted ; and, when a servant of the Jesuits
fell into the water, he threw off his cassock and
leaped after him. His strength gave out, and the
man was drowned ; but a grateful Jesuit led him
aside and requited his efforts with a morsel of
bread.1 A wood of chestnut-trees full of nuts at
length stayed the hunger of the famished troops.
It was Saint Theresa's day when they approached
the lower Mohawk town. A storm of wind and
rain set in ; but, anxious to surprise the enemy,
they pushed on all night amid the moan and roar
of the forest ; over shppery logs, tangled roots, and
oozy mosses ; under dripping boughs and through
saturated bushes. This time there was no Avant of
good guides ; and when in the morning they issued
from the forest, they saw, amid its cornfields, the
palisades of the Indian stronghold. They had two
smaU pieces of cannon brought from the lake by
relays of men, but they did not stop to use them.
Their twenty drums beat the charge, and they ad
vanced to seize the place by coup-de-main. Luckily
for them, a panic had seized the Indians. Not that
they were taken by surprise, for they had discov
ered the approaching French, and, two days before,
had sent away their women and children in prep
aration for a desperate fight; but the din of the
drums, which they took for so many devils in the
French service ; and the armed men advancing from
the rocks and thickets in files that seemed inter
minable, — so wrought on the scared imagination of
the Avarriors that they fled in terror to their next
1 Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, a.d. 1665, 1666.

196 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
town, a short distance above. Tracy lost no time,
but hastened in pursuit. A few Mohawks were
seen on the hills, yeUing and firing too far for
effect. Repentigny, at the risk of his scalp, climbed
a neighboring height, and looked down on the little
army, which seemed so numerous as it passed be
neath, " that," writes the superior of the Ursulines,
" he told me that he thought the good angels must
have joined Avith it ; whereat he stood amazed."
The second town or fort was taken as easUy as
the first; so, too, were the third and the fourth.
The Indians yelled, and fled without killing a man ;
and stiU the troops pursued, foUowing the broad
traU which led from town to toAvn along the valley
of the MohaAvk. It was late in the afternoon when
the fourth town was entered,1 and Tracy thought
that his work was done ; but an Algonquin squaw
who had foUowed her husband to the war, and who
had once been a prisoner among the Mohawks, told
him that there was stUl another above. The sun
was near its setting, and the men were tired with
their pitiless marching; but again the order was
given to advance. The eager squaw showed the
Ava}', holding a pistol in one hand and leading
CourceUe with the other ; and they soon came in
sight of Andaraque, the largest and strongest of
the Mohawk forts. The drums beat with fury, and
the troops prepared to attack, but there were none
to oppose them. The scouts sent forward, reported
1 Marie de l'lncarnation says that there were four towns in all I
follow the Acte de prise de possession, made on the spot. Five are here
mentioned.

1666] VICTORY. 197
that the Avarriors had fled. The last of the saA'age
strongholds was in the hands of the French.
" God has done for us," says Mother Mary, " what
he did in ancient days for his chosen people, strik
ing terror into our enemies, insomuch that we were
victors Avithout a blow. Certain it is that there is
miracle in aU this ; for, if the Iroquois had stood
fast, they would have given us a great deal of
trouble and caused our army great loss, seeing how
they were fortified and armed, and how haughty
and bold they are."
The French were astonished as they looked about
them. These Iroquois forts were very different
from those that Jogues had seen here twenty years
before, or from that which in earlier times set
Champlain and his Hurons at defiance. The Mo
hawks had had counsel and aid from their Dutch
friends, and adapted their savage defences to the
rules of European art. Andaraque' was a quad
rangle formed of a triple palisade, twenty feet high,
and flanked by four bastions. Large vessels of
bark fiUod with water were placed on the plat-
fornia of the palisade for defence against fire. The
dwellings which these fortifications enclosed were
in many cases built of wood, though the form and
arrangement of the primitive bark lodge of the
Iroquois seems to have been preserved. Some of
the wooden houses were a hundred and tAventy
feet long, with fires for eight or nine famihes.
Here and in subterranean caches was stored a pro
digious quantity of Indian-corn and other provi
sions; and aU the dweUings were supplied with

198 THE MOHAWKS cHASTISED. [1666
carpenters' tools, domestic utensils, and many other
appliances of comfort.
The only living things in Andaraque", when the
French entered, were two old women, a smaU boy,
and a decrepit old man, who, being frightened by
the noise of the drums, had hidden himself under
a canoe. From them the victors learned that the
Mohawks, retreating from the other towns, had
gathered here, resolved to fight to the last; but at
sight of the troops their courage failed, and the
chief was first to run, crying out, " Let us save
ourselves, brothers; the whole world is coming
against us."
A cross was planted, and at its side the royal
arms. The troops were drawn up in battle array,
when Jean Baptiste du Bois, an officer deputed by
Tracy, advancing sword in hand to the front, pro
claimed in a loud voice that he took possession in
the name of the king of all the country of the
Mohawks; and the troops shouted three times,
Vive le Roi.1
That night a mighty bonfire illumined the Mo
hawk forests ; and the scared savages from their hid
ing-places among the rocks saw their palisades, their
dwellings, their stores of food, and aU their posses
sions, turned to cinders and ashes. The two old
squaws captured in the town, threw themselves in
despair into the flames of their blazing homes.
When morning came, there was nothing left of
Andaraque but smouldering embers, rolling their
pale smoke against the painted background of the
1 Acte de prise de possession, 17 Oct., 1666.

W66.] ENGLISH JEALOUSY. 199
October woods. Te Deum was sung and mass said ;
and then the victors began their backward march,
burning, as they went, all the remaining forts, with
all their hoarded stores of corn, except such as they
needed for themselves. If they had failed to destroy
their enemies in battle, they hoped that winter
and famine Avould do the work of shot and steel.
WhUe there was distress among the Mohawks,
there was trouble among their English neighbors,
who claimed as their own the country which Tracy
had invaded. The English authorities were the
more disquieted, because they feared that the lately
conquered Dutch might join hands with the French
against them. When NicoUs, governor of New
York, heard of Tracy's advance, he wrote to the
governors of the New England colonies, begging
them to join him against the French invaders, and
urging that, if Tracy's force were destroyed or cap
tured, the conquest of Canada would be an easy
task. There was war at the time between the two
crowns ; and the British court had already enter
tained this project of conquest, and sent orders to
its colonies to that effect. But the New England
governors, iU prepared for war, and fearing that
their Indian neighbors, who were enemies of the
Mohawks, might take part with the French, hesi
tated to act, and the affair ended in a correspond
ence, civU U not sincere, between NicoUs and Tracy.1
The treaty of Bre"da, in the following year, secured
peace for a time between the rival colonies.
1 See the correspondence in N. Y. Col. Docs. III. 118-156. Compare
Hutchinson Collection, 407, and Mass. Hist. Coll. XVIII. 102.

200 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
The return of Tracy was less fortunate than his
advance. The rivers, swoUen by autumn rains,
were difficult to pass ; and in crossing Lake Cham-
plain tAvo canoes were overset in a storm, and
eight men were droAvned. From St. Anne, a new
fort built early in the summer on Isle La Motte,
near the northern end of the lake, he sent news of
his success to Quebec, where there was great re
joicing and a solemn thanksgiving. Signs and
prodigies had not been wanting to attest the inter
est of the upper and nether powers in the crusade
against the myrmidons of heU. At one of the forts
on the Richeheu, " the soldiers," says Mother Mary,
" Avere near dying of fright. They saw a great
fiery cavern in the sky, and from this cavern came
plaintive voices mixed with frightful howhngs.
Perhaps it was the demons, enraged because we
had depopulated a country where they had been
masters so long, and had said mass and sung the
praises of God in a place where there had never
before been any thing but foulness and abomina
tion." Tracy had at first meant to abandon Fort St.
Anne ; but he changed his mind after returning to
Quebec. MeanwhUe the season had grown so late
that there was no time to send proper supplies to
the garrison. Winter closed, and the place was
not only iU provisioned, but was left Avithout a
priest. Tracy wrote to the superior of the Sulpi
tians at Montreal to send one without delay ; but
the request was more easUy made than fulfilled,
for he forgot to order an escort, and the way was

1666.] THE CURE OF ST. ANNE. 201
long and dangerous. The stout-hearted Dollier de
Casson was told, however, to hold himself ready
to go at the first opportunity. His recent cam
paigning had left him in no condition for braving
fresh hardships, for he was nearly disabled by a
swelling on one of his knees. By way of cure he
resolved to try a severe bleeding, and the Sangrado
of Montreal did his work so thoroughly that his
patient fainted under his hands. As he returned
to consciousness, he became aware that two sol
diers had entered the room. They told him that
they were going in the morning to Chambly,
Avhich was on the way to St. Anne ; and they
invited him to go with them. " Wait till the daj
after to-morrow," replied the priest, " and I will
try." The delay was obtained ; and, on the day
fixed, the party set out by the forest path to
Chambly, a distance of about four leagues.
When they reached it, Dollier de Casson was
nearly spent, but he concealed his plight from the
commanding officer,, and begged an escort to St.
Anne, some twenty leagues farther. As the officer
woidd not give him one, he threatened to go alone,
on which ten men and an ensign were at last
ordered to conduct him. Thus attended, he re
sumed his journey after a day's rest. One of the
soldiers fell through the ice, and none of his com
rades dared help him. DoUier de Casson, making
the sign of the cross, went to his aid, and, more
successful than on the former occasion, caught him
and puUed him out. The snow was deep ; and the
priest, having arrived in the preceding summer,

202 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
had never before worn snow-shoes, while a sack of
clothing, and his portable chapel which he carried
at his back, joined to the pain of his knee and the
effects of his late bleeding, made the march a pur
gatory. He was sorely needed at Fort St. Anne. There
was pestilence in the garrison. Two men had just
died without absolution, while more were at the
point of death, and praying for a priest. Thus it
happened that when the sentinel descried far off,
on the ice of Lake Champlain, a squad of soldiers
approaching, and among them a black cassock,
every officer and man not sick, or on duty, came
out with one accord to meet the new-comer.
They overwhelmed him with welcome and with
thanks. One took his sack, another his portable
chapel, and they led him in triumph to the fort.
First he made a short prayer, then went his rounds
among the sick,' and then came to refresh himself
with the officers. Here was La Motte de la Luciere,
the commandant ; La Durantaye, a name destined
to be famous in Canadian annals ; and a number of
young subalterns. The scene was no strange one
to DoUier de Casson, for he had been an officer of
cavalry in his time, and fought under Turenne ; '
a good soldier, without doubt, at the mess table or
in the field, and none the worse a priest that he
had once followed the wars. He was of a lively
humor, given to jests and mirth ; as pleasant a
father as ever said Benedicite. The soldier and
1 Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, extracts from copy
in possession of the late Jacques Viger.

1666.] THE CURE OF ST. ANNE. 203
the gentleman stUl lived under the cassock of the
priest. He was greatly respected and beloved;
and his influence as a peace-maker, which he often
had occasion to exercise, is said to have been
remarkable. When the time demanded' it, he
could use arguments more cogent than those of
moral suasion. Once, in a camp of Algonquins,
when, as he was kneeling in prayer, an insolent
savage came to interrupt him, the father, Avithout
rising, knocked the intruder flat by a blow of his
fist, and the other Indians, far from being dis
pleased, Avere filled with admiration at the ex
ploit.1 His cheery temper now stood him in good stead ;
for there was dreary work before him, and he was
not the man to flinch from it. The garrison of
St. Anne had nothing to live on but salt pork and
half-spoiled flour. Their hogshead of vinegar had
sprung aleak, and the contents had all oozed out.
They had rejoiced in the supposed possession of a
reasonable stock of brandy; but they soon dis
covered that the sailors, on the voyage from
France, had emptied the casks and filled them
again with salt-water. The scurvy broke out with
fury. In a short time, forty out of the sixty men
became victims of the loathsome malady. Day or
night, Dollier de Casson and Forestier, the equaUy
devoted young surgeon, had no rest. The sur
geon's strength faUed, and the priest was himself
slightly attacked with the disease. Eleven men
1 Grandet, Notice manuscrite sut Dollier de Casson, cited by Faillon, Col
onie Francaise, III. 395, 396.

2U4 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. 11066-67
died ; and others languished for want of help, for
their comrades shrank from entering the infected
dens where they lay. In their extremity some of
them devised an ingenious expedient. Thougl
they had nothing to bequeath, they made wUls in
which they left imaginary sums of money to those
who had befriended them, and thenceforth they
found no lack of nursing. *
In the intervals of his labors, Dolher de Casson
would run to and fro for warmth and exercise on
a certain track of beaten snow, between two of the
bastions, reciting his breviary as he went, so that
those who saw him might have thought him out of
his wits. One day La Motte called out to him as
he was thus engaged, " Eh, Monsieur le cure, if
the Iroquois should come, you must defend that
bastion. My men are all deserting me, and going
over to you and the doctor." To which the father
replied, " Get me some litters with wheels, and I
will bring them out to man my bastion. They
are brave enough now ; no fear of their running
aAvay." With banter like this, they sought to
beguile their miseries ; and thus the winter wore
on at Fort St. Anne.1
Early in spring they saw a troop of Iroquois
approaching, and prepared as weU as they could to
make fight ; but the strangers proved to be ambas-
1 The above curious incidents are told by Dollier de Casson, in his
Histoire du Montreal, preserved in manuscript in the Mazarin Library at
Paris. He gives no hint that the person in question was himself, but
speaks of him as un ecclesiastique. His identity is, however, made certain
by internal evidence, by a passage in the Notice of Grandet, and by other
contemporary allusions.

1667.] JESUITS AND IROQUOIS. 205
sadors of peace. The destruction of the MohaAvk
toAvns had produced a deep effect, not on that
nation alone, but also on the other four members
of the league. They were disposed to confirm the
promises of peace which they had already made ;
and Tracy had spurred their good intentions by
sending them a message that, unless they quickly
presented themselves at Quebec, he would hang all
the chiefs whom he had kept prisoners after dis
covering their treachery in the preceding summer.
The threat had its effect : deputies of the Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas presently arrived
in a temper of befitting humUity. The Mohawks
were at first afraid to come : but in AprU they sent
the Flemish Bastard Avith overtures of peace ; and
in July, a large deputation of their chiefs appeared
at Quebec. They and the rest left some of their
families as hostages, and promised that, if any of
their people should kill a Frenchman, they would
give them up to be hanged.1
They begged, too, for blacksmiths, surgeons,
and Jesuits to live among them. The presence
of the Jesuits in their towns was in many ways an
advantage to them ; whUe to the colony it was of
the greatest importance. Not only was conversion
to the church justly regarded as the best means of
attaching the Indians to the French, and alienating
them from the English ; but the Jesuits living in
the midst of them could influence even those whom
they could not convert, soothe rising jealousies,
1 Lettre du Pere Jean Pierron, de la Compagnie de Jesus, escripte de to
Motle (Fori Ste. Anne) sur le lac Champlain, le 12i«e d'aoml. 1007

206 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1667.
counteract English intrigues, and keep the rulers
of the colony informed of all that Avas passing in
the Iroquois towns. Thus, half Christian missiona
ries, half pohtical agents, the Jesuits prepared to
resume the hazardous mission of the Iroquois.
Fremiti and Pierron were ordered to the Mohawks,
Bruyas to the Oneidas, and three others were named
for the remaining three nations of the league. The
troops had made the peace ; the Jesuits were the
rivets to hold it fast ; and peace endured without
absolute rupture for nearly twenty years. Of aU
the French expeditions against the Loquois, that
of Tracy was the most productive of good.

CHAPTER XII.
1665-1672.
PATERNAL GOVERNMENT.
Talon. — Restriction and Monopoly. — Views of Colbekt. —
Political Galvakism. — A Father of the People
Tracy's work was done, and he left Canada with
the glittering noblesse in his train. Courcelle and
Talon remained to rule alone ; and now the great
experiment was begun. Paternal royalty would
try its hand at budding up a colony, and Talon
was its chosen agent. His appearance did him no
justice. The regular contour of his oval face, about
which fell to his shoulders a cataract of curls, natu
ral or supposititious ; the smooth lines of his weU-
formed features, brows delicately arched, and a
mouth more suggestive of feminine sensibility than
of masculine force, — would certainly have misled
ihe disciple of Lavater.1 Yet there was no want of
manhood in him. He was most happUy chosen
for the task placed in his hands, and from first to
last approved himself a vigorous executive officer.
He Avas a true disciple of Colbert, formed in his
school and animated by his spirit.
1 His portrait is at the Hotel Dieu of Quebec. An engraving from it
will be found in the third volume of Shea's Charlevoix.

208 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. - |1665-72.
Being on the spot, he was better able than his
master to judge the working of the new order of
things. With regard to the company, he writes
that it wUl profit by impoverishing the colony;
that its monopolies dishearten the people and par
alyze enterprise ; that it is thwarting the intentions
of the king, who wishes trade to be encouraged ;
and that, U its exclusive privileges are maintained,
Canada in ten years Avill be less populous than
now.1 But Colbert clung to hisjUan, though he
wrote in reply that to satisfy the colonists he had
persuaded the company to forego the monopolies
for a year.2 As this proved insufficient, the com
pany was at length forced to give up permanently
its right of exclusive trade, stiU exacting its share
of beaver and moose skins. This was its chief
source of profit ; it begrudged every sou deducted
from it for charges of government, and the king
was constantly obliged to do at his own cost that
which the company should have done. In one
point it showed a ceaseless activity ; and this was
the levying of duties, in which it was never known
to fail.
Trade, even after its exercise was permitted,
was continuaUy vexed by the hand of authority.
One of Tracy's first measures had been to issue a
decree reducing the price of wheat one half. The
council took up the work of regulation, and fixed
the price of aU imported goods in three several
tariffs, — one for Quebec, one for Three Rivers, and
1 Talon a Colbert, 4 Oct., 1665.
* Colbert a Talon, 5 Avril, 1666.

1665-72.J COLBERT'S INSTRUCTIONS. 209
one for Montreal.1 It may well be believed that
there was in Canada little capital and little enter
prise. Industrially and commercially, the colony
was almost dead. Talon set himself to galvanize
it; and, U one man could have supplied the intelli
gence and energy of a whole community, the resiUts
would have been triumphant.
He had received elaborate instructions, and they
indicate an ardent wish for the prosperity of Canada.
Colbert had wr^en to him that the true means to
strengthen the colony was to " cause justice to reign,
establish a good police, protect the inhabitants,
discipline them against enemies, and procure for
them peace, repose, and plenty." 2 " And as," the
minister further says, " the king regards his Cana
dian subjects, from the highest to the lowest, almost
as his own chUdren, and wishes them to enjoy
equaUy with the people of France the mUdness and
happiness of his reign, the Sieur Talon wUl study
to solace them in all things and encourage them to
trade and industry. And, seeing that nothing can
better promote this end than entering into the
detaUs of their households and of all their little
affairs, it wUl not be amiss that he visit aU their
settlements one after the other in order to learn
their true condition, provide as much as possi
ble for their wants, and, performing the' duty of a
good head of a family, put them in the way of
making some profit." The intendant was also told
to encourage fathers to inspire their chUdren with
l Tariff of Prices, in N. Y. Colonial Docs. IX. 36
S Colbert a Talon, 5 Avril, 1666.
14

210 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-72
piety, together with "profound love and respect
for the royal person of his Majesty."1
Talon entered on his work with admirable zeal.
Sometimes he used authority, sometimes persuasion,
sometimes promises of reAvard. Sometimes, again,
he tried the force of example. Thus he'buUt a
ship to show the people how to do it, and rouse
them to imitation.2 Three or four years later, the
experiment was repeated. This time it was at the
cost of the king, Avho applied the sum of forty thou
sand livres3 to the double purpose of promoting
the art of ship-buUding, and saving the colonists
from vagrant habits by giving them employment.
Talon Avrote that three hundred and fifty men had
been supplied that summer with work at the charge
of government.4
He despatched tAvo engineers to search for coal,
lead, iron, copper, and other minerals. Important
discoveries of iron were made ; but three genera
tions were destined to pass before the mines were
successfully worked.5 The copper of Lake Supe
rior raised the intendant's hopes for a time, but he
Avas soon forced to the conclusion that it was too
remote to be of practical value. He labored vig
orously to develop arts and manufactures ; made
a barrel of tar, and sent it to^the king as a speci
men ; caused some of the colonists to make cloth
1 Instruction au Sieur Talon, 27 Mars, 1665.
2 Talon a Colbert, Oct., 1667 ; Colbert a Talon, 20 Fev., 1668.
3 Depeche de Colbert, 11 Fev., 1071.
* Talon a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1671.
5 Charlevoix speaks of these mines as having been forgotten for
oeventy years, and rediscovered in his time.. After passing through
various hanis, they were finally worked on the king's account.

1665-72:] ACTIVITY OF TALON. 211
of the avooI of the sheep Avhich the king had sent
out ; encouraged others to establish a tannery, and
also a factory of hats and -of shoes. The Sieur
FoUin was induced by the grant of a monopoly to
begin the making of soap and potash.1 The people
Avere ordered to grow hemp,2 and urged to gather
the nettles of the country as material for cordage ;
and the Ursulines were supplied Avith flax and avooI,
in order that they might teach girls to weave and
spin. Talon Avas especially anxious to establish trade
between Canada and the West Indies ; and, to make
a beginning, he freighted , the vessel he had built
with salted cod, salmon, eels, pease, fish-oU, staves,
and planks, and sent her thither to exchange her
cargo for sugar, Avhich she was in turn to ex
change in France for goods suited for the Canadian
market.3 Another favorite object with him Avas
the fishery of seals and white porpoises for the
sake of their oU ; and some of the chief merchants
Avere urged to undertake it, as Avell as the estab
lishment of stationary cod-fisheries along the Lower
St. LaAvrence. But, with every encouragement,
many years passed before this valuable industry
was placed on a firm basis.
Talon saw with concern the huge consumption
of wine and brandy among the settlers, costing
them, as he wrote to Colbert, a hundred thousand
livres a year; and, to' keep this money in the
1 Registre du Conseil Souverain.
» * Marie de l'lncarnation, Choix des Leitres de 371.
» Le Mercier, Rel. 1667, 3 ; Depeches de Talon

212 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-72
colony, he declared his intention of building a
brewery. The minister approved the plan, not
only on economic grounds, but because " the vice
of drunkenness would thereafter cause no more
scandal by reason of the cold nature of beer, the
vapors whereof rarely deprive men of the use
of judgment." 1 The brewery was accordingly
built, to the great satisfaction of the poorer colo
nists. Nor did the active intendant faU to acquit him
self of the duty of domiciliary visits, enjoined
upon him by the royal instructions ; a point on
which he was of one mind with his superiors, for
he writes that " those charged in this country with
his Majesty's affairs are under a strict obligation
to enter into the detail of famUies." 2 Accordingly
we learn from Mother Juchereau, that " he studied
with the affection of a father how to succor the
poor and cause the colony to grow ; entered into
the minutest particulars ; Aisited the houses of the
inhabitants, and caused them to visit him ; learned
what crops each one was raising ; taught those
who had wheat to sell it at a profit, helped those
who had none, and encouraged everybody." And
Dollier de Casson represents him as visiting in
turn every house at Montreal, and giving aid from
the king to such as needed it.3 Horses, cattle,
sheep, and other domestic animals, were sent out
at the royal charge in considerable numbers, and
1 Colbert a Talon, 20 Fev., 1668.
2 Memoire de 1667.
3 Histoire du Montreal, a.d. 1666, 1667.

1665-72.] POLICY OF TALON. 213
distributed gratuitously, with an order that none
of the young should be Idlled till the country was
sufficiently stocked. Large quantities of goods
were also sent from the same high quarter. Some
of these Avere distributed as gffts, and the rest
bartered for corn to supply the troops. As the
intendant perceived that the farmers lost much
time in coming from their distant clearings to buy
necessaries at Quebec, he caused his agents to
furnish them Avith the king's goods at their OAvn
houses, to the great annoyance of the merchants
of Quebec, who complained that their accustomed
trade was thus forestaUed.1
These Avere not the only cares which occupied
the mind of Talon. He tried to open a road
across the country to Acadia, an almost impossible
task, in Avhich he and his successors completely
failed. Under his auspices, Albanel penetrated to
Hudson's Bay, and Saint Lusson took possession in
the king's name of the country of the Upper
Lakes. It was Talon, in short, who prepared the
way for the remarkable series of explorations
described in another work.2 Again and again
he urged upon Colbert and the ldng a measure
from which, had it taken effect, momentous con
sequences must have sprung. This was the pur
chase or seizure of New York, involving the
isolation of New England, the subjection of
the Iroquois, and the undisputed control of half
the continent. i Talon a Colbert, 10 Nov., 1670.
2 Discovery of the Great West.

214 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-72.
Great as were his opportunities of abusing his
trust, it does not appear that he took advantage
of them. He held lands and houses in Canada,1
owned the brewery which he had established, and
embarked in various enterprises of productive
industry ; but, so far ae I can discover, he is no
where accused of making Ulicit gains, and there is
reason to beheve that he acquitted himself of his
charge with entire fidelity.2 His health faUed in
1668, and for this and other causes he asked for
his recaU. Colbert granted it with strong expres
sions of regret ; and Avhen, two years later, he re
sumed the intendancy, the colony seems to have
welcomed his return.
1 In 1682, the Intendant Meules, in a despatch to the minister,
makes a statement of Talon's property in Quebec. The chief items are
the brewery and a house of some value on the descent of Mountain
Street. He owned, also, the valuable seigniory, afterwards barony,
Des Islets, in the immediate neighborhood.
2 Some imputations against him, not of much weight, are, however,
made in a memorial of Aubert de la Chesnaye, a merchant of Quebec

CHAPTER XHI.
1661-1673.
MARRIAGE AND POPULATION.
Shipment of Emigrants. — Soldier Settlers. — Importation of
Wives. — Wedlock. — Summary Methods. — The Mothers of
Canada. — Bounties on Marriage. — Celibacy Punished. —
Bounties on Children. — Results.
The peopling of Canada was due in the main to
the king. Before the accession of Louis XIV. the
entire population, priests, nuns, traders, and set
tlers, did not exceed twenty-five hundred ; 1 but
scarcely had he reached his majority when the ship
ment of men to the colony was systematically be
gun. Even in Argenson's time, loads of emigrants
sent out by the Crown were landed every year at
Quebec. The Sulpitians of Montreal also brought
over colonists to people their seigniorial estate ; the
same was true on a smaU scale of one or two other
proprietors, and once at least the company sent a
considerable number: yet the government was
the chief agent of emigration. Colbert did the
work, and the king paid for it.
In 1661, Laval wrote to the cardinals of the
Propaganda, that during the past two years the
1 Le Clerc, Etablissement de la Fay, II. 4.

216 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1661-65.
king had spent two hundred thousand livres on
the colony; that, since 1659, he had sent out three
hundred men a year ; and that he had promised to
send an equal number every summer during ten
years.1 These men were sent by squads in mer
chant-ships, each one of which was required to
carry a certain number. In many instances, emi
grants were bound on their arrival to enter into
the service of colonists already established. In
this case the employer paid them wages, and after
a term of three years they became settlers them
selves.2 The destined emigrants were collected by agents
in the provinces, conducted to Dieppe or Rochelle,
and thence embarked. At first men were sent
from RocheUe itself, and its neighborhood; but
Laval remonstrated, declaring that he wanted
none from that ancient stronghold of heresy.3
The people of RocheUe, indeed, found no favor in
Canada. Another writer describes them as " per
sons of little conscience, and almost no religion,"
adding that the Normans, Percherons, Picards, and
peasants of the neighborhood of Paris, are docile,
industrious, and far more pious. " It is impor
tant," he concludes, " in beginning a new colony,
to sow good seed." 4 It was, accordingly, from the
north-western provinces that most of the emigrants
1 Lettre de Laval envoyee a Rome. 21 Oct., 1661 (extract in Faillon from
Archives of the Propaganda).
-¦ Marie de l'lncarnation, 18 Aout, 1664. These engages were some
times also brought over by private persons.
3 Colbert a Laval, 18 Mars, 1664.
' Memoire de 1664 (anonymous).

Z665-72.] EMIGRANTS. 217
were drawn.1 They seem in the main to have
been a decent peasantry, though writers who, from
their position, should have been weU informed,
have denounced them in unmeasured terms.2
Some of them could read and write, and some
brought with them a little money.
Talon Avas constantly begging for more men,
till Louis XIV. at length took alarm. Colbert
replied to the over-zealous intendant, that the
king did not think it expedient to depopulate
France, in order to people Canada ; that he wanted
men for his armies ; and that the colony must rely
chiefly on increase from within. Still the ship
ments did not cease ; and, even while tempering
the ardor of his agent, the king gave another

1 See a paper by Garneau in Le National of Quebec, 28 October, 1856,
embodying the results of research among the papers of the early notaries
of Quebec. The chief emigration was from Paris, Normandy, Poitou,
Pays d'Aunis, Brittany, and Picardy. Nearly all those from Paris were
sent by the king from houses of charity.
2 " Une foule d'aventuriers, ramasse's au hazard en France, presque
tous de la lie du peuple, la plupart oberes de dettes ou charge's de crimes."
etc. La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. IV. " Le vice a oblige la plupart de
chercher ce pays comme un asile pour se mettre ii couvert de leurs crimes,"
Meules, Depeche de 1682. Meules was intendant in that year. Marie
de l'lncarnation, after speaking of the emigrants as of a very mixed
character, says that it would have been far better to send a few who
were good Christians, rather than so many who give so much trouble.
Lettre du— Oct., 1669.
Le Clerc, on the other hand, is emphatic in praise, calling the early
colonists, "tres honuetes gens, ayant de la probite, de la droiture, et de la
religion. . . . L'on a examine" et choisi les habitants, et renvoye" en France
les personnes vicieuses." If, he adds, any such were left " ils effacaient
glorieusement par leur penitence les taehes de leur premiere condition."
Charlevoix is almost as strong in praise as La Tour in censure. Both of
them wrote in the next century. We shall have means hereafter of
judging between these conflicting statements.

218 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
proof how much he had the growth of Canada at
heart.1 The regiment of Carignan-Salieres had been or
dered home, with the exception of four companies
kept in garrison,2 and a considerable number dis
charged in order to become settlers. Of those who
returned, six companies were, a year or two later,
sent back, discharged in their turn, and con
verted into colonists, Neither men nor officers were
positively constrained to remain in Canada ; but the
officers were told that if they wished to please his
Majesty this was the Avay to do so ; and both they and
¦ the men were stimulated by promises and rewards.
FUteen hundred livres Avere given to La Motte, be
cause he had married in the country and meant to
remain there. Six thousand livres were assigned
to other officers, because they had f olloAved, or were
about to follow, La Motte 's example ; and twelve
thousand were set apart to be distributed to the
soldiers under similar conditions.3 Each soldier
who consented to remain and settle was promised
a grant of land and a hundred livres in money ; or,
U he preferred it, fifty livres with provisions for a
year. This military colonization had a strong and
lasting influence on the character of the Canadian
people. 1 The king had sent out more emigrants than he had promised, to
judge from the census reports during the years 1666, 1667, and 1668.
The total population for those years is 3418, 4312, and 5870, respectively.
A small part of this growth may be set down to emigration not under
government auspices, and a large part to natural increase, which was
enormous at this time, from causes which will soon appear.
2 Colbert a Talon, 20 Fev., 1668.
3 Ibid.

Z665-72.] IMPORTATION OF WIVES. 219
But U the colony Avas to grow from within, the
neAV settlers must have wives. For some years
past, the Sulpitians had sent out young women for
the supply of Montreal ; and the king, on a larger
scale, continued the benevolent work. Girls for
the colony were taken from the hospitals of Paris
and of Lyons, Avhich were not so much hospitals for
the sick as houses of refuge for the poor. Mother
Mary Avrites in 1665 that a hundred had come that
summer, and were nearly all provided with hus
bands, and that tAvo hundred more were to come
next year. . The case was urgent, for the demand
was great. Complaints, however, were soon heard
that women from cities made indifferent partners ;
and peasant girls, healthy, strong, and accustomed
to field work, were demanded in their place. Peas
ant girls were therefore sent, but this was not aU.
Officers as weU as men wanted wives ; and Talon
asked for a consignment of young ladies. His re
quest was promptly answered. In 1667, he writes :
" They send us eighty-four girls from Dieppe and
twenty-five from Rochelle ; among them are fifteen
or twenty of pretty good birth ; several of them
are really demoiselles, and tolerably well brought
up." They complained of neglect and hardship
duriug the voyage. " I shaU do what I can to soothe
their discontent," adds the intendant; "for if they
Avrite to their correspondents at home how UI they
have been treated it would be an obstacle to your
plan of sending us next year a number of select
young ladies." l
1 " Des demoiselles bien choisies." Talon a Colbert, 27 Oct., 1667.

220 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
Three years later we find him asking for three
or four more in behalf of certain bachelor officers.
The response surpassed his utmost wishes ; and he
wrote again : " It is not expedient to send more
demoiselles. I have had this year fifteen of them,
instead of the four I asked for." l
As regards peasant girls, the supply rarely
equalled the demand. Count Frontenac, Cour-
celle's successor, complained of the scarcity: "H
a hundred and fifty girls and as many servants," he
says, " had been sent out this year, they Avould
aU have found husbands and masters within a
month." 2
The character of these candidates for matri
mony has not escaped the pen of slander. The
caustic La Hontan, writing fifteen or twenty years
after, draws the following sketch of the mothers
of Canada : " After the regiment of Carignan was
disbanded, ships were sent out freighted with
girls of indifferent virtue, under the direction of a
few pious old duennas, who divided them into
three classes. These vestals were, so to speak,
pUed one on the other in three different haUs,
Avhere the bridegrooms chose their brides as a
butcher chooses his sheep out of the midst of the
• Talon a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1671.
2 Frontenac a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1672. This year only eleven girls had
been sent. The scarcity was due to the indiscretion of Talon, who had
written to the minister that, as many of the old settlers had daughters
just becoming marriageable, it would be well, in order that they might
find husbands, to send no more girls from France at present.
The next year, 1673, the king writes that, though he is involved in a
great war, which needs all his resources, he has nevertheless sent sixty
more girls.

/
/66S-72.] ASPERSIONS OF LA HONTAN. 221
/
f flock. There was wherewith to content the most
fantastical in these three harems ; for here were
to be seen the taU and the short, the blond and
the brown, the plump and the lean ; everybody,
in short, found a shoe to fit him. At the end
of a fortnight not one was left. I am told that the
plumpest were taken first, because it was thought
that, being less active, they were more likely to
keep at home, and that they could resist the winter
cold better. Those who wanted a wife apphed to
the directresses, to whom they were obliged to
make known their possessions and means of liveli
hood before taking from one of the three classes
the girl whom they found most to their liking.
The marriage was concluded forthwith, with the
help of a priest and a notary, and the next day the
governor-general caused the couple to be pre
sented with an ox, a cow, a pair of swine, a pair
of fowls, two barrels of salted meat, and eleven
crowns in money." J
As regards the character of the girls, there can
be no doubt that this amusing sketch is, in the
main, maliciously untrue. Since the colony began,
it had been the practice to send back to France
women of the class alluded to by La Hontan, as
soon as they became notorious.2 Those who were
l La Hontan, Nouveaux Voyages, I. 11 (1709). In some of the other
editions, the same account is given in different words, equally lively and
scandalous. 2 This is the statement of Boucher, a good authority. A case of the
sort in 1658 is mentioned in the correspondence of Argenson. Boucher
Bays further, that an assurance of good character was required from the
relations or friends of the girl who wished to embark. This refers to a
period anterior to 1663, when Boucher wrote his book. Colbert evidently
cared for no qualification except the capacity of maternity.

222 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-7-2
not taken from institutions of charity usuaUy be
longed to the families of peasants OArerburdened
with children, and glad to find the chance of estab
lishing them.1 How some of them were obtained
appears from a letter of Colbert to Harlay, Arch
bishop of Rouen. " As, in the parishes about
Rouen," he writes, " fifty or sixty girls might be
found who would be very glad to go to Canada to
be married, I beg you to employ your credit and
authority with the cures of thirty or forty of these
parishes, to try to find in each of them one or tAvo
girls disposed to go voluntarUy for the sake of a
settlement in life."2
Mistakes nevertheless occurred. " Along Avith
the honest people," complains Mother Mary, " comes
a great deal of canaille of both sexes, who cause a
great deal of scandal." 3 After some of the young
women had been married at Quebec, it was found
that they had husbands at home. The priests
1 Temoignage de la Mere du Plessis de Sainte-Helene (extract in Faillon).
2 Colbert a I'Archeveque de Rouen, 27 Fev., 1670.
That they were not always destitute may be gathered from a passage
in one of Talon's letters. " Entre les tides qu'on fait passer ici il y en a
qui out de le'gitimes et considerables pretentions aux successions de leurs
parents, meme entre celles qui sont tirees de l'HSpital General." The
General Hospital of Paris had recently been established (1656) as a
house of refuge for the " Bohemians," or vagrants of Paris. The royal
edict creating it says that "les pauvres mendiants et invalides des deux
sexes y seraient enfermes pour estre employe's aux manufactures et aultres
travaux selon leur pouvoir." They were gathered by force in the streets
by a body of special police, called " Archers de l'Hopital." They re
sisted at first, and serious riots ensued. In 1662, the General Hospital
of Paris contained 6262 paupers. See Clement, Histoire de Colbert, 113.
Mother de Sainte-Helene says that the girls sent from this asylum had
been there from childhood in charge of nuns.
3 " Beaucoup de canaille de l'un et l'autre sexe qui causent beaucoup
de scandale." Lettre du — Oct., 1669.

1665-72.] THE MOTHERS OF CANADA. 223
became cautious in tying the matrimonial knot,
and Colbert thereupon ordered that each girl should
provide herself with a certificate from the cure* or
magistrate of her parish to the effect that she was
free to marry. Nor was the practical intendant
unmindful of other precautions to smooth the
path to the desired goal. " The girls destined for
this country," he writes, " besides being strong and
healthy, ought to be entirely free from any natural
blemish or any thing personally repulsive." x
Thus qualified canonically and physically, the
annual consignment of young women was shipped
to Quebec, in charge of a matron employed and
paid by the king. Her task was not an easy one,
for the troop under her care was apt to consist of
what Mother Mary in a moment of unwonted levity
calls " mixed goods." 2 On one occasion the office
was undertaken by the pious widow of Jean Bour
don. Her flock of a hundred and fifty girls, says
Mother Mary, " gave her no little trouble on the
voyage ; for they are of all sorts, and some of them
are very rude and hard to manage." Madame
Bourdon was not daunted. She not only saw her
charge distributed and married, but she continued
to receive and care for the subsequent ship-loads
as they arrived summer after summer. She was
1 Talon a Colbert, 10 Nov., 1670.
' " Une marchandise melee." Lettre du — 1668. In that year, 1668,
the king spent 40,000 livres in the shipment of men and girls. In 1669,
a hundred and fifty girls were sent ; in 1670, a hundred and sixty-five ;
and Talon asks for a hundred and fifty or two hundred more to supply
the soldiers who had got ready their houses and clearings, and were now
prepared to marry. The total number of girls sent from 1665 to 1673,
inclusive, was about a thousand.

224 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72
indeed chief among the pious duennas of Avhom La
Hontan irreverently speaks. Marguerite Bour
geoys did the same good offices for the young
women sent to Montreal. Here the " king's girls,"
as they were called, were aU lodged together in a
house to which the suitors repaired to make their
selection. " I Avas obliged to live there myseh,"
writes the excellent nun, " because famUies were
to be formed ; " 1 that is to say, because it was she
who superintended these extemporized unions.
-MeanwhUe she taught the girls their catechism,
and, more fortunate than Madame Bourdon, in
spired them with a confidence and affection which
they retained long after.
At Quebec, where the matrimonial market was
on a larger scale, a more ample bazaar was needed.
That the girls were assorted into three classes, each
penned up for selection in a separate hall, is a
statement probable enough in itself, but resting on
no better authority than that of La Hontan. Be
this as it may, they were submitted together to
the inspection of the suitor; and the awkward
young peasant or the rugged soldier of Carignan
was required to choose a bride without delay from
among the anxious candidates. They, on their
part, were permitted to reject any applicant who
displeased them, and the first question, we are told,
which most of them asked was Avhether the suitor
had a house and a farm.
Great as was the caU for Avives, it was thought
prudent to stimulate it. The new settler was at once
1 Extract in Faillon, Colonic Francaise, HI. 214.

V665-72.J BOUNTIES ON MARRIAGE. 225
enticed and driven into wedlock. Bounties were
offered on early marriages. Twenty livres were
given to each youth who married before the age
of twenty, and to each girl who married before the
age of sixteen.1 This, which was called the " king's
gUt," Avas exclusive of the dowry given by him to
every girl brought over by his orders. The dowry
varied greatly in form and value ; but, according
to Mother Mary, it was sometimes a house with
provisions for eight months. More often it was
fifty livres in household supplies, besides a barrel
or two of salted meat. The royal solicitude ex
tended also- to the chUdren of colonists already
established. " I pray you," writes Colbert to
Talon, " to commend it to the consideration of the
whole people, that their prosperity, their subsist
ence, and aU that is dear to them, depend on a
general resolution, never to be departed from, to
marry youths at eighteen or nineteen years and
girls at fourteen or fifteen ; since abundance can
never come to them except through the abundance
of men." 2 This counsel was followed by appropri
ate action. Any father of a family who, without
ehoAving good cause, neglected to marry his chil
dren when they had reached the ages of twenty
and sixteen was fined ; 3 and each father thus de
linquent was required to present himself every six
months to the local authorities to declare what
1 Arret du Conseil d'Etat du Roy (see Edits et Ordonnances, I. 67).
8 Colbert a Talon, 20 Fev., 1668.
3 Arrets du Conseil d'Etat, 1669 (cited by Faillon) ; Arret du Conseil
d'Etat, 1670 (see Edits et Ordonnances, I. 67) ; Ordonnance du Roy, 6 Avril,
1669. See Clement, Instructions, etc., de Colbert, III. 2me Partie, 657.
16

226 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION [1666-72.
reason, if any, he had for such delay.1 Orders
were issued, a httle before the arrival of the yearly
ships from France, that all single men should marry
within a fortnight after the landing of the prospec
tive brides. No mercy was shown to the obdurate
bachelor. Talon issued an order forbidding un
married men to hunt, fish, trade with the Indians,
or go into the woods under any pretence whatso
ever.2 In short, they were made as miserable as
possible. Colbert goes further. He writes to the
intendant, " those Avho may seem to have abso
lutely renounced marriage should be made to
bear, additional burdens, and be excluded from aU
honors : it Avould be Avell even to add some marks
of infamy."3 .The success of these measures was
complete. " No sooner," says Mother Mary, " have
the A^essels arrived than the young men go to
get wives ; and, by reason of the great number
they are married by thirties at a time." Through
out the length and breadth of Canada, Hymen,
1 Registre du Conseil Souceram.
2 Talon au Ministre, 10 Oct., 1670. Colbert highly approves this order.
Faillon found a case of its enforcement among the ancient records of
Montreal. In December, 1670, Francois Le Noir, an inhabitant of La
Chine, was summoned before the judge, because, though a single man, he
had traded with Indians at his own house. He confessed the fact, but
protested that he would marry within three weeks after the arrival of
the vessels from France, or, failing to do so, that he would give a hundred
and fifty livres to the church of Montreal, and an equal sum to the hos.
pital. On this condition he was allowed to trade, but was still forbidden
to go into the woods. The next year he kept his word, and married
Marie Magdeleine Charbonnier, late of Paris.
The prohibition to go into the woods was probably intended to prevent
the bachelor from finding a temporary Indian substitute for a French wife.
8 " II serait a propos de leur augmenter les charges, de les priver de
tous honneurs. meme d'y ajouter quelque marque d'infamie." Lettre du
20 Fev.. 1668.

1665-72.] BOUNTIES ON CHILDREN. 227
if not Cupid, was Avhipped into a frenzy of
activity. Dollier de Casson tells us of a widoAV
who was married afresh before her late husband
was buried.1
Nor Avas the fatherly care of the king confined
to the humbler classes of his colonists. He wished
to form a Canadian noblesse, to which end early
marriages Avere thought needful .among officers and
others of the better sort. The progress of such
marriages was carefully Avatched and reported by
the intendant. We have seen the reAvard bestoAved
upon La Motte for taking to himself a Avife, and
the money set apart for the brother officers Avho
imitated him. In his despatch of October, 1667,
the intendant announces that two captains are
already married to two damsels of the country ;
that a lieutenant has espoused a daughter of the
governor of Three Rivers ; and that " four ensigns
are in treaty with their mistresses, and are already
half engaged."2 The paternal care of government,
one would think, could scarcely go further.
It did, however, go further. Bounties vere
offered on chUdren. The king, in council, passed
a decree " that in future all inhabitants of the said
country of Canada who shall have living children
to the number of ten, born in laAvful Avedlock, not

l Histoire du Montreal, a.d. 1671, 1672.
2 "Quatre enseignes sont en pourparler avec leurs maitresses et sont
-leja a demi engage's." Depeche du 27 Oct., 1667. The lieutenant was
Rene1 Gaultier de Varennes, who on the 26th September, 1667, married
Marie Boucher, daughter of the governor of Three Rivers, aged twelve years.
One of the children of this marriage was Varennes de la Verendrye.
discoverer of the Rocky Mountains.

228 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72
being priests, monks, or nuns, shaU each be paid
•out of the moneys sent by his Majesty to the said
country a pension of three hundred hvres a year,
and those who shall have twelve chUdren, a pension
of four hundred livres; and that, to this effect,
they shall be required to declare the number of
their children every year in the months of June
or July to the intendant of justice, police, and
finance, established in the said country, who, hav
ing verified the same, shall order the payment of
said pensions, one-half in cash, and the other hah
at the end of each year." x This was applicable to
all. Colbert had before offered a reward, intended
specially for the better class, of twelve hundred
livres to those who had fifteen chUdren, and eight
hundred to those who had ten.
These wise encouragements, as the worthy Fail
lon caUs them, were crowned with the desired
result. A despatch of Talon in 1670 informs the
minister that most of the young women sent out
last summer are pregnant already, and in 1671 he
announces that from six hundred to seven hundred
chUdren have been born in the colony during the
year; a prodigious number in view of the small
population. The climate was supposed to be par
ticularly favorable to the health of women, which
1 Edits et Ordonnances, I. 67. It was thought at this time that the
Indians, mingled with the French, might become a valuable part of the
population. The reproductive qualities of Indian women, therefore,
became an object of Talon's attention, and he reports that they impair
their fertility by nursing their children longer than is necessary ; '* but,"
he adds, " this obstacle to the speedy building up of the colony can be
overcome by a police regulation." Memoire sur I'Etat Present dh
Canada, 1667.

1666-72.] DISAPPOINTMENT. 229
is somewhat surprising in view- of recent American
experience. " The first reflection I have to make,"
says Dollier de Casson, " is on the advantage that
women have in this place (Montreal) over men,
for though the cold is very wholesome to both
sexes, it is incomparably more so to the female,
who is almost immortal here." Her fecundity
matched her longevity, and was the admiration of
Talon and his successors, accustomed as they were
to the scanty fanulies of France.
Why with this great natural increase joined to
an immigration which, though greatly diminishing,
did not entirely cease, was there not a correspond
ing increase in the population of the colony ? Why,
more than half a century after the king took
Canada in charge, did the census show a total of
less than twenty-five thousand souls ? The reasons
wUl appear hereafter.
It is a peculiarity of Canadian immigration, at
this its most flourishing epoch, that it was mainly
an immigration of single men and single women.
The cases in which entire families came over were
comparatively few.1 The new settler was found
1 The principal emigration of families seems to have been in 1669
when, at the urgency of Talon, then in France, a considerable numbel
were sent out. In the earlier period the emigration of families was, rela
tively, much greater. Thus, in 1634, the physician Giffard brought over
seven to people his seigniory of Beauport. Before 1663, when the king
took the colony in hand, the emigrants were for the most part apprenticed
laborers. The zeal with which the king entered into the work of stocking his
colony is shown by numberless passages in his letters, and those of his
minister. " The end and the rule of all your conduct," says Colbert to
the intendant Bouteroue, " should be the increase of the colony ; and on
this point vou should never be satisfied, but labor without ceasing to

230 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72
by the king ; sent over by the king ; and supplied
by the king Avith a Avife, a farm, and sometimes
with a house. WeU did Louis XIV. earn the title
of Father of New France. But the royal zeal was
spasmodic. The king was diverted to other cares,
and soon after the outbreak of the Dutch war in
1672 the regular despatch of emigrants to Canada
weUnigh ceased ; though the practice of disband
ing soldiers in the colony, giving them lands, and
turning them into settlers, was continued in some
degree, even to the last.
find every imaginable expedient for preserving the inhabitants, attracting
new ones, and multiplying them by marriage." Instruction pour M.
Bouteroue, 1668. *

CHAPTER xnr.
1665-1672.
THE NEW HOME.
Military Fbontieb. — The Canadian Settler. — Seignioe and
Vassal. — Example op Talon. — Plan of Settlement. — As
pect of Canada. — Quebec. — The River Settlements. —
Montreal. — The Pioneers.
We have seen the settler landed and married ;
let us foUow him to his new home. At the end of
Talon's administration, the head of the colony, that
is to say the island of Montreal and the borders of
the Richeheu, was the seat of a peculiar coloniza
tion, the chief object of which was to protect the
rest of Canada against Iroquois incursions. The
lands along the Richeheu, from its mouth to a point
above Chambly, were divided in large seigniorial
grants among several officers of the regiment of
Carignan, who in their turn granted out the land
to the soldiers, reserving a sufficient portion as
their oavu. The officer thus became a kind of
feudal chief, and the whole settlement a permanent
military cantonment admirably suited to the object
in vieAv. The disbanded soldier was practicaUy a
soldier still, but he was also a farmer and a land
holder.

232 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
Talon had recommended this plan as being in
accordance with the example of the Romans. " The
practice of that politic and martial people," he
wrote, " may, in my opinion, be wisely adopted in
a country a thousand leagues distant from its
monarch. And as the peace and harmony of peo
ples depend above aU things on their fidelity to
their sovereign, our first kings, better statesmen
than is commonly supposed, introduced into newly
conquered countries men of war, of approved trust,
in order at once to hold the inhabitants to their
duty within, and repel the enemy from without." 1
The troops were accordingly discharged, and
settled not alone on the Richelieu, but also along
the St. Lawrence, between Lake St. Peter and
Montreal, as weU as at some other points. The
Sulpitians, feudal owners of Montreal, adopted a
sinnlar policy, and surrounded their island with
a border of. fiefs large and smaU, granted partly to
officers and partly to humbler settlers, bold, hardy,
and practised in bush-fighting. Thus a line of
sentinels was posted around their entire shore,
ready to give the alarm whenever an enemy
appeared. About Quebec the settlements, covered
as they were by those above, were for the most
part of a more pacific character.
To return to the Richelieu. The towns and
vUlages which have since groAvn upon its banks
and along the adjacent shores of the St. Lawrence
owe their names to these officers of Carignan, an
cient lords of the soU : Sorel, Chambly, Saint Ours,
1 Projets de Reglemens, 1667 (see Edits et Ordonnances, TL 29).

1665-72.] MILITARY FRONTIER. 233
Contrecoeur, Varennes, Vercheres. Yet let it not
be supposed that villages sprang up at once. The
military seignior, valiant and poor as Walter the
PennUess, was in no condition to work such magic.
His personal possessions usuaUy consisted of httle
but his sword and the money which the king had
paid him for marrying a wife. A domain varying
from half a league to six leagues in front on the
river, and from half a league to two leagues in
depth, had been freely given him. When he had
distributed a part of it in allotments to the soldiers,
a variety of tasks awaited him : to clear and culti
vate his land ; to build his seigniorial mansion, often
a log hut ; to build a fort ; to buUd a chapel ; and
to buUd a null. To do aU this at once was impos
sible. Chambly, the chief proprietor on the Riche
lieu, was better able than the others to meet the
exigency. He buUt himself a good house, where,
with cattle and sheep furnished by the king, he
lived in reasonable comfort.1 The king's fort, close
at hand, spared him and his tenants the necessity
of budding one for themselves, and furnished, no
doubt, a mill, a chapel, and a chaplain. His brother
officers, Sorel excepted, were less fortunate. They
and their tenants were forced to provide defence
as weU as shelter. Their houses were aU buUt
together, and surrounded by a palisade, so as to
form a little fortified village. The ever-active
benevolence of the king had aided them in the
task, for the soldiers were stUl maintained by him
1 Frontenac au Ministre, 2 Nov., 1672. Marie de l'lncarnation speaks
of these officers on the Richelieu as tris honnetes gens.

234 THE NEW HOME. [1665-71.
while clearing the lands and buUding the houses
destined to be their own ; nor was it tUl this work
Avas done that the provident government despatched
them to Quebec with orders to bring back wives.
The settler, thus lodged and wedded, was required
on his part to aid in clearing lands for those who
should come after him.1
It was chiefly in the more exposed parts of the
colony, that the houses were gathered together in
palisaded vUlages, thus forcing the settler to walk
or paddle some distance to his farm. He natu-
raUy preferred to build when he could on the front
of his farm itself, near the river, which supplied
the place of a road. As the grants of land were
very narrow, his house Avas not far from that of
his next neighbor, and thus a hne of dwellings was
ranged along the shore, forming what in local lan
guage Avas caUed a cote, a use of the word peculiar
to Canada, where it stiU prevaUs.
The impoverished seignior rarely buUt a chapel.
Most of the early Canadian churches were built
Avith -funds furnished by the seminaries of Quebec
or of Montreal, aided by contributions of material
and labor from the parishioners.1 MeanwhUe mass
was said in some house of the neighborhood by
1 " Sa Majeste semble pre"tendre faire la depense entiere pour former
le commencement des habitations par l'abattis du bois, la culture et
semence de deux arpens de terre, l'avance de quelques farines aux fa
milies venantes," etc., etc. Projets de Reglemens, 1667. This applied to
ci vil and military settlers alike. The established settler was allowed four
years to clear two arpents of land for a new-comer. The soldiers were
maintained by the king during a year, while preparing their farms and
houses. Talon asks that two years more be given them. Talon au Roi),
10 Nov., 1670.
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, chap. x.

1CG5-72.] MODEL SEIGNIORY. 235
a missionary priest, paddling his canoe from village
to A'illa,ge, or from cote to cote.
The mUl was an object of the last importance.
It was buUt of stone and pierced with loopholes, to
serve as a blockhouse in case of attack. The
great mill at Montreal Avas one of the chief de
fences of the place. It was at once the duty and
the right of the seignior to supply his tenants, cr
rather vassals, with this essential requisite, and
they on their part were required to grind their
grain at his mUl, leaving the fourteenth part in
payment. But for many years there was not a
seigniory in Canada, Avhere this fraction would pay
the wages of a mUler ; and, except the ecclesiasti
cal corporations, there were few seigniors who
could pay the cost of building. The first settlers
were usuaUy forced to grind for themselves after
the tedious fashion of the Indians.
Talon, in his capacity of counsellor, friend, and
father to all Canada, arranged the new settlements
near Quebec in the manner which he judged best,
and which he meant to serve as an example to the
rest of the colony. It was Ins aim to concentrate
population around this point, so that, should an
enemy appear, the sound of a cannon-shot from
the Chateau St. Louis might summon 'a numerous
body of defenders to this the common point of
rendezvous.1 He bought a tract of land near
Quebec, laid it out, and settled it as a model seign
iory, hoping, as he says, to kindle a spirit of emu
lation among the new-made seigniors to whom he
1 Projets de Reglemens, 1667.

236 THE NEW HOME. |1665-72
had granted lands from the king. He also laid
out at the royal cost three vUlages in the im
mediate neighborhood, planning them with great
care, and peopling them partly with families newly
arrived, partly with soldiers, and partly with old
settlers, in order that the new-comers might take
lessons from the experience of these veterans.
That each village might be complete in itself,
he furnished it as weU as he could with the need
ful carpenter, mason, blacksmith, and shoemaker.
These inland villages, caUed respectively Bourg
Royal, Bourg la Reine, and Bourg Talon, did not
prove very thrifty.1 Wherever the settlers were
allowed to choose for themselves, they ranged their
dwellings along the watercourses. With the ex
ception of Talon's villages, one could have seen
nearly every house in Canada, by paddling a canoe
up the St. Lawrence and the Richeheu. The set
tlements formed long thin lines on the edges of the
rivers ; a convenient arrangement, but one very
unfavorable to defence, to ecclesiastical control, and
to strong government. The king soon discovered
this ; and repeated orders were sent to concentrate
the inhabitants and form Canada into villages,
instead of cotes. To do so would have involved a
general revocation of grants and abandonment of
houses and clearings, a measure too arbitrary and
too wasteful, even for Louis XIV., and one ex
tremely difficult to enforce. Canada persisted in
attenuating herself, and the royal wUl was foUed.
1 In 1672, the king, as a mark of honor, attached these villages t«
Talon's seigniory. Documents on Seigniorial Tenure.

1665-72, ASPECT OF CANADA. 237
As you ascended the St. Lawrence, the first
harboring place of civilization was Tadoussac, at
the mouth of the Saguenay, where the company
had its trading station, where its agents ruled
supreme, and where, in early summer, all Avas
alive with canoes and Avigwams, and troops of Mon-
tagnais savages, bringing their furs to market,
Leave Tadoussac behind, and, embarked in a sail
boat or a canoe, follow the northern coast. Far
on the left, twenty mUes away, the southern shore
lies pale and dim, and mountain ranges wave their
faint outline along the sky. You pass the beetling
rocks of Mai Bay, a solitude but for the bark hut
of some wandering Indian beneath the cliff; the
Eboulements with their wild romantic gorge, and
foaming waterfaUs ; and the Bay of St. Paul with
its broad vaUey and its woody mountains, rich
with hidden stores of iron. Vast pUes of savage
verdure border the mighty stream, tUl at length
the mountain of Cape Tourinente upheaves its huge
bulk from the bosom of the water, shadoAved by
lowering clouds, and dark with forests. Just
beyond, begm the settlements of Laval's vast
seigniory of Beaupre', which had not been for
gotten in the distribution of emigrants, and which,
in 1667. contained more inhabitants than Quebec
itself.1 The ribbon of rich meadow land that bor
ders that beautiful shore, was yeUow with wheat
1 The census of 1667 gives to Quebec only 448 souls; Cote de Beaupre,
656; Beauport, 123; Island of Orleans, 529; other settlements included
tfuder the government of Quebec, 1,011; Cote de Lauzon (south shore),
113 ; Trois Rivieres and its "dependencies, 666 ; Montreal, 766. Both
Beaupre and Isle d'Orleans belonged at this time to the bishop.

238 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72
in harvest time, and on the woody slopes behind,
the frequent clearings and the solid little dweUings
of logs continued for a long distance to reheve the
sameness of the forest. After passing the cataract
of Montmorenci, there was another settlement,
much smaller, at Beauport, the seigniory of the
ex-physician Giffard, one of the earliest proprietors
in Canada. The neighboring shores of the island
of Orleans were also edged with houses and clear
ings. The promontory of Quebec now towered
full in sight, crowned with church, fort, chateau,
convents, and seminary. There was little else on
the rock. Priests, nuns, government officials, and
soldiers, were the denizens of the Upper Town ;
Avhile commerce and the trades were cabined along
the strand beneath.1 From the gaUery of the
chateau, you might toss a pebble far down on their
shingled roofs. In the midst of them was the
magazine of the company, Avith its two round
towers and two projecting wings. It was here
that all the beaver-skins of the colony were col
lected, assorted, and shipped for France. The so-
called chateau St. Louis was an indifferent wooden
structure planted on a site truly superb ; above
the Lower Town, above the river, above the ships,
gazing abroad on a majestic panorama of Avaters,
forests, and mountains.2 Behind it was the area
of the fort, of which it formed one side. The
1 According to Juchereau, there were seventy houses at Quebec about
the time of Tracy's arrival.
2 In 1660, an exact inventory was taken of the contents of the fort and
chateau ; a beggarly account of rubbish. .The chateau was then a long
low building roofed with shingles.

1665-72.] QUEBEC. 239
governor lived in the chateau, and soldiers were
on guard night and day in the fort. At some
little distance was the convent of the Ursulines,
ugh- but substantial,1 where Mother Mary of the
Incarnation ruled her pupils and her nuns; and
a little further on, towards the right, was the
Hotel Dieu. Between them Avere the massive
buildings of the Jesuits, then as noAv facing the
principal square. At one side was their church,
newly finished ; and opposite, across the square,
stood and stiU stands the great church of Notre
Dame. Behind the church Avas Laval's seminary,
Avith the extensive enclosures belonging to it. The
senechaussee or court-house, the tavern of one
Jacques Boisdon on the square near the church,
and a feAv houses along the line of what is now St.
Louis Street, comprised nearly all the civil part
of the Upper Town. The ecclesiastical buildings
were of stone, and the church of Notre Dame and
the Jesuit College Avere marvels of size and solid
ity in view of the poverty and weakness of the
colony.2 Proceeding upAvard along the north shore of the
St. LaAvrence, one found a cluster of houses at Cap
Rouge, and, further on, the frequent rude begin
nings of a seigniory. The settlements thickened on
1 There is an engraving of it in Abbe" Casgrain's interesting Vie de
Marie de l'lncarnation. It was burned in 1686.
2 The first stone of Notre Dame de Quebec was laid in September,
1647, and the first mass was said in it on the 24th of December, 1650.
The side walls still remain as part of the present structure. The Jesuit
college was also begun in 1647. The walls and roof were finished in
1649. The church connected with it, since destroyed, was begun in
1666. Journal des Je'suites.

240 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
approaching Three Rivers, a fur-trading hamlet
enclosed with a square pahsade. Above tins place,
a line of incipient seigniories bordered the river,
most of them granted to officers : Laubia, a captain ;
Labadie, a sergeant ; Moras, an ensign ; Berthier,
a captain ; Raudin, an ensign ; La Valterie, a lieu
tenant.1 Under their auspices, settlers, military
and civilian, were ranging themselves along the
shore, and ugly gaps in the forest thickly set with
stumps bore witness to their toUs. These settle
ments rapidly extended, till in a few years a chain
of houses and clearings reached with little inter
ruption from Quebec to Montreal. Such was the
fruit of Tracy's chastisement of the Mohawks, and
the influx of immigrants that followed.
As you approached Montreal, the fortified mill
built by the Sulpitians at Point aux Trembles
towered above the Avoods ; and soon after the newly
built chapel of the Infant Jesus. More settlements
foUowed, tUl at length the great fortified mill of
Montreal rose in sight ; then the long row of com
pact wooden houses, the Hotel Dieu, and the rough
masonry of the seminary of St. Sulpice. Beyond
the toAvn, the clearings continued at intervals till
you reached Lake St. Louis, where young Cavelier
de la Salle had laid out his seigniory of La Chine,
and abandoned it to begin liis hard career of west
ern exploration. Above the island of Montreal,

1 Documents on the Seigniorial Tenure ; Abstracts of Titles. Most of
these grants, like those on the Richelieu, were made by Talon in 1672 ;
but the land had, in many cases, been occupied and cleared in anticipation
of the title.

1665-72.] THE PIONEERS. 241
the wilderness was broken only by a solitary trading
station on the neighboring Isle Perot.
Now cross Lake St. Louis, shoot the rapids of
La Chine, and foUow the southern shore downward.
Here the seigniories of LongueuU, Boucherville,
Varennes, Vercheres, and Contrecoeur were already
begun. From the fort of Sorel one could visit the
military seigniories along the Richeheu or descend
towards Quebec, passing on the way those of Lus-
saudiere, Becancour, Lotbiniere, and others still in
a shapeless infancy. Even far below Quebec, at
St. Anne de la Pocatiere, River OueUe, and other
points, cabins and clearings greeted the eye of the
passing canoeman.
For a year or two, the settler's initiation was a
rough one; but when he had a few acres under
tillage he could support himself and his family on
the produce, aided by hunting, U he knew how to
use a gun, and by the bountiful profusion of eels
which the St. Lawrence never faUed to yield in
their season, and which, smoked or salted, supplied
his larder for months. In winter he hewed timber,
sawed planks, or spht shingles for the market of
Quebec, obtaining in return such necessaries as he
required. With thrift and hard work he was sure
of comfort at last ; but the former habits of the
mihtary settlers and of many of the others were
not favorable to a routine of dogged industry. The
sameness and solitude of their new life often became
insufferable ; nor, married as they had been, was
the domestic hearth likely to supply much consola
tion. Yet, thrifty or not, they multiphed apace.
16

242 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72
" A poor man," says Mother Mary, " wUl have eight
chUdren and more, who run about in winter Avith
bare heads and bare feet, and a httle jacket on
their backs, hve on nothing but bread and eels,
and on that grow fat and stout." With such treat
ment the weaker sort died; but the strong sur
vived, and out of this rugged nursing sprang the
hardy Canadian race of bush-rangers and bush-
fighters.

CHAPTER XV.
1663-1763.
CANADIAN FEUDALISM.
Transplantation ov Feudalism. — Precautions. — Faith and Hok
ace. — The Seignior. — The Censitaire. — Royal Inteeven
tion. — The Gentilhojime. — Canadian Noblesse.
Canadian society was beginning to form itself,
and at its base was the feudal tenure. European
feudahsm was the indigenous and natural growth
of political and social conditions which preceded it.
Canadian feudalism was an offshoot of the feudalism
of France, modified by the lapse of centuries, and
further modified by the royal mil.
In France, as in the rest of Europe, the system
had lost its vitality. The warrior-nobles who placed
Hugh Capet on the throne, and began the feudal
monarchy, formed an aristocratic republic, and the
king was one of their number, whom they chose to
be their chief. But, through the struggles and
vicissitudes of many succeeding reigns, royalty had
waxed and oligarchy had waned. The fact had
changed and the theory had changed with it. The
king, once powerless among a host of turbulent
nobles, was now a king indeed. Once a chief,

244 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763
because his equals had made him so, he was now
the anointed of the Lord. This triumph of royalty
had culminated in Louis XIV. The stormy ener
gies and bold individualism of the old feudal nobles
had ceased to exist. They who had held his pre
decessors in awe had become his obsequious ser
vants. He no longer feared his nobles ; he prized
them as gorgeous decorations of his court, and
sateUites of his royal person.
It Avas Richelieu who first planted feudalism in
Canada.1 The king would preserve it there, because
with its teeth drawn he was fond of it, and because,
as the feudal tenure prevailed in Old France, it
was natural that it should prevaU also in the New.
But he continued as Richeheu had begun, and
moulded it to the form that pleased him. Nothing
was left which could threaten his absolute and
undivided authority over the colony. In France,
a multitude of privileges and prescriptions still
clung, despite its faU, about the ancient ruling
class. FeAv of these were allowed to cross the
Atlantic, whUe the old, lingering abuses, which
had made the system odious, were at the same
time lopped away. Thus retrenched, Canadian
feudalism was made to serve a double end; to
produce a faint and harmless reflection of French
aristocracy, and simply and practicaUy to supply
agencies for distributing land among the settlers.
The nature of the precautions which it was held
to require appear in the plan of administration
which Talon and Tracy laid before the minister.
1 By the charter of the Company of the Hundred Associates, 1627.

1663-1768.] PRECAUTIONS. . 245
They urge that, in view of the distance from
France, special care ought to be taken to prevent
changes and revolutions, aristocratic or otherwise,
in the colony, whereby in time sovereign jurisdic
tions might grow up, as formerly occurred in
various parts of France.1 And, in respect to grants
already made, an inquiry was ordered, to ascertain
" U seigniors in distributing lands to their vassals
have exacted any conditions injurious to the rights
of the Cro>yn and the subjection due solely to the
king." In the same view the seignior was denied
any voice whatever in the direction of government ;
and it is scarcely necessary to say that the essen
tial feature of feudalism in the day of its vitality,
the requirement of military service by the lord
from the vassal, was utterly unknown in Canada.
The royal governor called out the militia whenever
he saw fit, and set over it what officers he pleased.
The seignior was usually the immediate vassal
of the CroAvn, from which he had received his
land gratuitously. In a few cases, he made grants
to other seigniors inferior in the feudal scale, and
they, his vassals, granted in turn to their vassals,
the habitants or cultivators of the soU.2 Sometimes
1 Projet de Reglement fait par MM. de Tracy et Talon pour la justice et
la distribution des terres du Canada, Jan. 24, 1667.
2 Most of the seigniories of Canada were simple fiefs ; but there were
some exceptions. In 1671, the king, as a mark of honor to Talon, erected
his seigniory Des Islets into a barony ; and it was soon afterwards made
an earldom, comte. In 1676, the seigniory of St. Laurent, on the island
of Orleans, once the property of Laval, and then belonging to Francois
Berthelot, councillor of the king, was erected into an earldom. In 1681,
the seigniory of Portneuf, belonging to Rene Robineau, chevalier, was
made a barony. In 1700, three seigniories on the south side of the St.
Lawrence were united into the barony of Lcngueuil. See Papers on
the Feudal Tenure in Canada, Abstract of Titles.

246 - CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
the habitant held directly of the Crown, in which
case there Avas no step betAveen the highest and
loAvest degrees of the feudal scale. The seignior
held by the tenure of faith and homage, the habi
tant by the inferior tenure en censive. Faith and
homage were rendered to the CroAvn or other
feudal superior whenever the seigniory changed
hands, or, in the case of seigniories held by cor
porations, after long stated intervals. The folloAV-
ing is an example, draAvn from the early days of the
colony, of the performance of this ceremony by
the OAvner of a fief to the seignior who had granted
it to him. It is that of Jean Guion, vassal of GU-
fard, seignior of Beauport. The act recounts hoAV,
in presence of a notary, Guion presented himself
at the principal door of the manor-house of Beau-
port ; Iioav, having knocked, one Boulle, farmer of
Giffard, opened the door, and in reply to Guion's
question if the seignior Avas at home, replied that
he Avas not, but that he, Boulle, Avas empoAvered
to receive acknoAvledgments of faith and homage
from the vassals in his name. " After the Avhich
reply," proceeds the act, " the said Guion, being
at the principal door, placed himself on his knees
on the ground, Avith head bare, and without savoiU
or spurs, and said three times these Avords : " Mon
sieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur
de Beauport, I bring you the faith and homage
Avhich I am bound to bring you on account of my
fief Du Buisson, which I hold as a man of faith of
your seigniory of Beauport, declaring that I offer
to pay my seigniorial and feudal dues in their

1663-1763.] FAITH AND HOMAGE. 247
season, and demanding of you to accept me in
faith and homage as aforesaid."1
The following instance is the more common one
of a seignior holding directly of the CroAvn. It is
widely separated from the first in point of time,
having occurred a year after the army of Wolfe
entered Quebec. Philippe Noel had lately died,
and Jean Noel, his son, inherited his seigniory of
Tilly and Bonsecours. To make the title good,
faith and homage must be renewed. Jean Noel
was under the bitter necessity of rendering this
duty to General Murray, governor for the king of
Great Britain. The form is the same as in the
case of Guion, more than a century before. Noel
repairs to the Government House at Quebec, and
knocks at the door. A servant opens it. Noel
asks if the governor is there. The servant replies
that he is. Murray, informed of the visitor's object,
comes to the door, and Noel then and there, " Avith
out SAVord or spurs, with bare head, and one knee on
the ground," repeats the acknowledgment of faith
and homage for his seigniory. He Avas compeUed,
however, to add a detested innovation, the oath of
fidelity to his Britannic Majesty, coupled Avith a
pledge to keep his vassals in obedience to the new
sovereign.3 The seignior was a proprietor holding that rela
tion to the feudal superior which, in its pristine
1 Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de Notre Dame de Quebec, 65. This
was a fief en roture, as distinguished from a fief noble, to which judicial
powers and other privileges were attached.
2 See the act in Observations de Sir L. H. Lafontaine, Bart., sur la Tenur*
Seigneuriale, 217, note.

248 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763
character, has been truly described as servUe in
form, proud and bold in spirit. But in Canada
this bold spirit was very far from being strength
ened by the changes which the policy of the Crown
had introduced into the system. The reservation
of mines and minerals, oaks for the royal navy,
roadways, and a site, if needed, for royal forts
and magazines, had in it nothing extraordinary.
The great difference between the position of the
Canadian seignior and that of the vassal proprietor
of the Middle Ages lay in the extent and nature
of the control which the Crown and its officers
held over him. A decree of the king, an edict of
the council, or an ordinance of the intendant,
might at any moment change old conditions, impose
new ones, interfere between the lord of the manor
and his grantees, and modify or annul bis bargains,
past or present. He was never sure whether or not
the government would let him alone ; and against
its most arbitrary intervention he had no remedy.
One condition was imposed on him which may
be said to form the distinctive feature of Canadian
feudalism ; that of clearing his land within a limited
time on pain of forfeiting it. The object was the
excellent one of preventing the lands of the colony
from lying waste. As the seignior was often the
penniless owner of a domain three or four leagues
Avide and proportionably deep, he could not clear
it aU himseh, and was therefore under the neces
sity of placing the greater part in the hands of
those who could. But he was forbidden to sell
any part of it Avhich he had not cleared. He must

1663-1763.] THE CENSITAIRE. 249
grant it without price, on condition of a small per
petual rent ; and this brings us to the cultivator of
the soil, the censitaire, the broad base of the feudal
pyramid.1 The tenure en censive by which the censitaire
held of the seignior consisted in the obhgation to
make annual payments in money, produce, or both.
In Canada these payments, known as cens et rente,
were strangely diverse in amount and kind ; but,
in aU the early period of the colony, they were
almost ludicrously small. A common charge at
Montreal was half a sou and half a pint of wheat
for each arpent. The rate usually fluctuated in
the early times between half a sou and two sous,
so that a farm of a hundred and sixty arpents
would pay from four to sixteen francs, of which a
part would be in money and the rest in live capons,
wheat, eggs, or aU three together, in pursuance of
contracts as amusing in their precision as they are
bewUdering in their variety. Live capons, esti-
1 The greater part of the grants made by the old Company of New
Fiance were resumed by the Crown for neglect to occupy and improve
the land, which was granted out anew under the administration of Talon.
The most remarkable of these forfeited grants is that of the vast domain
3f La Citiere, large enough for a kingdom. Lauson, afterwards governor,
had obtained it from the company, but had failed to improve it. Two or
three sub-grants which he had made from it were held valid ; the rest
was reunited to the royal domain. On repeated occasions at later dates,
negligent seigniors were threatened with the loss of half or the whole of
their land, and various cases are recorded in which the threat took effect.
In 1741, an ordinance of the governor and intendant reunited to the royal
domain seventeen seigniories at one stroke ; but the former owners were
told that if within a year they cleared and settled a reasonable part of the
forfeited estates, the titles should be restored to them. Edits et Ordon
nances, II. 555. In the case of the habitant or censitaire forfeitures fot
neglect to improve the land and live on it are very numerous.

250 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763
mated at twenty sous each, though sometimes not
worth ten, form a conspicuous feature in these
agreements, so that on pay-day the seignior's barn
yard presented an animated scene. Later in the
history of the colony grants were at soineAvhat
higher rates. Payment was commonly made on
St. Martin's day, when there was a general muster
of tenants at the seigniorial mansion, with a pro
digious consumption of tobacco and a corresponding
retail of neighborhood gossip, joined to the out
cries of the captive foAvls bundled together for
delivery, with legs tied, but throats at full liberty.
A more considerable but a very uncertain source
of income to the seignior were the lods et ventes,
or mutation fines. The land of the censitaire
passed freely to Ins heirs; but if he sold it, a
twelfth part of the purchase-money must be paid
to the seignior. The seignior, on his part, AA'as
equally liable to pay a mutation fine to his feudal
superior U he sold his seigniory ; and for him the
amount Avas larger, being a quint, or a fifth of the
price received, of Avhich, however, the greater part
was deducted for immediate payment. This heavy
charge, constituting, as it did, a tax on all improve
ments, Avas a principal cause of the abolition of the
feudal tenure in 1854.
The obligation of clearing his land and living on
it was laid on seignior and censitaire alike ; but
the latter was under a variety of other obligations
to the former, partly imposed by custom and partly
established by agreement when the grant was
made. To grind his grain at the seignior's mill,

1663-1763.] ROYAL INTERVENTION. 251
bake his bread in the seignior's oven, work for him
one or more days in the year, and give him one
fish in every eleven, for the privUege of fishing in
the river before his farm; these were the most
annoying of the conditions to which the censitaire
was liable. Few of them were enforced with much
regularity. " That of baking in the seignior's oven
was rarely carried into effect, though occasionally
used for purposes of extortion. It is here that the
royal government appears in its true character, so
far as concerns its relations with Canada, that of a
well-meaning despotism. It continually intervened
betAveen censitaire and seignior, on the principle
that " as his Majesty gives the land for nothing, he
can make Avhat conditions he pleases, and change
them when he pleases." x These interventions
were usually favorable to the censitaire. On one
occasion an intendant reported to the minister,
that in his opinion all rents ought to be reduced
to one sou and one live capon for every arpent
of front, equal in most cases to forty superficial
arpents.2 Every thing, he remarks, ought to be
brought down to the level of the first grants
^'made in days of innocence," a happy period
which he does not attempt to define. The minister
replies that the diversity of the rent is, in fact,
vexatious, and that, for his part, he is disposed to
abolish it altogether.3 Neither he nor the intend
ant gives the slightest hint of any compensation
1 This doctrine is laid down in a letter of the Marquis de Beauharnois,
governor, to the minister, 1734.
2 Lettre de Raudot, pere, au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1707.
* Lettre de Poncharlrain a Raudot, pire, 13 Juin, 1708.

252 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
to the seignior. Though these radical measures
were not executed, many changes were decreed
from time to time in the relations between seignior
and censitaire, sometimes as a simple act of sover
eign power, and sometimes on the ground that the
grants had been made with conditions not recog
nized by the Coutume de Paris. This was the
code of law assigned to Canada ; but most of the
contracts between seignior and censitaire had been
agreed upon in good faith by men who knew as
much of the Coutume de Paris as of the Capitula
ries of Charlemagne, and their conditions had
remained in force unchallenged for generations.
These interventions of government sometimes con
tradicted each other, and often proved a dead
letter. They are more or less active through the
whole period of the French rule. /
The seignior had judicial powers, which, how
ever, were carefully curbed and controUed. His
jurisdiction, when exercised at aU, extended in
most cases only to trivial causes. He very rarely
had a prison, and seems never to have abused it.
The dignity of a seigniorial gaUows with high
justice or jurisdiction over heinous offences was
granted only in three or four instances.1
Four arpents in front by forty in depth were
the ordinary dimension's of a grant en censive.
These ribbons of land, nearly a mUe and a half
long, with one end on the river and the other on

1 Baronies and comtes were empowered to set up gallows and pillories,
to which the arms of the owner were affixed. See, for example, the edict
creating the Barony des Islets.

1663-1763.1 THE HABITANT. 253
the uplands behind, usually combined the advan
tages of meadows for cultivation, and forests for
timber and firewood. So long as the censitaire
brought in on St. Martin's day his yearly capons
and his yearly handful of copper, his title against
the seignior was perfect. There are farms in
Canada which have passed from father to son for
two hundred years. The condition of the culti
vator was incomparably better than that of the
French peasant, crushed by taxes, and oppressed
by feudal burdens far heavier than those of Canada.
In fact, the Canadian settler scorned the name of
peasant, and then, as now, was always called the
habitant. The government held him in wardship,
watched over him, interfered with him, but did
not oppress him or aUoAV others to oppress him.
Canada was not governed to the profit of a class,
and if the king wished to create a Canadian noblesse
he took care that it should not bear hard on the
country.1 Under a genuine feudalism, the ownership of
land conferred nobility ; but all this was changed.
The ldng and not the soU was now the parent of
honor. France swarmed with landless nobles, while
roturier land-holders grew daUy more numerous.
In Canada half the seigniories were in roturier or
plebeian hands, and in course of time some of them
1 On the seigniorial tenure, I have examined the whole of the mass
of papers printed at the time when the question of its abolition was under
discussion. A great deal of legal research and learning was then devoted
to the subject. The argument of Mr. Dunkin in behalf of the seigniors,
and the observations of Judge Lafontaine, are especially instructive, as is
also the collected correspondence of the governors and intendants with
the central government, on matters relating to the seigniorial system.

254 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
came into possession of persons on very humble
degrees of the social scale. A seigniory could be
bought and sold, and a trader or a thrifty habitant
might, and often did become the buyer.1 If the
Canadian noble was always a seignior, it is far from
being true that the Canadian seignior was always
a noble. In France, it wUl be remembered, nobUity did
not in itself imply a title. Besides its titled leaders,
it had its rank and file, numerous enough to form
a considerable army. Under the later Bourbons,
the penniless young nobles were, in fact, enroUed
into regiments, turbulent, difficult to control, obey
ing officers of high rank, but scorning all others,
and conspicuous by a fiery and impetuous valor
which on more than one occasion turned the tide
of victory. The gentilhomme, or untitled noble,
had a distinctive character of his own, gallant,
punctilious, vain ; skilled in social and sometimes
in literary and artistic accomplishments, but usually
ignorant of most things except the handling of his
rapier. Yet there were strildng exceptions ; and
to say of him, as has been said, that " he knew
nothing but how to get himself killed," is hardly
just to a body which has produced some of the
best writers and thinkers of France.
Sometimes the origin of his nobility was lost in
1 In 1712, the engineer Catalogue made a very long and elaborate re
port on the condition of Canada, with a full account of all the seigniorial
estates. Of ninety-one seigniories, fiefs, and baronies, described by him,
ten belonged to merchants, twelve to husbandmen, and two to masters of
6mall river craft. The rest belonged to religious corporations, members
of the council, judges, officials of the Crown, widows, and discharged
officers or their sons.

1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 255
the mists of time ; sometimes he owed it to a patent
from the king. In either case, the line of den arca-
tion between him and the classes below him was
perfectly distinct; and in this lies an essential
difference between the French noblesse and the
English gentry, a class not separated from others
by a definite barrier. The French noblesse, unlike
the English gentry, constituted a caste.
The gentilhomme had no vocation for emigrating.
He liked the army and he liked the court. If he
could not be of it, it was something to hve in its
shadoAv. The lUe of a backAvoods settler had no
charm for him. He was not used to labor ; and
he could not trade, at least in retaU, without be
coming liable to forfeit his nobUity. When Talon
came to Canada, there were but four noble families
in the colony.1 Young nobles in abundance came
out with Tracy; but they went home with him.
Where, then, should be found the material of a
Canadian noblesse ? First, in the regiment of
Carignan, of which most of the officers were gen-
tilshommes ; secondly, in the issue of patents of
nobUity to a few of the more prominent colonists.
Tracy asked for four such patents ; Talon asked
for five more ; 2 and such requests were repeated
at intervals by succeeding governors and intend
ants, in behalf of those who had gained their favor
by merit or otherwise. Money smoothed the path
1 Talon, Memoire sur I'Etat present du Canada, 1667. The families of
Repentigny, Tilly, Poterie, and AUlebout appear to be meant.
2 Tracy's request was in behalf of Bourdon, Boucher, Auteuil, and
Juchereau. Talon's was in behalf of Godefroy, Le Moyne, Denis, Amiot,
and Couillard.

256 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
to advancement, so far had noblesse already faUen
from its old estate. Thus Jacques Le Ber, the
merchant, who had long kept a shop at Montreal,
got himseU made a gentleman for six thousand
hvres.1 AU Canada soon became infatuated with noblesse;
and country and town, merchant and seignior, vied
with each other for the quality of gentilhomme.
If they could not get it, they often pretended to
have it, and aped its ways with the zeal of Mon
sieur Jourdain himself. " Everybody here," writes
the intendant Meules, " caUs himself Esquire, and
ends with flunking himself a gentleman." Succes
sive intendants repeat this complaint. The case
was worst with roturier s who had acquired seign
iories. Thus Noel Langlois was a good carpenter
tUl he became owner of a seigniory, on which he
grew lazy and affected to play the gentleman.
The real gentilshommes, as weU as the spurious,
had their full share of official stricture. The gov
ernor DenonvUle speaks of them thus : " Several
of them have come out this year with their Avives,
who are very much cast down ; but they play the
fine lady, nevertheless. I had much rather see
good peasants ; it would be a pleasure to me to
give aid to such, knowing, as I should, that within
two years their famUies would have the means of
living at ease ; for it is certain that a peasant who
can and will work is well off in this country, while
our nobles with nothing to do can never be any
thing but beggars. StiU they ought not to be
1 Faillon, Vie de Mademoiselle Le Ber, 325.

1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 257
driven off or abandoned. The question is how to
maintain them." 1
The intendant Duchesneau writes to the same
effect : " Many of our gentilshommes, officers, and
other owners of seigniories, lead what in France is
caUed the life of a country gentleman, and spend
most of their time in hunting and fishing. As
their requirements in food and clothing are greater
than those of the simple habitants, and as they do
not devote themselves to improving their land,
they mix themselves up in trade, run in debt on
aU hands, incite their young habitants to range the
woods, and send their own children there to trade
for furs in the Indian vUlages and in the depths of
the forest, in spite of the prohibition of his Majesty.
Yet, with all this, they are in miserable poverty." a
Their condition, indeed, was often deplorable.
" It is pitiful," says the intendant Champigny, " to
see their children, of which they have great num
bers, passing all summer with nothing on them
but a shirt, and their Avives and daughters working
in the fields." 3 In another letter he asks aid from
the king for Repentigny with his thirteen children,
and for TiUy with his fifteen. " We must give
them some corn at once," he says, " or they wUl
starve."* These were two of the original four
noble families of Canada. The famUy of Aillebout,
another of the four, is described as equaUy desti
tute. " Pride and sloth," says the same intendant,
1 Lettre de Denonville au Minislre, 10 Nov., 1686.
2 Lettre de Duchesneau au Minislre, 10 Nov., 1679.
3 Lettre de Champigny au Minislre, 26 Aout, 1687.
1 Ibid., 6 Nov., 1687. 17

258 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
" are the great faults of the people of Canada, and
especially of the nobles and those who pretend to
be such. I pray you grant no more letters of
nobility, unless you want to multiply beggars." J
The governor DenonvUle is stUl more emphatic:
" AboAre aU things, monseigneur, permit me to say
that the nobles of this new country are every thing
that is most beggarly, and that to increase their
number is to increase the number of do-nothings.
A neAV country requires hard workers, who will
handle the axe and mattock. The sons of our
councUlors are no more industrious than the nobles ;
and their only resource is to take to the woods,
trade a little with the Indians, and, for the most
part, fall into the disorders of Avhich I have had
the honor to inform you. I shall use all possible
means to induce them to engage in regidar com
merce ; but as our nobles and councUlors are all
very poor and weighed down with debt, they could
not get credit for a single crown piece." 2 " Tavo
daj's ago," he writes in another letter, " Monsieur
de Saint-Ours, a gentleman of Dauphiny, came to
me to ask leave to go back to France in search of
bread. He says that he avUI put his ten children
into the charge of any Avho Avill give them a liAlng,
and that he himseU ayUI go into the army again.
His AvUe and he are in despair ; and yet they do
what they can. I have seen two of his girls reaping
grain and holding the plough. Other families are
1 Memoire instructif sur le Canada, joint a la lettre de M. de Champigny du
10 May, 1691.
2 Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1685.

1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 259
in the same condition. They come to me Avith tears
in their eyes. All our married officers are beggars ;
and I entreat you to send them aid. There is need
that the king should provide support for their chil
dren, or else they wUl be tempted to go over to the
English." J Ap-ain he writes that the sons of the
councUlor D'Amours haA7e been arrested as coureurs
de bois, or outlaws in the bush; and that if the
minister does not do something to help them, there
is danger that aU the sons of the noblesse, real or
pretended, wUl turn bandits, since they have no
other means of living.
The king, dispenser of charity for aU Canada,
came promptly to the rescue. He granted an alms
of a hundred crowns to each family, coupled Avith
a warning to the recipients of his bounty that
" their misery proceeds from their ambition to live
as persons of quality and without labor." 2 At the
same time, the minister announced that no more
letters of nobUity Avould be granted in Canada;
adding, " to relieve the country of some of the
children of those who are reaUy noble, I send you
(the governor) six commissions of Gardes de la
Marine, and recommend you to take care not to
give them to any who are not actually gentils
hommes." The Garde de la Marine answered to
the midshipman of the English or American service.
As the six commissions could bring little relief to
the croAvd of needy youths, it was further ordained
1 Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686. (Condensed in the
translation.) 2 Abstract of Denonville's Letters, and of the Minister's Answers, in
N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 317, 318.

260 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763
that sons of nobles or persons living as such should
be enrolled into companies at eight sous a day for
those Avho should best conduct themselves, and six
sous a day for the others. Nobles in Canada were
also permitted to trade, even at retail, without
derogating from their rank.1
They had already assumed this right, without
waiting for the royal license ; but thus far it had
profited them little. The gentilhomme was not a
good shopkeeper, nor, as a rule, was the shop
keeper's \Tocation very lucrative in Canada. The
domestic trade of the colony was smaU; and all
trade was exposed to such vicissitudes from the
intervention of intendants, ministers, and councUs,
that at one time it was almost banished. At best,
it was carried on under conditions auspicious to a
favored few and withering to the rest. Even when
most Avilling to work, the position of the gentil
homme was a painful one. Unless he could gain
a post under the Crown, which was rarely the case,
he was as complete a pohtical cipher as the
meanest habitant. His rents were practicaUy
nothing, and he had no capital to improve his
seigniorial estate. By a peasant's work he coull
gain a peasant's living, and this was all. The
prospect was not inspiring. His long initiation of
misery was the natural result of his position and
surroundings ; and it is no matter of wonder that
he threw himself into the only field of action
which in time of peace was open to him. It was
trade, but trade seasoned by adventure and en-
1 Lettre de Meules au Ministre, 1685.

1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 261
nobled by danger ; defiant of edict and ordinance,
outlawed, conducted in arms among forests and
savages, — in short, it was the Western fur trade.
The tyro was likely to faU in it at first, but time
and experience formed him to the work. On the
Great Lakes, in the wastes of the NorthAvest, on
the Mississippi and the plains beyond, Ave find the
roving gentilhomme, chief of a gang of bush
rangers, often his own habitants ; sometimes pro
scribed by the government, sometimes leagued in
contraband traffic with its highest officials, a hardy
vidette of ciAilization, tracing unknown streams,
piercing unknown forests, trading, fighting, nego
tiating, and buUding forts. Again we find him on
the shores of Acadia or Maine, surrounded by
Indian retainers, a menace and a terror to the
neighboring English colonist. Saint-Castin, Du
Lhut, La Durantaye, La Salle, La Motte-CadUlac,
Iberville, BienvUle, La Verendrye, are names that
stand conspicuous on the page of half-savage
romance that refreshes the hard and practical
annals of American colonization. But a more sub
stantial debt is due to their memory. It was they,
and such as they, who discovered the Ohio, ex
plored the Mississippi to its mouth, discovered the
Rocky Mountains, and founded Detroit, St. Louis,
and New Orleans.
Even in his earliest day, the gentilhomme was
not always in the evil plight where we have found
him. There were a few exceptions to the general
misery, and the chief among them is that of the
Le Moynes of Montreal. Charles Le Moyne, son

"2Q2 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
of an innkeeper of Dieppe and founder of a family
the most truly eminent in Canada, was a man of
sterling quahties Avho had been long enough in the
colony to learn how to live there.1 Others learned
the same lesson at a later day, adapted themselves
to soil and situation, took root, grew, and became
more Canadian than French. As population in
creased, their seigniories began to yield appreciable
returns, and their reserved domains became worth
cultivating. A future dawned upon them; they
saw in hope their names, their seigniorial estates,
their manor-houses, their tenantry, passing to their
chUdren and their children's children. The beg
gared noble of the early time became a sturdy
country gentleman ; poor, but not wretched ; igno
rant of books, except possibly a few scraps of
rusty Latin picked up in a Jesuit school ; hardy as
the hardiest woodsman, yet never forgetting his
quality of gentilhomme ; scrupulously wearing its
badge, the sword, and copying as weU as he could
the fashions of the court, which glowed on his
vision across the sea in aU the effulgence of Ver-
saUles, and beamed Avith reflected ray from the
chateau of Quebec. He Avas at home among his
tenants, at home among the Indians, and never
more at home than Avhen, a gun in his hand and a
crucifix on his breast, he took the Avar-path Avith a
' Berthelot, proprietor of the comte 'of St. Laurent, and Robineau, of
the barony of Portneuf, may also be mentioned as exceptionally pros
perous. Of the younger Charles Le Moyne, afterwards Baron de Lon-
gueuil, Fronlenac the governor says, "son fort et sa maison nous
donnent une ide'e des chateaux de France fortifiez." His fort was of
stone and flanked with four towers. It was nearly opposite Montreal, on
the south shore.

1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 263
crew of painted savages and Frenchmen almost as
wUd, and pounced like a lynx from the' forest on
some lonely farm or outlying hamlet of New
England. How New England hated him, let her
records tell. The reddest blood streaks on her old .
annals mark the track of the Canadian gentil-j
homme.

CHAPTER XVI.
1663-1763.
THE RULERS OF CANADA.
Nature op the Government. — The Governor. — TnE Council.—
Courts and Judges. — The Intendant. — His Grievances. —
Strong Government. — Sedition and Blasphemy. — Royal
Bounty. — Defects and Abuses.
The government of Canada was formed in its
chief featm-es after the government of a French
province. Throughout France the past and the
present stood side by side. The kingdom had a
double administration; or rather, the shadow of
the old administration and the substance of the
new. - 1 The government of provinces had long
been held by the high nobles, often kindred to the
Crown ; and hence, in former times, great perils
had arisen, amounting during the civU wars to the
danger of dismemberment. The high nobles were
stUl governors of provinces ; but here, as else
where, they had ceased to be dangerous. Titles,
honors, and ceremonial they had in abundance;
but they were deprived of real power. Close
beside them was the royal intendant, an obscure
figure, lost amid the vainglories of the feudal
sunset, but in the name of the king holding the

1663-1763.] GOVERNOR AND INTENDANT. 265
reins of government; a check and a spy on his
gorgeous colleague. He was the king's agent : of
modest birth, springing from the legal class ; owing
his present to the king, and dependent on him for
his future ; learned in the law and trained to ad
ministration. It was by such instruments that the
powerful centrahzation of the monarchy enforced
itself throughout the kingdom, and, penetrating
beneath the crust of old prescriptions, supplanted
without seeming to supplant them. The courtier
noble looked down in the pride of rank on the busy
man in black at his side ; but this man in black, with
the troop of officials at his beck, controlled finance,
the royal courts, public works, and all the admin
istrative business of the province.
The governor-general and the intendant of
Canada answered to those of a French province.
The governor, excepting in the earliest period of
the colony, was a military noble; in most cases
bearing a title and sometimes of high rank. The
intendant, as in France, was usually drawn from
the gens de robe, or legal class.1 The mutual rela
tions of the two officers were modified by the
circumstances about them. The governor was
superior in rank to the intendant ; he commanded
the troops, conducted relations with foreign colo
nies and Indian tribes, and took precedence on ah
occasions of ceremony. Unlike a provincial gov

1 The governor was styled in his commission, Gouverneur et Lieutenant-
General en Canada, Acadie, Isle de Terreneuve, et autres pays de la France
Septentrionale ; and the intendant, Intendant de la Justice, Police, et Finance!
•n Canada, Acadie, Terreneuve, et autres pays de la France Septentrionale

266 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
ernor in France, he had great and substantial
power. The king and the minister, his sole
masters, Avere a thousand leagues distant, and he
controUed the whole mUitary force. If he abused
his position, there was no remedy but in appeal to
the court, which alone could hold him in check.
There were local governors at Montreal and Three
Rivers ; but their power was carefully curbed, and
they were forbidden to fine or imprison any person
without authority from Quebec.1
The intendant was virtuaUy a spy on the gov
ernor-general, of whose proceedings and of every
thing else that took place he was required to make
report. Every year he wrote to the minister of
state, one, two, three, or four letters, often forty or
fifty pages long, filled Avith the secrets of the colony,
pohtical and personal, great and small, set forth with
a minuteness often interesting, often instructive,
and often excessively tedious.2 The governor, too,
wrote letters of pitUess length; and each of the
colleagues was jealous of the letters of the other.
In truth, their relations to each other were so criti
cal, and perfect harmony so rare, that they might
almost be described as natural enemies. The
court, it is certain, did not desire their perfect
accord ; nor, on the other hand, did it wish them
to quarrel : it aimed to keep them on such terms
1 The Sulpitian seigniors of Montreal claimed the right of appointing
their own local governor. This was denied by the court, and the ex
cellent Sulpitian governor, Maisonneuve, was removed by De Tracy, to
die in patient obscurity at Paris. Some concessions were afterwards
made in favor of the Sulpitian claims.
2 I have carefully read about two thousand pages of these letters.

1653-1763.] THE COUNCIL. 267
that, Avithout deranging the machinery of admin
istration, each should be a check on the other.1
The governor, the intendant, and the supreme
council or court, were absolute masters of Canada
under the pleasure of the king. Legislative, judi
cial, and executive power, aU centred in them.
We have seen already the very unpromising be
ginnings of the supreme council. It had consisted
at first of the governor, the bishop, and five coun
ciUors chosen by them. The intendant was soon
added to form the ruling triumvirate ; but the
appointment of the councillors, the occasion of so
many quarrels, was afterwards exercised by the
king himseh.2 Even the name of the council
underAvent a change in the interest of his autoc
racy, and he commanded that it should no longer
be called the Supreme, but only the Superior
CouncU. The same change had just been imposed
on all the hiech tribunals of France.3 Under the
shadow of the fleur-de-lis, the king alone was to
be supreme.
In 1675, the number of councUlors was increased
to seven, and in 1703 it was again increased to
tAArelve ; but the character of the council or court
1 The governor and intendant made frequent appeals to the court to
settle questions arising between them. Several of these appeals are pre
served. The king wrote replies on the margin of the paper, but they
were usually too curt and general to satisfy either party.
2 Declaration du Roi du 16wie Juin, 1703. Appointments were made by
the king many years earlier. As they were always made on the recom
mendation of the governor and intendant, the practical effect of the change
was merely to exclude the bishop from a share in them. The West
India Company made the nominations during the ten years of its as
cendancy. 8 Cheruel, Administration Monarchique en France, II. 100.

268 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
remained the same. It issued decrees for the civU,
commercial, and financial government of the col
ony, and gave judgment in civil and criminal causes
according to the royal ordinances and the Coutume
de Paris. It exercised also the function of reg
istration borrowed from the parliament of Paris.
That body, it will be remembered, had no analogy
whatever with the English parliament. Its ordi
nary functions were not legislative, but judicial ;
and it was composed of judges hereditary under
certain conditions. Nevertheless, it had long acted
as a check on the royal power through its right of
registration. No royal edict had the force of law
till entered upon its books, and this custom had
so deep a root in the monarchical constitution of
France, that even Louis XIV., in the flush of his
power, did not attempt to abolish it. He did better ;
he ordered his decrees to be registered, and the
humbled parhament submissively obeyed. In hke
manner aU edicts, ordinances, or declarations re
lating to Canada were entered on the registers of
the superior council at Quebec. The order of reg
istration was commonly affixed to the edict or other
mandate, and nobody dreamed of disobeying it.1
The councU or court had its attorney-general,
who heard complaints and brought them before
the tribunal if he thought necessary; its secre
tary, Avho kept its registers, and its huissiers or
attendant officers. It sat once a week ; and, though
1 Many general edicts relating to the whole kingdom are also regis
tered on the books of the council, but the practice in this respect was by
no means uniform.

166o-1763.] INFERIOR COURTS. 269
it was the highest court of appeal, it exercised at
first original jurisdiction in very trivial cases.1 It
was empowered to establish subordinate courts or
judges throughout the colony. Besides these there
was a judge appointed by the king for each of the
three districts into which Canada was divided, those
of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. To each
of the three royal judges were joined a clerk and
an attorney-general under the supervision and con
trol of the attorney-general of the superior court, to
which tribunal appeal lay from all the subordinate
jurisdictions. The jurisdiction of the seigniors Avithin
their oavii limits has already been mentioned. They
were entitled by the terms of their grants to the ex
ercise of " high, middle, and low justice ; " but most
of them were practically restricted to the last of
the three, that is, to petty disputes between the
habitans, involving not more than sixty sous, or
offences for which the fine did not exceed ten sous.2
Thus limited, their- judgments Avere often useful
in saving time, trouble, and money to the dispu
tants. The corporate seigniors of Montreal long
continued to hold a feudal court in form, with at
torney-general, clerk, and huissier ; but very few
other seigniors were in a condition to imitate them.
Added to all these tribunals was the bishop's court
at Quebec to try causes held to be within the prov
ince of the church.
1 See the Registres du Conseil Superieur, preserved at Quebec. Be
tween 1663 and 1673 are a multitude of judgments on matters great and
small ; from murder, rape, and infanticide, down to petty nuisances, mis
behavior of servants, and disputes about the price of a sow.
2 Doutre et Lareau, Histoire du Droit Canadien, 135.

270 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763
The office of judge in Canada was no sinecure.
The people were of a litigious disposition, partly
from their Norman blood, partly perhaps from the
idleness of the long and tedious winter, which gave
full leisure for gossip and quarrel, and partly from
the very imperfect manner in which titles had been
draAvn and the boundaries of grants marked out,
whence ensued disputes A\ithout end between
neighbor and neighbor.
" I avUI not say," Avrites the satirical La Hontan,
" that Justice is more chaste and disinterested here
than in France ; but, at least, U she is sold, she is
sold cheaper. We do not pass through the clutches
of advocates, the talons of attorneys, and the claws
of clerks. These vermin do not infest Canada yet.
Everybody pleads his OAvn cause. Our Themis is
prompt, and she does not bristle Avith fees, costs, and
charges. The j udges haAre only four hundred francs
a year, a great temptation to look for law in the
bottom of the suitor's purse. Four hundred francs !
Not enough to buy a cap and gOAvn, so these gentry
never wear them." x
Thus far La Hontan. Now let us hear the kino;
himself. " The greatest disorder which has hith
erto existed in Canada," writes Louis XIV. to
the intendant Meules, " has come from the small
degree of liberty which the officers of justice have
had in the discharge of their duties, by reason of
the violence to Avhich they have been subjected,
and the part they have been obliged to take in the
1 La Hontan, I. 21 (ed. 1705). In some editions, the above is ex
pressed in different language.

1663-1763.] THE COUNCILLORS. 271
continual quarrels betAveen the governor and the
intendant ; insomuch that justice having been ad
ministered by cabal and animosity, the inhabitants
have hitherto been far from the tranquillity and
repose which cannot be found in a place Avhere
eArerybody is compeUed to take side Avith one
party or another."1
Nevertheless, on ordinary local questions be
tween the habitants, justice seems to have been
administered on the whole fairly; and judges of
all grades often interposed in their personal ca
pacity to bring parties to an agreement Avithout a
trial. From head to foot, the government kept its
attitude of paternity.
Beyond and above aU the regular tribunals, be •
yond and above the councU itself, was the inde
pendent jurisdiction lodged in the person of the
king's man, the intendant. His commission em
powered him, U he saAV fit, to caU any cause Avhat-
ever before himself for judgment; and he judged
exclusively the cases Avhich concerned the king,
and those involving the relations of seignior and
vassal.2 He appointed subordinate judges, from
whom there was appeal to him; but from his
decisions, as Avell as from those of the superior
council, there was no appeal but to the king in liis
council of state.
On any Monday morning one would have founu
the superior council in session in the antechamber
1 Instruction du Roy pour le Sieur de Meules, 1682.
2 See the commissions of various intendants, in Edits et Ordonnances
HI.

272 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
of the governor's apartment, at the Chateau St.
Louis. The members sat at a round table. At the
head was the governor, with the bishop on his right,
and the intendant on his left. The councUlors sat
in the order of their appointment, and the attor-
ne}r-general also had his place at the board. As
La Hontan says, they were not in judicial robes,
but in their ordinary dress, and all but the bishop
wore SAvords.1 The want of the cap and gown
greatly disturbed the intendant Meules, and he begs
the minister to consider how important it is that
the counciUors, in order to inspire respect, should
appear in pubhc in long black robes, which on
occasions of ceremony they should exchange for
robes of red. He thinks that the principal persons
of the colony would thus be induced to train up
their chUdren to so enAiable a dignity ; " and," he
concludes, " as none of the councUlors can afford
to buy red robes, I hope that the king will vouch
safe to send out nine such. As for the black robes,
they can furnish those themselves." 2 The king
did not respond, and the nine robes never arrived.
The official dignity of the councU was sometimes
exposed to trials against which even red gowns
might have proved an insufficient protection. The
same intendant urges that the tribunal ought to be
provided immediately with a house of its own.
'•It is not decent," he says, "that it should sit
in the governor's antechamber any longer. His
guards and valets make such a noise, that we can-
1 Compare La Poterie, I. 260, and La Tour, Vie de Laval, Liv. VH.
< Meules au Ministre, 28 Sent. 1685.

1663-1763.J THE COUNCILLORS. 273
not hear each other speak. I have continually to
tell them to keep quiet, which causes them to
make a thousand jokes at the counciUors as they
pass in and out." ' As the governor and the
council were often on ill terms, the official head of
the colony could not always be trusted to keep his
attendants on their good behavior. The minister
listened to the complaint of Meules, and adopted
his suggestion that the government should buy the
old breAvery of Talon, a large structure of mingled
timber and masonry on the banks of the St.
Charles. It Avas at an easy distance from the
chateau ; passing the HStel Dieu and descending
the rock, one reached it by a walk of a few
minutes. It was accordingly repaired, partly
rebuilt, and fitted up to serve the double purpose
of a lodging for the intendant and a court-hous^e.
Henceforth the transformed brewery was known
as the Palace of the Intendant, or the Palace of
Justice ; and here the council and inferior courts
long continued to hold their sessions.
Some of these inferior courts appear to have
naeded a lodging quite as much as the councU.
The watchful Meules informs the minister that the
royal judge for the district of Quebec was accus
tomed in winter, with a view to saving fuel, to
hear causes and pronounce judgment by his own
fireside, in the midst of bis children, whose gambols
listurbed the even distribution of justice.2
The superior council was not a very harmonious
l Meules au Minislre, 12 Nov., 1684. i Ibid.
18

274 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1603-1763,
body. As its three chiefs, the man of the sword,
the man of the church, and the man of the law,
were often at variance, the councillors, attached
themselves to one party or the other, and hot dis
putes sometimes ensued. The intendant, though
but third in rank, presided at the sessions, took
votes, pronounced judgment, signed papers, and
called special meetings. This matter of the presi
dency Avas for some time a source of contention
between him and the governor, till the question
was set at rest by a decree of the king.
The intendants in their reports to the minister
do not paint the council in flattering colors. One
of them complains that the counciUors, being busy
with their farms, neglect their official duties.
Another says that they are all more or less in
tr^de. A third calls them uneducated persons of
slight account, allied to the chief families and chief
merchants in Canada, in whose interest they make
laws ; and he adds that, as a year and a half or
even two years usually elapse before the ansAver
to a complaint is received from France, they take
advantage of this long interval to the injury of
the king's service.1 These and other similar
charges betray the continual friction between the
several branches of the government.
The councUlors Avere rarely changed, and they
usuaUy held office for hfe. In a feAv cases the
king granted to the son of a councillor yet living
the right of succeeding his father Avhen the charge
1 Meules au Ministre, 12 Nov 1684.

166C-17WJ.] THE INTENDANT. 275
should become vacant.1 It was a post of honor
and not of profit, at least of direct profit. The
salaries were very small, and coupled with a pro
hibition to receive fees.
Judging solely by the terms of his commission,
the intendant was the ruling power in the colony.
He controlled all expenditure of public money,
and not only presided at the council but was
clothed in his own person with independent legis-
latiATe as well as judicial power. He was author
ized to issue ordinances having the force of law
whenever he thought necessary, and, in the words
of his commission, " to order every thing as he
shall see just and proper." 2 He was directed to
be present at councils of war, though war was the
special province of his colleague, and to protect
soldiers and all others from official extortion and
abuse ; that is, to protect them from the governor.
Yet there were practical difficulties in the way of
his apparent power. The king, his master, was
far aAvay; but official jealousy Avas busy around
him, and his patience was sometimes put to the
proof. Thus the royal judge of Quebec had fallen
into irregularities. " I can do nothing with him,"
writes the intendant ; " he keeps on good terms
with the governor and council and sets me at
naught." The governor had, as he thought, treated
him amiss. " You have told me," he writes to the
1 A son of Amours was named in his father's lifetime to succeed him,
as was also a son of the attorney-general Auteuil. There are several
other cases. A son of Tilly, to whom the right of succeeding his father
had been granted, asks leave to sell it to the merchant La Chesnaye.
2 Commissions of Bouteroue, Duchesneau, Meules, etc.

276 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
minister, " to bear every thing from him and report
to you ; " and he proceeds to recount his grievances
Again, " the attorney-general is bold to insolence,
and needs to be repressed. The ldng's interposi
tion is necessary." He modestly adds that the in
tendant is the only man in Canada Avhom his Majesty
can trust, and that he ought to have more power.1
These Avere far from being his only troubles.
The enormous poAvers Avith Avhich his comnnssion
clothed him Avere sometimes retrenched by contra
dictory instructions from the king ; 2 for this gov
ernment, not of laAVS but of arbitrary AviU, is marked
by frequent inconsistencies. When he quarrelled
Avith the governor, and the governor chanced to
have strong friends at court, his position became
truly pitiable. He Avas berated as an imperious mas
ter berates an offending servant. " Your last letter
is full of nothing but complaints." "You have
exceeded your authority." " Study to know your
self and to understand clearly the difference there
is betAveen a goArernor and an intendant." " Since
you fail to comprehend the difference betAveen you
and the officer Avho represents the ldng's person,
you are in danger of being often condemned, or '
rather of being recaUed, for his Majesty cannot
endure so many petty complaints, founded on
nothing but a certain quasi equality betAveen the
governor and you, Avhich you assume, but which
f
1 Meules au Minislre, 12 Nov., 1684.
2 Thus, Meules is flatly forbidden to compel litigants to bring
causes before him (Instruction pour le Sieur de Meules, 1682), and this pro-
uibition is nearly of the same date with the commission in which the
power to do so is expressly given him.

1663-1763] THE INTENDANT. 277
does not exist." "Meddle with nothing beyond
your functions." " Take good care to tell me
nothing but the truth." " You ask too many favors
for your adherents." " You must not spend more
than you have authority to spend, or it Avill be
taken out of your pay." In short, there are several
letters from the minister Colbert to his colonial
man-of-all-Avork, Avhich, from beginning to end,
are one continued scold.1
The luckless intendant was liable to be held to
account for the action of natural laAvs. " If the
population does not increase in proportion to the
pains I take," Avrites the king to Duchesneau, "you
are to lay the blame on yourseh for not having
executed my principal order (to promote marriages)
and for having failed in the principal object for
Avhich I sent you to Canada."2
A great number of ordinances of intendants are
preserved. They Avere usually read to the people
at the doors of churches after mass, or sometimes
by the cure from his pulpit. They relate to a
great Arariety of subjects, — regulation of inns and
markets, poaching, preservation of game, sale of
brandy, rent of peAvs, stray hogs, mad dogs, tithes,
matrimonial quarrels, fast dri\ing, wards and guar
dians, weights and measures, nuisances, value of
coinage, trespass on lands, building churches, observ
ance of Sunday, preservation of timber, seignior
and vassal, settlement of boundaries, and many
1 The above examples are all taken from the letters of Colbert to the
intendant Duchesneau. It is an extreme case, but other intendants aro
occasionally treated with scarcely more ceremony.
* le Roi a Duchesneau, 11 Juin, 1680.

278 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763
other matters. If a cure with some of his parish
ioners reported that his church op his house needed
repair or rebuilding, the intendant issued an ordi
nance requiring aU the inhabitants of the parish,
"both those Avho have consented and those Avho
have not consented," to contribute materials and
labor, on pain of fine or other penalty.1 The militia
captain of the cote was to direct the work and see
that each parishioner did his due part, which was
determined by the extent of his farm ; so, too, if
the grand voyer, an officer charged with the super
intendence of highways, reported that a new road
was wanted or that an old one needed mending,
an ordinance of the intendant set the whole neiscb-
borhood at work upon it, directetl, as in the other
case, by the captain of militia. If children Avere
left fatherless, the intendant ordered the cure of
the parish to assemble their relations or friends for
the choice of a guardian. If a censitaire did not
clear his land and live on it, the intendant took it
from him and gave it back to the seignior.2
Chimney-sweeping having been neglected at
Quebec, the intendant commands all householders
promptly to do their duty in this respect, and at
the same time fixes the pay of the sweep at six
sous a chimney. Another order forbids quarreUing
in church. Another assigns pews in due order of
precedence to the seignior, the captain of militia,
and the wardens. The intendant Raudot, who seejas
1 See, among many examples, the ordinance of 24th December, 1715.
Edits et Ordonnances, II. 443.
2 Compare the numerous ordinances printed in the second and third
volumes of Edits et Ordonnances.

1663-1763.] ABSOLUTISM. 279
to have been inspired even more than the others
with the spirit of paternal intervention, issued a
mandate to the effect that, whereas the people of
Montreal raise too many horses, which prevents
them from raising cattle and sheep, " being therein
ignorant of their true interest. . . . Now, therefore,
Ave command that each inhabitant of the cotes of
this government shall hereafter own no more than
tvro horses or mares and one foal ; the same to take
effect after the sowing-season of the ensuing year,
1710, giving them time to rid themselves of their
horses in excess of said number, after Avhich they
wiU be required to kiU any of such excess that may
remain in their possession." 1 Many other ordi
nances, if not equally preposterous, are equaUy
stringent ; such, for example, as that of the inten
dant Bigot, in which, with a vieAv of promoting
agriculture, and protecting the morals of the farmers
by saving them from the temptations of cities, he
proclaims to them : " We prohibit and forbid you
to remove to this town ( Quebec) under any pretext
whatever, without our permission in writing, on
pain of being expelled and sent back to your farms,
your furniture and goods confiscated, and a fine of
fifty livres laid on you for the benefit of the hos
pitals. And, furthermore, we forbid all inhabitants
of the city to let houses or rooms to persons coming
from the country, on pain of a fine of a hundred
livres, also applicable to the hospitals." 2 At about
the same time a royal edict, designed to prevent
the undue subdivision of farms, forbade the country
- Edits et Ordonnances, II. 273. 2 Ibid., II. 399.

i
280 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763
people, except such as were authorized to live in
villages, to build a house or barn on any piece of
land less than one and a half arpents Avide and
tliirty arpents long ; J while a subsequent ordinance
of the intendant commands the immediate demoli
tion of certain houses buUt in contravention of the
edict.2 The spirit of absolutism is everywhere apparent.
" It is of very great consequence," writes the in
tendant Meules, " that the people should not be
left at liberty to speak their minds."3
Hence public meetings were jealously restricted.
Even those held by parishioners under the eye of
the cure to estimate the cost of a neAV church seem
to have required a special license from the inten
dant. During a number of years a meeting of the
principal inhabitants of Quebec Avas called in spring
and autumn by the council to discuss the price and
quality of bread, the supply of fireAvood, and other
similar matters. The council commissioned tAvo of
its members to preside at these meetings, and on
hearing their report took Avhat action it thought
best. Thus, after the meeting held in February,
1686, it issued a decree, in Avhich, after a long and
formal preamble, it solemnly ordained, " that be
sides Avhite-bread and light brown-bread, all bakers
shall hereafter make dark broAvn-bread Avhenever
the same shall be required." i Such assemblies, so
controlled, could scarcely, one Avould think, wound
' Edits et Ordonnances, I. 585. 2 Ibid., II. 400.
3 " II ne laisse pas d'etre de tres grande consequence de ne pas laissei
la liberie au peuple de dire son sentiment." — Meules au Minislre, 1685.
* Edits et Ordonnances, II. 112.

lo63-1763.] ABSOLUTISM. 281
the tenderest susceptibilities of authority ; yet
there was evident distrust of them, and after a
feAV years this modest shred of self-government is
seen no more. The syndic, too, that functionary
Avhom the people of the towns Avere at first alloAAred
to choose, under the eye of the authorities, was
conjured out of existence by a word from the king.
Seignior, censitaire, and citizen Avere prostrate alike
in flat subjection to the royal avUI. They Avere not
free even to go home to France. No inhabitant.
of Canada, man or Avoman, could do so Avithout
eave ; and several intendants express their belief
that Avithout this precaution there Avould soon be a
faUing off in the population.
In 1671 the council issued a curious decree.
One Paul Dupuy had been heard to say that there
is nothing like righting one's seh, and that when
the English cut off the head of Charles I. they did
a good thing, Avith other discourse to the like effect
The council declared him guilty of speaking ill o
royalty in the person of the king of England, ana
uttering Avords tending to sedition. He Avas con
demned to be dragged from prison by the public
executioner, and led in his shirt, with a rope about
his neck, and a torch in his hand, to the gate of
the Chateau St. Louis, there to beg pardon of the
king ; thence to the pillory of the Lower Town to
be branded with a fleur-de-lis on the cheek, and
set in the stocks for half an hour ; then to be led
back to prison, and put in irons " till the informa
tion against him shall be completed." *
1 Jugemenls et Deliberations du Conseil Suptriewr.

282 THE RULERS OF CANADA. ^1063-1763.
If irreverence to royalty was thus rigorously
chastised, irreverence to God was threatened with
still sharper penalties. Louis XIV., ever haunted
with the fear of the devil, sought protection against
him by his famous edict against swearing, duly
registered on the books of the councU at Quebec.
" It is our will and pleasure," says this pious man
date. " that all persons convicted of profane swear
ing or blaspheming the name of God, the most
Holy Virgin, his mother, or the saints, be con
demned for the first offence to a pecuniary fine
according to their possessions and the greatness
and enormity of the oath and blasphemy ; and if
those thus punished repeat the said oaths, then for
the second, third, and fourth time they shall be
condemned to a double, triple, and quadruple fine ;
and for the fifth time, they shaU be set in the
pillory on Sunday or other festival days, there to
remain from eight in the morning till one in the
afternoon, exposed to aU sorts of opprobrium and
abuse, and be condemned besides to a heavy fine ;
and for the sixth time, they shall be led to the
pUlory, and there have the upper lip cut with a
hot iron ; and for the seventh time, they shall be
led to the pillory and have the lower hp cut ; and
U, by reason of obstinacy and inveterate bad habit,
they continue after all these punishments to utter
the said oaths and blasphemies, it is our. wiU and
command that they have the tongue completely
cut out, so that thereafter they cannot utter them
again." : AU those who. should hear anybody
1 Edit du Roy contre les Jureurs et Blasphemateurs, du 30me Juillct, 1666.
See Edits et Ordonnances, I. 62.

1663-1763.J CANADIAN JUSTICE. 283
swear Avere further required to report the fact to
the nearest judge Avithin tAventy-four hours, on
pain of fine.
This is far from being the only instance in which
the temporal power lends aid to the spiritual.
Among other cases, the following is Avorth men
tioning : Louis Gaboury, an inhabitant of the island
of Orleans, charged with eating meat in Lent Avith
out asking leave of the priest, was condemned by
the local judge to be tied three hours to a stake
in public, and then led to the door of the chapel,
there on his knees, with head bare and hands
clasped, to ask pardon of God and the king. The
culprit appealed to the council, which revoked the
sentence and imposed only a fine.1
The due subordination of households had its
share of attention. Servants Avho deserted their
masters Avere to be set in the pillory for the first
offence, and whipped and branded for the second ;
while any person harboring them was to pay a fine
of twenty francs.2 On the other hand, nobody was
allowed to employ a servant Avithout a license.3
In case of heinous charges, torture of the accused
was permitted under the French laAv ; and it was
sometimes practised in Canada. ' Condemned mur
derers and felons were occasionally tortured before
being strangled ; and the dead body, enclosed in a
kind of iron cage, was left hanging for months at
the top of Cape Diamond, a terror to children and
a warning to evil-doers. Yet, on the whole, Cana-
1 Doutre et Lareaii, Histoire du Droit Canadien, 163..
2 Reglement de Police, 1676.
8 Edits et Ordonnances, II. 53.

281 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
dian justice, tried by the standard of the time, was
neither vindictive nor cruel.
In reading the voluminous correspondence of
governors and intendants, the minister and the
king, nothing is more apparent than the interest
with Avhich, in the early part of his reign, Louis
XIV. regarded his colony. One of the faults of
his rule is the excess of his beneA^olence ; for not
only did he give money to support parish priests,
build churches, and aid the seminary, the Ursulines,
the missions, and the hospitals ; but he established
a fund destined, among other objects, to relieve
indigent persons, subsidized nearly eA^cry branch
of trade and industry, and in other instances did
for the colonists Avhat they woidd far better have
learned to do for themselves.
Meamvhile the officers of gOA'ernment Avere far
from suffering from an excess of royal beneficence.
La Hontan says that the local governor of Three
Rivers would die of hunger if, besides his pay, he
did not gain something by trade with the Indians ;
and that Perrot, local governor of Montreal, Avith
one thousand croAvns of salary, traded to such pur
pose that in a few years he made fifty thousand
crowns. This trade, it may be observed, was in vio
lation of the royal edicts. The pay of the governor-
general varied from time to time. When La Poterie
wrote it was tAvelve thousand francs a year, bepides
three thousand winch he received in his capacity
of local governor of Quebec.1 This Avould hardly
1 In 1074, the governor-general received 20,718 francs, out of which
he was to pay 8,718 to his guard of twenty men aid officers. Ordon

1063-1763.] ABUSES. 285
tempt a Frenchman of rank to expatriate himself ;
and yet some, at least, of the governors came out
to the colony for the express purpose of mending
their fortunes ; indeed, the higher nobility could
scarcely, in time of peace, have other motives for
going there. The court and the army Avere their
element, and to be elseAvhere Avas banishment. We
shaU see hereafter by Avhat means they sought
compensation for their exile in Canadian forests.
Loud complaints sometimes found their Avay to
Versailles. A memorial addressed to the regent
duke of Orleans, immediately after the king's death,
declares that the ministers -of state, Avho have been
the real managers of the colony, have made their
creatures and relations governors and intendants,
and set them free from all responsibility. High
colonial officers, pursues the Avriter, come home
rich, Avhile the colony languishes almost to perish
ing.1 As for lesser offices, they Avere multiplied
to satisfy needy retainers, till lean and starving
Canada Avas covered Avith official leeches, sucking,
in famished desperation, at her bloodless veins.
The Avhole system of administration centred in
nance du Roy, 1675. Yet in 1677, in the Etat de la Depense que le Roy veut
et ordonne estre faite, etc., the total pay of the governor-general is set
iown at 3,000 francs, and so also in 1681, 1682, and 1687. The local
governor of Montreal was to have 1,800 francs, and the governor of
Three Rivers 1,200. It is clear, however, that this Etat de depense is not
complete, as there is no provision for the intendant. The first councillor
received 500 francs, and the rest 300 francs each, equal in Canadian
money to 400. An ordinance of 1676 gives the intendant 12,000 francs.
It is tolerably clear that the provision of 3,000 francs for the governor-
general was meant only to apply to Ills capacity of local governor of
Quebec. 1 Mifmoire addresse au Regent, 1715

286 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763
the king, Avho, to borrow the formula of his edicts,
" in the fulness of our power and our certain knowl
edge," Avas supposed to direct the whole machine,
from its highest functions to its pettiest interven
tion in private affairs. That this theory, like ah
extreme theories of goA'ernment, Avas an illusion,
is no faidt of Louis XIV. Hard-working monarch
as he. Avas, he spared no pains to guide his distant
colony in the paths of prosperity. The prolix
letters of governors and intendants were carefully
studied ; and many of the replies, signed by the
royal hand, enter into details of surprising minute
ness. That the king himself wrote these letters is
incredible ; but in the early part of his reign he
certainly directed and controlled them. At a later
time, Avhen more absorbing interests engrossed
him, he could no longer study in person the long-
winded despatches of his Canadian officers. They
Avere usually addressed to the minister of state,
who caused abstracts to be made from them, for
the king's use, and perhaps for his own.1 The
minister or the minister's secretary could suppress
or color as he or those who influenced him saw fit.
In the latter half of his too long reign, when
cares, calamities, and humiliations Avere thickening
around the king, another influence was added to
make the theoretical supremacy of his royal Avill
more than ever a mockery. That prince of annal
ists, Saint-Simon, has painted Louis XIV. ruling
his realm from the bedchamber of Madame de
' Many of these abstracts are still preserved in the Archives of the
Marine and Colonies.

1663-1768.] THE KING AND THE MINISTER. 287
Maintenon; seated with his minister at a small
table beside the fire, the king in an arm-chair, the
minister on a stool Avith his bag of papers on a
second stool near him. In another arm-chair, at
another table, on the other side of the fire, sat the
sedate favorite, busy to all appearance with a book
or a piece of tapestry, but hstening to every thing
that passed. " She rarely spoke," says Saint-Simon,
" except when the king asked her opinion, which
he often did ; and then she answered Avith great
deliberation and gravity. She never or very rarely
showed a partiality for any measure, stUl less for
any person ; but she had an understanding Avith the
minister, who never dared do otherAvise than she
wished. Whenever any favor or appointment Avas
in question, the business was settled betAveen them
beforehand. She would send to the minister that
she Avanted to speak to him, and he did not dare
bring the matter on the carpet till he had received
her orders." Saint-Simon next recounts the subtle
methods by Avhich Maintenon and the minister,
her tool, beguiled the king to do their avUI, Avhile
never doubting that he was doing his own. " He
thought," concludes the annalist, " that it Avas he
alone Avho disposed of aU appointments ; Avhile in
reality he disposed of very few indeed, except on
the rare occasions Avhen he had taken a fancy to
somebody, or when somebody whom he wanted to
favor had spoken to him in behalf of somebody
else."1 l Memoires du Due de Saint-Simon, XIII. 38, 39 (Cheruel, 1857). Saint-
Simon, notwithstanding the independence of his character, held a high

288 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763
Add to all this the rarity of communication with
the distant colony. The ships from France arrived
at Quebec in July, August, or September, and
returned in November. The machine of Canadian
government, wound up once a year, Avas expected
to run unaided at least a twelvemonth. Indeed,
it Avas often left to itself for two years, such Avas
sometimes the tardiness of the overburdened gov
ernment in ansAvering the despatches of its colonial
agents. It is no matter of surprise that a writer
well versed in its affairs caUs Canada the " country
of abuses." 1
position at court ; and his acute and careful observation, joined to his
familiar acquaintance with ministers and other functionaries, both in and
out of office, gives a rare value to his matchless portraitures.
1 Etat present du Canada, 1758.

CHAPTER XVLT.
1663-1763.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
Trade in Fetters. — The Huguenot Merchants. — Royal Pat
ronage. — The Fisheries. — Cries for Help. — Agriculture.
— Manufactures. — Arts of Ornament. — Finance. — Card
Money. — Repudiation. — Imposts. — The Beaver Trade. —
The Fair at Montreal. — Contraband Trade. — A Fatal
System. — Trouble and Change. — The Coureurs de Bois.
— The Forest. — Letter of Carheil.
We have seen the head of the colony, its guiding
intellect and wUl : it remains to observe its organs
of nutrition. Whatever they might have been
under a different treatment, they were perverted
and enfeebled by the regimen to which they were
subjected. The spirit of restriction and monopoly had rided
from the beginning. The old governor Lauson,
seignior for a while of a great part of the colony,
held that Montreal had no right to trade directly
with France, but must draw all her supplies from
Quebec ; 1 and this preposterous claim was revived
in the time of Me'zy. The successive companies
to whose hands the colony was consigned had a
baneful effect on individual enterprise. In 1674,
1 Faillon, Colonic Francaise, II. 244.
19

290 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
the charter of the West India Company was revoked,
and trade was declared open to all subjects of the
king ; yet commerce was still condemned to wear
the ball and chain. New restrictions were imposed,
meant for good, but resulting in eArU. Merchants
not resident in the. colony were forbidden all trade,
direct or indirect, with the Indians.1 They were
also forbidden to sell any goods at retail except in
August, September, and October;2 to trade any
where in Canada above Quebec ; and to sell clothing
or domestic articles ready made. This last restric
tion was designed to develop colonial industry.
No person, resident or not, could trade with the
Enghsh colonies, or go thither without a special
passport, and rigid examination by the military
authorities.3 Foreign trade of any kind was stiffly
prohibited. In 1719, after a new company had
engrossed the beaver trade, its agents were empow
ered to enter all houses in Canada, Avhether eccle
siastical or secular, and search them for foreign
goods, Avhich when found Avere publicly burned.1
In the next year, the royal council ordered that
vessels engaged in foreign trade should be captured
by force of arms, hke pirates, and confiscated along
with their cargoes;5 while anybody having an
article of foreign manufacture in his possession
was subjected to a heavy fine.6
Attempts were made to fix the exact amount
of profit which merchants from France should be
1 Regkment de Police, 1676, Art. xl.
* Edits et Ord., II. 100. 8 Rnd., I. 489.
« Ibid., I. 402. 5 Ibid., I. 425. « Ibid., I. 505.

1:53-1763.] HERESY AND TRADE. 201
alloAved to make in the colony. 'One of the first
acts of the superior council was to order them to
bring their invoices immediately before that body,
which thereupon affixed prices to each article.
The merchant who sold and the purchaser avIio
bought above this tariff were alike condemned
to heavy penalties; and so, too, was the mer
chant who chose to keep his goods rather than
sell them at the price ordained.1 Resident mer
chants, on the other hand, were favored to the
utmost. They could sell at what price they saw
fit ; and, according to La Hontan, they made great
profit by the sale of laces, ribbons, watches, jewels,
and similar superfluities to the poor but extravagant
colonists. A considerable number of the non-resident mer
chants were Hugueuots, for most of the importa
tions were from the old Huguenot city of Rochelle.
No iavor was shown them ; they were held under
rigid restraint, and forbidden to exercise their
religion, or to remain in the colony during winter
without special license.2 This sometimes bore very
hard upon them. The governor Denonville, an
ardent Catholic, states the case of one Bernon, who
had done great service to the colony, and whom
La Hontan mentions as the principal French mer
chant in the Canadian trade. " It is a pity," says
Denonville, " that he cannot be converted. As he
is a Huguenot, the bishop wants me to order him
home this autumn, which I have done, though he
i Edits et Ord., II. 17, 19.
¦< Reglement de Police, 1676. Art. xxxvii.

292 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
carries on a large business, and a great deal of
money remains due to him here." '
For a long time the ships from France went
home empty, except a favored few which carried
furs, or occasionaUy a load of dried pease or of
timber. Payment was made in money Avhen there
was any in Canada, or in bUls of exchange. The
colony, draAving every thing from France, and
returning little besides beaver skins, remained
under a load of debt. French merchants Avere dis
couraged, and shipments from France languished.
As for the trade Avith the West Indies, which Talon
had tried by precept and example to buUd up, the
intendant reports in 1680 that it had nearly ceased ;
though six years later it greAV again to the modest
proportions of three vessels loaded with wheat.2
The besetting evil of trade and industry in
Canada was the habit they contracted, and were
encouraged to contract, of depending on the direct
aid of government. Not a neAV enterprise was set
on foot Avithout a petition to the king to lend a
helping hand. Sometimes the petition Avas sent
through the governor, sometimes through the in
tendant ; and it was rarely refused. Denonville
Avrites that the merchants of Quebec, by a com
bined effort, had sent a vessel of sixty tons to
France Avith colonial produce ; and he asks that
the royal commissaries at Rochefort be instructed
to buy the Avhole cargo, in order to encourage so
1 Denonville au Minislre, 1685.
'l Ibid., 1686. The year before, about 18,000 minots of grain were sent
hither. In 1736, the shipments reached 80,000 minots.

1663-1763.] ROYAL PATRONAGE. 293
deserving an enterprise. One Hazeur set up a
saw-mill, at Mai Bay. Finding a large stock of
planks and timber on his hands, he begs the king
to send two vessels to carry them to France ; and
the king accordingly did so. A similar request
was made in behalf of another saw-null at St. Paul's
Bay. Denonville announces that one Riverin
wishes to embark in the whale and cod fishery,
and that though strong in zeal he is weak in re
sources. The minister replies, that he is to be
encouraged, and that his Majesty will favorably
consider his enterprise.1 Various gUts were soon
after made him. He now took to himself a part
ner, the Sieur Chalons ; whereupon the governor
writes to ask the minister's protection for them.
" The Basques," he says, " formerly carried on this
fishery, but some monopoly or other put a stop to
it." The remedy he proposes is homoeopathic.
He asks another monopoly for the two partners.
Louis Joliet, the discoverer of the Mississippi, made
a fishing station on the island of Anticosti ; and he
begs help from the king, on the ground that his
fishery will furnish a good and useful employment
I (j young men. The Sieur Vitry wished to begin
a fisher}- of white porpoises, and he begs the king
1 The interest felt by the king in these matters is shown in a letter
signed by his hand in which he enters with considerable detail into the
plans of Riverin. Le Roy d Denonville et Champigny, 1 Mai, 1689. He
afterwards ordered boats, harpooners, and cordage to be sent him, for
which he was to pay at his convenience. Four years later, he com
plains that, though Riverin had been often helped, his fisheries were of
slight account. "Let him take care," pursues the king, "that he does
not use his enterprises as a pretext to obtain favors." Memoire du Roy
i Frontenac et Champigny, 1 693

294 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-176..
to give him twO thousand pounds of cod-hne and
two thousand pounds . of one and two inch rope.
His request was granted, on which he asked for
five hundred hvres. The money was given him,
and the next year he asked to have the gtft
renewed.1 The king was very anxious to develop the fish
eries of the colony. "His Majesty," writes the
minister, " wishes you to induce the inhabitants to
unite with the merchants for this object, and to
incite them by aU sorts of means to overcome their
natural laziness, since there is no other way of
saving them from the misery in which they noAV
are." 2 "I wish," says the zealous DenonvUle,
" that fisheries could be weU established to give
employment to our young men, and prevent them
from running wUd in the woods;" and he adds
mournfully, "they (the fisheries) are enriching
Boston at our expense." ".They are our true
mines," urges the intendant Meules; "but the
English of Boston have got possession of those of
Acadia, which belong to us ; and we ought to pre
vent it." It Avas not preArented ; and the Canadian

1 All the above examples are drawn from the correspondence of the
governor and intendant with the minister, between 1680 and 1699, to
gether with a memorial of Hazeur and another of Riverin, addressed to
the minister.
Virry's porpoise-fishing appears to have ended in failure. In 1707 the
intendant Raudot granted the porpoise fishery of the seigniory of Riviere
Ouelle to six of the habitans. This fishery is carried on here successfully
at the present day. A very interesting account of it was published in the
Opinion Publique, 1873, by my friend Abbe Casgrain, whose family resi
dence is the seigniorial mansion of Riviere Ouelle.
i Memoire pour Denonville et Champigny, 8 Mars, 1688.

1063-1763.] THE FISHERIES. 295
fisheries, like other branches of Canadian industry,
remained in a state of almost hopeless languor.1
The government applied various stimulants. One
of these, proposed by the intendant Duchesneau, is
characteristic. He advises the formation of a com
pany which should have the exclusive right of
exporting fish; but which on its part should be
required to take, at a fixed price, all that the in
habitants should bring them. This notable plan
did not find favor with the king.2 It was practised,
however, in the case of beaver sldns, and also in
that of wood-ashes. The farmers of the revenue
Aver«> required to take this last commodity at a
fixed price, on their own risk, and in any quantity
offered. They remonstrated, saying that it was
unsalable ; adding that, if the inhabitants would
but take the trouble to turn it into potash, it might
be possible to find a market for it. The king
released them entirely, coupling his order to that
effect with a eulogy of free trade.8
In all departments of industry, the appeals for
help are endless. Governors and intendants are
so many sturdy beggars for the languishing colony.
1 The Canadian fisheries must not be confounded with the French
fisheries of Newfoundland, which were prosperous, but were carried on
wholly from French ports.
In a memorial addressed by the partners Chalons and Riverin to the
minister Seignelay, they say: "Baston (Boston) et toute sa colonie nous
donne un exemple qui fait honte a nostre nation, puisqu'elle s'augmente
tous les jours par cette pesche (de la morue) qu'elle fait la plus grande
partie sur nos costes pendant que les Francois ne s'occupent a rien."
Meules urges that the king should undertake the fishing business himself,
Bince his subjects cannot or will not.
2 Ministre a Duchesneau, 15 Mai, 1678.
8 Le Roy a Duchesneau, 11 Juin, 1680.

296 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
" Send us money to buUd storehouses, to which the
habitants can bring their produce and receive
goods from the government in exchange." " Send
us a teacher to make saUors of our young men :
it is a pity the colony should remain in such a
state for want of instruction for youth."1 "We
want a surgeon : there is none in Canada who can
set a bone."2 "Send us some tilers, brick-makers,
and potters." 3 " Send us iron-workers to work our
mines."4 "It is to be wished that his Majesty
would send us aU sorts of artisans, especially pot
ters and glass-workers." B " Our Canadians need
aid and instruction in their fisheries; they need
pilots." 6
In 1688, the intendant reported that Canada
Avas entirely without either pUots or sailors ; and,
as late as 1712, the engineer Catalogne informed
the government that, though the St. Lawrence was
dangerous, a pUot was rarely to be had. " There
ought to be trade with the West Indies and other
places," urges another writer. "Everybody says
it is best, but nobody wUl undertake it. Our mer
chants are too poor, or else are engrossed by the
fur trade." 7
The languor of commerce made agriculture lan
guish. "It is of no use now," writes Meules,
1 Memoire a Monseiqneur le Marquis de Seignelay, presente par lei Sieurt
Chalons et Riverin, 1686.
2 Champigny au Mlnistre, 1688.
' Ibid.
* Denonville au Ministre, 1686.
6 Memoire de Catalogne, 1712.
6 Denonville au Ministre, 1686.
7 Memoire de Chalons et Riverin presente au Marquis de Seignelay

(663-1763.] MANUFACTURES. 297
in 1682, "to raise any crops except what each
family wants for itself." In vain the government
sent out seeds for distribution. In vain intendants
lectured the farmers, and lavished well-meant ad
vice. Tillage remained careless and sloA'enly.
" If," says the aU-observing Catalogne, " the soil
were not better cultivated in Europe than here,
three-fourths of the people would starve." He
complains that the festivals of the church are so
numerous that not ninety 'working clays are left
during the whole working season. The people, he
says, ought to be compelled to build granaries to
store their crops, instead of selling them in autumn
for almost nothing, and every habitant should be
required to keep two or three sheep. The intend
ant Champigny calls for seed of hemp and flax,
and promises to visit the farms, and show the
people the lands best suited for their culture. He
thinks that favors should be granted to those who
raise hemp and flax as weU as to those who marry.
Denonville is of opinion that each habitant should
be compelled to raise a little hemp every year,
and that the king should then buy it of him at a
high price.1 It wUl be well, he says, to make use
of severity, while, at the same time, holding out
a hope of gain ; and he begs that weavers be sent
out to teach the women and girls, who spend the
winter in idleness, how to weave and spin. Weav
ing and spinning, however, as well as the culture
of hemp and flax, were neglected till 1705, when
the loss of a ship laden with goods for the colony
' Denonville au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1685.

298 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1703
gave the spur to home industry ; and Madame de
Repentigny set the example of making a kind of
coarse blanket of nettle and linden bark.1
The jealousy of colonial manufactures shown by
England appears but rarely in the relations of
France with Canada. According to its light, the
French government usually did its best to stimu
late Canadian industry, Avith what results we have
just seen. There was afterwards some improve
ment. In 1714, the intendant Begon reported that
coarse fabrics of wool and hnen were made ; that
the sisters of the congregation wore cloth for their
own habits as good as the same stuffs in France ;
that black cloth was made for priests, and blue cloth
for the pupils of the colleges. The inhabitants,
he says, have been taught these arts by necessity.
They were naturaUy adroit at handiwork of aU
kinds; and during the last half century of the
French rule, when the population had settled into
comparative stability, many of the mechanic arts
were practised with success, notwithstanding the
assertion of the Abbe" La Tour that every thing
but bread and meat had stiU to be brought from
France. This change may be said to date from
the peace of Utrecht, or a few years before it. At
that time, one Duplessis had a new vessel on the
stocks. Catalogne, who states the fact, caUs it the
beginning of ship-buUding in Canada, evidently
ignorant that Talon had made a fruitless beginning
more than forty years before.
Of the arts of ornament not much could have
1 Beauharnois et Raudot au Ministre, 1705.

1663-1763.] FINANCE. 299
been expected ; but, strangely enough, they were
in somewhat better condition than the useful arts.
The nuns of the H6tel-Dieu made artificial flowers
for altars and shrines, under the direction of Mother
Juchereau ; J and the boys of the seminary were
taught to make carvings in wood for the decoration
of churches.3 Pierre, son of the merchant Le Ber,
had a turn for painting, and made religious pictures,
described as very indifferent.3 His sister Jeanne,
an enthusiastic devotee, made embroideries for
vestments and altars, and her work was much
admired. The colonial finances were not prosperous. In
the absence of coin, beaver-skins long served as
currency. In 1669, the council declared wheat a
legal tender, at four francs the minot or three
French bushels ; 4 and, five years later, aU creditors
were ordered to receive moose-skins in payment at
the market rate.6 Coin would not remain in the
colony. If the company or the king sent any
thither, it went back in the returning ships. The
government devised a remedy. A coinage was
ordered for Canada one-fourth less in value than
that of France. Thus the Canadian livre or franc
was worth, in reality, fifteen sous instead of twenty.6
This shallow expedient produced only a nominal
rise of prices, and coin fled the colony as before.
1 Juchereau, Hist, de I'Hdtel-Dieu, 244.
2 Abeille, IL, 13.
3 Faillon, Vie de Mile. Le Ber, 331.
« Edits et Ord., II. 47.
5 Ibid., II. 55.
6 This device was of very early date. See Boucher, Hist. Veritable.
. xiv.

300 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
Trade was carried on for a time by means of nego
tiable notes, payable in furs, goods, or farm prod
uce. In 1685, the intendant Meules issued a
card currency. He had no money to pay the
soldiers, " and not knowing," he informs the min
ister, " to what saint to make my voavs, the idea
occurred to me of putting in circulation notes
made of cards, each cut into four pieces; and I
have issued an ordinance commanding the inhabi
tants to receive them in payment." 1 The cards
were common playing cards, and each piece was
stamped Avith a fleur-de-lis and a crown, and signed
by the governor, the intendant, and the clerk of
the treasury at Quebec.2 The example of Meules
found ready imitation. Governors and intendants
made card money A\lienever they saw fit ; and,
being worthless everywhere but in Canada, it
showed no disposition to escape the colony. It
Avas declared convertible not into coin, but into
bills of exchange ; and this conversion could only
take place at brief specified periods. " The cur
rency used in Canada," says a writer in the last
years of the French rule, " has no Aralue as a repre
sentative of money. It is the sign of a sign." 3 It
was card representing paper, and this paper was very
often dishonored. In 1714, the amount of card
rubbish had risen to two million livres. Confidence
was lost, and trade Avas half dead. The minister
Ponchartrain came to the rescue, and promised to

l Meules au Ministre, 24 Sept., 1685.
* Memoire addresse au Regent, 1715.
3 Considerations sur I' Etat du Canada, 1758.

1663-1763.] REPUDIATION. 301
redeem it at half its nominal value. The holders
preferred to lose half rather than the whole, and
accepted the terms. A few of the cards were
Redeemed at the rate named ; then the govern
ment broke faith, and payment ceased. " This
afflicting news," says a writer of the time, " Avas
brought out by the vessel which sailed from France
last July."
In 1717, the government made another proposal,
and the cards Avere converted into biUs of exchange.
At the same time a new issue Avas made, which it
Avas declared should be the last.1 This issue was
promptly redeemed, but twelve years later another
folloAved it. In the interval, a certain quantity of
coin circulated in the colony; but it underwent
fluctuations through the intervention of govern
ment ; and, within eight years, at least four edicts
were issued affecting its value.2 Then came more
promises to pay, till, in the last bitter years of its
existence, the colony floundered in drifts of Avorth-
less paper.
One characteristic grievance was added to the
countless woes of Canadian commerce. The gov
ernment Avas so jealous of popular meetings of all
kinds, that for a long time it forbade merchants to
meet together for discussing their affairs ; and, it
was not till 1717 that the establishment of a bourse
or exchange was permitted at Quebec and Mon
treal.3 In respect of taxation, Canada, as compared with
» Edits et Ord., I. 370. 2 Ibid-, 400, 432, 436, 484.
' Doutre et Lareau, Hist, du Droit Canadien, 254.

302 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. ri663-17fii»
France, had no reason to complain. If the kin^f
permitted governors and intendants to make carfl
money, he permitted nobody to impose taxes but
himself. The Canadians paid no direct civil tax,
except in a few instances where temporary and
local assessments were ordered for special objects.
It was the fur trade on which the chief burden
fell. One-fourth of the beaver-skins, and one-tenth
of the moose-hides, belonged to the king ; and wine,
brandy, and tobacco contributed a duty of ten pei
cent. During a k>ng course of years, these were
the only imposts. The king, also, retained the
exclusive right of the fur trade at Tadoussac. A
vast tract of wilderness extending from St. Paul's
Bay to a point eighty leagues doAvn the St. Law
rence, and stretching indefinitely northward towards
Hudson's' Bay, formed a sort of royal preserve,
whence every settler was rigidly excluded. The
farmers of the revenue had their trading-houses at
Tadoussac, whither the northern tribes, until war,
pestilence, and brandy consumed them, brought
every summer a large quantity of furs.
When, in 1674, the West India Company, to
whom these imposts had been granted, was extin
guished, the king resumed possession of them. The
various duties, along with the trade of Tadoussac,
were now farmed out to one Oudiette and his
associates, who paid the Crown three hundred and
fifty thousand hvres for their privilege.1

1 The annual return to the king from the ferme du Canada was, for some
years, 119,000 francs (livres). Out of this were paid from 35,000 to 40,000
francs a year for " ordinary charges." The governor, intendant, and all

1663-1763.] THE BEAVER TRADE. 303
We come now to a trade far more important
than aU the rest together, one which absorbed
the enterprise of the colony, drained the life-
sap from other branches of commerce, and, even
more than a vicious system of government, kept
them in a state of chronic debility, — the hardy, .,
adventurous, lawless, fascinating fur trade. In
the eighteenth century, Canada exported a mod
erate quantity of timber, wheat, the herb called
ginseng, and a few other commodities ; but from
first to last she lived chiefly on beaver-skins. The
government tried without ceasing to control and
1 egulate this traffic ; but it never succeeded. It
aimed, above all things, to bring the trade home
to the colonists, to prevent them from going to
the Indians, and induce the Indians to come to
them. To this end a great annual fair was estab
lished by order of the king at Montreal. Thither
every summer a host of savages came down from
the lakes in their bark canoes. A place was assigned
them at a little distance from the town. They
landed, drew up their canoes in a line on the bank,
took out their packs of beaver-skins, set up their
wigAvams, slung their kettles, and encamped for
the night. On the next day, there was a grand
councU on the common, between St. Paul Street
and the rivor. Speeches of compliment were made
troaps except the small garrisons of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers,
wene paid from other sources. There was a time when the balance must
have been in the king's favor; but profit soon changed to loss, owing
partly to wars, partly to the confusion into which the beaver trade soon
fell. " His Majesty," writes the minister to the governor in 1698, " may
soon grow tired of a colony which, far from yielding him any profit, costs
him immense sums every year."

304 IRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
amid a solemn smoking of pipes. The governor-
general was usually present, seated in an arm-chair,
while the visitors formed a ring about him, ranged
in the order of their tribes. On the next day the
trade began in the same place. Merchants of high
and Ioav degree brought up their goods from Que
bec, and every inhabitant of Montreal, of any sub
stance, sought a share in the profit. Their booths
Avere set along the palisades of the town, and each
had an interpreter, to whom he usually promised a
certain portion of his gains. The scene abounded in
those contrasts — not always edUying, but always
picturesque — which mark the whole course of
French Canadian history. Here was a throng of In
dians armed with bows and arrows, war-clubs, or the
cheap guns of the trade ; some of them completely
naked except for the feathers on their heads and the
paint on their faces ; French bush-rangers tricked
out Avith savage finery ; merchants and habitants
in their coarse and plain attire, and the grave
priests of St. Sulpice robed in black. Order and
sobriety were their watchwords, but the wild gath
ering was beyond their control. The prohibition
to sell brandy could rarely be enforced ; and the
fair ended at times in a pandemonium of drunken
frenzy. The rapacity of trade, and the license of
savages and coureurs de bois, had completely trans
formed the pious settlement.
A similar fair was established at Three Rivers,
for the Algonquin tribes north of that place. These
yearly markets did not fully answer the desired
object. There was a constant tendency among

1663-1763.1 THE FOREST TRADE. 305
the inhabitants of Canada to form settlements above
Montreal, in order to mtercept the Indians on their
way down, drench them with brandy, and get their
furs from them at low rates in advance of the fair.
Such settlements were forbidden, but not prevented.
The audacious " squatter " defied edict and ordi
nance and the fury of drunken savages, and boldly
planted himseff in the path of the descending trade.
Nor is this a matter of surprise ; for he was usually
the secret agent of some high colonial officer, an
intendant, the local governor, or the governor-
general, who often used his power to enforce the
law against others, and to violate it himseff.
This was not all; for the more youthful and
vigorous part of the male population soon began to
escape into the woods, and trade with the Indians
far beyond the limits of the remotest settlements.
Here, too, many of them were in league with the
authorities, who denounced the abuse while secretly
favoring the portion of it in which they themselves
were interested. The home government, unable
to prevent the evil, tried to regulate it. Licenses
were issued for the forest trade.1 Their number
was limited to twenty-five, and the privileges which
they conferred varied at different periods. In La
Hontan's time, each license authorized the depart
ure of two canoes loaded with goods. One canoe
only was afterwards aUowed, bearing three men
with about four hundred pounds of freight. The
hcenses were sometimes sold for the profit of
government, but many were given to widows of
1 Ordres du Roy au sujet de la Traite du Canada, 1681.
20

306 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
officers and other needy persons, to the hospitals,
or to favorites and retainers of the governor. Those
who could not themselves use them sold them to
merchants or voyageurs, at a price varying from a
thousand to eighteen hundred francs. They were
valid for a year and a half ; and each canoeman
had a share in the profits, which, if no accident
happened, were very large. The license system
was several times suppressed and renewed again ;
but, like the fair at Montreal, it failed completely
to answer its purpose, and restrain the young
men of Canada from a general exodus into the
wilderness.1 The most characteristic features of the Canadian
fur trade still remain to be seen. Oudiette and
his associates were not only charged with collect
ing the revenue, but were also vested with an
exclusive right of transporting all the beaver-skins
of the colony to France. On their part they were
compelled to receive all beaver-skins brought to
their magazines; and, after deducting the fourth
belonging to the king, to pay for the rest at a fixed
price. This price was graduated to the different
qualities of the fur; but the average cost to the
collectors was a little more than three francs a
pound. The inhabitants could barter their furs
with merchants ; but the merchants must bring
them all to the magazines of Oudiette, who paid in
receipts convertible into bills of exchange. He
soon found himself burdened with such a mass
1 Before pie is one of these licenses, signed by the governor Denon
ville. A condition of carrying no brandy is appended to it.

.663-1763.] TROUBLE AND CHANGE. 307
of beaver-skins, that the market was completely
glutted. The French hatters refused to take them
all ; and for the part which they consented to take,
they paid chiefly in hats, which Oudiette was not
aUowed to sell in France, but only in the French
West Indies, where few people wanted them. An
unlucky fashion of small hats diminished the con
sumption of fur and increased his embarrassments,
as did also a practice common among the hatters
of mixing rabbit fur with the beaver. In his
extremity he bethought him of setting up a hat
factory for himself under the name of a certain
licensed hatter, thinking thereby to alarm his cus
tomers into buying his stock.1 The other hatters
rose in wrath and petitioned the minister. The
new factory was suppressed, and Oudiette soon
became bankrupt. Another company of farmers
of the revenue took his place with similar results.
The action of the law of supply and demand was
completely arrested by the peremptory edict which,
with a view to the prosperity of the colony and
the profit of the king, required the company to
take every beaver-skin offered.
All Canada, thinking itself sure of its price,
rushed into the beaver trade, and the accumulation
of unsalable furs became more and more suffo
cating. The farmers of the revenue could not
meet their engagements. Their bills of exchange
were unpaid, and Canada was filled with distress
and consternation. In 1700, a change of system
was ordered. The monopoly of exporting beaver
1 Memoire touchant le Commerce du Canada, 1687.

308 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
was placed in the hands of a company formed of
the chief inhabitants of Canada. Some of them
hesitated to take the risk ; but the government
was not to be trifled with, and the minister, Pon-
chartrain, wrote in terms so peremptory, and so
menacing to the recusants, that, in the words of a
writer of the time, he " shut everybody's mouth."
About a hundred and fifty merchants accordingly
subscribed to the stock of the new company, and
immediately petitioned the king for a ship and a
loan of seven hundred thousand francs. They
were required to take off the hands of the farmers
of the revenue an accumulation of more than six
hundred thousand pounds of beaver, for which,
however, they were to pay but half its usual price.
The market of France absolutely refused it, and
the directors of the new company saw no better
course than to burn three-fourths of the trouble
some and perishable commodity ; nor was this the
first resort to this strange expedient. One cannot
repress a feeling of indignation at the fate of the
interesting and unfortunate animals uselessly sacri
ficed to a false economic system. In order to rid
themselves of what remained, the directors begged
the king to issue a decree, requiring aU hatters to
put at least three ounces of genuine beaver-fur
into each hat.
All was in vain. The affairs of the company fell
into a confusion which was aggravated by the bad
faith of some of its chief members. In 1707, it was
succeeded by another company, to whose magazines
every habitant or merchant was ordered to bring

1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 309
every beaver-skin in his possession within forty-
eight hours ; and the company, like its predeces
sors, was required to receive it, and pay for it in
written promises. Again the market was over
whelmed with a surfeit of beaver. Again the bills
of exchange were unpaid, and all was confusion
and distress. Among the memorials and petitions
to which this state of things gave birth, there is
one conspicuous by the presence of good sense
and the absence of self-interest. The writer pro
poses that there should be no more monopoly, but
that everybody should be free to buy beaver-skins
and send them to France, subject only to a mod
erate duty of entry. The proposal was not accepted.
In 1721, the monopoly of exporting beaver-skins
was given to the new West India Company ; but
this time it was provided that the government
should direct from time to time, according to the
capacities of the market, the quantity of furs which
the company should be forced to receive.1
Out of the beaver trade rose a huge evil, baneful
to the growth and the morals of Canada. All that
was most active and vigorous in the colony took
to the woods, and escaped from the control of in
tendants, councils, and priests, to the savage free-
1 On the fur trade the documents consulted are very numerous. The
following are the most important: Memoire sur ce qui concerne le Com
merce du Castor el ses dependances, 1715 ; Memoire toncernant le Commerce
de Traite entre les Francois et les SaUvages, 1691 ; Memoire sur le Canada
addresse au Regent, 1715; Memoire sur les Affaires de Canada dans leur
Estat present, 1696 ; Memoire des Negotiants de la RocheUe qui font Commerce
en Canada sur la Proposition de ne plus recevoir les Castors et d'engager les
Habitants a la Culture des Terres et Pesche de la Molue, 1696 ; Memoire du
Sr. Riverin sur la Traite et la Ferme du Castor, 1696 ; Memoire touchant It
Commerce du Canada, 1687, etc

310 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. J1663- 17ba
dom of the wilderness. Not only were the possible
profits great ; but, in the pursuit of them, there was
a fascinating element of adventure and danger.
) The bush-rangers or coureurs de bois were to the
king an object of horror. They defeated his plans
for the increase of the population, and shocked his
native instinct of discipline and order. Edict after
edict Avas directed against them ; and more than
once the colony presented the extraordinary spec
tacle of the greater part of its young men
turned into forest outlaws. But severity was dan
gerous. The offenders might be driven over to
the English, or converted into a lawless banditti,
renegades of civilization and the faith. Therefore,
clemency alternated with rigor, and declarations
of amnesty with edicts of proscription. Neither
threats nor blandishments were of much avail.
We hear of seigniories abandoned ; farms turning
again into forests ; wives and chUdren left in desti
tution. The exodus of the coureurs de bois would
take, at times, the character of an organized move
ment. The famous Du Lhut is said to have made
a general combination of the young men of Canada
to follow him into the woods. Their plan was to
be absent four years, in order that the edicts against
them might have time to relent. The intendant
Duchesneau reported that eight hundred men out
of a population of less than ten thousand souls had
vanished from sight in the immensity of a bound
less wUderness. Whereupon the king ordered that
any person going into the woods without a license
should be whipped and branded for the first offence,

1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 311
and sent lor life to the galleys for the second.1
The order was more easily given than enforced.
"I must not conceal from you, monseigneur," again
aa rites Duchesneau, " that the disobedience of the
coureurs de bois has reached such a point that
everybody boldly contravenes the king's interdic
tions; that there is no longer any concealment;
and that parties are collected with astonishing in
solence to go and trade in the Indian country. I
have done all in my power to prevent this evil,
which may cause the ruin of the colony. I have
enacted ordinances against the coureurs de bois ;
against the merchants who furnish them with goods ;
against the gentlemen and others who harbor them,
and even against those who have any knowledge
of them, and wUl not inform the local judges. All
has been in vain ; inasmuch as some of the most
considerable families are interested with them, and
the governor lets them go on and even shares
their profits."2 "You are aware, monseigneur,"
writes Denonville, some years later, " that the
coureurs de bois are a great evU, but you are not
aware how great this evil is. It deprives the
country of its effective men ; makes them indocUe,
debauched, and incapable of discipline, and turns
them into pretended nobles, wearing the sword
and decked out with lace, both they and their
relations, who aU affect to be gentlemen and ladies.
As for cultivating the soil, they wUl not hear of it.
1 Le Roy a Frontenac, 30 Avril, 1681. On another occasion, it was
ordered that any person thus offending should suffer death.
2 N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 131.

312 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
This, along with the scattered condition of the
settlements, causes their chUdren to be as unruly
as Indians, being brought up in the same manner.
Not that there are not some very good people here,
but they are in a minority." x In another despatch
he enlarges on their vagabond and lawless ways,
their indifference to marriage, and the mischief
caused by their example; describes how, on their
return from the woods, they swagger like lords,
spend aU their gains in dress and drunken revelry,
and despise the peasants, whose daughters they
wiU not deign to marry, though they are peasants
themselves. It was a curious scene when a party of coureurs
de bois returned from their rovings. Montreal
was their harboring place, and they conducted
themselves much like the crew of a man-of-war
paid off after a long voyage. As long as their
beaver-skins lasted, they set no bounds to their
riot. Every house in the place, we are told, was
turned into a drinking shop. The new-comers
were bedizened with a strange mixture of French
and Indian finery ; whUe some of them, with in
stincts more thoroughly savage, stalked about the
streets as naked as a Pottawattamie or a Sioux.
The clamor of tongues was prodigious, and gam
bling and drinking filled the day and the night.
When at last they were, sober again, they sought
absolution for their sins; nor could the priests
venture to bear too hard on their unruly penitents,
1 Denonville, Memoire sur I'Estat des Affaires de la Nouvelle France.

1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 313
lest they should break wholly with the church and
dispense thenceforth with her sacraments.
Under such leaders as Du Lhut, the coureurs de
bois built forts of pahsades at various points
throughout the West and Northwest. They had
a post of this sort at Detroit some time before its
permanent settlement, as well as others on Lake
Superior and in the valley of the Mississippi. They
occupied them as long as it suited their purposes,
and then abandoned them to the next comer.
Michillimackinac was, however, their chief resort ;
and thence they would set out, two or three
together, to roam for hundreds of mUes through
the endless meshwork of interlocking lakes and
rivers which seams the northern wilderness.
No wonder that a year or two of bush-ranging
spoiled them for civihzation. Though not a very
valuable member of society, and though a thorn
in the side of princes and rulers, the coureur de
bois had his uses, at least from an artistic point of
view ; and his strange figure, sometimes brutaUy
savage, but oftener marked with the lines of a
dare-devU courage, and a reckless, thoughtless
gayety, will always be joined to the memories of
that grand world of woods which the nineteenth
century is fast civilizing out of existence. At least,
he is picturesque, and with his red-skin companion
serves to animate forest scenery. Perhaps he could
sometimes feel, without knowing that he felt them,
the charms of the savage nature that had adopted
him. Rude as he was, her voice may not always
have been meaningless for one who knew her

314 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
haunts so well ; deep recesses where, veiled in
foliage, some wild shy rivulet steals with timid
music through breathless caves of verdure ; gulfs
where feathered crags rise hke castle waUs, where
the noonday sun pierces with keen rays athwart
the torrent, and the mossed arms of fallen pines
cast Avavering shadows on the Ulumined foam ;
pools of liquid crystal turned emerald in the re
flected green of impending woods ; rocks on whose
rugged front the gleam of sunlit waters dances in
quivering hght ; ancient trees hurled headlong by
the storm to dam the raging stream with their
forlorn and savage ruin; or the stern depths of
immemorial forests, dim and silent as a cavern,
columned with innumerable trunks, each like an
Atlas upholding its world of leaves, and sweating
perpetual moisture down its dark and channeUed
rind ; some strong in youth, some grisly with
decrepit age, nightmares of strange distortion,
gnarled and knotted with wens and goitres;
roots intertwined beneath hke serpents petrified
in an agony of contorted strife ; green and
glistening mosses carpeting the rough ground,
mantling the rocks, turning pulpy stumps to
mounds of verdure, and swathing fallen trunks
as bent in the impotence of rottenness, they lie
outstretched over knoU and hoUow, hke moulder
ing reptiles of the primeval world, while around,
and on and through them, springs the young
growth that battens on their decay, — the forest
devouring its own dead. Or, to turn from its
funereal shade to the hght and life of the open

1663-1763.] LETTER OF CARHEIL. 315
woodland, the sheen of sparkling lakes, and mount
ains basking in the glory of the summer noon,
flecked by the shadows of passing clouds that sail
on snowy wings across the transparent azure.
Yet it would be false coloring to paint the
half-savage coureur de bois as a romantic lover
of nature. He liked the woods because they
emancipated him from restraint. He liked the
lounging ease of the camp-fire, and the license of
Indian villages. His life has a dark and ugly side,
which is noAvhere drawn more strongly than in a
letter written by the Jesuit Carheil to the intend
ant Champigny. It was at a time when some of
the outlying forest posts, originaUy either missions
or transient stations of coureurs de bois, had re
ceived regular garrisons. CarheU writes from
Michillimackinac, and describes the state of things
around him like one whom long famUiarity with
them had stripped of every illusion.
But here, for the present, we pause ; for the
father touches on other matters than the coureurs
de bois, and we reserve him and his letter for the
next chapter.

CHAPTER XVHI.
1663-1702. HE BRANDY QUESTION.
The Jesuits and the Ikoquois. — Mission Villages. — Michilli
mackinac. — Father Carheil. — Temperance. — Brandt and
the Indians. — Strong Measures. — Disputes. — License and
Prohibition. — Views of the King. — Trade and the Jesuits.
For a year or two after De Tracy had chastised
the Mohawks, and humbled the other Iroquois
nations, aU was rose color on the side of that
dreaded confederacy. The Jesuits, defiant as usual
of hardship and death, had begun their ruined
missions anew. Bruyas took the Mission of the
Martyrs among the Mohawks ; MUet, that of Saint
Francis Xavier, among the Oneidas ; Lamberville,
that of Saint John the Baptist among the Onon
dagas; Carheil, that of Saint Joseph among the
Cayugas ; and Raffeix and Julien Garnier shared
between them the three missions of the Senecas.
The Iroquois, after their punishment, were in a
frame of mind so hopeful, that the fathers imagined
for a moment that they were all on the point of
accepting the faith. This Avas a consummation
earnestly to be wished, not only from a religious,
but also from a political point of view. The

1663-1702.) THE JESUITS AND THE IROQUOIS. 317
complete conversion of the Iroquois meant their
estrangement from the heretic English and Dutch,
and their firm alliance with the French. It meant
safety for Canada, and it ensured for her the fur
trade of the interior freed from English rivalry.
Hence the importance of these missions, and hence
their double character. While the Jesuit toiled
to convert his savage hosts, he watched them at
the same time with the eye of a shrewd political
agent ; reported at Quebec the result of his obser
vations, and by every means in his power sought
to alienate them from England, and attach them
to France.
Their simple conversion, by placing them wholly
under his influence, would have outweighed in
political value all other agencies combined; but
the flattering hopes of the earlier years soon van
ished. Some petty successes against other tribes
so elated the Iroquois, that they ceased to care for
French aUiance or French priests. Then a few
petty reverses would dash their spirits, and dispose
them again to listen to Jesuit counsels. Every
success of a war-party was a loss to the faith, and
every reverse was a gain. Meanwhile a more re
pulsive or a more critical existence than that of a
Jesuit father in an Iroquois town is scarcely con
ceivable. The torture of prisoners turned into a
horrible festivity for the whole tribe ; foid and
crazy orgies in which, as the priest thought, the
powers of darkness took a special delight ; drunken
riots, the work of Dutch brandy, when he was
forced to seek refuge from death in his chapel, —

318 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702
a sanctuary which superstitious fear withheld the
Indians from violating ; these, and a thousand dis
gusts and miseries, filled the record of his days,
and he bore them all in patience. Not only were
the early Canadian Jesuits men of an intense
religious zeal, but they were also men who lived
not for themselves but for their order. Their
faults were many and great, but the grandeur of
their self-devotion towers conspicuous over aU.
At Caughnawaga, near Montreal, may still be
seen the remnants of a mission of converted Iro
quois, Avhom the Jesuits induced to leave the
temptations of their native towns and settle here,
under the wing of the church. They served as a
bulwark against the English, and sometimes did
good service in time of war. At Sillery, near
Quebec, a band of Abenaquis, escaping from the
neighborhood of the English toAvards the close of
Philip's War, formed another mission of similar
character. The Sulpitians had a third at the foot of
the mountain of .Montreal, where two massive stone
towers of the fortified Indian toAvn are standing to
this day. All these converted savages, as well as
those of Lorette and other missions far and near,
were used as allies in war, and launched in scalping
parties against the border settlements of New
England. Not only the Sulpitians, but also the seminary
priests of Quebec, the RecoUets, and even the Ca
puchins, had missions more or less important, and
more or less permanent; but the Jesuits stood
always in the van of religious and pohtical propa-

1063-1702.] MICHILLIMACKINAC. 319
gandism ; and aU the forest tribes felt their influence,
from Acadia and Maine to the plains beyond the
Mississippi. Next in importance to their Iroquois
missions were those among the Algonquins of the
northern lakes. Here was the grand domain of
the beaver trade ; and the chief woes of the mis
sionary sprang not from the Indians, but from bis
OAvn countrymen. Beaver-skins had produced an
effect akin to that of gold in our own day, and the
deepest recesses of the wilderness were invaded by
eager seekers after gain. The focus of the evil
was at Father Marquette's old mission of Michilli
mackinac. First, year after year came a riotous
invasion of coureurs de bois, and then a garrison
foUowed to crown the mischief. Discipline was
very weak at these ^advanced postspSnd, to eke
out their pay, the soldiers were aUowed to trade ;
brandy, whether permitted or interdicted, being
the chief article of barter. Father Etienne Carheil
Avas driven almost to despair ; and he wrote to the
intendant, his fast friend and former pupil, the long
letter already mentioned. " Our missions," he
says, " are reduced to such extremity that we can
no longer maintain them against the infinity of
disorder, brutality, violence, injustice, impiety,
impurity, insolence, scorn, and insult, Avhich the
deplorable and infamous traffic in brandy has
spread universaUy among the Indians of these
parts. ... In the despair in which we are plunged,
nothing remains for us but to abandon them to the
brandy sellers as a domain of drunkenness and
debauchery."

320 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
He complains bitterly of the officers in command
of the fort, who, he says, far from repressing dis
orders, encourage them by their example, and are
even worse than their subordinates, " insomuch that
aU our Indian viUages are so many taverns for
drunkenness and Sodoms for iniquity, which Ave
shaU be forced to leave to the just wrath and ven
geance of God." He insists that the garrisons are
entirely useless, as they have only four occupa
tions : first, to keep open liquor shops for crowds
of drunken Indians ; secondly, to roam from place
to place, carrying goods and brandy under the
orders of the commandant, who shares their profits ;
thirdly, to gamble day and night; fourthly, to " turn
the fort into a place which I am ashamed to call
by its right name ; " and he describes, with a curious
amplitude of detail, the swarms of Indian girls who
are hired to make it their resort. " Such, mon
seigneur, are the only employments of the soldiers
maintained here so many years. If this can be
called doing the king service, I admit that such
service is done for him here now, and has always
been done for him here ; hut I never saw any other
done in my life." He further declares that the
commandants oppose and mahgn the missionaries,
whUe of the presents which the king sends lip
the country for distribution to the Indians, they, the
Indians, get nothing but a httle tobacco, and the
officer keeps the rest for himself.1
1 Of the officers in command at Michillimackinac while Carheil was
there, he partially excepts La Durautaye from his strictures, but bears
very hard on La Motte-Cadillac, who hated the Jesuits and was hated by
them in turn. La Motte, on his part, writes that " the missionaries wish

1663-1702.1 MICHILLIMACKINAC. 321
From the misconduct of officers and soMiers, he
passes to that of the coureurs de bois and licensed
traders ; and here he is equally severe. He dilates
on the evils which result from permitting the colo
nists to go to the Indians instead of requiring the
Indians to come to the settlements. " It serves
only to rob the country of all its young men, weaken
families, deprive wives of their husbands, sisters of
their brothers, and parents of their children ; expose
the voyagers to a hundred dangers of body and
soul; involve them in a midtitude of expenses,
some necessary, some useless, and some criminal ;
accustom them to do no Avork, and at last disgust
them Avith it for ever ; make them live in constant
idleness, unfit them completely for any trade, and
render them useless to themselves, their famUies,
and the public. But it is less as regards the body
than as regards the soul, that this traffic of the
French among the savages is infinitely hurtful. It
carries them far away from churches, separates
them from priests and nuns, and severs them from
aU instruction, all exercise of religion, and al],
spiritual aid. It sends them into places Avild and
almost inaccessible, through a thousand perils by
land and water, to carry on by base, abject, and
shameful means a trade which would much better
be carried on at Montreal."
But in the complete transfer of the trade to
Montreal, he sees insuperable difficulties, and he
to be masters wherever they are, and cannot tolerate anybody above
themselves." N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 587. For much more emphatic
expressions of his views concerning them, see two letters from him, trans-
lat«d in Sheldon's Early History of Michigan. 21

322 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
proceeds to suggest, as the last and best resort, that
garrisons and officers should be withdrawn, and
licenses abolished ; that discreet and virtuous per
sons should be chosen to take charge of all the
trade of the upper country; that these persons
¦should be in perfect sympathy and correspondence
with the Jesuits; and that the trade should be
carried on at the missions of the Jesuits and in
their presence.1
This letter brings us again face to face with the
brandy question, of which we have seen something
already in the quarrel between Avaugour and the
bishop. In the summer of 1648, there was held
at the mission of Sdlery a temperance meeting;
the first in all probability on this continent. The
drum beat after mass, and the Indians gathered at
the summons. Then an Algonquin chief, a zealous
convert of the Jesuits, proclaimed to the crowd a
late edict of the governor imposing penalties for
drunkenness, and, in his own name and that of
the other chiefs, exhorted them to ' abstinence,
declaring that all drunkards should be handed over
to the French for punishment. Father Jerome
Lalemant looked on delighted. " It was," he says,
" the finest public act of jurisdiction exercised
among the Indians since I have been in this coun
try. From the beginning of the Avorld they have
all thought themselves as great lords, the one as
the other, and never before submitted to their
chiefs any further than they chose to do so." a
1 Lettre du Pere Etienne Carheil de la Compagnie de Jesus a V Intendant
Champigny, Michillimackinac, 30 Aout, 1702 (Archives Nationales)
2 Lalemant, Rel., 1648, p. 43.

1663-1702.| BRANDY AND THE INDIANS. 323
There Avas great need of reform ; for a demon
of drunkenness seemed to possess these unhappy
tribes. Nevertheless, with all their rage for brandy,
they sometimes showed in regard to it a self-con
trol quite admirable in its way. When at a fair,
a council, or a friendly visit, their entertainers
regaled them with rations of the coveted liquor,
so prudently measured out that they could not be
the worse for it, they would unite their several por
tions in a common stock, which they would then
divide among a few of their number, thus enabling
them to attain that complete intoxication which, in
their vieAV, Avas the true end of all drinking. The
objects of this singular benevolence were expected
to requite it in kind on some future occasion.
A drunken Indian with weapons within reach,
was very dangerous, and aU prudent persons kept
out of his way. This greatly pleased him; for,
seeing everybody run before him, he fancied him
self a great chief, and howled and swung his toma-
haAvk with redoubled fury. If, as often happened,
he maimed or murdered some wretch not nimble
enough to escape, his countrymen absolved him
from all guilt, and blamed only the brandy. Hence,
if an Indian wished to take a safe revenge on some
personal enemy, he would pretend to be drunk ;
and, not only murders but other crimes were often
committed by false claimants to the bacchanalian
privilege. In the eyes of the missionaries, brandy *was a
fiend Avith all crimes and miseries in his train ;
and, in fact, nothing earthly could better deserve

324 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702
the epithet infernal than an Indian town in
the height of a drunken debauch. The orgies
never ceased till the bottom of the barrel was
reached. Then came repentance, despair, wailing,
and bitter invective against the white men, the
cause of all the woe. In the name of the public
good, of humanity, and above aU of religion, the
bishop and the Jesuits denounced the fatal traffic.
Their case was a strong one ; but so was the
case of their opponents. There was real and immi
nent danger that the thirsty savages, U refused
brandy by the French, would seek it from the
Dutch and English of New York. It was the most
potent lure and the most kilhng bait. Wherever
it was found, thither the Indians and their beaver-
skins were sure to go, and the interests of the fur
trade, vital to the colony, Avere bound up with it.
Nor was this all, for the merchants and the civU
powers insisted that rehgion and the saving of
souls Avere bound up with it no less ; since, to repel
the Indians from the Catholic French, and attract
them to the heretic English, Avas to turn them from
ways of grace to ways of perdition.1 The argu
ment, no doubt, was dashed largely with hypocrisy
in those who used it ; but it was one which the
priests were greatly perplexed to answer.
In former days, when Canada was not yet trans
formed from a mission to a colony, the Jesuits
entered with a high hand on the work of reform.
1 " Ce commerce est absolument necessaire pour attirer les sauvages
dans les colonies fran<;oises, et par ce moyen leur donner les premieres
teintures de la foy." Memoire de Colbert, joint a sa lettre a Duchesneau du
24 Mai, 1678.

1663-1702.] STRONG MEASURES. 325
It fared hard Avith the culprit caught in the act
of selling brandy to Indians. They led him, after
the sermon, to the door of the church ; where, kneel
ing on the pavement, partially stript and bearing
in his hand the penitential torch, he underwent a
vigorous flageUation, laid on by Father Le Mercier
himself, after the fashion formerly practised in the
case of refractory school-boys.1 Bishop Laval not
only discharged against the offenders voUeys of
wholesale excommunication, but he made of the
offence a " reserved case ; " that is, a case in which
the power of granting absolution was reserved to
himself alone. This produced great commotion, and
a violent conflict between religious scruples and a
passion for gain. The bishop and the Jesuits stood
inflexible ; while their opponents added bitterness
to the quarrel by charging them with permitting
certain favored persons to seU brandy, unpunished,
and even covertly selling it themselves.2
1 Memoire de Dumesnil, 1671.
2 Lettre de Charles Aubert de la Chesnaye, 24 Oct., 1693. After speak
ing of the excessive rigor of the bishop, he adds : " L'on dit, et il est vrai,
que dans ces temps si facheux, sous pretexte de pauvrete dans les families,
certaines gens avoient permission d'en traiter, je crois toujours avec la
le'serve de ne pas enivrer." Dumesnil, Memoire de 1671, says that Laval
excommunicated all brandy-sellers, "k l'exception, neanmoins, de quel-
ques particulars qu'il voulait favoriser." He says further that the bishop
and the Jesuit Ragueneau had a clerk whom they employed at 500 francs
a year to trade with the Indians, paying them in liquors for their furs ;
and that for a time the ecclesiastics had this trade to themselves, their
severities having deterred most others from venturing into it. La Salle,
Memoire de 1678, declares that, " Ils (les Jesuites) refusent l'absolution a
ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre, et s'ils meurent en
cet etat, ils les privent de la sepulture ecclesiastique : au contraire, ils so
permettent a eux mesmes sans aucune difficulte ce mesme trafic, quoyque
toute sorte de trafic soit interdite a tous les eccMsiastiques par les ordon
nances du Roy et par une bulle expresse du Pape." I give these asser
tions as I find them, and for what they are worth.

326 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1701!
Appeal was made to the king, who, with his
Jesuit confessor, guardian of his conscience on one
side, and Colbert, guardian of his worldly interests
on the other, stood in some perplexity. The case
was referred to the fathers of the Sorbonne, and
they, after solemn discussion, pronounced the sell
ing of brandy to Indians a mortal sin.1 It was
next referred to an assembly of the chief mer
chants and inhabitants of Canada, held under the
eye of the governor, intendant, and councU, in the
Chateau St. Louis. Each was directed to state his
views in writing. The great majority were for
unrestricted trade in brandy; a few were for a
limited and guarded trade; and two or three de
clared for prohibition.2 Decrees of prohibition
were passed from time to time, but they were un-
avaUing. They were revoked, renewed, and re
voked again. They were, in fact, worse than
useless ; for their chief effect was to turn traders
and coureurs de bois into troops of audacious con
trabandists. Attempts were made to limit the
brandy trade to the settlements, and exclude it
from the forest country, where its regulation was
impossible ; but these attempts, like the others,
were of httle avaU. It is worthy of notice that,
when brandy was forbidden everywhere else, it
Avas permitted in the trade of Tadoussac, carried
on for the profit of government.8
1 Deliberation de la Sorbonne sur la Traite des Boissons, 8 Mars, 1675.
2 Proces-verbal de VAssembUe tenue au Chateau de St. Louis de Quebec, le
26 Oct., 1676, et jours suivants.
' Lettre de Charles Aubert de la Chesnaye, 24 Oct., 1693. In the course
of the quarrel a severe law passed by the General Court of Massachu-

16(63-1702.] VIEWS OF THE KING. 327
In spite of the Sorbonne, in spite of Pere La
Chaise, and of the Archbishop of Paris, whom he
also consulted, the king was never at heart a pro
hibitionist.1 His Canadian revenue was drawn
from the fur trade ; and the singular argument of
the partisans of brandy, that its attractions were
needed to keep the Indians from contact with
heresy, served admirably to salve his conscience.
Bigot as he was, he distrusted the Bishop of
Quebec, the great champion of the anti-liquor
movement. His own letters, as weU as those of
his minister, prove that he saw or thought that he
saw motives for the crusade very different from
those inscribed on its banners. He wrote to Saint-
VaUier, Laval's successor in the bishopric, that the
brandy trade was very usefiU to the kingdom of
France ; that it should be regulated, but not pre
vented ; that the consciences of his subjects must
not be disturbed by denunciations of it as a sin ;
and that "it is weU that you (the bishop) should
take care that the zeal of the ecclesiastics is not
excited by personal interests and passions."2 Per
haps he alludes to the spirit of encroachment and
domination which he and his minister in secret
instructions to their officers often impute to the
bishop and the clergy, or perhaps he may have in
mind other accusations which had reached him

setts against the sale of liquors to Indians was several times urged as an
example to be imitated. A copy of it was sent to the minister, and ia
still preserved in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies.
1 See, among other evidence, Memoire sur la Traite des Boissons,
1678. 2 LeRoya Saint-Vattier, 7 Avril, 1691

328 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-17(02
from time to time during many years, and of which
the following from the pen of the most noted of
Canadian governors wUl serve as an example.
Count Frontenac declares that the Jesuits greatly
exaggerate the disorders caused by brandy, and
that they easUy convince persons "who do not
know the interested motives which have led them
to harp continually on this string for more than
forty years. . . . They have long wished to have
the fur trade entirely to themselves, and to keep
out of sight the trade which they have always
carried on in the woods, and which they are carry
ing on there now." 1
Trade of the Jesuits. — As I have observed in a former
volume, the charge against the Jesuits of trading in beaver-skins
dates from the beginning of the colony. In the private journal of
Father Jerome Lalemant, their superior, occurs the following
curious passage, under date of November, 1645: " Pour la traite
des castors. Le 15 de Nov. le bruit estant qu'on s'en alloit icy
publier la defense qui auoit este publiee aux Trois Riuieres que
pas vn n'eut a traiter auec les sauuages, le P. Vimont demanda a
Mons. des Chastelets coramis general si nous serions de pire con
dition soubs eux que soubs Messieurs de la Comp'agnie. La con
clusion fut que non et que cela iroit pour nous a V 'ordinaire, mais que
nous le fissions doucemenl." Journal des Je'suites. Two years after,
on the request of Lalemant, the governor Montmagny, and his
destined successor Aillebout, gave the Jesuits a certificate to the
effect that " les peres de la compagnie de Jesus sont innocents de
la calomnie qui leur a ete imputee, et ce qu'ils en ontfait a ete pour
le bien de la com/nunaute et pour un bon sujet. ' ' This lea.ves it to be
inferred that they actually traded, though with good intentions.
In 1664, in reply to similar "calumnies," the Jesuits made by
proxy a declaration before the council, stating, "que les dits
Reverends Peres Jesuites n'ont fait jamais ancune profession de
vendre et n'ont jamais rien vendu, mais seulement qne les marchan-
dises qu'ils donnent aux particuliers ne sont que pour avoir leurs
1 Frontenac au Ministre, 29 Oct., 1676.

1663-1702.] TRADE OF THE JESUITS. 329
necessite's." This is an admission in a thin disguise. The word
ne'cessites is of very elastic interpretation. In a memoir of Talon,
1667, he mentions, " la traite de pelleteries qu'on assure qu'ils (les
Je'suites) font aux Outaouacks et au Cap de la Madeleine; oe que je
ne sais pas de science certaine."
That which Talon did not know with certainty is made reason
ably clear for us by a line in the private journal of Father Le
Mercier, who writes under date of 17 August, 1665, " Le Pere
Fremin remonte superieur au Cap de la Magdeleine, ou le temporel
est en bon estat. Comme il est delivre de tout soin d'aucune traite,
il doit s'appliquer a I'instruction tant des Montagnets que des
Algonquins." Father Charles Albanel was charged, under Frd-
min, with the affairs of the mission, including doubtless the tem
poral interests, to the prosperity of which Father Le Merciel
alludes, and the cares of trade from which Father Fremin was
delivered. Cavelier de la Salle declared in 1678, " Le pere Arba-
nelle (Albanel) jesuite a traite au Cap (de la Madeleine) pour 700
pistoles de peaux d'orignaux et de castors; luy mesme me l'a dit
en 1667. 11 vend le pain, le vin, le bled, le lard, et il tient maga-
zin au Cap aussi bien que le frere Joseph a Quebec. Ce frere gagne
500 pour 100 sur tous les peuples. Ils (les Je'suites) ont bati leui
college en partie de leur traite et en partie de l'emprunt." La
Salle further says that Fremin, being reported to have made
enormous profits, " ce pere riponditau gouverneur (qui lui en avail
fait des plaintes) par un billet que luy a conserve, que c'estoit une
calomnie que ce grand gain pretendu; puisque tout ce qui se passoit
par ses mains ne pouvoit produire par an. que quatre mille de reve-
tiant bon, tous frais faits, sans comprendre les gages des domes-
tiques." La Salle gives also many other particulars, especially
relating to Michillimackinac, where, as he says, the Jesuits had a
large stock of beaver-skins. According to Peronne Dumesnil,
Memoire de 1671, the Jesuits had at that time more than 20,000
francs a year, partly from trade and partly from charitable contri
butions of their friends in France.
The king repeatedly forbade the Jesuits and other ecclesiastics
in Canada to carry on trade. On one occasion he threatened
strong measures should they continue to disobey him. Le Roi a
Frontenac, 28 Avril, 1677. In the same year the minister wrote to
the intendant Duchesneau : " Vous ne sauriez apporter trop de
precautions pour abolir entierement la coustume que les Ecclesias-
tiques seculiers et reguliers avaient pris de traitter ou de faire
traitter leur3 valets," 18 Avril, 1677.
The Jesuits entered also into other branches of trade and in-

330 THE MISSIONS. BRANDY QUESTION. |1663~1702.
dustry with a vigor and address which the inhabitants of Canada
might have emulated with advantage. They were successful
fishers of eels. In 1646, their eel-pots at Sillery are said to have
yielded no less than forty thousand eels, some of which they sold
at the modest price of thirty sous a hundred. Ferland, Notes sur
les Registres de N. D. de Quebec, 82. The members of the order
were exempted from payment of duties, and in 1674 they were
specially empowered to construct mills, including sugar-mills, and
keep slaves, apprentices, and hired servants. Droit Canadien, 180.

CHAPTER XIX.
1663-1763.
PRIESTS AND PEOPLE.
Church and State. — The Bishop and the Kino. — The Kino
and the Cukes. — The New Bishop. — The Canadian Cure.—
Ecclesiastical Rule. — Saint- Valuer and Denonville. —
Clerical Rigor. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Courcelle and
Chatelain. — The Recollets. — Heresy and Witchcraft. —
Canadian Nuns. — Jeanne Le Ber. — Education. — The Sem
inary. — Saint Joachim. — Miracles op Saint Anne. — Cana
dian Schools.
When Laval and the Jesuits procured the recall
of Mezy, they achieved a seeming triumph ; yet it
was but a defeat in disguise. While ordering home
the obnoxious governor, the king and Colbert
made a practical assertion of their power too
strong to be resisted. A vice-regal officer, a
governor, an intendant, and a regiment of soldiers,
were silent but convincing proofs that the mission
days of Canada were over, and the dream of a
theocracy dispeUed for ever. The ecclesiastics
read the signs of the times, and for a whUe seemed
to accept the situation.
The king on his part, in vindicating the civil
power, had shown a studious regard to the sensi
bilities of the bishop and his allies. The lieu-

332 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665-70.
tenant-general Tracy, a zealous devotee, and the
intendant Talon, who at least professed to be one,
were not men to offend the clerical party need
lessly. In the choice of Courcelle, the governor,
a little less caution had been shown. His chief
business was to fight the Iroquois, for which he
was weU fitted, but he presently showed signs of a
wUlingness to fight the Jesuits also. The colonists
liked him for his hvely and impulsive speech ; but
the priests were of a different mind, and so, too,
was his colleague Talon, a prudent person who
studied the amenities of hfe and knew how to
pursue his ends with temper and moderation. On
the subject of the clergy he and the governor
substantiaUy agreed, but the ebullitions of the one
and the smooth discretion of the other were mut-
uaUy repugnant to both. Talon complained of
his colleague's impetuosity ; and Colbert directed
him to use his best efforts to keep CourceUe 'within
bounds and prevent him from publicly finding
fault with the bishop and the Jesuits.1 Next we
find the minister writing to Courcelle himself to
soothe his ruffled temper, and enjoining him to act
discreetly, " because," said Colbert, " as the colony
grows the king's authority wiU grow with it, and
the authority of the priests will be brought back
in time within lawful bounds." 2
Meanwhile, Talon had been ordered to observe
carefully the conduct of the bishop and the Jesuits,
" who," says the minister, " have hitherto nomi
nated governors for the king, and used everv
» Colbert a Talon, 20 Fev., 1668. ' * Colbert a Couicelle, 19 Mai, 1660

1665-70.] COURCELLE AND THE JESUITS. 333
means to procure the recall of those chosen with
out their participation;1 filled offices with their
adherents, and tolerated no secular priests except
those of one mind with them." 2 Talon, therefore,
under the veU of a reverent courtesy, sharply
watched them. They paid courtesy with courtesy,
and the intendant wrote home to his master that
he saw nothing amiss in them. He quickly changed
his mind. " I should have had less trouble and
more praise," he writes in the next year, "if I
had been wiUing to leave the power of the church
where I found it." 3 " It is easy," he says again,
" to incur the Ul-will of the Jesuits U one does not
accept aU their opinions and abandon one's self to
their direction even in temporal matters ; for their
encroachments extend to affairs of police, which
concern only the civU magistrate ; " and he rec
ommends that one or two of them be sent home
as disturbers of the peace.4 They, on their part,
changed attitude towards both him and the gov
ernor. One of them, Father Bardy, less discreet
than the rest, is said to have preached a sermon
against them at Quebec, in which he likened them
to a pair of toadstools springing up in a night,
adding that a good remedy would soon be found,
and that Courcelle would have to run home like
other governors before him.6
Tracy escaped clerical attacks. He was ex-
1 Instruction au Sieur Talon.
2 Memoire pour M. de Tracy.
8 Talon au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1666.
4 Talon, Memoire de 1667.
6 La Salle, Memoire de 1678 This sermon was preached od the 12th
of March. 1667.

334 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1666-1700
tremely careful not to provoke them ; and one of
his first acts was to restore to the councU the
bishop's adherents, whom Mezy had expelled.1
And if, on the one hand, he was too pious to
quarrel with the bishop, so, on the other, the
bishop was too prudent to invite coUision with a
man of his rank and influence.
After aU, the dispute between the civU and
ecclesiastical powers was not fundamental. Each
had need of the other. Both rested on authority,
and they differed only as to the boundary lines of
their respective shares in it. Yet the dispute of
boundaries was a serious one, and it remained a
source of bitterness for many years. The -king,
though rigidly Catholic, was not yet sunk in the
slough of bigotry into which Maintenon and the
Jesuits succeeded at last in plunging him. He had
conceived a distrust of Laval, and his jealousy of
Ids royal authority disposed him to listen to the
anti-clerical counsels of his minister. How need
ful they both thought it to prune the exuberant
growth of clerical power, and how cautiously they
set themselves to do so, their letters attest again
and again. " The bishop," writes Colbert, " as
sumes a domination far beyond that of other
bishops throughout the Christian world, and par-
t'oularly in the kingdom of France."2 "It is the
wUl of his Majesty that you confine him and the
Jesuits within just bounds, and let none of them
1 A curious account of his relations with Laval is given in a letter of
La Motte-Cadillac, 28 September, 1694.
2 Colbert a Duchesneau, 1 Mai, 1677.

1665+1700.] THE RECOLLETS. 335
overstep these bounds in any manner whatsoever.
Consider this as a matter of the greatest import
ance, and one to which you cannot give too much
attention."1 "But," the prudent minister else
where writes, " it is of the greatest consequence
that the bishop and the Jesuits do not perceive
that the intendant blames their conduct." 2
It was to the same intendant that Colbert wrote,
" it is necessary to diminish as much as possible
the excessive number of priests, monks, and nuns,
in Canada." Yet in the very next year, and on
the advice of Talon, he himself sent four more
to the colony. His motive was plain. He meant
that they should serve as a counterpoise to the
Jesuits.8 They were mendicant friars, belonging
to the branch of the Franciscans known as the
RecoUets ; and they were supposed to be free from
the ambition for the aggrandizement of their order
which was imputed, and with reason, to the Jesuits.
Whether the RecoUets were free from it or not, no
danger was to be feared from them ; for Laval and
the Jesuits were sure to oppose them, and they
wo aid need the support of the government too
much to set themselves in opposition to it. " The
more RecoUets we have," says Talon. " the better
will the too firmly rooted authority of the others
be balanced." 4
While Louis XTV. tried to confine the priests to
1 Colbert a Duchesneau, 28 Avril, 1677.
2 Instruction pour M. Bouteroue, 1668.
' Memoire succinct des principaux points des intentions du Roy sur le pay*
de Canada, 18 Mai, 1669.
* Talon au Ministre, 10 Oct., 1670.

336 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665--1700.
their ecclesiastical functions, he was at the same
time, whether from religion, policy, or both com
bined, very hberal to the Canadian church, of
which, indeed, he was the main-stay. In the
yearly estimate of " ordinary charges " of the
colony, the church holds the most prominent place ;
and the appropriations for religious purposes often
exceed all the rest together. Thus, in 1667, out
of a total of 36,360 francs, 28,000 are assigned to
church uses.1 The amount fluctuated, but was
always relatively large. The Canadian cure's were
paid in great part by the king, who for many
years gave eight thousand francs annuaUy towards
their support. Such was the poverty of the
country that, though in 1685 there were only
twenty-five cure's,2 each costing about five hundred
francs a year, the tithes utterly failed to meet the
expense. As late as 1700, the intendant declared
that Canada without the king's help could not
maintain more than eight or nine cures. Louis
XIV. winced under these steady demands, and
reminded the bishop that more than four thousand
cures in France lived on less than two hundred
francs a year.3 " You say," he wrote to the in
tendant, "that it is impossible for a Canadian
cure to live on five hundred francs. Then you
1 Of this, 6,000 francs were given to the Jesuits, 6,000 to the Ursulines,
9,000 to the cathedral, 4,000 to the seminary fand 3,000 to the Hotel-Dieu.
Etat de depense, etc., 1677. The rest went to pay civil officers and garri
sons. In 1682, the amount for church uses was only 12,000 francs. In
1687 it was 13,600. In 1689, it rose to 34,000, including Acadia.
3 Increased soon after to thirty-six by Saint- Vallier, Laval's successor,
3 Memoire a Duchesneau, 15 Mai, 1678 j Le Roy a Duchesneau, 11 Juin,
1680.

1665-1700.] THE KING AND THE CHURCH. 337
must do the impossible to accomplish my intentions,
which are always that the cure's should live on the
tithes alone." : Yet the head of the church still
begged for money, and the king still paid it. " We
are in the midst of a costly war," wrote the minis
ter to the bishop, " yet in consequence of your
urgency the gifts to ecclesiastics will be continued
as beforr." a And they did continue. More than
half a century later, the king was still making
them, f.ad during the last years of the colony he
gave twenty thousand francs annually to support
Canadian cures.3
The maintenance of cures was but a part of
his bounty. He endowed the bishopric with the
revenues of two French abbeys, to which he after
wards added a third. The vast tracts of land
which Laval had acquired Avere freed from feudal
burdens, and emigrants were sent to them by the
government in such numbers that, in 1667, the
bishop's seigniory of Beaupre and Orleans con
tained more than a fourth of the entire population
of Canada.4 He had emerged from his condition
of apostolic poverty to 4 find himself the richest
land-owner in the colony.
If by* favors like these the king expected to
lead the ecclesiastics into compliance with his
1 Le Roy a. Duchesneau, 30 Afril, 1081.
2 Le Minislre a I'Eveque, if Mai, 1694.
8 Bougainville, Memoire, 1757.
' Entire population, 4,312 ; Beaupre and Orleans, 1,185. Recensement
de 1667. Laval, it will be remembered, afterwards gave his lands to the
seminary of Quebec. lie previously exchanged the island of Orleans
with the Sieur Berthelot for the island of Jesus. Berthelot gave him a
large sum of money in addition. 22

338 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1GG5-1700
wishes, he was doomed to disappointment. The
system of movable cures, by which the bishop
hke a mUitary chief could compel each member of
his clerical army to come and go at his bidding,
was from the first repugnant to Louis XIV. On
the other hand, the bishop clung to it with his
usual tenacity. Colbert denounced it as contrar}
to the laws of the kingdom.1 " His Majesty has
reason to believe," he writes, " that the chief
source of the difficulty which the bishop makes on
this point is his wish to preserve a greater author
ity over the cures."2 The inflexible prelate, whose
heart was bound up in the system he had estab
lished, opposed evasion and delay to each ex
pression of the royal wUl ; and even a royal edict
failed to produce the desired effect. In the height
of the dispute, Laval went to court, and, on the
ground of failing health, asked for a successor in
the bishopric. The king readUy granted his prayer.
The successor was appointed ; but when Laval pre
pared to embark again for Canada, he was given to
understand that he was to remain in France. In
vain he promised to make no trouble;3 and it was
not till after an absence of four years that he was
permitted to return, no longer as its chief, to his
beloved Canadian church.4
1 Xe Ministre a Duchesneau, 15 Mai, 1678.
2 Instruction a M. de Meules, 1682.
3 Laval au Pere la Chaise, 1687. This forms part of a curious corre
spondence printed in the Foyer Canadien for 1866, from originals in the
Archeveche of Quebec.
4 Prom a memoire of 18 Feb., 1685 (Archives de Versailles) it is plain
that the court, in giving a successor to Laval, thought that it had eDded
the v^xed question of movable cure's.

1665-1700.1 THE NEW BISHOP. 339
Meanwhile Saint- Vallier, the new bishop, had
raised a new tempest. He attacked that organiza
tion of the seminary of Quebec by which Laval
had 'endeavored to unite the secular priests of
Canada into an attached and obedient family, with
the bishop as its head and the seminary as its
home, a plan of which the system of movable
cures was an essential part. The Canadian priests,
devoted to Laval, met the innovations of Saint-
Vullier with an opposition Avhich seemed only to
confirm his purpose. Laval, old and worn with
toil and asceticism, was driven almost to despair.
The seminary of Quebec was the cherished work
of his lUe, and, to his thinking, the citadel of the
Canadian church ; and now he beheld it battered
and breached before his eyes. His successor, in
fact, was trying to place the church of Canada on
the footinp; of the church of France. The conflict
lasted for years, with the rancor that marks the
quarrels of non-combatants of both sexes. " He "
(Saint- Vallier), says one of his opponents, " has
made himseh contemptible to almost everybody,
and particularly odious to the priests born in
Canada; for there is between them and him a
mutual antipathy difficult to overcome." x He is
described by the same writer as a person " Avithout
reflection and judgment, extreme in all things,
secret and artful, passionate when opposed, and a
flatterer when he Avishes to gain his point." This
amiable critic adds that Saint- VaUier believes a
1 The above is from an anonymous paper, written apparently in 1695
and entitled Memoire pour le Canada.

340 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1683
bishop to be inspired, in virtue of his office, Avith
a wisdom that needs no human aid, and that what
ever thought comes to him in prayer is a divine
inspiration to be carried into effect at all costs and
in spite of all opposition.
The new bishop, notwithstanding the tempest
he had raised, did not fully accomplish that estab
lishment of the cures in their respective par
ishes Avhich the king and the minister so much
desired. The Canadian cure was more a missionary
than a parish priest ; and nature as Avell as Bishop
LaA'al threw difficulties in the way of setthng him
quietly over his charge.
On the Lower St. Lawrence, Avhere it widens to
an estuary, six leagues across, a ship from France,
the last of the season, holds her way for Quebec,
laden Avith stores and clothing, household utensils,
goods for Indian trade, the newest court fashions,
wine, brandy, tobacco, and the king's orders from
Versailles. SAvelling her patched and dingy sails,
she glides through the wildness and the solitude
where there is nothing but her to remind you of
the great troubled Avorld behind and the little
troubled Avorld before. On the far verge of the
ocean-like river, clouds and mountains mingle in
dim confusion; fresh gusts from the north dash
waves against the ledges, sweep through the quiv
ering spires of stiff and stunted fir-trees, and ruffle
the feathers of the crow, perched on the dead
bough after his feast of mussels among the sea-weed.
You are not so solitary as you think. A small
birch canoe rounds the point of rocks, and it bears

1683.1 THE CANADIAN CURE:. 341
two men; one in an old black cassock, and the
other in a buckskin coat ; both working hard at
the paddle to keep their slender craft off the
sliingle and the breakers. The man in the cassock
is Father Morel, aged forty-eight, the oldest coun
try cure* in Canada, most of his brethren being in
the vigor of youth as they had need to be. His
parochial charge embraces a string of incipient
parishes extending along the south shore from
Riviere du Loup to Riviere du Sud, a distance
reckoned at tAventy-seven leagues, and his parish
ioners number in all three hundred and twenty-
eight souls. He has administered spiritual conso
lation to the one inhabitant of Kamouraska ; visited
the eight families of La BouteiUerie and the five
famihes of La Combe ; and now he is on his Avay
to the seigniory of St. Denis with its two houses
and eleven souls.1
The father lands where a shattered eel-pot high
and dry on the pebbles betrays the neighborhood
of man. His servant shoulders his portable chapel,
and follows him through the belt of firs, and the
taller woods beyond, till the sunlight of a desolate
clearing shines upon them. Charred trunks and
limbs encumber the ground; dead trees, branch
less, barkless, pierced by the Avoodpeckers, in part
black Avith fire, in part bleached by sun and frost,
tower ghastly and wierd above the labyrinth of
forest ruins, through which the priest and his
1 These particulars are from the Plan general de I'estat present des mis
"ions du Canada, fait en I'annee, 1683. It is a list and description of the
parishes with the names and ages of the curds, and other details. See
Abeille, I. This paper was drawn up by order of Laval.

342 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665-1700.
foUower wind their way, the cat-bird mewing, and
the blue-jay screaming as they pass. Noav the
golden-rod and the aster, harbingers of autumn,
fringe with purple and yellow the edge of the older
clearing, where wheat and maize, the settler's
meagre harvest, are growing among the stumps.
Wild-looking Avomen, Avith sunburnt faces and
neglected hair, run from their work to meet the
cure" ; a man or two follow Avith soberer steps and
less exuberant zeal ; Avhile half-savage chUdren, the
coureurs de bois of the future, bareheaded, bare
footed, and half-clad, come to wonder and stare.
To set up his altar in a room of the rugged log
cabin, say mass, hear confessions, impose penance,
grant absolution, repeat the office of the dead over
a grave made Aveeks before, baptize, perhaps, the
last infant; marry, possibly, some pair Avho may
or may not have Avaited for his coming ; catechize
as Avell as time and circumstance Avould alloAV the
shy but turbulent brood of some former Avedlock :
such Avas the work of the parish priest in the
remoter districts. It Avas seldom' that his charge
was quite so scattered, and so far extended as that
of Father Morel ; but there were fifteen or twenty
others Avhose labors were like in kind, and in some
cases no less arduous. All summer they paddled their
canoes from settlement to settlement ; and in Avinter
they toiled on snoAV-shoes over the drifts ; Avhile the
servant carried the portable chapel on his back, or
dragged it on a sledge. Once, at least, in the year,
the cure paid his visit to Quebec, Avhere, under the
maternal roof of the seminary, he made his retreat

1665-17O0.J THE CANADIAN CURE. 343
of meditation and prayer, and then returned to his
work. He rarely had a house of his oavh, but
boarded in that of the seignior or one of the habi
tants. Many parishes or aggregations of parishes
had no other church than a room fitted up for the
purpose in the house of some pious settler. In
the larger settlements, there were churches and
chapels of wood, thatched with straAV, often ruin
ous, poor to the last degree, without ornaments,
and sometimes without the sacred vessels necessary
for the service.1 In 1683, there were but seven
stone churches in aU the colony. The population
was so thin and scattered that many of the settlers
heard mass only three or four times a year, and
some of them not so often. The sick frequently
died without absolution, and infants without bap
tism. The splendid self-devotion of the early Jesuit
missions has its record ; so, too, have the unseemly
bickerings of bishops and governors : but the
patient toUs of the missionary cure rest in the
obscurity where the best of human virtues are
buried from age to age. What we find set down
concerning him is, that Louis XIV. was unable to
see why he should not hve on two hundred francs
a year as weU as a vUlage cure by the banks of
the Garonne. The king did not knoAV that his
cassock and aU his clothing cost him twice as much
and lasted half as long ; that he must have a canoe
and a man to paddle it; and that when on his
1 Saint- Vallier, Estat present de V Eglise et de la Colonie Francaise,
22 (cd. 18561.

344 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1685
annual visit the seminary paid him five or six
hundred francs, partly in clothes, partly in stores,
and partly in money, the end of the year found
him as poor as before except only in his con
science. The Canadian priests held the manners of the
colony under a rule as rigid as that of the Puritan
churches of New England, but with the difference
that in Canada a large part of the population was
restiAre under their control, while some of the civil
authorities, often with the governor at their head,
supported the opposition. This was due, partly to
an excess of clerical severity, and partly to the
continued friction betAveen the secular and eccle
siastical poAvers. It sometimes happened, however,
that a new governor arrived, so pious that the
clerical party felt that they could rely on him.
Of these rare instances the principal is that of
DenonviUe, who, Avith a wife as pious as himself,
and a young daughter, landed at Quebec, in 1685.
On this, Bishop Saint- VaUier, anxious to turn his
good dispositions to the best account, addressed to
him a series of suggestions or rather directions foi
the guidance of his conduct, with a view to the
spiritual profit of those over whom he was appointed
to rule. The document was put on file, and the
following are some of the points in it. It is di
vided into five different heads: " Touching feasts,"
" touching baUs and dances," " touching comedies
and other declamations," " touching dress," " touch
ing irreverence in church." The governor and
madame his Avife are desired to accept no in vita-

68V

1685.] SATNT-VALLIER AND DENONVILLE. 345

i

tions to suppers, that is to say late dinners, aa
tending to nocturnal hours and dangerous pastimes;
and they are further enjoined to express dissatisfac
tion, and refuse to come again, should any entertain
ment offered them be too sumptuous. " Although,"
continues the bishop under the second head of his
address, " balls and dances are not sinful in their
nature, nevertheless they are so dangerous by
reason of the circumstances that attend them, and
the evU results that almost inevitably folloAV, that,
in the opinion of Saint Francis of Sales, it should
be said of them as physicians say of mushrooms,
that at best they are good for nothing ; " and, after
enlarging on their perUs, he declares it to be of
great importance to the glory of God and the
sanctification of the colony, that the governor and
his wUe neither give such entertainments nor
countenance them by their presence. " Neverthe
less," adds the mentor, " since the- youth and
vivacity of mademoiselle their daughter requires
some diversion, it is permitted to relent someAvhat,
and indulge her. in a httle moderate and proper
dancing, provided that it be solely with persons of
her own sex, and in the presence of madame her
mother ; but by no means in the presence of men
or youths, since it is this mingling of sexes which
causes the disorders that spring from balls and
dances." Private theatricals in any form are next
interdicted to the young lady. The bishop then
passes to the subject of her dress, and exposes the
abuses against which she is to be guarded. " The
luxury of dress," he says, " appears in the rich and

346 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. f/685
dazzling fabrics wherein the women and girls of
Canada attire themselves, and which are far beyond
their condition and their means ; in the excess of
ornaments Avhich they put on ; in the extraordinary
head-dresses Avhich they affect, their heads being
uncovered and fiUl of strange trinkets ; and in the
immodest curls so expressly forbidden in the epis
tles of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, as weU as by all
the fathers and doctors of the church, and which
God has often severely punished, as may be seen
by the example of the unhappy Pretextata, a lady
of high quality, Avho, as we learn from Saint
Jerome, Avho knew her, had her hands withered,
and died suddenly five months after, and was pre
cipitated into hell, as God had threatened her by
an angel ; because, by order of her husband, she
had curled the hair of her niece, and attired her
after a Avorldly fashion." x
Whether the Marquis and Marchioness Denon
ville profited by so apt and terrible a Avarning, or
whether their patience and good-nature survived
the episcopal onslaught, does not appear on record.
The subject of feminine apparel received great
attention, both from Saint-Vallier and his prede-
1 " Tenioin entr'autres 1'exemple de la malheureuse Pretextate, dame
de grando condition, laquelle au rapport de S. Jerome, dont elle e'toit
connue, ent les mains desseche'es et cinq mois apres niourut subitement et
fut precipite'e en enfer, ainsi que Dieu Ten avoit menacee par un Ange
pour avoir par le commandement de son mari frise et babille mondaine-
ment sa niece." Divers points a repre'senter a Mr. le Gouverneur et a
Madame la Couvemante, signe Jean, evesqne de Quebec. (Registre de I'Evechi
de Quebec.) The bishop on another occasion holds up the sad fate of Pre
textata as a warning to Canadian mothers; but in the present case he
slightly changes the incidents to make the story more applicable to the
governor and his wife.

1663-1700.] CLERICAL SEVERITY. 347
cessor, each of whom issued a number of pastoral
mandates concerning it. Their severest denuncia
tions Avere aimed at loAV-necked dresses, Avhich they
regarded as favorite devices of the enemy for the
snaring of souls ; and they also used strong lan
guage against certain knots of ribbons caUed fon-
tanges, with which the belles of Quebec adorned
their heads. Laval launches strenuous invectives
against " the luxury and vanity of women and
girls, who, forgetting the promises of their bap
tism, decorate themselves Avith the pomp of Satan,
whom they have so solemnly renounced ; and, in
their wish to please the eyes of men, make them
selves the instruments and the captives of the
fiend." x
In the journal of the superior of the Jesuits we
find, under date of February 4, 1667, a record
of the first baU in Canada, along with the pious
wish, " God grant that nothing further come of
it." Nevertheless more baUs Avere not long in
following ; and, Avorse yet, sundry comedies Avere
enacted under no less distinguished patronage than
that of Frontenac, the governor. Laval denounced
them vigorously, the Jesuit Dablon attacked them
in a violent sermon ; and such excitement f oIIoavpU
that the affair was brought before the royal coun
cU, which declined to interfere.2 Tins flurry, how-
1 Mandement contre le luxe et la vanite des femmes et des files, 1G82.
(Registres de I'Eviche de Quebec) A still more vigorous denunciation
is contained in Ordonnance conlre les victs de luxe et d'impurete, 1690. This
was followed in the next year by a stringent list of rules called Reglement
pour la conduite desfidiles de ce diocese.
8 Arrets du 24 et 28 juin par lesquels cette affaire (des comedies) est rerivoyit
a Sa Majeste, 1681. (?) (Regislre du Conseil Souverain.)

348 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1700.
ever, was nothing to the storm raised ten or twelve
years later by other dramatic aggressions, an account
of which avUI appear in the sequel of this volume.
The morals of famihes were watched with unre
lenting vigilance. Frontenac writes in a mood
unusually temperate, "they (the priests) are full
of virtue and piety, and U their zeal were less
vehement and more moderate they would perhaps
succeed better in their efforts for the conversion
of souls; but they often use means so extraor
dinary, and in France so unusual, that they re
pel most people instead of persuading them. I
sometimes teU them my views frankly and as
gently as I can, as I know the murmurs that their
conduct excites, and often receive complaints of
the constraint under Avhich they place consciences.
This is above aU the case Avith the ecclesiastics at
Montreal, Avhere there is a cure from Franche
Comte aaIio AA'ants to establish a sort of inquisition
worse than that of Spain, and aU out of an excess
of zeal."1
It Avas this cure", no doubt, of Avhom La Hon-
+in complains. That unsanctified young officer
was quartered at Montreal, in the house of one
of the inhabitants. "During a part of the
winter I was hunting with the Algonquins; the
rest of it I spent here very disagreeably. One
can neither go on a pleasure party, nor play a
game of cards, nor visit the ladies, without the
cure knoAving it and preaching about it publicly
from his pulpit. The priests excommunicate mas-
1 Frontenac au Ministre, 20 Oct., 1691,

1663-1700.] LA MOTTE AND THE PRIESTS. 349
queraders, and even go in search of them to pull
off their masks and overwhelm them Avith abuse.
They Avatch more closely over the Avomen and
girls than their husbands and fathers. They pro
hibit and burn all books but books of devotion. I
cannot think of this tyranny Avithout cursing the
indiscreet zeal of the cure of this town. He came
to the house Avhere I hved, and, finding some
books on my table, presently pounced on the
romance of Petronius, Avhich I valued more than
my lUe because it Avas not mutilated. He tore out
almost all the leaves, so that if my host had not
restrained me when I came in and saw the miser
able Avreck, I should have run after this rampant
shepherd and torn out every hair of his beard." ]
La Motte-CadiUac, the founder of Detroit, seems
to have had equal difficulty in keeping his tem
per. "Neither men of honor nor men of parts
are endured in Canada ; nobody can live here but
simpletons and slaves of the ecclesiastical domina
tion. The count (Frontenac) would not have so
many troublesome affairs on his hands if he had
not abolished a Jericho in the shape of a house
built by messieurs of the seminary of Montreal, to
shut up, as they said, girls Avho caused scandal ; if
he had aUoAved them to take officers and soldiers to
go into houses at midnight and carry off Avomen
from their husbands and Avhip them tiU the blood
flowed because they had been at a ball or Avorn a
mask; if he had said nothing against the cures
• La nontan, I. 60 (ed. 1709). Other editions contain the same story
In different words.

350 PRrESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1700
who went the rounds with the soldiers and com
pelled Avomen and girls to shut themselves up in
their houses at nine o'clock of summer evenings ;
if he had forbidden the wearing of lace, and made
no objection to the refusal of the communion to
women of quality because they wore a fontange ;
if he had not opposed excommunications flung about
without sense or reason ; U, I say, the count had
been of this Avay of thinking he would have stood
as a nonpared, and have been put very soon on
the hst of saints, for saint-making is cheap in this
country."1 Whde the Sulpitians were thus rigorous at
Montreal, the bishop and his Jesuit alhes were
scarcely less so at Quebec. There Avas little good-
Avill between them and the Sulpitians, and some of
the sharpest charges against the folloAvers of Loyola
are brought by their brother priests at Montreal.
The Sulpitian Allet writes : " The Jesuits hold such
domination over the people of this country that
they go into the houses and see every thing that
passes there. They then tell what they have
learned to each other at their meetings, and on
this information they govern their policy. The
Jesuit, Father Ragueneau, used to go every day
doAvn to the Lower Town, where the merchants
live, to find out aU that was going on in their
families; and he often made people get up from
table to confess to him." AUet goes on to say
that Father Chatelain also went continually to the
LoAver ToAvn Avith the same object, and that some
1 La Motte-Cadillac a  , 28 Sept., 1094.

1663-1700.] JESUIT ACTIVITY. 351
of the inhabitants complained of him to Cour
celle, the governor. One day Courcelle saw the
Jesuit, Avho Avas old and someAvhat infirm, sloAvly
walking by the Chateau, cane in hand, on his
usual errand, on Avhich he sent a sergeant after
him to request that he would not go so often to
the LoAver ToAvn, as the people Avere annoyed by
the frequency of his Aisits. The father replied in
wrath, " Go and tell Monsieur de Courcelle that I
have been there ever since he was governor, and
that I shall go there after he has ceased to be
governor ; " and he kept on his Avay as before.
Courcelle reported his answer to the superior, Le
Mercier, and demanded to have him sent home as
a punishment; but the superior effected a com
promise. On the following Thursday, after mass
in the cathedral, he invited CourceUe into the
sacristy, Avhere Father Chatelain Avas aAvaiting
them; and here, at Le Mercier's order, the old
priest begged pardon of the offended governor on
his knees.1
The Jesuits derived great poAver from the con
fessional ; and, if their accusers are to be believed,
they employed unusual means to make it effective.
Cavelier de la Salle says : " They avUI confess nobody
tiU he tells his name, and no servant till he tells
the name of his master. When a crime is con
fessed, they insist on knoAving the name of the
accomplice, as Avell as aU the circumstances, with
» Memoire d'Allet. The author was at one time secretary to Abbe"
Quelus. The paper is printed in the Morale pratique des Jesuites. Th*
above is one of many curious statements which it contains.

352 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1700.
the greatest particularity. Father Chatelain es
pecially never faUs to do this. They enter as it
were by force into the secrets of families, and thus
make themselves formidable ; for what cannot be
done by a clever man devoted to his work, who
knows all the secrets of every family ; above all
when he permits himself to teU them when it is
for his interest to do so ? " 1
The association of women and girls known as
the Congregation of the Holy Family, which was
formed under Jesuit auspices, and Avhich met every
Thursday with closed doors in the cathedral, is said
to have been very useful to the fathers in their
social investigations.2 The members are affirmed
to have been under a vow to tell each other every
good or evil deed they knew of every person of
their acquaintance ; so that this pious gossip be
came a copious source of information to those in a
position to draw upon it. In Talon's time the Con
gregation of the Holy Family caused such com
motion in Quebec that he asked the council to
appoint a commission to inquire into its proceed
ings. He was touching dangerous ground. The
affair was presently hushed, and the apphcation
cancelled on the register of the council.3
The Jesuits had long exercised solely the func
tion of confessors in the colony, and a number of
l La Salle, Memoire, 1678.
2 See Discovery of the Great West, 105.
8 Representation faite au conseil au sujet de certaines assembl€es de femmes
oufilles sous le nom de la Sainte Famille, 1667. (Registre du Conseil Souveratn.)
The paper is cancelled by lines drawn over it ; and the following minute,
duly attested, is appended to it : " Rayc du consentement de M. Talon "

106S-1700.] THE RECOLLETS. 353
curious anecdotes are on record showing the re
luctance with which they admitted the secular
priests, and above all the RecoUets, to share in it.
The RecoUets, of whom a considerable number had
arrived from time to time, Avere on excellent terms
with the civU poAvers, and were popular Avith the
colonists ; but with the bishop and the Jesuits they
were not in favor, and one or two sharp coUisions
took place. The bishop Avas naturaUy annoyed
when, Avhile he Avas trying to persuade the Icing
that a cure" needed at least six hundred francs a
year, these mendicant friars came forward with an
offer to serve the parishes for nothing ; nor was he,
it is likely, better pleased when, having asked the
hospital nuns eight hundred francs annually for
two masses a day in their chapel, the RecoUets
underbid him, and offered to say the masses for
three hundred.1 They, on their part, complain
bitterly of the bishop, who, they say, would gladly
haAre ordered them out of the colony, but being
unable to do this, tried to shut them up in their
convent, and prevent them from officiating as
priests among the people. " We have as little
liberty," says the Recollet writer, " as if we were
in a country of heretics." He adds that the in
habitants ask earnestly for the ministrations of
the friars, but that the bishop replies Avith in
vectives and calumnies against the order, and that

1 " Mon dit sieur l'evesque leur fait payer (aux hospitatieres) 800/. par
an pour deux messes qu'il leur fait dire par ses Sdminaristes que les
RecoUets leurs voisins leur offrent pour 300/." La Barre au Ministre,
1682. 23

354 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. 11603-1700.
when the RecoUets absolve a penitent he ofteL
annuls tHe absolution.1
In one respect this Canadian church mUitant
achieved a complete success. Heresy was scoured
out of the colony. When Maintenon and her
ghostly prompters OArercame the better nature of
the king, and wrought on his bigotry and his
vanity to launch him into the dragonnades ; Avhen
violence and lust bore the crucifix into thousands
of Huguenot homes, and the land reeked with
nameless infamies; AAlien churches rang Avith Te
Deums, and the heart of France Avithered in an
guish ; when, in short, this hideous triumph of the
faith Avas won, the royal tool of priestly ferocity
sent orders that heresy shoidd be treated in Canada
as it had been treated in France.2 The orders
were needless. The pious Dehonville replies,
" Praised be God, there is not a heretic here."
He adds that a few abjured last year, and that he
should be very glad if the king would make them
a present. The Jesuits, he further says, go every
day on board the ships in the harbor to look after
the new converts from France.3 Now and then at
a later day a real or suspected Jansenist found his
Avay to Canada, and sometimes an esprit fort, like
1 Memoire inslructif contenant la conduite des PP. R collets de Paris en
leurs missions de Canada, 1684. This paper, of which only a fragment is
preserved, was written in connection with a dispute of the RecoUets with
the bishop who opposed their attempt to establish a church in Quebec.
2 Memoire du Roy a Denonville, 31 Mai, 1686. The king here orders
the imprisonment of heretics who refuse to abjure, or the quartering of
soldiers on them. What this meant the history of the dragonnades will
show. 3 Denonville au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686.

1663-1700.] THE NUNS. 355
La Hontan, came over with the troops ; but on the
whole a community more free from positive hetero
doxy perhaps never existed on earth. This ex
emption cost no bloodshed. What it did cost we
may better judge hereafter.
If Canada escaped the dragonnades, so also she
escaped another infliction from which a neighboring
» colony suffered deplorably. Her peace was never
much troubled by witches. They were held to
exist, it is true ; but they wrought no panic.
Mother Mary of the Incarnation reports on one
occasion the discovery of a magician in the per
son of a converted Huguenot miller who, being
refused in marriage by a girl of Quebec, be
witched her, and filled the house where she hved
with demons, which the bishop tried in vain to
exorcise. The miUer was thrown into prison,
and the girl sent to the H6tel-Dieu, where not a
demon dared enter. The infernal crew took their
revenge by creating a severe influenza among the
citizens.1 If there are no Canadian names on the calendar
of saints, it is not because in by-ways and obscure
places Canada had not virtues worthy of canoniza
tion. Not alone her male martyrs and female
devotees, whose merits have found a chronicle and
a recognition ; not the fantastic devotion of Madame
d'AiUebout, who, lest she should not suffer enough,
took to herself a vicious and refractory servant
girl, as an exercise of patience ; and not certainly
the mediaeval pietism of Jeanne Le Ber, the ven-
i ' Marie de l'lncarnation, TMtre de — Sept., 1661.

356 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1662-1714.
erated recluse of Montreal/ There are others qidte
as worthy of honor, whose names have died from
memory. It is difficult to conceive a self-abnega
tion more complete than that of the hospital nuns of
Quebec and Montreal. In the almost total absence
of trained and skilled physicians, the burden of the
sick and wounded f eU upon them. Of the two com
munities, that of Montreal Avas the more Avretch-
edly destitute, whUe that of Quebec Avas exposed,
perhaps, to greater dangers. Nearly every ship
from France brought some form of infection, and
all infection found its Avay to the Hotel-Die u of
Quebec. The nuns died, but they never complained.
Removed from the arena of ecclesiastical strife, too
busy for the morbidness of the cloister, too much
absorbed in practical benevolence to become the
prey of dlusions, they and their sister community
were models of that benign and tender charity of
which the Roman Catholic Church is so rich in
examples. Nor should the Ursulines and the nuns
of the Congregation be forgotten among those
who, in another field of labor, have toUed patiently
according to their light.
MademoiseUe Jeanne Le Ber belonged to none
of these sisterhoods. She was the favorite daughter
of the cliief merchant of Montreal, the same who,
with the help of his money, got himself ennobled.
She seems to have been a girl of a fine and sensitive
nature ; ardent, affectionate, and extremely sus
ceptible to religious impressions. Religion at last
gained absolute sAvay over her. Nothing could
appease her longings or content the demands of

1662-1714.] JEANNE LE BER. 357
her excited conscience but an entire consecration
of herself to heaven. Constituted as she was, the
resolution must have cost her an agony of mental
conflict. Her story is a strange, and, as many Avill
think, a very sad one. She renounced her suitors,
and Avished to renounce her inheritance ; but he r
spiritual directors, too far-sighted to permit such
a sacrifice, persuaded her to hold fast to her claims,
and content herself Avith what they called " poverty
of heart." Her mother died, and her father, left
with a family of young children, greatly needed
her help; but she refused to leave her chamber
where she had immured herself. Here she re
mained ten years, seeing nobody but her confessor
and the girl who brought her food. Once only she
emerged, and this Avas Avhen her brother lay dead
in the adjacent room, killed in a fight with the
English. She suddenly appeared before her aston
ished sisters, stood for a moment in silent prayer
by the body, and then vanished Avithout uttering a
word. " Such," says her modern biographer, " Avas
the sublimity of her virtue and the grandeur of
her soul." Not content Avith this domestic seclu
sion, she caused a cell to be made behind the altar
in the newly built church of the Congregation,
and here we will permit ourselves to cast a stolen
glance at her through the narrow opening through
which food was passed in to her. Her bed, a pile
of straw which she never moved, lest it should
become too soft, was so placed that her head could
touch the partition, that alone separated it from
the Host on the "altar. Here she lay wrapped in

358 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1662-1714
a garment of coarse gray serge, Avorn, tattered,
and unAvashed. An old blanket, a stool, a spinning-
Avheel, a belt and shirt of haircloth, a scourge, and
a pair of shoes made by herself of the husks of
Indian-corn, appear to have formed the sum of
her furniture and her wardrobe. Her employ
ments were spinning and working embroidery for
churches. She remained in this voluntary prison
about twenty years ; and the nun who brought her
food testifies that she never omitted a mortification
or a prayer, though commonly in a state of pro
found depression, and what her biographer caUs
" complete spiritual aridity."
When her mother died, she had refused to see
her ; and, long after, no prayer of her dying father
could draw her from her cell. " In the person of
this modest virgin," Avrites her reverend eulogist,
" we see, with astonishment, the love of God
triumphant over earthly affection for parents, and
a complete victory of faith over reason and of
grace over nature."
In 1711, Canada was threatened with an attack
by the English; and she gave the nuns of the
Congregation an image of the Virgin on which she
had Avritten a prayer to protect their granary from
the invaders. Other persons, anxious for a similar
protection, sent her images to write upon; but
she declined the request. One of the disappointed
applicants then stole the inscribed image from the
granary of the Congregation, intending to place it
on his own when the danger dreAv near. The
English, however, did not come, their fleet having

1662-1714.] JEANNE LE BER. 359
suffered a ruinous shipwreck ascribed to the prayers
of Jeanne Le Ber. " It Avas," Avrites the Sulpitian
Belmont, " the greatest miracle that ever happened
since the days of Moses." Nor was this the only
miracle of which she was the occasion. She her
self declared that once Avhen she had broken her
spinning-wheel, an angel came and mended it for
her. Angels also assisted in her embroidery, " no
doubt," says Mother Juchereau, " taking great
pleasure in the society of this angelic creature."
In the church where she had secluded herself, an
image of the Virgin continued after her death to
heal the lame and cure the sick.1
Though she rarely permitted herself to speak,
yet some oracular utterance of the sainted recluse
would now and then escape to the outer Avorld.
One of these Avas to the effect that teaching poor
girls to read, unless they wanted to be nuns, was
robbing them of their time. Nor was she far
wrong, for in Canada there was very little to read
except formulas of devotion and lives of saints.
The dangerous innovation of a printing-press had
not invaded the colony,3 and the first Canadian
newspaper dates from the British conquest.
All education was controlled by priests or nuns.
The ablest teachers in Canada were the Jesuits.
Their college of Quebec was three years older than
1 Faillon, L'Heroine chretienne du Canada, ou Vie de Mile. Le Ber. This
is a most elaborate and eulogistic life of the recluse. A shorter account
of her will be found in Juchereau, H6tel-Dieu. She died in 1714, at the
age of fifty-two.
2 A printing-press was afterwards brought to Canada, but was soon
sent back again.

360 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763
Harvard. We hear at an early date of public
disputations by the pupUs, after the pattern of
those tournaments of barren logic which preceded
the reign of inductive reason in Europe, and of
which the archetype is to be found in the scholastic
duels of the Sorbonne. The boys Avere sometimes
permitted to act certain approved dramatic pieces
of a religious character, like the Sage Vision-
naire. On one occasion they were aUoAved to play
the Cid of Corneille, Avliich, though remarkable as
a literary Avork, contained nothing threatening to
orthodoxy. They were taught a little Latin, a
little rhetoric, and a httle logic ; but against aU
that might rouse the f acid ties to independent action,
the Canadian schools prudently closed their doors.
There was then no rival population, of a different
origin and a different faith, to compel competition
in the race of inteUigence and knowledge. The
church stood sole mistress of the field. Under the
old regime the real object of education in Canada
Avas a religious and, in far less degree, a political
one. The true purpose of the schools was: first,
to make priests ; and, secondly, to make obedient
servants of the church and the king. All the rest
was extraneous and of slight account. In regard
to this matter, the king and the bishop Avere of
one mind. "As I have been informed," Louis
XIV writes to Laval, " of your continued care to
hold the people in their duty towards God and
towards me by the good education you give or
cause to be given to the young, I write this letter

1603-1763.] THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 361
to express my satisfaction with conduct so salutary,
and to exhort you to persevere in it." a
The bishop did not fad to persevere. The school
for boys attached to his seminary became the most
important educational institution in Canada. It
Avas regulated by thirty-four rules, " in honor of
the thirty-four years Avhich Jesus lived on earth."
The qualities commended to the boys as those
Avhich they should labor diligently to acquire Avere,
" humdity, obedience, purity, meekness, modesty,
simplicity, chastity, charity, and an ardent love of
Jesus and his Holy Mother." a Here is a goodly
roll of Christian virtues. What is chiefly noticeable
in it is, that truth is allowed no place. That manly
but unaccommodating virtue was not, it seems,
thought important in forming the mind of youth.
Humility and obedience lead the list, for in unques
tioning submission to the spiritual director lay the
guaranty of aU other merits.
We have seen already that, besides this seminary
for boys, Laval established another for educating
the humbler colonists. It Avas a sort of farm-school,
though besides farming various mechanical trades
were also taught in it. It was well adapted to
the wants of a great majority of Canadians, Avhose
tendencies were any thing but bookish ; but here,
as elsewhere, the real object Avas religious. It
enabled the church to extend her influence over-
classes which the ordinary schools could not reach.
Besides manual training, the pupils were taught to
' Le Roy a Laval, 9 Avril, 1667 (extract in Faillon).
- Ancien rtqlement du Petit Seminaire de Quebec, sec Aseilk VIII., no. 32

362 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [W63-1763.
read and Avrite ; and for a time a certain number of
them received some instruction in Latin. When,
in 1686, Saint- Vallier visited the school, he found
in all thirty-one boys under the .charge of two
priests; but the number was afterwards greatly
reduced, and the place served, as it stUl serves,
chiefly as a retreat during vacations for the priests
and pupils of the seminary of Quebec. A spot
better suited for such a purpose cannot be con
ceived. From the vast meadows of the parish of St.
Joachim, that here border the St. LaAvrence, there
rises like an island a low flat hiU, hedged round
with forests like the tonsured head of a monk. It
Avas here that Laval planted his school. Across
the meadows, a mile or more distant, towers the
mountain promontory of Cape Tourmente. You
may climb its woody steeps, and from the top,
Avaist-deep in blueberry-bushes, survey, from Ka-
mouraska to Quebec, the grand Canadian world
outstretched below ; or mount the neighboring
heights of St. Anne, where, athwart the gaunt
arms of ancient pines, the river Ues shimmering in
summer haze, the cottages of the habitants are strung
like beads of a rosary along the meadows of Beau
pre", the shores of Orleans bask in warm light, and
far on the horizon the rock of Quebec rests like a
faint gray cloud ; or traverse the forest tiU the
roar of the torrent guides you to the rocky solitude
where it holds its savage revels. High on the
cliffs above, young birch-trees stand smUing in the
morning sun ; while in the abyss beneath the snowy

1663-1763.] SAINT ANNE. 363
waters plunge from depth to depth, and, half way
doAvn, the slender hare-bell hangs from its mossy
nook, quivering in the steady thunder of the
cataract. Game on the river ; trout in lakes,
brooks, and pools ; wUd fruits and flowers on
meadoAVS and mountains, — a thousand resources
of honest and Avholesome recreation here Avait the
student emancipated from books, but not parted
for a moment from the pious influence that hangs
about the old waUs embosomed in the woods of
St. Joachim. Around on plains and hiUs stand
the dAvellings of a peaceful peasantry, as different
from the restless population of the neighboring
states as the denizens of some Norman or Breton
village. Above all, do not fail to make your pilgrimage
to the shrine of St. Anne. You may see her
chapel four or five miles away, nestled under the
heights of the Petit Cap. Here, when AiUebout
Avas governor, he began with his own hands the
pious work, and a habitant of Beaupre, Louis
Guimont, sorely afflicted with rheumatism, came
grinning with pain to lay three stones in the
foundation, in honor probably of Saint Anne,
Saint Joachim, and their daughter, the Virgin. In
stantly he was cured. It was but the beginning of
a long course of miracles continued more than two
centuries, and continuing still. Their fame spread
far and wide. The devotion to Saint Anne became
a distinguishing feature of Canadian Catholicity, till
at the present day at least thirteen parishes bear
her name. But of all her shrines none can match

364 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763.
the fame of St. Anne du Petit Cap. Crowds
flocked thither on the Aveek of her festival, and
marveUous cures Avere Avrought unceasingly, as
the sticks and crutches hanging on the waUs and
columns stUl attest. Sometimes the whole shore
was covered Avith the Avigwams of Indian converts
who had paddled their birch canoes from the
farthest Avilds of Canada. The more fervent
amous; them would crawl on their knees from the
shore to the altar. And, hi our oavii day, every
summer a far greater concourse of pilgrims, not
in paint and feathers, but in cloth and mUlinery,
and not in canoes, but in steamboats, bring their
offerings and their vows to the "Bonne Sainte
Anne." J
To return to LavTal's industrial school. Judging
from repeated complaints of governors and intend
ants of the dearth of skilled workmen, the priests
in charge of it were more successful in malting
good Catholics than in malting good masons, car
penters, blacksmiths, and weavers ; and the num
ber of pupUs, even if Avell trained, Avas at no time
sufficient to meet the Avants of the colony;2 for,
though the Canadians shoAved an aptitude for

1 For an interesting account of the shrine at the Petit Cap, see Cas-
grain, Le Pelerinage de la Bonne Sainte Anne, a little manual of devotion
printed at Quebec. I chanced to visit the old chapel in 1871, during a
meeting of the parish to consider the question of reconstructing it, as
it was in a ruinous state. Passing that way again two years after, 1
found the old chapel still standing, and a new one, much larger, half
finished. 2 Most of them were moreover retained, after leaving the school, by
the seminary, as servants, farmers, or vassals. La Tour, Vie de Laval,
T-iv. VI

1663-1763.] RESULTS. 365
mechanical trades, they preferred above all things
the savage liberty of the backAvoods.
The education of girls Avas in the hands of the
Ursidines and the nuns of the Congregation, of
whom the former, besides careful instruction in
religious duties, taught their pupUs " all that a girl
ought to know." ' This meant exceedingly httle
besides the manual arts suited to their sex ; and,
in the case of the nuns of the Congregation, Avho
taught girls of the poorer class, it meant still less.
It Avas on nuns as AveU as on priests that the charge
fell, not only of spiritual and mental, but also of
industrial, training. Thus Ave find the king giving
to a sisterhood of Montreal a thousand francs to
buy wool, and a thousand more for teaching girls
to knit.2 The king also maintained a teacher of
navigation and surveying at Quebec on the modest
salary of four hundred francs.
During the eighteenth century, some improve
ment is perceptible in the mental stan. of the
population. As it became more numerous and
more stable, it also became less ignorant ; and the
Canadian habitant, toAvards the end of the French
rule, was probably better taught, so far as concerned
religion, than the mass of French peasants. Yet
secular instruction Avas stiU extremely meagre, even
in the noblesse. " In spite of this defective educa
tion," says the famous navigator, Bougainville, who
kneAv the colony weU in its last years, " the Cana-
1 A lire, iv ecrire, les prieres, les mceurs chretiennes, et tout ce qu'une
fijjlle doit savoir. Marie de l'lncarnation, Lettre du 9 Aout, 1668.
' Denonville au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1685.

366 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763.
dians are naturally intelligent. They do not know
how to write, but they speak with ease and with
an accent as good as the Parisian." x He means,
of course, the better class. "Even the children
of officers and gentlemen," says another writer,
" scarcely know how to read and write ; they are
ignorant of the first elements of geography and
history." 2 And evidence like this might be ex
tended. When France was heaving with the throes
that prepared the Revolution ; when new hopes,
new dreams, new thoughts, — good and evil, false
and true, — tossed the troubled waters of French
society, Canada caught something of its social
corruption, but not the faintest impulsion of its
roused mental life. The torrent surged on its
way ; while, in the deep nook beside it, the sticks
and dry leaves floated their usual round, and the
unruffled pool slept tn the placidity of intellectual
torpor.3 1 Bougainville, Mimoire de Ylhl (see Margry, Relations inidites).
2 Memoire de 1736 ; Detail de toute la Colonie (published by Hist. Soc. of
Quebec). 3 Several Frenchmen of a certain intellectual eminence made their
abode in Canada from time to time. The chief among them are the
Jesuit Lafitau, author of Mceurs des Siuvages Amiricains; the Jesuit.'
Charlevoix, traveller and historian ; the physician Sarrazin ; and the;
Marquis de la Galisonniere, the most enlightened of the French gover.'
nors of Canada. Sarrazin, a naturalist as well as a physician, has lelji
his name to the botanical genus Sarracenia, of which the curious Amej
ican species, S. purpurea, the "pitcher-plant," was described by hii.C
His position in the colony was singular and characteristic. He got lit U
or no pay from his patients ; and, though at one time the only genui;
physician in Canada ( Callieres et Beauhamois au Ministre, 3 Nov., 1701
he was dependent on the king for support. In 1699, we find liim thai!
ing his Majesty for 300 francs a year, and asking at the same time :f

1663-1763.] MICHEL SARRAZIN. 367
more, as he has nothing else to live on. ( Callieres et Champigny au Ministre,
20 Oct., 1699.) Two years later the governor writes that, as he serves
almost everybody without fees, he ought to have another 300 francs.
(Ibid., 5 Oct., 1701.) The additional 300 francs was given him ; but, find
ing it insufficient, he wanted to leave the colony. " He is too useful,"
writes the governor again : " we cannot let him go." His yearly pittance
of 000 francs, French money, was at one time re-enforced by his salary
as member of the Superior Council. He died at Quebec in 1734.

CHAPTER XX.
1640-1763.
MORALS AND MANNERS.
Social Influence of the Troops. — A Petty Tyrant. — Brawls.
— Violence and Outlawry. — State of the Population. —
Views of Denonville. — Brandy. — Beggary. — Tue Past and
the Present. — Inns. — State of Quebec. — Fires. — The
Country Parishes. — Slavery. — Views of La Hontan. — Of
Hocquart. — Of Bougainville. — Of Kalm. — Of Charlevoix.
The mission period of Canada, or the period
anterior to the year 1663, Avhen the king took the
colony in charge, has a character of its own. The
whole population did not exceed that of a large
French village. Its extreme poverty, the constant
danger that surrounded it, and, above aU, the con
tagious zeal of the missionaries, saved it from
many vices, and inspired it AAith an extraordinary
religious fervor. Without doubt an ideal picture
has been drawn of this early epoch. Trade as
weU as propagandism was the business of the
colony, and the colonists were far from being all in
a state of grace ; yet it is certain that zeal was
higher, devotion more constant, and popular morals
more pure, than at any later period of the French
rule. The intervention of the king wrought a change.
The annual shipments of emigrants made by him

1663-73.] CHANGE OF MANNERS. 3G9
were, in the most favorable view, of a very mixed
character, and the portion which Mother Mary
calls canaille was but too conspicuous. Along with
them came a regiment of soldiers fresh from the
license of camps and the excitements of Turkish
wars, accustomed to obey their officers and to obey
nothmg else, and more ready to wear the scapulary
of the Virgin in campaigns against the Mohawks
than to square their lives by the rules of Christian
ethics. " Our good king," writes Sister Morin, of
Montreal, " has sent troops to defend us from the
Iroquois, and the soldiers and officers have ruined
the Lord's vineyard, and , planted wickedness and
sin and crime in our soil of Canada."1 Few, in
deed, among the officers followed the example of
one of their number, Paul Dupuy, who, in his
settlement of Isle aux Oies, below Quebec, lived, it
is said, like a saint, and on Sundays and fete days
exhorted his servants and habitans with such
unction that their eyes filled with tears.2 Nor, let
us hope, were there many imitators of Major La
Frediere, who, with a company of the regiment,
was sent to garrison Montreal, where he.ruled Avith
absolute sway over settlers and soldiers alike. His
countenance naturally repulsive Avas made more so
by the loss of an eye ; yet he was irrepressible in
gallantry, and women and girls fled in terror from
the military Polyphemus. The men, too, feared
and hated him, not without reason. One morning
a settler named Demers was hoeing his field, when
1 Annates de VHotel-Dieu St Joseph, cited by Faillon.
2 Juchereau, H6tel-Dieu de Quebec, 511
24

370 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1663-73
he saw a sportsman gun in hand striding through
his half-grown Avheat. "Steady there, steady,"
he shouted in a tone of remonstrance ; but the
sportsman gave no heed. " Why do you spoil a
poor man's wheat ? " cried the outraged cultivator.
" If I kneAv Avho you Avere, I would go and com
plain of you." " Whom would you complain to ? "
demanded the sportsman, who then proceeded to
walk back into the middle of the A\heat, and called
out to Demers, " You are a rascal, and I'll thrash
you." " Look at home for rascals," retorted De
mers, " and keep your thrashing for your dogs."
The sportsman came towards him in a rage to
execute his threat. Demers picked up his gun,
Avhich, after the custom of the time, he had
brought to the field with him, and, advancing to
meet his adversary, recognized La Frediere, the
commandant. On this he ran off. La Frediere
sent soldiers to arrest him, threw him into prison,
put him in irons, and the next day mounted him
on the Avooden horse, with a weight of sixty
pounds tied to each foot. He repeated the torture
a day or two after, and then let his victim go, say
ing, " If I could have caught you when I was in
your Avheat, I Avould have beaten you well."
The commandant next turned his quarters into
a dram-shop for Indians, to whom he sold brandy
in large quantities, but so dUuted that his cus
tomers, finding themselves partially defrauded of
their right of intoxication, complained grievously.
About this time the intendant Talon made one of
his domiciliary visits to Montreal, and when, in Ids

1663-73.] BRAWLS. 371
character of father of the people, he inquired if
they had any complaints to make, every tongue
Avas loud in accusation against La Frediere. Talon
caused full depositions to be made out from the
statements of Demers and other witnesses. Copies
were deposited in the hands of the notary, and it
is from these that the above story is draAvn. The
tyrant was removed, and ordered home to France.1
Many other officers embarked in the profitable
trade of selhng brandy to Indians, and several gar
rison posts became centres of disorder. Others,
of the regiment became notorious braAvlers. A lieu
tenant of the garrison of Montreal named Carion,
and an ensign named Morel, had for some reason
conceived a violent grudge against another ensign
named Lormeau. On Pentecost day, just after
vespers, Lormeau Avas Avalking by the river Avith
his AvUe. They had passed the common and the
seminary wall, and Avere in front of the house of
the younger Charles Le Moyne, Avhen they saw
Carion coming toAvards them. He stopped before
Lormeau, looked him fuU in the face, and ex
claimed, " Coward." " Coward yourseh," returned
Lormeau ; " take yourself off." Carion dreAV his
sword, and Lormeau foUoAved his example. They
exchanged a few passes ; then closed, and fell to the
ground grappled together. Lormeau's wig fell off ;
and Carion, getting the uppermost, hammered his
bare head Avith the hilt of his sword. Lormeau's
1 Information centre La Frediere. See Faillon, Colonie Francaise, III.
886. The dialogue, as here given from the depositions, is translated
as closely as possible.

372 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1663-75
wife, in a frenzy of terror, screamed murder. One
of the neighbors, Monsieur Beletre, was at table
with Charles Le Moyne and a Rochelle merchant
named Baston. He ran out with his two guests,
and they tried to separate the combatants, who
still lay on the ground foaming like a pair of en
raged bull-dogs. All their efforts were useless.
" Very weU," said Le Moyne in disgust, " U you
won't let go, then kiU each other if you Idee." A
former military servant of Carion now ran up, and
began to brandish his sword in behalf of his late
master. Carion's comrade, Morel, also arrived,
and, regardless of the angry protest of Le Moyne,
stabbed repeatedly at Lormeau as he lay. Lor
meau had received two or three wounds in the
hand and arm with which he parried the thrusts,
and was besides severely mauled by the SAVord-
hilt of Carion, when two Sulpitian priests, draAvn
by the noise, appeared on the scene. One Avas
Fremont, the cure; the other was DoUier de
Casson. That herculean father, whose past soldier
life had made him at home in a fray, and who
cared nothing for drawn swords, set himself at
once to restore peace, upon Avhich, Avhether from
the strength of his arm, or the mere effect of his
presence, the two champions released their gripe
on each other's throats, rose, sheathed their wea
pons, and left the field.1
Montreal, a frontier town at the head of the

1 Requite de Lormeau a M. d'AiUebout. Depositions de MM. de
Longueuil (Le Moyne), de Baston, de Bdelre, et autres. Cited by Faillon,
Colonie Francaise, 111. 393.

1663-73.] THE OUTLAW OF MONTREAL. 373
colony, was the natural resort of desperadoes,
offering, as we have seen, a singular contrast be
tween the rigor of its clerical seigniors and the
riotous license of the lawless crew which infested it.
DoUier de Casson tells the story of an outlaw who
broke prison ten or twelve times, and whom no
waUs, locks, or fetters could hold. " A few months
ago," he says, " he was caught again, and put into
the keeping of six or seven men, each with a good
gun. They stacked their arms to play a game of
cards, which their prisoner saw fit to interrupt to
play a game of his own. He made a jump at
the guns, took them under his arm like so many
feathers, aimed at these feUows with one of them,
swearing that he would kUl the first who came near
him, and so, faUing back step by step, at last bade
them good-by, and carried off all their guns.
Since then he has not been caught, and is roaming
the woods. Very hkely he will become chief of
our banditti, and make great trouble in the coun
try when it pleases him to come back from the
Dutch settlements, whither they say he is gone
along with another rascal, and a French woman so
depraved that she is said to have given or sold
two of her children to the Indians." 2
When the governor, La Barre, visited Montreal,
he found there some two hundred reprobates
gambling, drinking, and stealing. If hard pressed
by justice, they had only to cross the river and
place themselves beyond the seigniorial jurisdic
tion. The mUitary settlements of the Richeheu
1 Dollier de Casson, Histoire de Montreal, 1671-73

374 MORALS AND MANNERS. [X670-90.
were in a condition somewhat similar, and La Barre
complains of a prevaUing spirit of disobedience and
lawlessness.1 The most orderly and thrifty part
of Canada appears to have been at this time- the
cote of Beaupre, belonging to the seminary of Que
bec. Here the settlers had rehgious instruction
from their cures, and industrial instruction also if
the}' wanted it. Domestic spinning and weaving
were practised at Beaupre sooner than in any
other part of the colony.
When it is remembered that a population which
in La Barre's time did not exceed ten thousand,
and which forty years later did not much exceed
twice that number, was scattered along both sides
of a great river for three hundred mUes or more ;
that a large part of this population Avas in isolated
groups of two, three, five, ten, or twenty houses
at the edge of a savage wilderness ; that between
them there was little communication except by
canoes ; that the settlers were disbanded soldiers,
or others whose hves had been equally adverse to
habits of reflection or self-control ; that they rarely
saw a priest, and that a government omnipotent in
name had not arms long enough to reach them, —
we may listen without surprise to the lamentations
of order-loving officials over the unruly condition
of a great part of the colony. One accuses the
seigniors, who, he says, being often of low extrac
tion, cannot keep their vassals in order.2 Another
dwells sorrowfully on the " terrible dispersion " of
1 La Barre au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1683.
2 Catalogne, Memoire addresse au Ministre, 1712

1670-90. J SOCIAL DISORDER. 375
the settlements where the inhabitants " live in a
savage independence." But it is better that each
should speak for himself, and among the rest let
us hear the pious DenonviUe.
" This, monseigneur, seems to me the place for
rendering you an account of the disorders which
prevail not only in the woods, but also in the settle
ments. They arise from the idleness of young
persons, and the great liberty which fathers,
mothers, and guardians have for a long time given
them, or aUowed them to assume, of going into the
forest under pretence of hunting or trading. This
has come to such a pass, that, from the moment a
boy can carry a gun, the father cannot restrain
him and dares not offend him. You can judge the
mischief that follows. These disorders are always
greatest in the famUies of those who are gentils
hommes, or who through laziness or vanity pass
themselves off as such. Having no resource but
hunting, they must spend their lives in the woods,
where they have no cure's to trouble them, and no
fathers or guardians to constrain them. I think,
monseigneur, that martial law would suit their
case better than any judicial sentence.
" Monsieur de la Barre suppressed a certain order
of knighthood which had sprung up here, but he
did not abolish the usages belonging to it. It was
thought a fine thing and a good joke to go about
naked and tricked out like Indians, not only on
carnival days, but on all other days of feasting and
debauchery. These practices tend to encourage
the disposition of our young men to hve like sav-

376 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-90.
ages, frequent their company, and be for ever
unruly and lawless like them. I cannot teU you,
monseigneur, how attractive this Indian life is to
all our youth. It consists in doing nothing, caring
for nothing, f oUowing every inclination, and getting
out of the way of aU correction." He goes on to
say that the mission villages governed by the Jes
uits and Sulpitians are models of good order, and
that drunkards are never seen there except when
they come from the neighboring French settle
ments ; but that the other Indians who roam at
large about the colony, do prodigious mischief, be
cause the children of the seigniors not oiUy copy
their way of life, but also run off with their women
into the woods.1
" Nothing," he continues, " can be finer or better
conceived than the regulations framed for the
government of this country ; but nothing, I assure
you, is so ill observed as regards both the fur trade
and the general discipline of the colony. One
great evil is the infinite number of drinkirig-shops,
which makes it almost impossible to remedy the
disorders resulting from them. AU the rascals
and idlers of the country are attracted into this
business of tavern-keeping. They never dream of
tdling the sod ; but, on the contrary, they deter the
other inhabitants from it, and end with ruining
1 Raudot, who was intendant early in the eighteenth century, is a
little less gloomy in his coloring, but says that Canadian children were
without discipline or education, had no respect for parents or cure's, and
owned no superiors. This, he thinks, is owing to " la folle tendresse des
parents qui les empeche de les corriger et de leur former le caractere
qu'ils ont dur et feroce."

1670-90.] SOCIAL DISORDER. 377
them. I know seigniories where there are but
twenty houses, and more than half of them dram
shops. At Three Rivers there are twenty- five
houses, and liquor may be had at eighteen or
twenty of them. Villemarie (Montreal) and Que
bec are on the same footing."
The governor next dAvells on the necessity of
finding occupation for children and youths, a mat
ter which he regards as of the last importance.
" It is sad to see the ignorance of the population
at a distance from the abodes of the cure's, who are
put to the greatest trouble to remedy the evil by
travelling from place to place through the parishes
in their charge." 1
La Barre, Champigny, and Duchesneau write in
a similar strain. Bishop Saint- Vallier, in an epis
tolary journal Avhich he printed of a tour through
the colony made on his first arrival, gives a favor
able account of the disposition of the people, espe
cially as regards religion. He afterwards changed
his views. An abstract made from his letters for
the use of the king states that he " represents, hke
M. DenonvUle, that the Canadian youth are for
the most part wholly demoralized." 2
" The bishop was very sorry," says a corre
spondent of the minister at Quebec, "to have so
much exaggerated in the letter he printed at Paris
the morality of the people here." 3 He preached
a sermon on the sins of the inhabitants and issued
a pastoral mandate, in which he says, " Before we
1 Denonville au Ministre, 13 Nov. 1685.
* N. Y. Colonial Documents, IX. 278. 3 ibid., IX. 388.

378 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-90
knew our flock Ave thought that the English and
the Iroquois Avere the only wolves we had to fear ;
but God having opened our eyes to the disorders
of this diocese, and made us feel more than ever
the weight of our charge, we are forced to confess,
that our most dangerous foes are drunkenness,
luxury, impurity, and slander." 1
Drunkenness Avas at this time the most destruc
tive vice in the colony. One writer declares that
most of the Canadians drink so much brandy in
the morning, that they are unfit for work aU day.2
Another says that a canoe-man when he is tired
will lift a keg of brandy to his lips and drink the
raAv liquor from the bung-hole, after which, having
spoiled his appetite, he goes to bed supperless;
and that, what Avith drink and hardship, he is an
old man at forty. Nevertheless the race did not de
teriorate. The prevalence of early marriages, and
the birth of numerous offspring before the vigor of
the father had been wasted, ensured the strength and
hardihood which characterized the Canadians. As
DenonvUle describes them so they long remained.
" The Canadians are taU, weU-made, and well set
on their legs (Men plantes sur leurs jamb es), robust,
vigorous, and accustomed in time of need to live
on little. They have inteUigence and vivacity,
but are wayward, light-minded, and inclined to
debauchery." As the population increased, as the rage for
1 Ordonnance centre les vices de I'ivrognerie, luxe, et impurete, 81 Oct.,
1690. 2 N Y. Colonial Documents, IX. 398.

1670-1715.1 IMPROVEMENT. 37iJ
«
bush-ranging began to abate, and, above all, as the
cure's multiplied, a change took place for the
better. More churches were buUt, the charge of
each priest was reduced within reasonable bounds,
and a greater proportion of the inhabitants re
mained on their farms. They were better watched,
controlled, and taught, by the church. The eccle
siastical power, wherever it had a hold, was exer
cised, as we have seen, with an undue rigor, yet it
Avas the chief guardian of good morals; and the
colony grew more orderly and more temperate as
the church gathered more and more of its wild
and wandering flock fairly within its fold. In
this, hoAvever, its success was but relative. It is
true that in 1715 a well-informed writer says that
the people were " perfectly instructed in religion ; " 1
but at that time the statement was only partially
true. During the seventeenth century, and some time
after its close, Canada swarmed with beggars, a
singular feature in a new country where a good farm
could be had for the asking. In countries intensely
Roman Catholic begging is not regarded as an un
mixed evil, being supposed to promote two cardinal
virtues, — charity in the giver and humility in the
receiver. The Canadian officials nevertheless tried
to restrain it. Vagabonds of both sexes were
ordered to leave Quebec, and nobody was allowed
to beg without a certificate of poverty from the
curl or the local judge.2 These orders were not
1 Memoire addresseau Regent.
2 Reglement de Police, 1676.

3S0 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-1700.
always observed. Bishop Saint- Valher writes that
he is overwhelmed by beggars,1 and the intendant
echoes Ins complaint. Almshouses were estab
lished at Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec;2
and Avhen Saint- Valher founded the General Hos
pital, its chief purpose was to serve, not as a hos
pital in the ordinary sense of the word, but as a
house of refuge, after the plan of the General
Hospital of Paris.3 Appeal, as usual, was made to
the king. Denonville asks bis aid for two desti
tute families, and says that many others need it.
Lotus XIV. did not fail to respond, and from time
to time he sent considerable sums for the rehef of
the Canadian poor.4
Denonville says, " The principal reason of the
poverty of this country is the idleness and bad
conduct of most of the people. The greater part of
the Avomen, including all the demoiselles, are very
lazy."5 Meules proposes as a remedy that the king
should establish a general workshop in the colony,
and pay the workmen himself during the first five
or six years.6 " The persons here," he says, " who
have wished to make a figure are nearly all so
overwhelmed with debt that they may be con-

1 N. Y. Colonial Documents, IX. 279.
2 Edits et Ordonnances, II. 119.
3 On the General Hospital of Quebec, see Juchereau, 355. In 1692,
the minister writes to Frontenac and Champigny that they should con
sider well whether this house of refuge will not " augmenter la faineantise
panni les babitans," by giving them a sure support in poverty.
4 As late as 1701, six thousand livres were granted Callieres au
Ministre, 4 Nov., 1701.
6 Denonville et Champigny au Ministre, 6 Nov., 1687.
6 Meules au Ministre, 12 Nov., 1682.

1670-1700.] POVERTY. 38]
sidered as in the last necessity." x He adds that
many of the people go half -naked even in winter.
" The merchants of this country," says the intend
ant Duchesneau, " are all plunged in poverty,
except five or six at the most ; it is the same with
the artisans, except a small number, because the
vanity of the women and the debauchery of the men
consume all their gains. As for such of the labor
ing class as apply themselves steadily to culti-
A7ating the soil, they not only live very well, but
are incomparably better off than the better sort of
peasants in France."2
All the writers lament the extravagant habits of
the people ; and even La Hontan joins hands with
the priests in wishing that the supply of ribbons,
laces, brocades, jewelry, and the like, might be cut
off by act of law. Mother Juchereau tells us that,
when the English invasion was impending, the belles
of Canada were scared for a while into modesty in
order to gain the favor of heaven ; but, as may be
'imagined, the effect was short, and Father La Tour
declares that in his time aU the fashions except
rouge came over regularly in the annual ships.
The manners of the mission period, on the other
hand, were extremely simple. The old governor,
Lauzon, lived on pease and bacon like a laborer, and
kept no man-servant. He was regarded, it is true,
as a miser, and held in slight account.3 Magdeleine
Boucher, sister of the governor of Three Rivers,
1 Meules, Memoire touchant le Canada et I' Acadie, 1684.
a Duchesneau au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1679.
* Memoire d'Aubert de la Cheenaye, 1676

382 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1645-63
brought her husband two hundred francs in money,
four sheets, two table-cloths, six napkins of linen
and hemp, a mattress, a blanket, two dishes, six
spoons and six tin plates^ a pot and a kettle, a table
and two benches, a kneading-trough, a chest with
lock and key, a cow, and a pair of hogs.1 But the
Bouchers were a famdy of distinction, and the
bride's dowry ansAvered to her station. By another
marriage contract, at about the same time, the
parents of the bride, being of humble degree, bind
themselves to present the bridegroom Avith a barrel
of bacon, deliverable on the arrival of the ships
from France.2
Some curious traits of this early day appear
in the license of Jean Boisdon as innkeeper. He
is required to establish himself on the great square
of Quebec, close to the church, so that the parish
ioners may conveniently warm and refresh them-
selves betAveen the serAices; but he is forbidden
to entertain anybody during high mass, sermon,
catechism, or vespers.3 Matters soon changed;
Jean Boisdon lost his monopoly, and inns sprang
up on all hands. They did not Avant for patrons,
and we find some of their proprietors mentioned
as among the feAV thriving men in Canada. Talon
tried to regulate them, and, among other rules,
ordained that no innkeeper should furnish food or
drink to any hired laborer whatever, or to any
1 Control de marriage, cited by Ferland, Notes, 73.
2 Contrat de marriage, cited by Benjamin Suite in Renue Canadienne,
IX. 111.
8 Acte officielle, 1648, cited by Ferland. Cours d' Histoire du Canada, I
365

1672-1701.] STATE OF QUEBEC. 383
person residing in the place where his inn was
situated. An innkeeper of Montreal was fined for
allowing the syndic of the town to dine under his
roof.1 One gets glimpses of the pristine state of Quebec
through the early police regulations. Each in
habitant was required to make a gutter along the
middle of the street before his house," and also to
remove refuse and throw it into the rivTer. All
clogs, Avithout exception, were ordered home at
nine o'clock. On Tuesdays and Fridays there was
a market in the public square, whither the neigh
boring habitants, male and female, brought their
produce for sale, as they still continue to do.
Smoking in the street Avas forbidden, as a pre
caution against fire ; householders were required
to provide themselves Avith ladders, and when
the fire alarm was rung all able-bodied per
sons Avere obliged to run to the scene of danger
with buckets or kettles fidl of water.2 This did
not prevent the LoAver Town from burning to the
ground in 1682. It was soon rebuilt, but a repeti
tion of the catastrophe seemed very likely. " This
place," says Denonville, " is in a fearful state as
regards fire ; for the houses are crowded together out
of all reason, and so surrounded with piles of cord-
wood that it is pitiful to see." 3 Add to this the
stores of hay for the coavs kept by many of the
inhabitants for the benefit of their swarming prog-
1 Faillon, Colonie Francaise, III. 405.
2 Reglement de Police, 1672. Ibid., 1676.
* Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout, 1685

384 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1672-1701,
eny. The houses Avere at this time low, compact
buildings, with gables of masonry, as required by
law; but many had wooden fronts, and all had
roofs covered with cedar shingles. The anxious
governor begs that, as the town has not a sou of
revenue, his Majesty wUl be pleased to make it the
gift of tAvo hundred crowns' worth of leather fire-
buckets.1 Six or seven years after, certain citizens
Avere authorized by the council to import from
France, at their own cost, " a pump after the
Dutch fashion, for throwing water on houses in
case of fire."2 How a fire was managed at Quebec
appears from a letter of the engineer, Vasseur,
describing the burning of Laval's seminary in 1701.
Vasseur was then at Quebec, directing the new
fortifications. On a Monday in November, all the
pupUs of the seminary and most of the priests
Avent, according to their Aveekly custom, to rec
reate themselves at a house and garden at St.
Michel, a short distance from town. The few
priests Avho remained went after dinner to say
vespers at the church. Only one, Father Petit,
was left in the seminary, and he presently repaired
to the great hall to rekindle the fire in the stove
and warm the place against the return of his
brethren. His success surpassed his wishes. A
firebrand snapped out in his absence and set the
pine floor in a blaze. Father Boucher, cure' of
Point Levi, chanced to come in, and was haU
choked by the smoke. He cried fire ! the servants
1 Denonville au Minislre, 20 Aout, 1685.
2 Reglement de. 1691, extract in Ferland.

1701.] BURNING OF THE SEMINARY. 385
ran for water ; but the flames soon mastered them ;
they screamed the alarm, and the bells began to
ring. Vasseur Avas dining with the intendant at
his palace by the St. Charles, when he heard a
frightened voice crying out, " Monsieur, you are
wanted ; you are Avanted." He sprang from table,
saw the smoke rolling in volumes from the top of
the rock, ran up the steep ascent, reached the
seminary, and found an excited crowd making a
prodigious outcry. He shouted for carpenters.
Four men came to him, and he set them at work
with such tools as they had to tear away planks
and beams, and prevent the fire from spreading to
the adjacent parts of the buUding ; but, when he
went to find others to help them, they ran off.
He set new men in their place, and these too ran
off the moment his back was turned. A cry was
raised that the building was to be blown up, on
which the crowd scattered for their lives. Vasseur
now gave up the seminary for lost, and thought
only of cutting off the fire from the rear of the
church, Avhich was not far distant. In this he suc
ceeded, by tearing down an intervening wing or
gallery. The walls of the burning building Avere
of massive stone, and by seven o'clock the fire had
spent itself. We hear nothing of the Dutch
pump, nor does it appear that the soldiers of the
garrison made any effort to keep order. Under
cover of the confusion, property was stolen from
the seminary to the amount of about two thousand
hvres, which is remarkable, considering the relig
ious character of the building, and the supposed
25

JJJJJ

386 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1700-b8.
piety of the people. "There were more than
three hundred persons at the fire," says Vasseur;
"but thirty picked men would have been worth
more than the whole of them." 1
August, September, and October were the busy
months at Quebec. Then the ships from France
discharged their lading, the shops and warehouses
of the Lower Town were filled with goods, and the
habitants came to toAvn to make their purchases.
When the frosts began, the vessels sailed away, the
harbor was deserted, the streets were sUent again,
and like ants or squirrels the people set at work
to lay in their Avinter stores. Fathers of families
packed their cellars Avith beets, carrots, potatoes,
and cabbages ; and, at the end of autumn, with
meat, fowls, game, fish, and eels, all frozen to
stony hardness. Most of the shops closed, and
the long season of leisure and amusement began.
New Year's day brought visits and mutual gifts.
Thence till Lent dinner parties were frequent,
sometimes familiar and sometimes ceremonious.
The governor's little court at the chateau Avas a
standing example to aU the aspiring spirits of
Quebec, and forms and orders of precedence Avere
in some houses punctiliously observed. There
were dinners to the military and civic dignitaries
and their wives, and others, quite distinct, to
prominent citizens. The wives and daughters of
the burghers of Quebec are said to have been
superior in manners to women of the corresponding
1 Vasseur au Ministre, 24 Nov., 1701. Like Denonville before him, he
urges the need of fire-buckets.

1700-63] THE COUNTRY PARISHES. 387
class in France. " They have wit," says La Pothe-
rie, " delicacy, good voices, and a great fondness
for dancing. They are discreet, and not much
given to flirting; but Avhen they undertake to
catch a lover it is not easy for him to escape the
bands of Hymen." 1
So much for the town. In the country parishes,
theie was the same autumnal stowing aAvay of
frozen vegetables, meat, fish, and eels, and un
fortunately the same surfeit of leisure through
five months of the year. During the seventeenth
century, many of the people Avere so poor that
women Avere forced to keep at home from sheer
want of Avinter clothing. Nothing, however, could
prevent their running from house to house to ex
change gossip with the neighbors, who aU knew
each other, and, having nothing else to do, dis
cussed each other's affairs with an industry which
often bred bitter quarrels. At a later period, a
more general introduction of family Aveaving and
spinning served at once to furnish clothing and to
promote domestic peace.
The most important persons in a parish were the
cure, the seignior, and the militia captain. The
seignior had bis bench of honor in the church
Immediately behind it was the bench of the militia
captain, whose duty it Avas to drill the able-bodied
men of the neighborhood, direct road-making and
other public works, and serve as deputy to the
intendant, Avhose ordinances he Avas required to
enforce. Next in honor came the local judge
any there Avas, and the church-wardens.
' La Potherie. I. 279.

388 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1685-1763.
The existence of slavery in Canada dates from
the end of the seventeenth century. In 1688, the
attorney-general made a visit to Paris, and urged
upon the king the expediency of importing negroes
from the West Indies as a remedy for the scarcity
and dearness of labor. The king consented, but
advised caution, en the ground that the rigor of
the climate would make the venture a critical ona.1
A number of slaves were brought into the' colony ;
but the system never flourished, the climate and
other circumstances l»eing hostile to it. Many of
the colonists, especially at Detroit and other outly
ing posts, owned slaves of a remote Indian tribe,
the Pawnees. The« fact is remarkable, since it
would be difficult to find another of the wUd tribes
of the continent capable of subjection to domestic
servitude. The Pawnee slaves were captives taken
in war and sold at low prices to the Canadians.
Their market value was much impaired by their
propensity to run off.
It is curious to observe the views of the Cana
dians taken at different times by different writers.
La Hontan says, " They are vigorous, enterprising,
and indefatigable, and need nothing but education.
They are presumptuous and full of self-conceit,
regard themselves as above all the nations of the
earth, and, unfortunately, have not the veneration
for their parents that they ought to have. The
women are generaUy pretty; few of them are
1 Instruction au Sr. de Frontenac, 1689. On Canadian slavery, see a
long paper, t'Esclavage en Canada, published by the Historical Society
of Msntreal.

1736.] CANADIAN LIFE. 389
brunettes ; many of them are discreet, and a good
number are lazy. They are fond to the last degree
of dress and show, and each tries to outdo the rest
in the art of catching a husband."1
Fifty years later, the intendant Hocquart writes,
" The Canadians are fond of distinctions and at
tentions,, plume themselves on their courage, and
are extremely sensitive to slights or the smaUest
corrections. They are self-interested, vindictive,
prone to drunkenness, use a great deal of brandy,
and pass for not being at all truthful. This por
trait is true of many of them, particularly the
country people : those of the towns are less vicious.
They are all attached to religion, and criminals are
rare. They are volatile, and think too well' of
themselves, which prevents their succeeding as
they might in farming and trade. They have not
the rude and rustic air of our French peasants.
If they are put on their honor and governed with
justice, they are tractable enough ; but their natural
disposition is indocile."2
The navigator BougainvUle, in the last years of
the French rule, describes the Canadian habitant
as essentially superior to the French peasant, and
adds, " He is loud, boastful, mendacious, obliging,
civil, and honest ; indefatigable in hunting, travel
ling, and bush-ranging, but lazy in tiding the
soil."3 The Swedish botanist, Kalm, an excellent ob
server, was in Canada a few years before Bougain-
l La Hontan, II. 81 (ed. 1709). 2 Memoire de 1736.
* Memoire de 1757, printed in Margry, Relations Inedites.

390 MORALS AND MANNERS. 11749
•
viUe, and sketches from life the foUowing traits of
Canadian manners. The language is that of the
old English translation. " The men here (at Mon
treal) are extremely civU, and take their hats off
to every person indifferently whom they meet in
the streets. The women in general are handsome ;
thoy are well bred and virtuous, with an innocent
and becoming freedom. They dress out very fine
on Sundays, and though on the other days they do
not take much pains with the other parts of their
dress, yet they are very fond of adorning their
heads, the hair of which is always curled and
poAvdered and ornamented with glittering bodkins
and aigrettes. They are not averse to taking part
in. all the business of housekeeping, and I have
Avith pleasure seen the daughters of the better
sort of people, and of the governor (of Montreal)
himself, not too finely dressed, and going into
kitchens and cellars to look that every thing be
done as it ought. What I have mentioned above
of their dressing their heads too assiduously is the
case with all the ladies throughout Canada. Their
hair is always curled even when they are at home
in a dirty jacket, and short coarse petticoat that
does not reach to the middle of their legs. On those
days when they pay or receive visits they dress so
gayly that one is almost induced to think their
parents possess the greatest honors in the state.
They are no less attentive to have the neAvest
fashions, and they laugh at each other when they
are not dressed to each other's fancy. One of the
first questions they propose to a stranger is,

1749.] CANADIAN LDJE. 39]
whether he is married ; the next, how he likes the
ladies of the country, and whether he thinks them
handsomer than those of his own country ; and the
third, Avhether he wUl take one home with him.
The behavior of the ladies seemed to me somewhat
too free at Quebec, and of a more becoming mod
esty at Montreal. Those of Quebec are not very
industrious. The young ladies, especially those of
a higher rank, get up at seven and dress till nine,
drinking their coffee at the same time. When
they are dressed, they place themselves near a
window that opens into the street, take up some
needlework and sew a stitch now and then, but
turn their eyes into the street most of the time.
When a young feUow comes in, whether they are
acquainted with him or not, they immediately lay
aside their work, sit down by him, and begin to
chat, laugh, joke, and invent double-entendres, and
this is reckoned being very witty. In this manner
they frequently pass the whole day, leaving their
mothers to do the business of the house. They
are likewise cheerful and content, and nobody can
say that they want either wit or charms. Their
fault is that they think too well of themselves.
However, the daughters of people of all ranks
without exception go to market and carry home
what they have bought. The girls at Montreal
are very much displeased that those at Quebec get
husbands sooner than they. The reason of this is
that many young gentlemen who come over from
France Avith the ships are captivated by the
ladies at Quebec and marry them; but, as these

392 MORALS AND MANNERS. 11720.
gentlemen seldom go up to Montreal, the girls there
are not often so happjr as those of the former
place.'" ]
Long before Kalm's visit, the Jesuit Charlevoix,
i traveller and a man of the world, wrote thus of
Quebec in a letter to the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres :
;' There is a select httle society here which wants
nothing to make it agreeable. In the salons of the
wives of the governor and of the intendant, one
finds circles as brilliant as in other countries."
These circles were formed partly of the principal
inhabitants, but chiefly of mUitary officers and
government officials, Avith their families. Charle
voix continues, " Everybody does bis part to make
the time pass pleasantly, with games and parties of
pleasure ; drives and canoe excursions in summer,
sleighing and skating in Avinter. There is a great
deal of hunting and shooting, for many Canadian
gentlemen are almost destitute of any other means
of living at their ease. The news of the day
amounts to very little indeed, as the country fur
nishes scarcely any, while that from Europe comes
all at once. Science and the fine arts have their
turn, and conversation does not fail. The Cana
dians breathe from their birth an air of liberty,
which makes them very pleasant in the intercourse
of life, and our language is nowhere more purely
spoken. One finds here no rich persons whatever,
and this is a great pity ; for the Canadians like to
get the credit of their money, and scarcely any-
1 Kalm, Travels into North America, translated into English by John
Reinold Forster (London, 1771), 56, 282, etc.

W20.] CANADIAN LIFE. 393
body amuses himself with hoarding it. They say it
is very different with our neighbors the English,
and one who knew the two colonies only by the
way of living, acting, and speaking of the colonists
would not hesitate to judge ours the more flourish
ing. In New England and the other British colo
nies, there reigns an opulence by which the people
seem not to know Iioav to profit; while in New
France poverty is hidden under an air of ease
which appears entirely natural. The English colo
nist keeps as much and spends as little as possible :
the French colonist enjoys what he has got, and
often makes a display of what he has not got.
The one labors for his heirs : the other leaves them
to get on as they can, like himself. I could push
the comparison farther ; but I must close here : the
king's ship is about to sail, and the merchant
vessels are getting ready to follow. In three days
perhaps, not one wUl be left in the harbor."1
And noAV we, too, wUl leave Canada. Winter
draws near, and the first patch of snow lies gleam
ing on the distant mountain of Cape Tourmente.
The sun has set in chdl autumnal beauty, and the
sharp spires of fir-trees on the heights of Sillery
stand stiff and black against the pure cold amber of
the fading west. The ship sails in the morning ;
and, before the old towers of Rochelle rise in sight,
there wUl be time to smoke many a pipe, and pon
der what we have seen on the banks of the St.
Lawrence.
1 Charlevoix. Journal Historique 80 (ed. 1744).

CHAPTER XXI.
1663-1763.
CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM.
Formation of Canadian Character. — The Rival Colonies. —
England and France. — New England. — Characteristics of
Race. — Military Qualities. — The Church. — The English
Conquest. Not institutions alone, but geographical position,
climate, and many other conditions unite to form
the educational influences that, acting through
successive generations, shape the character of na
tions and communities.
It is easy to see the nature of the education,
past and present, Avhich wrought on the Canadians
and made them what they Avere. An ignorant
population, sprung from a brave and active race,
but trained to subjection and dependence through
centuries of feudal and monarchical despotism, Avas
planted in the Avilderness by the hand of authority,
and told to grow and flourish. Artificial stimulants
Avere applied, but freedom was withheld. Per
petual interA'ention of government, regulations,
restrictions, encouragements sometimes more mis
chievous than restrictions, a constant uncertainty
what the authorities Avould do next, the fate of

1663-1763.] ENGLISH COLONIZATION. 395
each man resting less with himself than with
another, volition enfeebled, self-reliance paralyzed,
— the condition, in short, of a child held alwavs
under the rule of a father, in the main well-
meaning and kind, sometimes generous, some
times neglectful, often capricious, and rarely
A'ery Avise, — such were the influences under which
Canada grew up. If she had prospered, it would
have been sheer miracle. A man, to be a man,
must feel that he holds his fate, in some good meas
ure, in his own hands.
But this Avas not all. Against absolute authority
there Avas a counter influence, rudely and wildly
antagonistic. Canada was at the very portal of
the great interior Avilderness. The St. Lawrence
and the Lakes were the highway to that domain
of savage freedom; and thither the disfranchised,
hah-starved seignior, and the discouraged habitant
who coidd find no market for his produce, naturally
enough betook themselves. Their lesson of sav
agery Avas well learned, and for many a year a
boundless license and a stiff-handed authority bat
tled for the control of Canada. Nor, to the last,
were church and state fairly masters of the field.
The' French rule was draAving towards its close
when the intendant complained that though twenty-
eight companies of regidar troops were quartered
in, the colony, there were not soldiers enough to
keep the people in order.1 One cannot but re
member that in a neighboring colony, far more
populous, perfect order prevailed, with no other
1 Memoire de 1736 (printed by the Historical Society of Quebec).

396 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763
guardians than a few constables chosen by the
people themselves.
Whence arose this difference, and other differ
ences equaUy striking, betAveen the rival colonies ?
It is easy to ascribe them to a difference of politi
cal and religious institutions ; but the explanation
does not coATer the ground. The institutions of
Noav England Avere utterly inapplicable to the
population of New France, and the attempt to
apply them Avould have wrought nothmg but mis
chief. There are no political panaceas, except in
the imagination of political quacks. To each degree
and each Arariety of public developirient there are
corresponding institutions, best answering the pub
lic needs; and what is meat to one is poison to
another. Freedom is for those who are fit for it.
The rest will lose it, or turn it to corruption.
Church and state Avere right in exercising authority
OArer a people which had not learned the first rudi
ments of self-government. Their fault was not
that they exercised authority, but that they exer
cised too much of it, and, instead of weaning the
child to go alone, kept him in perpetual leading-
strings, making him, if possible, more and more
dependent, and less and less fit for freedom.
In the building up of colonies, England suc
ceeded and France failed. The cause lies chiefly
/ in the vast advantage draAvn by Enaiand from the
J historical training of her people in habits of re-
I flection, forecast, industry, and self-rehance, — a
! training Avhich enabled them to adopt and maintain
an invigorating system of self-ride, totaUy inap-
olicable to their rivals.

1663-1763.] CHARACTERISTICS OF RACE. 397
The NeAv England colonists were far less fugi
tives from oppression than voluntary exiles seek
ing the realization of an idea. They were neither
peasants nor soldiers, but a substantial Puritan
yeomanry, led by Puritan gentlemen and divines in
thorough sympathy Avith them. They Avere neither
sent out by the king, governed by him, nor helped
by him. They grew up in utter neglect, and con
tinued neglect was the only boon they asked. TUl
their increasing strength roused the jealousy of
the CroAvn, they were virtually independent; a
republic, but by no means a democracy. They
chose their governor and all their rulers from
among themselAfes, made their OAvn government
and paid for it, supported their own clergy, de
fended themselves, and educated themselves. Un
der the hard and repellent surface of New England
society lay the true foundations of a stable free
dom, — conscience, reflection, faith, patience, and
public spirit. The cement of common interests,
hopes, 'and duties compacted the whole people like
a rock of conglomerate ; while the people of NeAv
France remained in a state of political segrega
tion, like a basket of pebbles held together by the
enclosure that surrounds them.
It may be that the difference of historical ante
cedents Avould alone explain the difference of char
acter between the rival colonies; but there are
deeper causes, the influence of Avhich went far to
determine the antecedents themselves. The Ger
manic race, and especially the Anglo-Saxon branch
of it, is peculiarly masculine, and, therefore, pe-

398 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763
culiarly fitted for self-government. It submits its
action habitually to the guidance of reason, and
has the judicial faculty of seeing both sides of a
question. The French Celt is cast in a different
mould. He sees the end distinctly, and reasons
about it Avith an admirable clearness ; but his own
impulses and passions continually turn him away
from it. Opposition excites him ; he is impatient
of delay, is impelled always to extremes, and does
not reaily sacrifice a present inclination to an ulti
mate good. He delights in abstractions and gen
eralizations, cuts loose from unpleasing facts, and
roams through an ocean of desires and theories.
WhUe NeAv England prospered and Canada did
not prosper, the French system had at least one
great advantage. It favored mflitary efficiency.
The Canadian population sprang in great part from
soldiers, and Avas to the last systematically rein
forced by disbanded soldiers. Its chief occupation
was a continual training for ' forest Avar ; it had
httle or nothing to lose, and httle to do but fight
and range the Avoods. This Avas not all. The
Canadian government was essentially mditary. At
its head Avas a soldier nobleman, often an old and
able commander, and those beneath him caught his
spirit and emidated his example. In spite of its
political nothingness, in spite of poverty and hard
ship, and in spite even of trade, the upper stratum
of Canadian society Avas animated by the pride
and fire of that gallant noblesse which held war as
its only worthy calling, and prized honor more
than life. As for the habitant, the forest, lake,

1663-1763.] MILITARY QUALITIES. 399
and river were his true school ; and here, at least,
he Avas an apt scholar. A skUful woodsman, a bold
and adroit canoe-man, a willing fighter in time of
need, often serving Avithout pay, and receiving from
government only his provisions and his canoe, he
was more than ready at any time for any hardy
enterprise ; and in the forest warfare of skirmish
and surprise there were feAv to match him. An
absolute government used him at will, and ex
perienced leaders guided his rugged valor to the
best account.
The NeAv England man was precisely the same
material with that of which Cromwell formed his
invincible " Ironsides ; " but he had A'ery little
forest experience. His geographical position cut
him off completely from the great wilderness of
the interior. The sea was his field of action.
Without the aid of government, and in spite of its
restrictions, he buUt up a prosperous commerce,
and enriched himself by distant fisheries, neglected
by the rivals before whose doors they lay. He
knew every ocean from Greenland to Cape Horn,
and the whales of the north and of the south had
no more dangerous foe. But he Avas too busy to
fight without good cause, and when he turned his
hand to soldiering it was only to meet some press
ing need of the hour. The New England troops in
the early wars were bands of raw fishermen and
farmers, led by civilians decorated AAith military
titles, and subject to the slow and uncertain action
of legislative bodies. The officers had not learned
to command, nor the men to obey. The remark-

400 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763.
able exploit of the capture of Louisburg, the
strongest fortress in America, was the result of
mere audacity and hardihood, backed by the
rarest good luck.
One great fact stands out conspicuous in Cana
dian history, — the Church of Rome. More even
than the royal power she shaped the character and
the destinies of the colony. She was its nurse and
almost its mother ; and, wayward and headstrong
as it Avas, it never broke the ties of faith that held
it to her. It was these ties which, in the absence
of pohtical franchises, formed under the old regime
the only vital coherence in the population. The
royal government was transient ; the church was
permanent. The English conquest shattered the
whole apparatus of civfl administration at a blow,
but it left her untouched. Governors, intendants,
councfls, and commandants, all were gone ; the
principal seigniors fled the colony; and a people
Avho had never learned to control themselves or
help themselves Avere suddenly left to their own
deAices. Confusion, if not anarchy, would have
foUoAved but for the parish priests, who in a char
acter of double paternity, haU spiritual and half
temporal, became more than ever the guardians of
order throughout Canada.
This English conquest was the grand crisis of
Canadian history. It was the beginning of a new
life. With England came Protestantism, and the
Canadian church grew purer and better in the
presence of an adverse faith. Material growth, an
increased mental activity, an education real though

166S-1763.] THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. 401
fenced and guarded, a Avarm and genuine patriot
ism, all date from the peace of 1763. England
imposed by the sword on reluctant Canada the
boon of rational and ordered hberty. Through
centuries of striving she had advanced from stage
to stage of progress, dehberate and calm, never
breaking with her past, but malting each fresh
gain the base of a new. success, enlarging popular
liberties while bating nothing of that height and
force of individual development which is the brain
and heart of civUization ; and now, through a hard-
earned victory, she taught the conquered colony to
share the blessings she had won. A happier calam
ity never befeU a people than the conquest of
Canada by the British arms.

APPENDIX.

[The following extracts are printed letter for letter from copies ol the original
documents.] A.
THE HERMITAGE OF CAEN.
Memoire pour faire connoistre l'esprit et la conduite de la
compagnie establie en la 'ille de Caen, appelee l'Hebmi-
tage.
(Extrait.) ' Bibliotheque Nationale.
C'est en ce fameux Hermitage que le dit feu Sieur de Ber
nieres a esleve plusieurs jeunes gens auxquels il enseignoit uue
espece d'oraison sublime et transcendante que Ton appelle l'orai-
son purement passive, parceque l'esprit n'y agit point, mais
recoit seulement la divine operation ; c'est cette espece d'oraison
qui est la source de tant de visions et de revelations, dont l'Her-
mitage est si fecond ; et apres qu'il leur avoit subtilize et presque
fait evaporer l'esprit par cette oraison rafiuee, il les rendoit
capable's de reconnoistre les Jansenistes les plus cachez ; en sorte
que quelques uns de ces disciples ont dit qu'ils le connoissoient
au flairer, comme les chiens font leur gibier, pour ensuite leur
faire la chasse, neantmoins le dit Sieur de Bernieres disoit qu'il
u'avoit pa^ l'odorat si subtil, mais que la marque a laquelle il
connoissoit les Jansenistes estoit quand on improuvoit sa con
duite ou que Ton estoit oppose aux Jesuites .... Au com
mencement les personnes de cette compagnie ne se mesloient que
de l'assistance des pauvres, mais depuis que le feu Sieur de Ber
nieres qui estoit un simple la'ique, qui n'avoit point d'estude, s'en
estant rendu le maistre, il persuada a ceux qui en sont qu'elle
n'estoit pas seulement establie pour prendre soin des pauvres,
mais de toutes les autres bonnes oeuvres, publiques ou parti-
1 This memoire forms 116 pages in the copy in my possession.

404 APPENDIX.
cuiieres, qui regardent la Piete et la Religion et que Dieu les
avoit suscitez, principalement pour suppleer aux defauts et negli
gences des Prelats, des Pasteurs, des Magistrats, des Juges et
autres Superieurs Eoclesiastiques et Politiques qui faute de
s'appliquer assez aux devoirs de leurs charges, obmettent dans les
occasions beaucoup de bien qu'ils pourroient procurer, et neglig
ent de resister a beaucoup de maux, d'abus et d'erreurs qu'ils
pourroient empecher ; et que pour remedier a ces manquements,
il estoit expedient que Dieu suscitat plusieurs gens de bien de
toutes sortes de conditions qui s'unissent ensemble pour travailler
a l'avancement du bien qui se peut faire en chaque profession, et
pour extirper les erreurs, les abus et les vices qui s'y glissent
souvent, par la negligence ou connivence mesme de ceux qui sont
le plus obligez par leur ministere d'y donner ordre.
Et c'est dans cette pensee que ces messieurs croyent avoir
droit a se mesler de toutes clioses, de s'ingerer de toutes les
actions un peu eclatantes qui regardent la Religion, de s'ingerer
en censeurs publics, pour corriger et controller tout ce qui leur
deplaist, d'entrer et de penetrer dans les secrets des maisons et
des families particulieres, comme aussi dans la conduite des com-
munautez Religieuses pour y gouverner toutes clioses a leurgre;
et bieii que ces messieurs soient fort ignorans, bien qu'ils n'ayeut
aucune experience des affaires et qu'ils passent dans le jugement
de tous ceux qui les connoissent pour personnes qui n'ont qu'un
Zele impetueux et violent, sans lumieres et sans discretion, neant
moins ils presument avoir assez de capacite pour reformer la vie,
k'S mrours, les sentimens et la doctrine de tous les autres. Et
ce qu'il y a de plus fascheux et de plus dangereux en cela, c'est
que si on ne defere aveuglement a tous leurs sentimens, si on
improuve leur conduite et si Ton oppose la moindre resistance a
leurs entreprises, quoyqu'injustes et violentes, ils unissent toutes
leurs forces pour les faire reussir et pour cet effet ils reclamcnt
les seeours de tous ceux qui leur sont unis, a Paris, a Rouen et
ailleurs, pour decrier, pour diffamer et pour perdre ceux qui leur
resistent et qui veulent s'opposer au cours de leurs violences et
de leurs injustice, de sorte qu'on peut assurer avec verite qut
cette compagnie a degenere en une cabale et en une faction dan-
gereuse et pernicieuse, tant a l'Eglise qu'a la Patrie, estant certain
que depuis peu d'annees ils ont excite" beaucoup de troubles et de

APPENDIX. 405
divisions dans toute la ville de Caen, et notamment dans le clerge"
et mesme en plusieurs autres lieux de la Basse-Normandie ainsi
qu'il paroistra par les articles suivants de ce memoire.
II est arrive quelques fois qu'ayant eu de faux avis que dea
maris maltroitoient leurs femmes ou que des femmes n'estoient
pas fideles a leurs maris ou que des filles ne se gouvernoient pas
bien, ils se sont ingerez sur le rapport qui en estoit fait eu leur
assemblee de chercher les moyens de remedier a ces maux, et ils
en ont choisi de si impertinents et de si indiscrets que cela a este
capable de causer bien du desordre et de la division dans les
families et dans toute la ville ; car souvent voulaut empescher
une legere faute, on en fait naistre de grands scandales, lorsque
l'on agit par emportement plustost que par prudence.
Ce n'est pas seulement dans les families particulieres qu'ils
s'introduisent pour en fureter les secrets, pour en coimoitre les
defauts et pour en usurper la direction et le gouvernement, mais
encore dans les maisons Religienses, dont les unes se sont sou-
mises a leur domination, comme les Ursulines de Caen, les
moynes de l'Abbaye d'Ardenne de l'ordre de Premontrd, proche
de cette ville et depuis peu les filles de Sainte-Marie ; et les
autres leur ayant tesmoigne quelque resistance, ils ont employe
toute leur Industrie pour en venir a bout ; et ou l'artifice a man
que, ils y ont adjoute les violences et les menaces 
Mais il ne faut point chercher de marques plus visibles de la
perseverance, pour mieux dire du progres de ces faux ermites
dans leurs emportemens que ce qu'ont fait cet hiver passe cinq
jeunes hornmes nourris en 1' Hermitage et eleves sous la direc
tion et discipline du feu Sieur de Bernieres. On leur avoit si
bien imprime dans l'esprit que tout estoit rempli de Jansenistes
dans la ville de Caen, et que les curez en estoient les fauieurs et
protecteurs, qu'un d'entre eux s'imagina que Dieu l'inspiroit forte-
ment advertir le peuple de Caen que les curez estoient cles fau-
teurs d'Hereti'ques et par consequent des excomuniez ; et ayant
persuade a ses compagnons d'annoncer publiquement a toute la
ville ce crime pre tend u des Curez d'une maniere qui touchast le
peuple et qui fut capable de l'exciter contre ces Pasteurs, ils
resolurent de faire cette publication le mercredi quatrieme du
mois de Febvrier dernier, et jugerent que pour se disposer a
executer dignement ce que Dieu leur avoit inspire, il falloit faire

406 APPENDIX.
ensemble une communion extraordinaire, imm^diatement avant
que de I'eiitreprendre. Ils assisterent done pour ceteffet et dans
la paroisse de Saint-Ouen a la messe d'un prestre qu'on dit estre
de leur cabale, et commuuierent tous cinq de sa main ; et apres
leur communion, le plus zele mit bas son pom-point et le laissa
avec son chapeau dans l'Eglise ; et accompagne des quatre autres
qui le suivoient sans chapeaux, sans colets et le pourpoint
deboutonne, non-obstant la rigueur extreme du froid ; ils mar-
cherent eu cet equipage par toute la ville, annoncant a haute
voix que les curez de Caen a l'exception de deux qu'ils nom-
moient ctoient fauteurs de Jansenistes et excommuniez, parce
qu'ils avoient signe un acte devant 1'official de Caen, ou ils
ttttestent qu'ils ne connoissent point de Jansenistes dans la dite
ville et repetoient cet advertissement de dix pas en dix pas, ce
qui emeut toute la ville et attira a leur suite une grande multi
tude de populace qui se persuadant que ces gens estoient envoyes
de Dieu pour leur donner cet advertissement, temoignoient desja
de l'emotion contre les curez. Mais les magistrats qui estoient
alors au siege en ayant este advertis, ils envoyerent leurs huissiers
pour les arrester et les emmener, et ayant este interrogez par le
juge sur le sujet d'une action si extraordinaire, ils respondirent
hardiment qu'ils 1'avoient entreprise pour le service de Dieu et
qu'ils estoient prests de souffrir la mort pour soustenir la veritd
de ce qu'ils annoncoient, qu'ils avoient connoissance certaine
qu'il y avoit grand nombre de Jansenistes en la ville de Caen, et
que les curez s'en estoient declarez les fauteurs, par la declara
tion qu'ils avoient donnce qu'ils n'en connoissoient point ; ensuitte
de quoy quatre d'entre eux furent renvoyez en prison et le
cinquieme fut mis entre les mains de ses parents sur une attesta
tion que donnerent les medecins qu'il estoit hypocoudriaque et
peu de jours apres le lieutenant criminel ayant instruit le procez,
les quatre prisonniers furent condamnez a cent livres d'amende ;
il leur fut deffendu et a tous autres de s'assenrbler ni d'exciter
aucun scandale, il fut ordonne" qu'ils seroient mis entre les mains
de leur parents pour s'en charger et en faire bonne et seure
garde, avec deffense de les laisser entrer dans la ville et aux
fauxbourgs, sur peines au eas appartenautes. . . .
Car de quelles entreprises ne sont pas capables des personnes
d'esprit faible et d'humeur atrabilaire que d'ailleurs a>D a des-

APPENDIX. 407
sechees par des jeunes, des veilles et d'autres austeritez continn-
elles et par des meditations de trois ou quatre heures par jour,
lorsque Ton ne les entretient presque d'autre chose, si non que
leur Religion et l'Eglise sont en un tres grand danger de se
perdre, par la faction et la conspiration des Jansenistes lesquels
on leur represente dans les livres, dans les sermons et dans les
conferences, comme des gens qui veulent renverser les fonde-
ments de la Religion et de la Piete" Chrestienne, qui veulent
detruire le mystere de l'lncarnation, qui ne croyent point a la
Transubstantation ni l'lnvocation des Saints, ni les Indulgences,
qui veulent abolir le sacrifice de la messe et le sacrement de la
Penitence, qui combattent la devotion et la culte de la Sainte-
Vierge, qui nient le franc arbitre et qui substituent en sa place le
destin et la fatalite des Turcs, et enfin qui machinent la ruine de
l'authorite des Souverains Pontifes. Qu'y a-t-il de plus aise"
que d'animer les esprits imbeciles d'eux mesmes et prevenus de
ces fausses imaginations contre des Evesques, des Dooteurs, des
Curez, et contre d'autres personnes tres vertueuses et tres catho-
liques, lorsqu'on leur fait croire que toutes ces personnes con-
spirent a establir une heresie abominable I

B.
LAVAL AND ARGENSON.
Lettre de l'Evesque de Petree a M. d'Abgenson, Frerh
du Gooverneur.
(Exlrait.) Papiers d' Argenson.
Jai receu dans mon entire dans le pays de Monsieur votre
frere toutes les marques d'une bienveillance extraordinaire ; iay
fait mon possible pour la recongnoistre et luy ay rendu tous les
respects que je dois a une personne de sa vertu et de son merite
joint a la qualite qu'il porte ; comme son plus veritable amy et
fidelle serviteur iay cru estre oblige de luy donner un advis im
portant pour le bien de l'Eglise et qui luy devoit estre utile s'il
l'eust pris dans la mesme disposition que ie suis asseure que vous
I'auries receu ; cestoit seul a seul a coeur ouvert avec marques

408 APPENDIX.
assez evidentes que ce que ie luy disois estoit vray veu qu'd
estoit fonde sur des sentimens que i'avois veu moy mesme pa-
roistre en diverses assembiees publiques ; cependant il ne fist
que trop congnoistre qu'il ne trouvoit auqunnement bon que
ie luy donnaisses cet advertissement et me voullut faire em-
brasser le party de ceux qui avaient tout subject de se plaindre
de son precede envers eux, mais que je ne pretendois auqunne-
rnent justifier n'en ayant auqunne plainte de leur part pour luy
faire et d'ailleurs estans asses desinteresses ; vous pouvez bien
iuger quels sont ceux dont ie veux parler sans vous les nommer
puisque vous mesme qui avez une affection sincere et bien regiee
pour ces dignes ouvriers evangeiiques m'avez avoue que vous
aviez doulleur de le voir partir dans les sentiments oil il estoit a
leur esgard sans beaucoup de fondement du moins suffisamment
recongneu pour lors ; ce que ie luy dis avoir sceu de vous pour
ne rien omettre de ce que je me persuadois qui estoit capable de
lui faire avouer une verite qui nestoit que trop appareute, ce qui
devoit un peu le calmer son esprit sembla l'aigrir et se fascha de
ce que vous m'aviez faict eette ouverture, ie ne scais depuis ce
qu'il a pense de moy, mais il semble que je luy sois suspect et
qu'il aye cru que i'embrasse la cause de ces bons serviteurs de
Dieu a son preiudice, mais ie puis bien asseurer qu'ils n'ont pour
luy que des sentimens de respect et que la plus forte passion que
iaye est de le voir dans une parfaite union et intelligence avec
eux. Querec ce 20 Octobre 1659.
Lettre de M. d' Argenson, 1660.
(Extrait.) Papiers d' Argenson.
Monsieur de Petree a une telle adherence a ses sentiments et
un zele qui le porte souvent hors du droict de sa charge qu'il ne
faict aucune difficulte d'empieter sur le pouvoir des aultres et
avec tant de chaleur qu'il n'ecoute personne. II enleva ces jours
derniers une fille servente d'un habitant d'icy, et la mit de son
autoiite dans les Hursulines sur le seul pretexte qu'il vouloit la
faire instruire, et par la il priva cet habitant du service qu'il pr6-
tendoit de sa servente qui luy avoit faict beaucoup de depense a
ameuer de France. Cet habitant est Mr Denis lequel ne cognois-

APPENDIX. 409
sant pas qui l'avoit soubstret me presenta requeste pour l'avoir.
Je garde [8102 la requeste sans la.repondre trois jours pour em-
pescher l'eclat de cette affaire. Le R. P. Lalement avec lequel
j'en communique et lequel blasma fort le precede de Mr de Pe
tree s'employa de tout son pouvoir pour la faire rendre sans bruit
et n'y gaigna rien, si bien que je fus oblige de repondre la re
queste et de permettre a cet habitant de reprendre sa servente
oil il la trouveroit, et si je n'eusse insinue soubs main d'accom-
moder cette affaire et que l'habitant a qui on refusa de la rendre
l'eut poursuivi en justice j'eusse este oblige de la luy rendre et de
pousser tout avec beaucoup de scandal et cela (a cause de) la
volonte de Mr de Petree qui diet qu'un evesque peult ce qu'il
veidt, et ne menace que dexcommunication.

Lettre de M. d' Argenson.
(Extraits.) Papiers d' Argenson. Kebec Ie 7 Juillet, 1660.
Mf de Petree a faist naistre cette contestation et ie puis dire
auec verite que son zele en plusieurs rencontre^ approche fort
d'une grande atache a son sentiment et d'empietement sur la
charge des aultres comme vous le verrez par un billet icy joint.
. . . De toutes ces contestations que i'ay eu auec Mf do Petree
i'ay tousjours faist le R. P. Lalemand mudiateur ; c'est une per
sonne d'un si grand merite et d'un sens si acheve que ie pense
qu'on ne peult rien j adjouter ; il seroit bien a souhaiter que
touts ceux de sa maison suivissent ses sentiments ; ils ne se mes-
leroient pas de censurer plusieurs choses comme ils font et lais-
seroient le gouvernement des affaires a ceux que Dieu a ordonnd
pour cela.

c.
PERONNE DUMESNIL.
Le Sieur Oaudais du Pont a Monseigneur de Colbert. 1664.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
Quelqtje 7 ou 8 jours apres l'ctablissement du Conseil Sou-
rerain, en consequence des lettres patentes de Sa majeste, le

410 APPENDIX. *
Procureur General du dit Conseil jugeant qu'il etait de sa
charge de reprendre les (papiers) de cette plainte pour ne pas
laisser un tel attentat impuni, fit sa requete verbale au dit Con
seil tendante a ce qu'il lui fut donne commission pour informer
contre le dit Sieur Du Mesnil ; et que si le dit Sieur Du Mesnil,
avait avis de la dite commission qu'il ne manquerait pas de
detourner ces dits papiers, demandant qu'il lui fut permis de
saisir et de sequestrer ici et apposer le sceau au coffre ou
armoire en laquelle se trouveraient les dits papiers, et pour
ce faire qu'il plut au dit Conseil nommer tel Commissaire qu'il
jugerait a propos. Le dit Conseil enterinant la requete du dit
Procureur General, nomma le Sieur de ViUeray, pour, en la
presence du dit Procureur General et assistance de son Greflier
vaquer a la dite information, &c.
Et d'autant que le dit Sieur Du Mesnil etait estime homme
violent et qu'il pourrait faire quelque boutade, pour donner main
forte a la justice, Mr. le Gouverneur fnt prie par les dits Con-
seillers de faire escorter le dit Sieur Commissaire par quelque
nombre de soldats.
Le dit Sieur de VUleray assiste, comme dit est pour l'execu-
tion de sa commission, se transporta au logis du dit Sieur Du
Mesnil, laissant a. quartier l'escorte de soldats pour s'en servir en
eas de besoin.
Le dit Sieur Du Mesnil ne trompa pas l'opinion que Ton
avait eue de sa violence, fit grand bruit, cria aux voleurs, voulant
emouvoir son voisinage, outrageant d'injures les dits Sieurs de
ViUeray et Procureur General au grand mepris de Fautorite du
Conseil, refusant meme de le reconnaitre. Ce qui n'empecha
pas le dit Sieur de ViUeray d'executer sa commission de saisir
les papiers du dit Sieur Du Mesnil, qui en donna la clef, y fit
apposer le sceau et icelui sequestrer es mains d'un voisin du dit
Sieur Du MesnU et de son consentement.
Le lendemain le dit Sieur de ViUeray rapporta son proces
verbal au dit conseil, atteste du dit Procureur General, et signe
du Grefner du dit Conseil et sur les injures, violences et irreve
rences y coutenues tant contre le dit Sieur Commissaire que
l'autorite du Conseil, fit decerner un decret de prise de corps
contre le dit Sieur Du MesnU, dont j'empechai l'execution.

APPENDIX. 411
Memoire de Dumesnil concernant les affaires du Canada.
(Extrait. ) Archives de la Marine. 10 Septembre, 1671.
Les dits Sieurs de M<5sy, Gouverneur, de Petree, Eveque, et
Dupont Gaudais, arrives au dit Quebec le 16° jour de Septembre
1 S63, furent le lendemain salues et visites par le dit Du Mesnil
precedent juge, lequel par devoir et civilite leur dit par forme
d'avis que par des arrets du conseil du Roi, qu'il leur representa
en date du 27 Mars 1647 et 13 Mai 1659 tous les commis et
receveurs des dits deniers publics etaient exclus de toutes
charges publiques, jusqu'a ce qu'ils eussent rendu et assure leurs
comptes, et le nomme ViUeray chasse du conseil de Ia traite
pour y avoir entre par voies et moyens illicites ; et ordonne qu'il
viendrait en France pour le purger de ses crimes ; ce qu'il n'a
pas fait, et pour nommer les autres commis, receveurs, auxquels
il aurait commence a faire le proces pendant qu'il etait juge.
Nonobstant lesquels dires, actes et arrets representes, les dits
Sieurs de Mesy, Eveque de Petree, et Dupont Gaudais, n'ont
delaisse de prendre et admettre avec eux au dit Conseil Sou-
verain les dits comptables ; lesquels par ce moyen se preteudent
a couvert et exempts de rendre les dits comptes. Le dit etablisse-
ment de conseil fait et arrete par les dits Commissaires le 18
du mois de Septembre, deux jours apres leur arrivee ; et pour
Procureur General prennent un nomme Jean Bourdon, boulauger
et cannonier au fort et aussi comptable de 8 a 900,000 livres,
comme il sera montre et qu'il a prlte son nom.
Le 20 du mois de Septembre, deux jours apres 1'etablissement
du dit conseil, les dits VUleray soi-disant conseiller et commis
saire et Bourdon, Procureur General accompagnes de deux ser-
gents, d'un serrurier et de dix soldats du fort, bien armes vont
en la maison du dit Du Mesnil, Intendant et ContrQleur General,
et peu auparavant leur juge souverain, sur les 7 a 8 heures du
soir pour piller sa maison; ce qu'ils firent; ayant fait rompre
la porte de son cabinet, ses armoires et un coffret ; pris et em-
porte ce qu'ils ont trouve dedans et notamment tous ses papiers
dans lesquels etaient leurs proces presque faits, et les preuves de
leurs peculats, concussions et malversations, sans aucun inventaire
ni forme de justice, etant le dit Du Mesnil, lors des dites vio-

412 APPENDIX.
leuces, tenu et arr&te sur un siege et rudement traite par les sol
dats jusques a I'empecher d'appeler du secours et des temoins
pour voir ce qui se passait en sa maison et comme U etait lie et
arrete. Cette action violente ainsi faite et le dit Du Mesnil se voyant
delivre du massacre de sa personne dont il etait menace, et d'etre
assassine comme son fils s'en va trouver le dit Sieur Dupont
Gaudais prenant qualite d'Intendant pour lui en faire plainte,
qu'il ne voulut entendre, disant que c'etait de son ordonnance et
du dit Conseil que la dite action et prise de papiers avait ete
faite ; a quoi le dit Du Mesnil repartit qu'il s'en plaindrait au
Roi, et lui en demanderait justice, ce qui obligea le dit Dupont
Gaudais de dire au dit Du MesnU qu'il dounat sa requete ; ce
qui fut fait, et sur laquelle fut par le dit Conseil ordonne le 22
du dit mois de Septembre, deux jours apres cette violence que
le dit Dupont Gaudais serait commissaire pour verifier les faits
d'icelle requete ; ce que poursuivant le dit Du Mesnil, U eut
ordre verbal du dit Sr. Gaudais de mettre au Greffe ses causes
et moyens de recusation, de nullite de prise a partie et de de-
mandes ; ce que le dit Du Mesnil fit comme appert par l'acte
signe du Greffler du dit Conseil du 28 du dit mois de Septembre
sur lesquelles recusations, prises a partie et demandes, le dit
Conseil n'a rien voulu ordonner, comme appert par autre acte
du dit Greffier du 21 Octobre ensuivant, jour ordonne pour
l'embarquement et depart des vaisseaux du dit Quebec pour
ittourner en France.
Mais au lieu de statuer et ordonner sur les faits, moyens et
conclusions du dit Du Mesnil, le dit Conseil sans plainte, sans
partie et sans information a dresse emprisonnement du dit
Du Mesnil et cache le decret sans le mettre au Greffe dans
l'intention de le faire paraitre et executer du meme temps que
le dit Du Mesnil se voudrait embarquer pour revenir en
France, afin qu'U n'eut pas le temps de donner avis des vio
lences qu'on lui faisait : de quoi averti il s'embarqua quel
ques jours auparavant les autres et fut recu par le Capitaine
Gardcur dans son navire, nonobstant les defenses qui lui eu
avaient ete faites par le dit nouveau Conseil et que six pieces de
canon de la plate forme d'en bas fussent pointees contre son
navire pour le faire obeir a leurs ordonnances.

APPENDIX. 413
Tous ces massacres, assassins et pUlages n'ont ete faits au dit
Du Mesnil, Intendant, par les dits comptables, ordonnateurs et
preneurs de bien public et leurs parents et allies que pour tacher
ii couvrir et s'exempter de compter, payer et rendre ce qu'Us ont
nille, savoir 

D.
LAVAL AND MESY.
Ordre de M? de Mesy de faire sommation a l'Evkqub
de Petree.
(Extrait.) Registre du Conseil Superieur. 13 Fevrier, 1664.
Lis Sieur d' AngovUle, Major de la Garnison entretenue par le
Roi dans le Fort de S? Louis a Quebec pays de la Nouvelle
France, est commande par nous Sieur de Mesy, Lieutenant
General et Gouverneur pour Sa Majeste dans toute l'etendue du
(lit pays, aller dire et avertir Monsieur l'Eveque de Petree etant
presentement dans la chambre qui servait ci-devant aux Assem
blees du Conseil au dit pays, que les Sieurs nonunes pour Con-
seillers et le Sieur Bourdon pour Procureur du Roi au dit
conseil ii la persuasion du dit Sieur de Petree qui les connai.ssait
entitlement ses creatures s 'etant voulu rendre les maitres de
clares et portes en diverses manieres dans le dit Conseil contre
les Interets du Roi et du public pour appuyer et autoriser les in
terets d'autrui en particulier, U leur >a ete commande par notre
ordre pour la conservation des interets du Roi en ce pays, de
s'abseuter du dit Conseil jusqu'a ce que a notre diligence par le
retour des premiers vaisseaux qui viendront, Sa Majeste ait ete
informee de leur conduite, et qu'ils se soient justifies des cabales
qu'ils ont formees, fomentees et entretenues contre leur devoir et
le serment de fidelite qu'ils etaient obliges de garder a Sa dite
Majeste. Priant le dit Sieur Eveque acquiescer a la dite interdiction
pour le bien du service du Roi, et vouloir proc-eder par l'avis

414 APPENDIX.
d'une Assemblee pnblique a nouveUe nomination des ConseiUers
en la place des dits Sieurs Interdits pour pouvoir rendre la jus
tice aux peuples et habitants de ce pays, Declarant que nous
Sieur de Mesy ne pouvons en nommer aucun de notre part en
la facon en laqueUe nous avons ete surpris par notre facilite lors
de la premiere nomination manque d'une parfaite connaissance,
et que s'U est fait quelque chose au prejudice de cet avertisse-
ment par aucun des dits ConseiUers interdits, Us seront traites
comme desobeissants, fomenteurs de rebellions et contraires au
repos public. (Signe) "Mesy."
Reponse de l'Eveque de Petree.
Registre du Conseil Superieur. 16 Eev. 1664.
Laissant a part les paroles offensives et accusations injuri-
euses qui me regardent dans l'affiche mise au son du tambour le
treiziemp de cc mois de Fevrier, au poteau public, dont je pre
tends me justifier devant Sa Majeste je reponds a la priere que
Monsieur le Gouverneur m'y fait d'agreer l'interdiction- des per
sonnes qui y sont comprises, et de vouloir proceder a la nomi
nation d'autres ConseiUers ou Officiers et ce par l'avis d'une
assemblee pubUque, que ni ma conscience ni mon honneur, ni le
respect et obeissance que je dois aux volontes et commande-
ments du Roi, ni la fidelite et Faffection que je dois a son ser
vice ne me le permettent aucunement jusques a ce que dans un
jugement legitime les desnommes dans la susdite affiche soient
convaincus des crimes dont on les y accuse.
A Quebec ce seizieme Fevrier mil-six-cent-soixante-quatre.
(Signe) " Francois," Eveque de Quebec.
Enregistre a la requete de Mgr. l'Eveque de Petree ce 16
Fevrier 1G61 par moi Secretaire au ConseU Souverain sous-
signed (Signe) Peuveet, Secret™
avec paraphe

APPENDIX. 415
Lettre de Mest aux Jesuites.
(Extrait.) Collection de V Abbe' Ferland.
Comme aiusi soit que la gloire de Dieu, le service du Roi et le
service du pubUc nous aient engages de venir en ce pays pour y
rencontrer notre salut par la soUicitation de M. l'Eveque de
Petree qui nous a fait agreer au Roi pour avoir l'honneur d'etre
6on Lieutenant Goneral et Gouverneur de toute la NouveUe
France, representer sa personne dans le ConseU Souverain qu'il
a etabli dans ce dit pays pour exercer la justice, police et finance,
ce qui nous tient lieu d'obUgation vers mon dit Sieur l'Eveque
pour lui donner des marques de reconnaissance en toutes ren
contres. A quoi nous sommes aussi obliges par son merite par-
ticulier et par le respect qui est du a son caractere, mais qui ne
doit eutrer en nulle consideration pour le regard du service et
de la fidelite que nous sommes oblige de rendre a S. M. ; n'etant
pas ni de notre conscience ni de notre horineur d'avoir accepte la
commission dont il nous a honored, pour n'en pas faire Ie deub de
notre charge et de trahir les interets de Sa dite Majeste ; lui en
ayant fait le serment de fidelite entre ses mains et d'en avoir
recu le commandement par sa bouche. Pourquoi ayant rencon
tre plusieurs pratiques que nous avons cru en conscience par de
voir etre oblige d'en empecher la suite, nous aurions fait publier
notre declaration du 13s jour de Fevrier dernier, et ne l'ayant
pu faire faire sans y interesser le Sr Eveque, notre dite declara
tion nous fait passer dans son esprit et de tous Messieurs les
Ecciesiastiques qui considerent ce point d'une pretendue offense
sans avoir egard aucunement aux interets du Roy pour un calom-
niateur, mauvais juge, un ingrat et conscience erronnee et plu
sieurs autres termes injurieux qui se publient journellement
contre l'autorite du Roy, en faisant un point de reprobation de
la dite pretendue offense, un des principaux nous etant venu
avertir que Ton nous pourrait faire fermer la porte des Eglises
et nous empecher de recevoir les St8 Sacrements, si nous ne repa-
rions la dite pretendue offense, ce qui nous donne un scrupule en
r&me ; et de plus ne pouvant nous adresser pour nous en eclair-
cir qu'a des personnes qui se dedarent nos parties et qui jugent
du fait sans en savoir la cause ; mais n'y ayant rien de si impor
tant au monde que le salut et la fidelite que nous devons garder

416 APPENDIX.
pour les interets du Roi que nous tenons inseparables l'un de
I'autre, et reconnaissant qu'U n'y a rien de si certain que la mort
et rien de si inconnu que rheure, et que le temps est long pour
informer Sa Majeste de ce qui se passe, pour en recevoir ses
ordres, et qu'en attendant, une time est toujours dans la crainte
quoiqu'elle se connaisse dans l'innocence, nous sommes oblige
avoir neanmoins recours aux Reverends Peres Casuistes de la
maison de Jesus pour nous dire eu leur conscience ce que nous
pouvons pour la decharge de la notre et pour garder la fidelite
que nous devons avoir pour le service du Roi, les priant qu'Us
aient agreable signer ce qu'ils jugeront au bas de cet ecrit, afin
de nous servir de garantie vers sa Majeste.
Fait au Chateau de Quebec, ce dernier jour de Fevrier,
1664. " Misr "

E.
MARRIAGE AND POPULATION.
Lettre de Colbert a Talon.
(Exlrait.') Archives de la Marine. Paris, 20 Fevrier, lbt>8
Sa Majeste a fait une gratification de 1500 livres a Mr de
Lamotte, lcr Capitaine au Regiment de Carignan-Salieres, tant
en consideration du service qu'il rend en Canada, de la construc
tion des forts et de ses expeditious qui ont ete faites contre les
Iroquois, que du mariage qu'il a contracte dans le pays, et de la
resolution qu'il a prise de s'y habituer. EUe a ordonne de plus
la sonime de 6000 livres pour etre distribuees aux oificiers des
memes troupes, ou qui s'y sont deja maries ou qui s'y marieront
afin de leur donner des moyens de s'etablir et de mieux s'affermir
dans la pensee ou ils sont de ne pas revenir en France. EUe
fait un autre fond de 12,000 livres pour etre distribue aux sol
dats qui resteront aux pays et qui s'y marieront, autres que
ceux des quatre compagnies qu'elle y laisse, ces derniers etant
entretenus par le paiement de leur solde .... 1200 Uvres pour

APPENDIX. 417
eelui des meilleurs habitants qui a 15 enfants, et 800 livres pour
I'autre qni en a dix. EUe a aussi gratifie M. l'Eveque de Petite
d'une 3omme de 6000 livres pour continuer a l'assister pour sou-
tenir sa dignite, fournir aux besoins de son Eglise et de son
seminaire, et enfin 40,000 livres pour etre employees a la levee
de 150 hommes et de 50 filles depuis 16 jusqu'a 30 ans et non
au dela ; outre 235 que la Compagnie y fait passer cette annee,
et qui devaient y etre passees l'annee derniere; 12 Cavales,
2 etalons, 2 gros anes de Mirbelais et 50 brebis ; a quoi Ton
travaUle dans les provinces du royaume, et Ton n'oublie rien
pour l'embarquement partant de la Rochelle vers la fin du mois
prochain. . . . . Je vous prie de bien faire considered a tout le pays que
leur bien, leur subsistance, et tout ce qui peut les regarder de
plus pres depend d'une resolution publique a laqueUe il ne soit
jamais contrevenu de marier les garcons a 18 ou 19 ans, et les
filles a 14 ou 15 ans; que les oppositions de n'avoir pas suffi-
samment pour vivre doivent etre rejetees, parceque dans ces pays
et le Canada premierement ou tout le monde travaUle, il se
produit pour tous la subsistance et que l'abondance ne peut
jamais leur venir que par l'abondance des hommes  II
serait bon de rendre les charges et servitudes doubles a l'egard
des garcons qui ne se marieraient point a cet age . . . . et a
l'egard de ceux qui sembleraicnt avoir absolument renonce au
manage, il serait a propos de leur augmenter les charges, de les
priver de tous honneurs, meme d'y ajouter quelque marque
d'infamie. .... Bien que le Royaume de France soit autant peuple
qu'aucun pays du monde, il est certain qu'il serait difficile d'en-
tretenir de grandes armees et de faire passer en meme temps de
grandes Colonies dans les pays eioignes  II faut done se
reduire a tirer seulement chaque annee avec precaution un
nombre d'habitants de l'un et de I'autre sexe, pour les envoyer
au Canada, et fonder principalement l'angmentation de la colonie
sur i'augmentation des mariages, a mesure que le nombre dea
colons augmentera. •

27

418 APPENDIX.

Lettre de Talon a Colbert.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine. 10 Novembre, 1670.
. . . . De toutes les filles venues cette annee au nombre de
1 65, il n'en reste pas 30 a marier. Apres que les soldats venas
cette annee auront travaUle a faire une habitation, Us se porte-
ront au mariage ; pour quoi il serait bon qu'il pMt a Sa Majeste
d'envoyer encore 150 a 200 filles.
.... II serait bon de recommander que les filles destinees a
ce pays ne soient uullement disgraciees de la nature, qu'elles
n'aient rien de rebuttant a I'exterieur ; qu'elles soient saines et
fortes pour le travail de campagne, ou dumoins qu'elles aicnt
quelqu'industrie pour les ouvrages de main.
.... Trois ou quatre filles de naissance et distinguees par
la qualite serviraient peut-etre utUement a lier par le mariage
des officiers qui ne tiennent au pays que par les appointements
et i'emolmneiit de leurs terres, et qui par la disproportion des
conditions ne s'engagent pas davantage. Si le Roi fait passer
d'autres filles ou femmes veuves de l'Ancienne a la NouveUe-
France, U est bon de les faire accompagner d'un certificat de leur
Cure ou du juge du lieu qui fasse counaitre qu'elles sont Ubres
et en eta,t d'etre mariees, sans quoi les Ecclesiastiques d'ici font
difficulte de leur conferer ce sacrement ; a la verite ce n'est pas
sans raison, 2 ou 3 doubles mariages s'etant reconnus ici ; on
pourrait prendre la m@me precaution pour les hommes veufs
Lettre de Talon a Colbert.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine. 2 Novembre, 1671
. . . . Le nombre des enfants nes cette annee est de 6 a 700.
.... J'estime qu'il n'est plus necessaire de faire passer des
demoiselles, en ayant regu cette annee quinze ainsi qualifiees au
lieu de quatre que je demandais pour faire des aUiances avec les
officiers ou les principaux habitants d'ici 

APPENDIX. 419
F.
CHATEAU ST. LOUIS.
This structure, destined to be famous in Canadian history,
was originally built by Samuel de Champlain. The cellar still
remains, under the wooden platform of the present Durham
Terrace. Behind the chateau was the area of the fort, now
an open square. In the most famous epoch of its history, the
time of Frontenac, the chateau was old and dilapidated, and
the fort was in a sad condition. "The walls are all down,''
writes Frontenac in 1681 ; "there are neither gates nor guard
house ; the whole place is open." On this the new intendant,
Meules, was ordered to report what repairs were needed. Mean
while La Barre had come to replace Frontenac, whose com
plaints he repeats. He says that the wall is in ruin for a
distance of a hundred and eighty toises. " The workmen ask
6000 francs to repair it. I could get it done in France for
2000. The cost frightens me. I have done nothing." (La Barre
au Ministre, 1682.) Meules, however, received orders to do
what was necessary ; and, two years later, he reports that he
has rebuilt the wall, repaired the fort, and erected a building,
intended at first for the council, within the area. This buUding
stood near the entrance of the present St. Louis Street, and was
enclosed by an extension of the fort wall.
DenonvUle next appears on the scene, with his usual disposi
tion to fault-finding. The so-called chateau, he says (1685) is
built of wood, " and is dry as a match. There is a place where
with a bundle of. straw it could be set on fire at any time ; . . .
some of the gates will not close ; there is no watch-tower, and
no place to shoot from." (Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout,
1685.) When Frontenac resumed the government, he was much
disturbed at the condition of the chateau, and begged for slate
to cover the roof, as the rain was coming in everywhere. At
the same time the intendant, Champigny, reports it to be rotten
and ruinous. This was in the year made famous by the English
attack, and the dramatic scene in the haU of the old building

420 APPENDIX.
when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps, whose
fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691, Fron
tenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 1 5,000 or
20,000 francs to repair his mansion. In the next year the king
promises to send him 12,000 francs, in instalments. Frontenac
acknowledges the favor ; and says that he will erect a new buUd
ing, and try in the mean time not to be buried under the old one,
as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard. (Fron
tenac au Ministre, 15 Sept., 1692.) A misunderstanding with
the intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the
work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been obliged
to send for carpenters, during the night, to prop up the chateau,
lest he should be crushed under the ruins. The wall of the fort
was however strengthened, and partly rebuilt to the height of
sixteen feet, at a cost of 13,629 francs. It was a time of war,
and a fresh attack was expected from the English. (Fron
tenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1693.) In the year
1854, the workmen employed in demolishing a part of this wall,
adjoining the garden of the chateau, found a copper plate bear
ing an inscription in Latin as follows : " In the year of Redemp
tion 1693, under the reign of the most august, most invincible,
and most Christian King of France, Louis the Great, fourteenth
of that name, the most excellent Louis de Buade, Count of Fron
tenac, governor for the second time of all New France, seeing
that the rebellious inhabitants of New England, who three years
ago were repulsed, routed, and completely vanquished by him
when they besieged this town of Quebec, are threatening to renew
the siege this very year, has caused to be built, at the expense of
the king, this citadel, with the fortifications adjoining thereto,
for the defence of the country, for the security of the people, and
for confounding yet again that nation perfidious alike towards its
God and its lawful king. And he [Frontenac'] has placed here
this first stone."
A year later, the rebuUding of the chateau was begun in
earnest. Frontenac says that nothing but a miracle has saved
him from being buried under its ruins ; that he has pulled every
thing down, and begun again from the foundation, but that the
money has given out. (Frontenac au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1094.)
Accordingly, he and the intendant sold six licenses for the fur

APPENDIX. 421
trade; but at a rate unusually low, for they bi ought only 4,400
francs,. The king, hearing of this, sent 6,000 more. Frontenac
is profuse in thanks ; and at the same time begs for another
6000 francs, " to complete a work which is the ornament and
beauty of the city" (1696). The minister sent 8,000 more,
which was soon gone ; and Frontenac drew on the royal treas
urer for 5,047 in addition. The intendant complains of his
extravagance, and says that he wUl have nothing but perfection ;
and that, besides the chateau, he has insisted on building two
guard-houses, with Mansard roofs, at the two sides of the
gate. " I must do as he says," adds the intendant, " or there
will be a quarrel." (Champigny au Ministre, 13 Oct., 1697.)
In a letter written two days after, Frontenac speaks with great
complacency of his chateau, and asks for another 6,000 francs
to finish it. As the case was urgent, he sold six more licenses,
at 1,000 francs each ; but he died too soon to see the completion
of his favorite work (1698). The new chateau was not finished
before 1700, and even then it had no cistern. In a pen-sketch
of Quebec on a manuscript map of 1699, preserved in the DepSt
des Cartes de la Marine, the new chateau is distinctly repre
sented. In front is a gallery or balcony, resting on a wall and
buttresses at the edge of the cliff. Above the gallery is a range
of high windows along the face of the buUding, and over these
a range of smaU windows and a Mansard roof. In the middle is
a porch opening on the gallery ; and on the left extends a bat
tery, on the ground now occupied by a garden along the brink
of the cliff. A water-color sketch of the chateau taken in 1804,
from the land-side, by WUUam Morrison, Jr., is in my posses
sion. The building appears to have been completely remod
elled in the interval. It is two stories in height ; the Mansard
roof is gone, and a row of attic windows surmounts the second
story. In 1809 it was again remodelled, at a cost of ten thou
sand pounds sterUng. A third story was added ; and the build
ing, resting on the buttresses which still remain under the
balustrade of Durham Terrace, had an imposing effect when
seen from the river. It was destroyed by fire in 1834.

422 APPENDIX

G.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
Lettre de Denonville au Ministre.
A Quebec le 13 Novembre, 1685.
. . . J'ai remarque, Monseigneur que les femmes et filles, y
sont assez paresseuses par le manque de menus ouvrages a se
donner, il y a un peu trop de luxe dans la pauvrete generale des
demoiselles ou soi disantes ; les menus ouvrages de capots et de
chemises de traite les occupent un peu, pendant l'hiver, et leur
font gagner quelque chose, mais cela ne dure pas, l'endroit de
pauvrete de ce pays, est le manque de toiUes et de serges ou
draps, cependant c'est ici le pays du monde le plus propre a
faire des chanvres, et du fil, et par consequent de la toiUe, si on
s'en voulait donner la peine. Mr. Talon s'y est donne du soin
pour cela, aussi y a-t-U une cote qui est celle de Beaupre, ou on
en fait, mais ce n'est que chez quelques habitans. J'ai fort
exorte la dessus tous les peuples d'y travaiUer, pour y reussir, U
faut y apporter de la severite et de l'utilite si U y a moyen, ce
dernier avec le temps et l'industrie arrivera, et le premier de ma
part ne manquera pas, je n'ai pu avoir d'autre raison, pourquoi
on ne faisait point de chanvres, si ce n'est que l'on n' avait pas
assez de temps, a cause que les saisons de labourer, semer et
lecueillir sont trop courtes, car en ce pays le bled ne se seme
qu'en Avril et May. Si le Roy voulait acheter les chanvres un
peu plus cher jusques a ce que Ton fut en train, cela pourait les
animer, avec un ordre a chacun d'en fournir une certaine quan-
tite on pourra les faire agir, si outre cela on avait quelques
ouvriers tisserands a distribuer par paroisses, et qui ne fussent a
la charge du peuple que pour leurs nouritures, ce serait un
moyen pour faire apprendre aux enfants. Les Cures nous ren-
draient compte du nombre de ceux qui apprendraient a preparer
la chanvre et fillasse, et a faire de la toille; avant que d'en
venir la il faudrait montrer a filer aux filles et aux femmes, car
il y en a tres peu, qui sachent tenir le fuseau, c'est en cela que
les filles de la congregation de Montreal feront merveilles. II

APPENDIX. 423
nous est venu de la part de Mr. Arnoul deux bariques de graine
de chanvre que je ferai distribuer et dont je me ferai rendre
compte. Je croyais, Monseigneur, une ordonnance necessaire encore a
faire pour engager chaque habitant a avoir deux ou trois brebis,
n'y en ayant pas suffisament dans le pays.
.... II n'est pas possible qu'on ne puisse faire une verrerie
en ce pays, la plus grande affaire sont les ouvriers qui encheris-
sent tout car Ton donne ordinaire ment et communement a
chaque ouvrier par jour quarente sols nouris, cinquante sols et
un ecu, et tous ces maraux n'en sont pas plus riches car Us met-
tent tout a boire. Signe.* Le M,DIS de Denonville.

Memoire a Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay, suk
l'etablissement du commerce en Canada, presente par les
Sieurs Chalons et Riverin.
(Extrait.') Archives de la Marine.
(Joint a la lettre du Sieur de Riverin, du 7 Eevrier, 1686.)
• . . . . Kn effet si cette colonie n'a pas avance depuis le temps
de son etablissement, c'est que les habitants qui la composent ou
par leur negligence ou par leur peu d'experience dans les
affaires, ou enfin par leur impuissance ne se sont pas mis en
estat de se servir des avantages qu'elle renferme en elle-mesme,
et des moyens qu'elle leur fournit pour un commerce solide et
considerable. Car il ne fafut pas regarder la traitte des pelleteries a laqueUe
seule on s'est attache jusqu'a present et qui finira avec le temps
par la destruction des bestes, comme un moyen propre a. son
avancement, au contraire l'experieiice a fait connoistre qu'elle
rend les habitans faineans et vagabonds, qu'elle les detourne de
la culture des terres, de la pesche, de la navigation et des autrea
entreprises.

424 APPENDIX.

Memoire do Sieur de Catalogne, Ingenieur, sub les flans
des habitations et Seigneuries des Gouvernemens de Que
bec, de Montreal et Dts Trois-Rivieres.
(Extrait. 1) Archives de la Marine.
7 Novembre, 1712
Observations sur l'etablissement. — Que par rapport a. la
grande etendue qu'on a donnee a l'etablissement, U n'y a pas le
quart des ouvriers qu'U faudroit pour bien etendre et cultiver les
terres. Que les laboureurs ne se donnent pas assez de soin pour cul
tiver les terres, etant certain que la semence d'un minot de ble,
seme sur de la terre cultivee comme en France, produira plus
que deux autres comme on seme en Canada.
Que comme les saisons sont trop courtes et souvent tres
mauvaises, il serait a souhaiter que l'Eglise permit les travaux
indispensables, que les fetes d'ete obligent de chomer, etant tres
vrai que depuis le mois de Mai que les semences commencent
jusques a la fin de Septembre, il n'y a pas 90 journees de travail,
par rapport aux fetes et au mauvais temps. C'est pourtant
dans cette espace que roule la solidite de cet etablissement. il
faudrait assujetir les habitans negligens a travaUler a la culture
des terres, en les privant des voyages qui les dispensent de tra
vaUler, et cela parce qu'un voyage de deux ou trois mois leur
produit 30 ou 40 escus en perdant la saison du travaU a la terre,
qui les fait demeurer en friche.
Les obliger de semer quantite de chanvre et lin qui vient en
ce pays plus gros qu'en Europe. Ils s'en relachent parceque,
disent-ils, il y a trop de peine et de soins a le mettre en oeuvre.
II est vrai qu'il y a peu de gens qui s'entendent et qui le font
payer bien cher.
Assujetir les habitans a nourrir et a eiever des betes a comes,
au lieu du grand nombre de chevaux qui ruinent le Pacage et
qui entrainent les habitans a des grosses depenses, tant que pour
leurs equipages qui sont fort chers que par la grande quantite de
fourages et de grains qu'il faut pendant 7 ou 8 mois de I'annee,
1 This memoire is 70 pages in length.

APPENDIX. 425
etant tres vrai que l'entretien d'un cheval coiite autant que deux
boeufs. Obliger les Seigneurs pour facUiter l'etablissement de leurs
Seigneuries de donner suffisamment des terres pour commencer
a un prix modique et a construire des moulins et les commodites
publiques ; plusieurs consomment le tiers de leur temps a aller
faires leur farines a 15 ou 20 lieues, et que les Seigneurs, des qut?
les Seigueuries sont etablies, concedent des terres sans que les
tenanciers soient obliges de payer des rentes qu'apres 6 ans que
les terres soient en valeur.
Ordonner au grand voyer de donner son application a faire
etablir les chemins et ponts necessaiies au public, qui est une
necessite fort essentielle.
Obliger les habitans ou ceux qui sont en etat, de faire des
greniers pourque chacun fut en etat de conserver du grain pour
deux annees ; cela fait une fois, l'abondance se trouvera toujours
au Canada au lieu que la plupart, faute de cette commodite, en
manquent tres souvent, etant obUge de';le vendre a vil prix.
Chatier severement tous ceux qui sont convaincus de fraude,
mauvaise foi et imposture, qui est un mal qui commence a etre
bien en racine et qui indubitablement le privera de tout com
merce, les marchands des iles et de Plaisance s'en etant deja
plaints. Que comme il n'y a pas de notaires dans tous les lieux, que les
conventions et les marches faits en presence de deux temoins
vaudrunt pendant un temps fixe.
II serait a souhaiter que S. M. voulut etablir dans chaque viUe
des conseils a juger sans frais sur le fait du commerce et des
affaires qui n'entrent pas dans la coutume. Ces sortes de pro
cedures aussi bien que les autres, ne prennent aucune fin que
lorsque les parties n'ont plus d'argent pour plaider, qui est la
mine des families.
Engager un certam nombre de gens du pays a etudier le
pilotage, meme les officiers des troupes, particulierement du
fleuve St. Laurent qui est tres dangereux, la plupart du temps
ne se trouvant pas un seul pilote en Canada, et cependant on
commence a donner dans la construction ; le capitaine du Port
et M. Duplessis ayant mis un vaisseau de 3 a 400 tonneaux sui
les chantiers.

426 APPENDLX.
Congedier de temps en temps des soldats en leur permettanl
de se marier, apres qu'Us auront un etablissement.
II s'est etabU une coutume dans ce pays autorisee par le
magistrat, qui meme ne me parait pas naturelle, de laisser des
bestiaux a I'abandon qui la plupart gatent les grains et les
prairies, n'y ayant presque point de terres closes qui causent des
contestes et de la mesintelUgence entre les voisins ; pour obvier
a cela il faudrait qu'U y eut des gardiens pour chaque nature
d'animaux pour les mener dans les communes, car tel qui n'a
pas un pouce de terre, envoie ses animaux paitre sur les terres
de ses voisins, en disant que I'abandon est donne ; Si S. M. vou
lait couper la racine a une pepiniere de proces et de mesintelU
gence entre les Seigneurs et habitans, il serait a souhaiter qu'elle
voulut donner une ordonnance tendante a ce que les Seigneuries
et autres concessions demeureraient dans les Umites qu'elles se
trouvent a present, sans avoir egard aux titres portes dans les
contrats, pour, la quantite et les rumbs de vent qui y sont an-
nonces, etant a remarquer que les anciens Seigneurs et habitans
se sont etablis de bonne foi, que les terres ont ete limitees par
des arpenteurs peu intelligens, et aujourd'hui que la chicane est
en vogue, chacun 4veut suivre les termes de son contrat qui ten-
dent la plupart a Pimpossible. Mr. Raudot a donne une ordon
nance a ce sujet pour File de Montreal seulement.
Comme la plupart des rues de Quebec et de Montreal sont
souvent impraticables, tant par les rochers que par les bourbiers,
s'U plaisait a S. M. d'ordonner que les deniers qui proviennent
des amendes et certaines confiscations seraient employes a les
mettre en etat.
Que la subordination du vassal a son Seigneur n'est point objet
a . Cette erreur vient qu'il a ete accorde des Sei
gneuries a des roturiers qui n'ont pas su maintenir le droit que la
raison leur donne a l'egard de leur co-sujets, meme les officiers
de milice qui leur sont dependants, n'ont la plupart aucun egard
pour leur superiorite et veulent dans les occasions passer pour
independants. II serait a souhaiter que S. M. voulut envoyer dans ce pays
toute sorte d'artisans, particuUerement des ouvriers en cordages
et filages, des potiers et un verrier, et ils trouveraient a s'occuper.
Si S. M. voulait faire envoyer en marchandises une partie deg

APPENDIX. 427
appointemens de Messrs. les officiers, cela leur adoucirait la
durete qu'eux seuls trouvent dans le pays, par la grande cherte
des marchaudises causee par le mauvais retour de la monnaie de
cartes qui fait acheter 3 et 4 pour 100.
Veu: Vaudreuil.
Veu: Begon. Catalogne

H.
LETTER OF FATHER CARHEIL.
Lettre du Pere ETiENtJE de Carheil, de la Compagnie db
Jesus, a l'Intendant de Champigny.
(Extrait.1) Archives Nationales.
A Michilimakina, le 30 d'Aoust, 1702.
.... Nos Missions sont reduites a une telle extremite, que
nous ne pouvons plus les soutenir contre une multitude infinie de
desordres, de brutalitez, de violences, d'in justices, d'impietez,
d'impudicitez, d'insolences, de mepris, d'insultes que l'infame et
funeste traitte d'eau-de-vie y cause universellement dans toutes
les nations d'icy haut, oil Ton vient la faire, allant de villages en
vUlages et courant les lacs avec une quantite prodigieuse de
barils, sans garder aucune mesure. Si Sa Majeste avoit veu
une seule fois ce qui se passe et icy et a. Montreal, dans tous les
temps qu'on y fait cette malheureuse traitte, je suis sur qu'elle ne
balanceroit pas un moment, des la premiere vue, a la deffendre
pour jamais sous les plus rigoureuses peines.
Dans le desespoir oil nous sommes, U ne nous reste point
d'autre party a prendre que celui de quitter nos Missions et de
les abandonner aux traittants d'eau-de-vie, pour y etablir le
domaine de leur traitte, de I'ivrognerie et de I'impurete. C'est
ce que nous allons proposer a nos superieurs en Canada et en
France, y etant contraints par l'etat d'inutilite et d'impuissance
de faire aucun fruit ou Ton nous a reduits par la permission de
cette deplorable traitte, permission que Ton n'a obtenue de Sa
Majeste que sous un pretexte aparent de raisons que l'on scait
l This letter is 45 pages long.

428 APPENDIX.
etre fausses, permission qu'eUe n'accorderoit point, si ceux aux-
quels eUe se raporte de la verite la lui fesoient connoistre comme
Us la connoissent eux-memes et tout le Canada avec eux, per
mission enfin qui est le plus grand mal et le principe de tous les
maux qui arrivent presentement au pays, et surtout des nau-
frages dont on n'entendoit point encore parler ici et que nous
apprenons arriver maintenant presque touttes les annees ou dans
la venue ou dans le retour de nos vaisseaux en France, par une
juste punition de Dieu qui fait perir par l'eau ce que 1'ou avoit
mal acquis par l'eau-de-vie, ou qui entend empecher le transport
pour prevenir le mauvais usage qu'on en feroit. Si cette per
mission n'est revoquee par une deffense contraire, nous n'aurons
plus que faire de demeurer dans aucune de nos Missions d'icy
haut, pour y perdre le reste de notre vie, et touttes nos peines
dans une pure iuutilite sous l'empire d'une continuelle ivrognerie
et d'une impurete universelle qu'on ne permet pas moins aux
traitteurs d'eau-de-vie que la traitte meme dont eUe est l'accom-
pagnement et la suite. Si Sa Majeste veut sauver nos missions
et soutenir l'etablissement de la Religion, comme nous ne dou-
tons point qu'eUe le veuUle, nous la suplions tres-humblement de
croire, ce qui est tres veritable, qu'U n'y a point d'autre moyen
de le pouvoir faire que d'abolir les deux infames commerces qui
les ont reduites a la necessity prochaine de perir et qui ne tar-
deront pas a achever de les perdre, s'Us ne sont au plus tost
aboUs par ses ordres et mis hors d'etat d'etre retablis. Le pre
mier est le commerce de l'eau-de-vie ; le second est le commerce
des femmes sauvages avec les Francois, qui sont tous deux aussy
publics l'un que I'autre, sans que nous puissions y remedier, pour
n'estre pas appuyez des commandans qui, bien loin de les vouloir
empecher par les remontrances que nous leur faisons, les exer-
cent eux-memes avec plus de liberte que leurs inferieurs, et les
autorisent tellement par leur exemple qu'en le regardant on s'en
fait une permission generale et une assurance d'impunite qui les
rend communs a tout ce qui vient icy de Francois en traitte, de
sorte que tous les villages de nos Sauvages ne sont plus que des
cabarets pour I'ivrognerie et des Sodomes pour I'impurete, d'oii
il faut que nous nous retirions, les abandonnant a la juste colere
de Dieu et a ses vengeances.
Vous voyez par la que, de quelque maniere qu'on etablisse le

APPENDIX. 429
commerce Francois avec les Sauvages, si l'on veut nous retenu
parmi eux, nous y conserver et nous y soutenir en qualite de
missionnaires dans le libre exercice de nos fonctions avec
esperauce d'y faire du fruit, il faut nous delivrer des comman-
daAWet de leurs garnisons qui, bien loin d'estre necessaires, sont
au contraire si pernicieuses que nous pouvons dire avec verite
qu'elles sont le plus, grand mal de nos missions, ne servant qu'a
nuire a la traitte ordinaire des voyageurs et a l'avancement de la
Foy. Depuis qu'elles sont venues icy haut, nous n'y avons plus
veu que corruption universelle qu'elles ont i-epandues par leur
vie scandaleuse dans tous les esprits de ces nations qui en sont
presentement infectees. Tout le service pretendu qu'on veut
faire croire au Roy qu'elles rendent se reduit a quatre princi
pals occupations dont nous vous prions instamment de vouloir
bien informer le Roy.
La premiere est de tenir un cabaret public d'eau-de-vie oil Us
la traittent continuellement aux Sauvages qui ne cessent point
de s'enyvrer, quelques opositions que nous y puissions faire.
C'est en vain que nous leur parlous pour les arreter ; nous n'y
gagnons rien que d'etre accusez de nous oposer nous-memes au
Service du Roy en voulant empecher une traitte qui leur est
permise. La seconde occupation des soldats est d'estre envoyez d'un
poste a 1'au.tre par les Commandans, pour y porter leurs mar
chandises et leur eau-de-vie, apres s'etre accommodes ensemble,
sans que les uns et les autres ayent d'autre soin que celuy de
s'entr'ayder mutuellement dans leur commerce, et afin que cela
s'execute plus facilement des deux costez comme ils le souhait-
ent, Us faut que les commandans se ferment les yeux pour user
de connivence et ne voir aucun des desordres de leur soldats,
quelques visibles, publics et scandaleux qu'Us soient, et il faut
reciproquement que les soldats, outre qu'ils traittent leurs
propres marchandises, se fassent encore les traitteurs de ceUes
de leurs Commandans qui souvent meme les obligent d'en
acheter d'eux pour leur permettre d'aller ou ils veulent.
Leur troisieme occupation est de faire de leur fort un lieu que
j'ay honte d'apeler par son nom, oil les femmes ont apris que
leurs corps pouvoient tenir lieu de marchandises et qu'eUes
seroient mieux recues que le castor, de sorte que c'est presents-

430 APPENDIX.
ment le commerce le plus ordinaire, le plus continuel et le plus
en vogue. Quelques efforts que puissent faire tous les mission-
naires pour decrier et pour l'abolir, au lieu de diminuer, U aug-
mente et se multipUe tous les jours de plus en plus ; tous les sol
dats tiennent table ouverte a touttes les femmes de leur^bn-
naissance dans leur maisou ; depuis le matin jusqu'au soir, eUes
y passent les journees entieres, les unes apres les autres, assises
a leur feu et souvent sur leur lit dans des entretiens et des actions
propre de leur commerce qui ne s'acheve ordinairement que la
nuit, la foule etant trop grande pendant la journee pour qu'ils
puissent I'achever, quoyque souvent aussy ils s'entrelaissent une
maison vide de monde pour n'en pas differer l'achevement jus
qu'a la nuit.
La quatrieme occupation des soldats est ceUe du jeu qui a
lieu dans les terns oil les traitteurs se rassemblent ; il y va quel-
quefois a un tel point que nutans pas contens d'y passer le jour,
ils y passent encore la nuit entiere, et il n'arrive meme que trop
souvent dans l'ardeur de Implication qu'ils ne se souviement pas.
ou s'ils s'en souviennent, qu'ils meprisent de garder les postes.
Mais ce qui augmente en cela leur de.sordre, c'est qu'un attache-
ment si opiniatre au jeu n'est presque jamais sans une ivrognerie
commune a tous les joueurs, et que I'ivrognerie est presque tou-
jours suivie de querelles qui s'excitent entre eux lesquelles
venant a paroitre publiquement aux yeux des Sauvages, causent
parmi eux trois grands scandales : le premier de les voir ivres, Ie
second de les voir s'entrebatre avec fureur les uns contre les
autres jusqu'a prendre des fusils en main pour s'entretuer, le
troisieme de voir que les Missionnaires n'y peuvent apporter
aucun remede.
Voila, Monseigneur, les quatre seules ocupations des garni-
sons que l'on a tenues ici pendant tant d'annees. Si ces sortes
d'ocupations peuvent s'apeler le service du Roy, j'avoue qu'eUes
luy ont actuellement et toujours rendu quelqu'un de ces quatre
services, mais je n'en ai point veu d'autres que ces quatre-ia ; et
par consequent, si on ne juge pas que ce soit la des services
necessaires au Roy, il n'y a point eu jusqu'a present de neces-
site de les tenir icy, et apres leur rapel, U n'y en aura point de
les y retabUr.
Cependant comme cette necessity prefendue des Garnisons est

APPENDIX. 431
funique pretexte que Ton prend pour y envoyer des Com
mandans, nous vous prions, Monseigneur, d'etre bien persuade
de la faussete de ce pretexte, afin que, sous ces specieuses apar-
ences du service du Roy, on ne se fasse pas une obligation d'en
envoyer, puisque les Commandans ne viennent icy que pour y
faire la traitte de concert avec leurs soldats sans se mettre en
peine de tout le reste. Ils n'ont de liaison avec les Mission
naires que par les endroits ou ils les croient utiles pour leur
temporel, et hors de la ils leur sont contraires des qu'ils veulent
s'opposer au desordre qui, ne s'accordant ny avec le service de
Dieu ny avec le service du Roy, ne laisse pas d'etre avantageux
a leur commerce, au quel il n'est rien qu'ils ne sacrifient. C'est
la l'unique cause qui a mis le dereglement dans nos Missions, et
qui les a tellement desoiees par l'ascendant que les Commandans
ont pris sur les Missionnaires en s'attirant toute I'autorite soit a
regard des Francois, soit a regard des Sauvages, que nous
n'avons pas d'autre pouvoir que celui d'y travailler inutilement
sous leur domination qui s'est elevee jusqu'a nous pour nous
faire des crimes civils et des accusations pretendues juridiques
des propres fonctions de notre etat et de notre devoir, comme l'a
toujours fait Monsieur de la Motte qui ne voulait pas mSme que
nous nous servissions du mot de desordre et qui intente en effet
procez au pere Pinet pour s'en etre servi.
.... Vous voyez, Monseigneur, que je me suis beaucoup
etendu sur les articles des Commandans et des garnisons pour vous
faire comprendre que c'est la qu'est venu tout le malheur de nos
Missions. Ce sont les Commandans, ce sont les garnisons, qui,
se joignant avec les traitteurs d'eau-de-vie les ont entierement
desoiees par I'ivrognerie et -par une impudicite presque univer
selle que Ton y a etablie par une continuelle impunite de l'une
et de I'autre, que les puissances civiles ne tolerent pas seule
ment, mais qu'elles permettent, puisque les pouvant empecher,
elles ne les empSchent pas. Je ne crains done point de vous
declarer que si Ton remet icy haut dans nos missions des Com
mandans traitteurs et des garnisons de soldats traitteurs, nous ne
doutons point que nous ne soyons contraints de les quitter, n'y
pouvant rien faire pour le salut des ames. C'ee.t a vous d'in
former Sa Majeste de l'extremite ou Ton nous reduit et de luy
demander pour nous notre deiivrance, afin que nous puissiona

432 APPENDIX.
travailler a l'etablissement de la Religion sans ces emp§chemens
qui l'ont arrete jusqu'a present.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CLERGY.
Memoire de Talon sur l'Etat present du Canada, 1667.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . L'Ecclesiastique est compose d'un Evesque, ayant
Ie tiltre de Petree, In partibus infidelium, et se servant du carac-
tere et de I'autorite de Vicaire Apostolique.
II a soubs [soas] luy neuf Prestres, et plusieurs clercs qui
vivent en communaute quand ils sont pres de lui dans son Semi
naire, et separement a la campagne quand ils y sont envoyez par
voye de mission pour desservir les cures qui ne sont pas encore
fondees. II y a pareillement les Peres de la Compagnie de
Jesus, au nombre de trente-cinq, la pluspart desquels sont em-
ployez aux Missions etrangeres : ouvrage digne de leur zele et
de leur piete s'il est exempt du meslange de l'interest dont ou
les dit susceptibles, par la traitte des pelleteries qu'on assure
qu'ils font aux 8ta8aks [Outaouaks~\, et au Cap de la Magde-
laine ; ce que je ne scay pas de science certaine.
La vie de ces Ecciesiastiques, par tout ce qui paroist au de
hors, est fort regiee, et peut servir de bon exemple et d'un bon
modele aux secuUers qui la peuvent imiter ; mais comme ceux
qui composent cette Colouie ne sont pas tous d'esgale force, ny
de vertu pareille, ou n'ont pas tous les mesmes dispositions au
bien, quelques-uns tombent aysement dans leur disgrace pour ne
pas se conformer a leur maniere de vivre, ne pas suivre tous
leurs sentimens, et ne s'abandonner pas a leur conduite qu'Us
estendent jusques sur le temporel, empietant mesme sur la police
exterieure qui regarde le seul magistrat.
On a lieu de soupconner que la pratique dans laqueUe Us
Bont, qui n'est pas bien conforme a celle des Ecciesiastiques de

APPENDIX. 433
l'Ancienne France, a pour but de partager I'autorite temporelle
qui, jusques au temps de l'arrivee des troupes du Roy en Canada,
l-esidoit principalement en leur personnes.
A ce mal qui va jusques a gehenner [gener~\ et contraindre
les consciences, et par Ik desgouter les colons les plus attachez
au pays, on peut donner pour remede l'ordre de balancer avec
adresse et moderation cette autorite par celle qui reside ez [dans
les] personnes envoyees par Sa Majeste pour le Gouvernement :
ce qui a desja ete pratique ; de permettre de renvoyer un ou
deux Ecciesiastiques de ceux qui reconnoissent moins cette auto
rite temporelle, et qui troublent le plus par leur conduite le repos
de la Colonie, et introduire quatre Ecdesiastiques entre les secu-
liers ou les reguUers, les faisant bien autoriser pour l'administra-
tion des Sacremens, sans qu'ils puissent estre inquietez : autre-
ment ils deviendroient inutiles au pays, parce que s'ils ne se
conformoient pas a la pratique de ceux qui y sont aujourd'huy
M. l'Evesque leur deffendroit d'administrer les Sacremens.
Pour estre mieux informe de cette conduite des consciences,
on peut entendre Monsieur Dubois, Aumosnier au regiment de
Carignan, qui a ouy plusieurs Confessions en secret, et a la des-
robee, et Monsieur de BretonvUliers sur ce qu'il a appris par les
Ecciesiastiques de son Seminaire establi a Mont-Real.
Lettre du Ministre a Mr. Talon, 20 Fevrier, 1668.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
... II faut que l'application d'un Gouverneur et d'un Inten
dant aide a adoucir le mal, et non a l'effet que le Gouverneur ne
se porte a aucune extremite, contre les Sieurs Eveque et les P. P.
Jesuites, quand bien meme Us auraient abuse du pouvoir que
leur habit et le respect qu'on a naturellement pour la religion
leur donne. En se contentant par des conferences particulieres
de resserrer ce pouvoir, autant que se pourra, dans les bornes
d'une legitime autorite et esperant que, quand le pays sera plus
peuple, qui est la seule et unique chose que doit convier le dit
Sr. Gouverneur et Intendant a y donner leurs soins quand ii pre
sent, I'autorite Royale qui sera la plus reconnue des peuples pre-
vaudra sur I'autre et la contiendra dans de justes limites.
. . . Je ne m'explique point avec vous sur ce sujet, parceqne
28

434 APPENDIX.
je sais qu'a part ses bonnes qualites il [M. de Courcelle'] a use
d'emportement dont il est bon qu'il te corrige. Insinuez lui
aussi honnetement les sentiments qu'U doit avoir et ce que je
viens de vous dire au sujet du Sieur de Ressan, et qu'il ne doit
jamais blamer la conduite de l'Eveque de Petree ni des Jesuites
en public, etant assez d'en user avec eux avec grande circonspec-
tion, se contentant seulement lorsqu'Us entreprendront trop de
leur faire connaitre et d'en envoyer des memoires, afin que je
confere avec leurs Superieurs de ces entreprises et en eas qu'ih
en fassent qu'on puisse les interdire.
Instruction pour M. de Bouteroue, 1668.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
II faut empescher autant qu'il se pourra la trop grande quan
tite des prestres, religieux, et reUgieuses . . . s'entremettre
quelquefois et dans les occasions pour les porter a adoucir cette
trop grande severite, estant tres-important que lesdits evesque et
Jesuites ne s'apercoivent jamais qu'U veuUle blasmer leur con
duite. Signe Colbert.
For the instructions on this subject, more precise and em
phatic than the above, given by the king to Talon in 1665, see
N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 24.
Lettre de Colbert a Duchesneau, 15 Atbil, 1676.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
Eviter les contestations . . . sans toutefois prejudicier aux
precautions qui sont a prendre et aux mesures a garder pour
empescher que la puissance ecciesiastique n'entreprenne rien
la temporelle, a quoy les ecciesiastiques sont assez portes.

BUI

Lettre du Ministre a Duchesneau, le 28 Avril, 1677
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . Je vous dirai premierement que Sa Majeste est bien
persuadee de la piete de tous les Ecciesiastiques et de leurs bonnes

APPENDIX. 43 ] fj
intentions pour le succez du sujet de leurs missions, mais Sa
Majeste veut que vous preniez garde qu'ils n'entrepreunent rien
tant sur son authorite Royalle que sur la justice et police du
pays et que vous les resserriez predsement dans les bornes de
l'authorite que les Ecciesiastiques ont dans le Royaume, sans
souffrir qu'ils les passent en quelque sorte et maniere que ce
soit, et cette maxime generalle vous doit servir pour toutes les
difficultez de cette nature qui pourront survenir ; mais pour
parvenir a ce point il seroit necessaire que vous-mesme vous tra-
vailliassiez a vous rendre habil sur ces matieres en lisant les
autheurs qui en ont traitte, observer tout ce qui se passe et a en
voyer tous les ans des memoires sur les difficultez que vous aurez
et auxquelles vous n'aurez pas pu remedier; considerez cette
matiere comme tres importante et a laqueUe vous ne scauriez
donner trop d'application.
Lettre du Ministre a Duchesneau, le premier Mat, 1677
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . Je suis encore oblige de vous dire que Ton voit elaire-
ment qu'encore que le dit Sieur Evesque soit un homme de bien
et qu'il fasse fort bien son devoir, U ne laisse pas d'affecter une
domination qui passe de beaucoup au dela des bornes que les
Evesques ont dans tout le monde chrestien et particulierement
dans Ie Royaume et ainsy vous devez vous appliquer a bien con
noistre et ii scavoir le plus parfaitement que vous pourrez l'es-
tendue du pouvoir des Evesques et les remedes que l'authorite
Royalle a apporte pour en empescher l'abus et leur trop grande
domination, afin que vous puissiez de concert avec Monsieur le
Comte de Frontenac dans les occasions importantes y apporter les
mesmes remedes, en quoy vous devez toujours agir avec beaucoup
de moderation et de retenue. . . . Comme je vois que Monsieur
1' Evesque de Quebec, ainsi que je viens de vous dire affecte une
authorite un peu trop independante de l'authorite Royalle et quo
par cette raison il seroit peut-estre bon qu'il n'eust pas de seance
dans le conseU, vous devez bien examiner toutes les occasions
et tous les moyens que l'on pourrait pratiquer, pour luy donner
k luy-mesme I'envie de n'y plus venir ; mais vous devez en cela

436 APPENDIX.
vous conduire avec beaucoup de retenue, et bien prendre garde
que qui ce soit ne descouvre ce que je vous escris sur ce point.

Memoire du Roi aux Sieurs de Frontenac et de Champion r, '
Annee 1692.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . Sa Majeste veut aussy qu'Us [Frontenac et Champigny]
assistent de leur authorite les Jesuites et les Recolets et tous
autres Ecciesiastiques sans neantmoins souffrir qu'ils portent
I'autorite ecciesiastique plus loin qu'eUe ne doit s'estendre. EUe
ne veut pas qu'ils se dispensent de faire doucement et avec toute
la discretion possible des remonstrances au dit Sieur Evesque
dans ies occasions oil ils reconnoistront que les Ecciesiastiques
agissent par un zele immodere ou par d'autres passions, afin de
l'engager a y remedier et a faire tout ce qui depend avec lui
pour procurer le repos des consciences. Les dits Sieurs de Fron
tenac et de Champigny doivent se tenir en cela dans les voyes
de la seule excitation et informer sa Majeste de tout ce qui se
passera a cet egard.
Lettre de Monsieur de la Mothe Cadillao.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine. 28 Septembre, 1694
. . . .La chose ne se passa pas ainsi qu'il Fa racoute dans cet
article et le suivant ; ceux qui savent l'histoire de ce temps la en
par-lent autrement et voicy le fait : Monsieur de Laval fit
diverses tentatives a peu pres comme celles q'on void aujourd'huy
dont le but a toujours ete deprevaloir sur I'autorite dugouverne-
ment ; Monsieur de Tracy pour lors Vice-roy de ce pays, voyait
tranquillement Ie desir de cette elevation, et comme c'estoit un
homme devot, il ne jugea pas a propos de preter le colet a cette
cohorte Ecciesiastique, dont la puissance etoit redoutable.
Monsieur Talon dans cette conjoncture fit paroitre une plus
forte resolution et risqua pour l'iuterest du Roy de perdre son
credit et sa fortune ; il vid qu'il falloit etouffer cet orage dans son
berceau et enfin par ses remontrances et par ses soins, U fit

APPENDIX. 437
donner un arifet favorable et tel qu'il se l'etoit propos-5. Mon
sieur de Laval voyant alors qu'on I'avoit rengaine et qu'on
I'avoit coupe a demi-vent, il creut suivant la politique de l'Eglise
qu'il falloit attendre un temps plus favorable ; ayant done mis
armes bas, on tacha de rajuster les affaires par l'entremise meme
de Monsieur de Tracy qui obtint de Monsieur Talon au jour de
sa reconciliation que 1'arrSt en question seroit raye et batonne,
non pas pour le desaprouver ou pour l'avoir trouve contraire a
toute bonne justice, comme le veut persuader le procureur
general ; mais afin que Monsieur de Laval ne fut pas reprochable
de ses ecarts et de ses injustes pretentions; ce fut une foiblesse a
Monsieur Talon de s'etre laisse vaincre par de telles soumis-
sions. .... II faut etre ici pour voir les menees qui se font tous les
jours pour renverser le plan et les projets d'un Gouverneur. II
faut une tete aussi ferme et aussi plombee que celle de Monsieur
le Comte pour se soutenir contres les ambusches que partout od
lui dresse ; s'il veut la paix cela suffit pour qu'on s'y oppose et
qu'on crie que tout est perdu ; s'il veut faire la guerre, on lui ex
pose la ruine de la coUonie. II n'auroit pas tant d'affaires sur
les bras, s'U n'avoit pas aboli un Hiericho qui etait une maison
que Messieurs du Seminaire de Montreal avoient fait Mtir pour
renfermer, disoient-Us, les filles de mauvaise vie. S'il avoit voulu
leur permettre de prendre des soldats et leur donner des officiers
pour aller dans les maisons arracher des femmes a minuit et cou-
chees avec leurs maris, pour avoir ete au bal ou en masque et les
faire fesser jusques au sang dans ce Hiericho ; s'il n'avait rien dit
encore contre des Cures qui faisoient la ronde avec des soldats
et qui obligeoient en este les filles et les femmes a se renfermer
a neuf heures chez elles, s'il avoit voulu deffendre de porter de
la dentelle, s'il n'avoit rien dit sur ce qu'on refusoit la communion
a les femmes de qualite pour avoir une fontange, s'il ne s'oppo-
soit point encore aux excommunications qu'on jette a tort et a
travers, aux scandales qui s'en suivent, s'il ne faisoit les officiers
que par la voye des communautes, s'il vouloit deffendre le vin et
l'eau de vie aux sauvages, s'il ne disoit mot sur le sujet des cures
fixes et droits de patronage, si Monsieur Ie Comte estoit de ces
avis-la, ce seroit assurement un homme sans pareU et il seroit
bientot sur la liste des plus grands saints, car on les canonise
dans ce pais a bon marche.

438 APPENDIX.

CANADIAN CURES. EDUCATION. DISCIPLINE.
Lettre du Marquis de Denonville au Ministre.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
A Quebec 15 Novembre, 1G85
.... Vous me permettrez, Monseigneur, de vous demandei
la grace de faire quelques reflections sur les moyens d'occuper la
jeunesse du pays, dans son bas age, et dans I'sige le plus avance,
que je vous rcnde compte de mes pensees la dessus, puisque c'est
une des choses la plus essentielle do la colonic
Pour y parvenir, Monseigneur, le premier moyen a mon gre,
est de multiplier le nombre des Cures, et de les rendre plus fixes
et residentaires, Mr. notre Eveque en est si convaincu par la
connaissance qu'il a prise de son diocese dans ses visites, et dans
le voyage que nous avons fait ensemble, qu'il n'a point de plus
grand empressement que de pouvoir contribucr a cet etablisse-
ment qui serait un moyen sur, pour faire des ecoles, auxquelles
les cures s'occuperaient et ainsi accoutumeraient les enfans de
bonne heure a s'assugetir et a s'occuper : Mais, Monseigneur,
pour faire cet etablissement utUement, il faudrait multiplier le
nombre des cures jusques au nombre de cinquante et un. Le
memoire que je vous en envoye, vous fera assez bien voir, que si
on les etend davantage et qu'U faille que les cures passent et re-
passent la riviere, comme ils font a present pour faire leurs fonc-
tions, ils employent avec bien du travaU tout le temps qu'ils
pourraient donner a instruire la jeunesse, si leurs cures etaient
moins etendues. Outre cela, Monseigneur, a l'entiee et a la
sortie de l'hiver, U y a pres de deux mois que l'on ne saurait
passer la riviere, qui en bien des endroits a une lieue de largeur,
et beaucoup plus en d'autres. Si bien que dans ces temps il
faut que les malades demeurent sans aucun secours spirituel.
C'est une pitie, Monseigneur, que de voir l'ignorance dans
laqueUe les peuples eloignes du sejour des Cures vivent en ce
pays, et les peines que les missionnaires et Cures se donnent
pour y remedier en parcourant leurs cures, sur le pied qu'elles
sont selon le memoire que je vous en envoye. Vous y verrez,

APPENDIX. 439
Monseigneur, le chemin qv.'il leur faut faire pour visiter leur
paroisses dans les rigueurs de l'hiver.
Puisque j'ai entame l'affaire des Cures vous me permettrez
d'achever de vous dire que pour la subsistance d'un cure selon les
connaissances que j'ai pu prendre du pays, Jepuis que j'y suis,
selon le prix des denrees, on ne saurait donner moins a. un cure
pour sa subsistance que quatre cents livres, monoye de France,
attendu qu'U ne faut pas compter sur aucun revenant bon du
dedans de l'Eglise. II est bien vrai qu'il y a quelques cures qu
sont mieux peuplees dont les dismes sont assez raisonables pour
pouvoir suffir a leur entretien, mais il y en a tres peu sur ce pied
Ik. J'ai trouve ici dans le Seminaire de l'Eveche, le commence
ment de deux etablissements qui seraient admirables pour la
Colonie, si on les pouvait augmenter, ce sont, Monseigneur, deux
maisons oil l'on retire des enfans pour les instruire, dans l'une on
y met ceux auxquels on trouve de la disposition pour les lettres,
auxquelles on s'attache de les former pour l'Eglise, qui dans ia
suite peuvent rendre plus de service que les pretres Francais
etants plus faits que les autres aux fatigues et aux manieres du
pays. Dans I'autre maison on y met ceux qui ne sont propres que
pour etre artisans, et a ceux la on apprends des metiers. Je
croirais que ce serait la un moyen admirable pour commencer un
etablissement de manufactures, qui sont absolument necessaires
pour le secours de ce pays.
Mr. notre Eveque est charme de ces etablissements, et vou-
drait bien etre eu etat de les soutenir et augmenter. Mais
comme tout cela ne se peut faire sans depense tant pour l'aug-
mcntation du nombre des Cures que pour cette espece de manu
facture, et qu'il conviendraitd'en faire de grandes, pour y reussir,
je ne vois qu'un moyen assure pour cela, qui serait que le Roy
voulut bien donner une grosse abbaye a Mr. notre Eveque sans
Fattacher a l'Eveche, comme il n'a l'esprit et le coeur occupes que
des soins de faire du bien aux pauvres et augmenter la foi et le
salut des ames, il est certain que Sa Majeste, aurait le plaisir de
voir employer lc revenu de ce benefice en bonnes et saintes
oeuvres, qui feraient merveille pour le bien de la colonie son sou-
tien et son augmentation.

440 APPENDIX.
J'ai trouve a VUlemarie en l'isle de Montreal, un etabHsse-
ment de sceurs de la congregation, sous la conduite de la sosui
Bourgeois, qui fait de grands biens a toute la colonie, elles
furent brulees Fan passe oil elles perdirent tout ; il seroit fort
necessaire qu'elles se retablissent, elles n'ont pas le premier sol,
j'y ai trouve un autre etabUssementde filles de la providence qui
travaUlent ensemble, elles pourront commencer quelque nianfac-
ture de ce cote la, si vous avez la bonte de continuer la gratifi
cation de mU livres pour les laines, et mU Uvres pour apprendre
a tricoter. Ilya encore un troisieme etabUssement pour faire
des maitres d'ecoles.
11 faut revenir s'il vous plait, Monseigneur, a voir ce qui se
peut faire pour dissipUner les grands garcons, et pour donner de
l'occupation aux enfans des gentUshommes et autres soi-disans et
vivans comme tels.
Avant tout, Monseigneur, vous me permettrez de vous dire
que la noblesse de ce pays nouveau, est tout ce qu'il y a de plus
gueux et que d'en augmenter le nombre est augmenter le nombre
des faineants. Un pays neuf demande des gens laborieux et in-
dustrieux, et qui mettent la main a la hache et a la pioche. Les
enfans de nos conseillers ne sont pas plus laborieux, et n'ont de
ressource que les bois, ou ils font quelque traite, et la plupart
font tous les desordres dont j'ai eu l'honneur de vous entretenir,
je ne m'oublierai en rien de ce qu'U y aurait a faire pour les
engager a entrer dans le commerce, mais comme nos nobles et
conseillers sont tous fort pauvres et accables de debtes, ils ne
sauraient trouver de credit pour un ecu.
Le seul moyen qui me parait le plus assure pour discipliner
cette jeunesse serait que le Roy voulut bien entretenir en ce
pays, quelques compagnies, dont on donnerait le commandement
a gens d'authorite et de bonnes mosurs et appUques, comme a
Mr. le Chevalier de CaUliere, a Mr. de Varenes, Gouverneur
des trois Rivieres, ou au Sr. Prevot, Major de Quebec, avec des
Lieutenants du pays que Fon choisirait, lesquels ne devraient
point avoir peine d'obeir, a ceux auxquels natureUement ils
doivent obeir.

INDEX.

Absolutism in Canada, 394, 395.
Acadia, Talon attempts to open com
munication with, 213.
Agariata, a Mohawk chief, execution
'of, 192.
Agriculture, unprosperous state of,
296, 297.
Aillebout, governor of Quebec, seizes
Iroquois hostages, 34 ; " insanely
pious," 107.
Aillebout, Madame, 50 ; singular meth
od of self-discipline, 356.
Albanel, a Jesuit, chaplain at Fort
Chambly, 190; penetrated to Hud
son's Bay, 213.
Allet, a Sulpitian priest, his memoir,
40 note.
Andaraque', a Mohawk fort, captured
by the French, 196.
Annahotaha, a Huron chief, 74.
Aontarisati, a Mohawk chief, execu
tion of, 5.
Argenson, Vicomte d', appointed gov
ernor of Canada, 65 ; views on relig
ion, 65, 66 ; his character, 107 ; quar
rels with Laval, 107-114 ; assumes
fovernorship, 115 ; his troubles, 116-
20 ; is recalled, 120.
Attorney-General, the, duties of, 268.
Auteuil, Iiuette d', member of Laval's
council, 136.
Avaugour, Dubois de, Baron, governor
of Canada, 120 ; his policy, 121 ; is
recalled, 129 ; memorial to Colbert,
129; his death, 130.
B.
Bagot, a Jesuit, tutor of Laval, 88;
founder of rehgious fraternity, 90.
Ball, the first, in Canada, 347.
Bardy, Father, his sermon against
Courcelle and Talon, 333.
Baston, a merchant of Kochelle, 372.

Beauport, seigniory of Dr. Giffard,
238.
Beaupre^ Laval's seigniory, 237; most
orderly settlement, 374.
Beaver-skins, trade in, 5 note, 303-
m.
B6chefer Jesuit envoy to Mohawks,
191.
Beggars, multitude of, in Canada, 379 ;
measures to suppress mendicity, 380
Begon, intendant, report of, 298.
Belotre, a peace-maker, 372.
Bernieres, founder of The Hermitage,
89.
Bernon, a Huguenot merchant, case
of, 291, 292.
Berthelot, a prosperous settler, 262
note.
Bienville, a gentilhomme rover, 261.
Bochart, Du Plessis, death of, 2.
Bochart, Marie, married at twelve
years, 227 note.
Boisdon, Jean, innkeeper, provisions of
his license, 382.
Boston, the English of, take possession
of Acadian'fisheries, 294, 295 note.
Boucher, Magdeleine, her dowry, 381,
382.
Boucher, Pierre, delegate from Canada
to France, 131 ; his book, 131 note,
221 note.
Bougainville cited, 365 ; opinion of tht
habitant, 389.
Boulte, farmer of Dr. Giffard, 246.
Bourdon, Jean, attorney-general of
Canada, 136; his speculations, 138;
banished by Mezy, 155.
Bourdon,Madame,her weighty charges,
223.
Bourgeoys, Marguerite, founder of
school at Montreal, returns to Can
ada, 41, 42 ; keeps school in a stable,
43 ; superintends marriages, 224.
Brandy, Indian fondness for, 121, 122 ;
its use and effects, 323 ; essential to
fur trade, 324 ; penalties for selling,
325 and note ; questii us of sale re-

442

INDEX

ferred to Doctors of Sorbonne and
chief people of Canada, 326.
Braun, Father, sermon ou Church and
State, 166.
Brebeuf, Father, miraculous efficacy
of his hones, 180.
Brdda, treaty of, secured peace between
luiglish and French colonies, 199.
Brdsoles, a nun of sisterhood of St.
Joseph, 46 ; piety and culinary skill,
51.
Biigsar., Claude de, tortured to death
by Iroquois, 57, 58.
Bnhion, Madame de, "the unknown
benefactress," 45.
Busy season, the 386.
c.
Canada, condition of, in 1660-1661, 63,
64; domestic quarrels in, 83, 84; iu
state of transition, 106, 107 ; govern
ment vested in council of nine, 135 ;
dawn of a better day, 179.
Canadians, pride and sloth, chief faults
of, 257, 258 ; physical characteristics
of, 378 ; conflicting estimates of, 388.
Uarneu, a Jesuit [iriest, cited. 315, 310-
322 ; letter of, touching missions.
427-432.
Carignan-Salieres, first regiment of
regular troops sent to America by
French government, 181 ; its history,
181, 182 and note; its members dis
charged and made colonists, 218.
Carion, a lieutenant, assaults a brother
officer, 37 I, 372.
Casgrain, Abbd, cited, 294 note.
Catalogne, report of, on condition of
Canada, 254 note; report of, 297;
memoire of, 424-427.
Catholics in France, parties among,
Censitaire, tenant of land en censive,
249 ; rights of, 250-252.
Censive, en, a kind of tenure, 249.
Chalons, Sieur de, Eircrin's partner,
293 ; joint memoire of, 423.
Chan-pigny, intendant, letter of, 257;
referred to. 376.
Champlain,his strong missionary spirit,
Character, Canadian, formation of,
394.
Charlevoix, Father, statement of, 123 ;
reference to mines, 210 note ; opinions
of Canadian society, 392, 393.
Charny, son and successor of Lauson,
32.
Charron, alderman and syndic of Qnr!-
wc, 153.

Chasy, nephew of Gen. Tracy, killed
bv Indians, 191.
Chateau St. Louis, 419-421.
Chatel, a nun of Sisterhood of St.
Joseph, 47.
Chatelain, Father, his prving dispo
sition, 350, 351.
Chaumonot, a Jesuit, envoy to Onon
dagas, 16, 17; letter of, 81, 82 note.
Chaumont, Chevalier de, member of
Tracy's staff, 178; afflicted with a
blister, 194.
Chesnaye, Charles Aubert de la, letter
of, 325 note, 326 note.
Children, bounties on, 227 ; gratifying
results of this policy, 228 ; Baudot's
opinion of, 376 note.
Citiire, La, a forfeited grant, 249 note.
Closse, Major, Idlled by Iroquois, 58.
Colbert, Jean Baptiste, letter to Terron.
142, 143; minister of Louis XIV.,
his character and aims, 172-196;
authorities, 173 note ; instructions
to Talon, 209; scolds intendants,
277 ; instructions as to Jesuits, 334,
335; letter to Talon, 416, 417; to
same, 433; letters to Duchesneau,
434, 435.
Colombiere, vicar-general, eulogy on
Laval, 165.
Colonization, militarv, peculiarities of,
231, 232.
Communication with France, Tarity of,
288.
Company of the West, its creation and
purpose, 174 ; how it oppressed
Canada, 175.
Confessional, the, use of ,by Jesuits,351.
Conversion of Iroquois, political signif
icance of, 317.
Cotes, formation of, 234.
Council, sovereign, reorganization of,
154; constitution and powers of,
267, 268 ; ill session, 271, 272.
Councillors, character and tenure of,
274.
Courcelle. See Be'my.
Coureurs de bois, 310-313 ; punishment
of, 310, 311 ; their return, picture of,
312, 313; uses and life, 313-315;
missionaries' complaints of, 321.
Coutume de Par's, 252.
Crolo, a nun of S^terhood of St. Joseph,
47.
Curds, fixation of, 161 ; this poliev fa
vored by the king, 338 ; Denonville'!
views on, 438-440. D.
Dablon, a Jesuit, envoy to Onondaga,
16 ; preaches against tlieatres, 347.

INDEX.

443

Damours, Matthien, member of Laval's
council, 136 ; arrest of his sons, 259.
Daulac, Adam, heroic enterprise of,
73-82; death of, 81; saved Canada
from invasion, S2 note.
Dauversiere, Le Koycr de la, founder
of Sisterhood of St. Joseph, 42;
sketch of, 45 ; miracle wrought in
his behalf, 46, 47.
Demers, his encounter with La Fred
iere, 369, 370.
Demons, how Ihcy wrought against
the Jesuits, 31.
Denonville, governor of Canada, letter
of, 258; memoire, 2D4, 311, 312;
priestly counsel as to his mode of life,
344-346 ; account of disorders in col-
onv, 375, 376 ; his views on rearing
children, 377; letter of, on cures,
438-140.
Discovery of the Great West, reference
to, 213.
Disorder in the colony, causes of, 374,
375.
Dollier de Casson,a priest,extracts from
writings of, 40 note, 49 note, 55, 58,
60, 75, 187, 212, 227, 229 ; exploits of,
194, 195 ; sent to Fort Anne, his ad
ventures en route, 201 ; his welcome,
202; his work, 203, 204 note; a
peacemaker, 372; lus story of an
outlaw, 373.
Drunkenness, most destructive vice in
the colony, 378.
Du Bois, Jean Baptiste, a French
officer, deputed to take possession of
Mohawk country, 198.
Duchesneau, intendant, letter of, 257 ;
blamed for non-increase of popula
tion, 277; his plan tn encourage
fisheries, 295 ; cite'!, <S10, 311, 377.
Du Lhut, a gent'Uliomme rover, 261 ;
his scheme of organizing coureurs de
bois, 310.
Dumesnil, agent of Company of Now
France, 132 ; raises a storm at Quebec,
132, 133 ; attempts on his life, 134 ;
error of, 137 note ; his papers seized,
139, 140; flees to France, 141, 142;
his principal memorial, 144 note ; me
moire concerning affairs in Canada,
411-413.
Dumont, an officer sent from France
to report on condition of Canada,
131.
Dupuy, Paul, punished for expressing
un. opinion, 281.
Dupuy, Paul, officer of Carignan, 369.
Du Puys, Zacharv, 20; his coolness,
35 ; escape of, 38, 39.
Durantaye, La, 202, 320 note.

E.
Earthquake, the, 125-128.
Earth-slides, 127 and note.
Education, controlled by ecclesiastics,
359 ; branches of learning taught,
300.
F.els, Jesuit fisheries of, 330 note.
Elections, public, proposed by De
Mezy, 149.
Emigrants, shipment of, begun, 215;
process of sending, 210 ; character
of, 217 and note.
Emigration, growth of Canada by, 218
note ; cessation of, 230.
English colonies, comparison of, with
Canada, causes of their greater pros
perity, 390.
Estrades, Sfarcchal d', viceroy foi
America, 170.

F.
Faillon, Abbe, author's indebtedness
to, 61, 62 note.
Fairs, grand annual, 303, 304.
Ferland, Abb6, his defence of Laval,
113, 114 ; cited, 247 note.
Ferte, Juchereau de la, member of
Laval's council, 130.
Feudalism, transplanting of, 243 ;
essential feature of, unknown in
Canada, 245 , instinctive feature of,
in Canada, 248.
Finances, colonial, condition of, 299-
301.
Fires, how thev were managed in Que
bec, 384.
Flemish Bastard, the, a half-breed
leader of Mohawks, 11, 191, 192.
Fontainebleau, court of Louis XIV. at,
169.
Fort William Henry, site of, 193.
France, Canadians not permitted to re
turn to, without leave, 281.
Franchetot, Mathurin, capture of, 3.
Fremin, a Jesuit priest, 21.
French system of colonization, one ad
vantage of, 398.
Frenchmen, educated, list of, 366 note
Frontenac, Count, complains of scarcity
of peasant girls, 220 ; views on the
brandy question, 328 ; cited, 348.
Fur trade, the, 303 ; its irregularities,
305 ; licenses, 305 ; shipment to
France, 306 ; accumulation of furs,
307 ; a monopoly, 307, 308 ; anothei
glut, 309 ; authorities on, 309 note ,
great evil resulting from, 309. 310

444

INDEX.

G.
Gahonry, Louis, punished for eating
meat in Lent, 283.
Garacontie', an Indian chief, friendly
to Jesuits, 184.
Gardes de la marine, appointments to,
259.
Garneau, cited, 217 note.
Garreau, a Jesuit, murder of, 31.
Ga-dais-Dupont, royal commissioner,
1.6; his instructions, 136 note;
memorial to Colbert in the Dumesnil
case, 409^11.
Gentilshommes, 255, 256 ; poverty and
idleness of, 257 ; painful position of,
260; their adventurous life, 261;
their discoveries, 261.
Giffard, a prominent citizen of Quebec,
137 note.
Girls, education of, 365.
Gode', Nicolas, 55.
Gossip, fondness of country women
for, 387.
Government of Canada, nature of,
264, 288.
Governors of Canada, rank and duties
of, 265, 266.
Guimont, Louis, a pious cripple, 363.
Guion, Jean, how he rendered homage
to his seignior, 246, 247.

H.
Habitants, tenure of, 245, 246.
Harlay, Archbishop of Rouen, Colbert's
letter to, 222.
Hazeur, builds a saw-mill, 293.
Heresy driven out of Canada, 354 ; the
search for it, 354, 355.
Hermitage, the, Nicole's account of, 89-
93 ; object of founders, 93 note ; his
tory and purpose of, 403-407.
Herlel, Francois, letters of, 67, 68 ; his
career, 68. '
History, Canadian, English conquest
the grand crisis of, 400, 401.
Hocquart, intendant, his estimate of
Canadians, 339.
Holy Family, colony in honor of, 43.
Holy Family, Congregation of, a source
of information for the priests, 352.
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph, soldiers of, 60.
Holy Virgin, proprietor of Montreal,
61 and note; miraculous interposi
tion of, 70, 71.
Homage of vassal to seignior, how ren
dered, 246, 247.

Huguenots, coiversion of, 180-182
restrictions on merchants, 291.
Hunt, Prof. Sterry, on earth-slides,
127 note. ,

Iberville, Le Moyne d', 261.
Ignorance of Canadians, 365, 366.
Indian converts sent against New Eng
land, 318.
Indian women, reproductive qualities
of, 228 note.
Indians, education of, 163 ; as an ele
ment of population, 228 note.
Inns, peculiar regulations touching,
382, 383.
Intendant, the royal, rank and duties
of, 264-266 ; his secret reports, 266,
274 ; nominally ruling power in col
ony, 275; his troubles, 275, 276;
ordinances of, 277.
Irreverence to God, punishment of,
282.
Isle aux Oies, scene of attack by Mo
hawks, 15. J.
Jansenists, the doctrines of , 88 ; a raid
on, 91-93.
Jesuits, the, programme of, 96 ; prin
ciples of, 166; desired by Indians,
205 ; their self-devotion. 318 ; influ
ence over Indians, 319; their con
nection with trade, 328-330 note;
watched by order of the king, 332;
long the only confessors in the col-
onys 352.
"Jesuits in North America," referred
to, 9.
Joliet, Louis, established fishing-sta
tion, 293.
Jouaneaux, his misfortunes and his
gratitude, 52, 53.
Juchereau, Mother, extracts from writ
ings of, 179, 212, 381.
Judge, office of, in Canada, 270, 271.
Jumeau, a nun, humility of, 52.
Jurisdiction, the, of several tribunals
268, 269 ; of intendant, 271.
Justice, administration of, 271.

K.
Kabn, a Swedish botanist, his sketch
of Canadian traits and man aers, 389-
392.
Knighthood, a Canadian order of, 375

INDEX.

44b

ut Barre, cited, 353 note ; complains
of lawlessness, 373, 374, 377.
1a Durantaye, a French officer, 261.
Lalitau, his book on Iroquois cited, 30,
31, note.
La Fontaine, Sir L. H., cited, 247
note.
La Frediere, Major, his licentiousness
and tyranny, 369, 370.
La Hontan, sketch of mothers of Can
ada, 220, 221 ; cited, 270, 284, 291,
348 ; estimate of Canadians, 383.
La Jeune, Father, invited to choose a
bishop for Canada, 87.
Lalemant, Father Jerome, reference to,
113, 120, 122 ; extracts from writings
of, 124, 125, 152, 154; cited, 322, 328
note.
Lamoignon, president of parliament,
120.
La Motte-Cadillac, a gentilhomme rover,
201; cited, 334 note, 349, 350; let
ter of, 436, 437.
La Mo utile, nephew of Annahotaha, 79.
Langlois, Noel, a carpenter, becomes
gentleman,. 256.
LaPotherie cited, 387.
La Salle, 261; cited, 329,351.
La Tesserie appointed member of
council' by Md.zy, 154.
La Tour, Abbe, errors of, 155 note;
testimony as to quarrel of Laval and
Mfoy, 158 note; cited, 217 note,
298 ; on fashions, 381.
Lauson, governor of Canada, decides
to establish a French colony at
Onondaga, 20 ; his inefficiency, 23 ;
his manner of living, 381.
Laval-Montmorency, Francois Xavier
de, Abbd de Monrigny,' sketch of,
87, 88 ; his training, 94, 95 ; hostile to
Sulpitians, 97; appointed grand
vicar apostolic, 97 ; his position and
character, 103, 106 ; returns to France,
135 ; effects changes in government
of Canada, 135 ; returns to Canada
with enlarged powers, 136 ; his policy,
137; sources of his strength, 155;
letter to cardinals, 159; first bishop
of Quebec, 160 ; founds a seminary,
160 ; fixation of cures, 161 ; bow he
raised funds, 162, 163 ; his character
and work, 164-108 ; resigns, and is
detained in France, 338 ; correspond
ence with Argenson, 407 ; with
Mezy, 414.
Lavigne, exploit of, 59.
Le Ber, merchant of Montreal, 52;
made a gentlemen for 6000 livres,
256.

Le Ber, Jeanne, story of, 356-359;
saves the country from English inva
sion, 359.
Le Clerc cited, 217.
Le Maitre, a priest, 41; his murder
and his miraculous handkerchief,
55, 56.
Le Mercier, Father, extracts from letter
of, 5 ; cited, 11, 21 ; valuable fact
about rattlesnakes, 26 ; cited, 27,
29.
Le Moyne, Charles, 73; return from
captivity, 184; sketch of, 261-263
and note.
Le Moyne, Father Simon, envoy to
Onondaga, 11-14; incites Iroquois
to make war on Eries, 13, 14 ; sent
oil mission to Mohawks, 15.
Leroles, cousin of Marquis do Tracy,
captured by Indians, 191.
Lesdiguieres, Duchesse de, Charle
voix's letter to, 392.
Lods et ventes, mutation fines, 250.
Lormeau, an ensign, assaidted by
Carion, 371, 372.
Louis, Father, prior of Jacobin convent
at Caen, 146.
Louis XIV., King of France, his acces
sion, 169 ; his position and character,
170-172 ; his interest iu Cauada, 218 ;
faults of his rule, 284 ; how lie gov
erned, 285, 286 ; not a prohibitionist,
327 ; his distrust of Laval, 334 ; his
respect for ecclesiastical powers, 331 ;
his liberality to Canadian church, 336,
337; effects of his intervention in
government of Canada, 368, 309;
memoire of, to MM. Frontenac and
Champigny, 436.
Louvigni, Bernieres de, founder of
Hermitage, 88; his belief, 90.
Luciere, La Motte de la, commandant at
Fort St. Anne, 202.

M.
MaciS, a nun of sisterhood of St. Joseph,
4G.
Madrv, alderman of Quebec, 153.
Maillet, treusurer of Sisterhood of St.
Joseph, 42.
Maintenon, Madame de, how she ruled
the king, 2S0, 287. .
Maisonneuve, Paul Chomedey de, gov
ernor of Montreal, 44, 50; his procla
mation, 60, 01 ; removed by Mezy,
147.
Manners of mission period, 381;
Kalm's account of, 389-392.
Manufactures, improvemert of, 298.
Marie de l'lncarnation. le'.ters of, lit

446

INDEX.

note, 181, 182, 183, 194, 197, 200, 217
note, 219, 222, 242.
Marvels, visions, and voices, 124, 125.
Mazarin, vacillation of, 84, 85.
Mazd, Peronne de, son of Dumesnil,
133, 134 ; appointed member of coun
cil bv Mc/.v, 154.
Meetings, public, restricted, 280; of
merchants forbidden, 301.
Meutal improvement of Canadians, 365.
Mesnu, l'cuvret de, secretary of
Laval's council, 136.
Meules, his memoire cited, 381 note.
MeV.y, Sieur dc, appointed governor of
Canada at Laval's request, 135;
arrival of, 136 ; sketch of, 145 ; his
piety and humility, 147 ; change in
ids " character, 148 ; breach with
Laval, 149 ; threatened with wrath
of the church, 150; appeals to the
Jesuits, 150-102; removes attorney-
general, 152 ; is recalled, 155 ; his
death, 156, 157 ; his will, 157 ; his
charges against Laval, 158 note ;
correspondence with Laval, 413, 414 ;
letter to Jesuits, 415, 416.
Michillimackinac, centre of beaver
trade, 319.
Mills on the frontier, 235.
Mission-days, the end of, 331.
Missions, 316 ; hardships and horrors
of, 317, 343 ; Father Carheil's report
on, 319, 320 ; effect of, on people and
country, 368.
Mituvemeg, an Algonquin chief. 75.
Mohawks, persistent hostility of, 183 ;
punishment of, 195, 196.
Montmagny, governor of Canada, 107.
Montreal, state of an arrival of Mon
trealists, 49, 50 ; Argenson's opinion
of, 117, 118; remnant of founders
of, 84 ; transferred to Sulpitians, 84 ;
description of, 240, 241.
Montrealists', disingenuousness of, 49
and note ; sufferings of, 51.
Morals of families watched by priests,
348; La Ilontan's testimony, 349;
military influence on, 369.
Morel, Father, his parochial charge, 341.
Morin, a nun of Sisterhood of St.
Joseph, her account of Indian at
tack, 53, 54 ; letter of, 369.
Municipal regulations in Quebec, 383.
N.
New England, colonists of, their char
acter, 397.
New France, Company of, itsreanima-
tion, 132 ; forced to give up its claims
on Canada, 135.

Nicolls, English governor of New
York, proposes conquest of Cana
da, 199.
Nobility, French, peculiarities of, 254.
Noblesse, a Canadian, king attempts
to form, 227 ; all Canada infatuated
with, 256.
Noel, Jean, renders homage to British
governor 247.
Noel, Philippe, father of Jean Noel
247.
Nuns, devotion of, 356.

0.
Officers, French, missionaries' com
plaints of, 320-
Oneidas, persistent hostility of, 183.
Ornamental arts, 298.
Oudiette, a monopolist in transport of
beaver-skins, 306.

Perrot, Nicolas, author of Maurs des
Sauvages, 102 note.
Pijart, letter of, against Queylus, 86, 87.
Pilots, lack of, 296.
Poncet, a Jesuit, capture of, 3 ; narra
tive of adventures, 3-7; release, 8.
Population, why it did not increase,
229 and note ; statistics of, 237 note.
Poverty of colony, causes of it, 380.
Pretextara, terrible punishment of, 346.
Priests, rigid piety of, 344.

Q-
Quebec, alarm at, 70; description of,
238, 239.
Queylus,SuIpitian candidate for bishop,
84 ; appointed vicar-general of Can
ada, 85 ; experience at Quebec, 85
note ; his policy, 86 ; Viger's notice
of, 87 note ; opposes Laval, 97 ; sent
back to Fiance, 98 ; returns to Que
bec; the quarrel renewed, and
Queylus again shipped to France; a
reconciliation effected, and returns
to Canada as a missionary, 99-102.

It.
Kagueneau, a Jesuit priest, spared lu
a massacre, 33 ; referred to, 113 ;
tells a strange story of a vision, 123
note ; his inquisitiveness, 350.

INDEX.

447

Raisin, a nun of Sisterhood of St
Joseph, 47.
. Bank, grades of social, 387.
Baudot, iutendant, his opinion of Ca
nadian children, 376 note.
RecoUets, the, 335 ; their collisions
with Jasuits, 353 ; their complaints,
353.
Relations, of the Jesuits, excited spirit
of adventure in France, 177, 183.
Religion, revival of, at Quebec, 128;
in the wilderness, picture of, 342.
Remy, Daniel de, Sieur de Courcelle,
appointed governor of Canada, 176 ;
rash expedition and failure, 186-
190 ; its effect on Indians, 190.
Repentigny, mayor of Quebec, 153.
Richelieu, first planted feudalism in
Canada, 244.
Riverin, established fisheries, 293 ;
joint memoire of, 423.
Rome, Church of, strongest influence
in shaping colony, 400.

Saint Andrf, an emigrant ship, 41.
Saint Anne, du Petit Cap, shrine of,
how it was built, 363 ; favorite saint
of Canada, 363, 364 note.
Saint Augustin, Mother Catherine de,
her vision, 125.
Saint-Castin, a gentilhomme rover,
261.
Saint Felicitd, relics of, received at
Quebec, 180.
Saint Flavian, relics of, received at
Quebec, 180.
Saint Lussou, took possession, for king,
of upper lakes, 213.
Saint Mary of Gannentaa, mission of,
29 and note.
Saint Ours, destitution of, 258.
Saint Pere, Jean, subject of miracle,
55.
Saint Simon, memoires of, cited, 286,
287.
Saint-Vallier, Laval's successor in
bishopric; how he undid Laval's
work, 339; his character, 339; dis
cordant opinions of, as to condition
of people, 377, 378.
Saints in Canada, 355.
Salaries of public officers, 284, 285 and
note.
Salieres, colonel of regiment Carignan-
Salieres, 181.
Schools, true purpose of, 360 ; Laval's,
361 ; successful only in making good
Catholics, 364.

Seigniorial tenure, its discussion, 853
note.
Seigniors, military, how thev lived,
233-235; civil status of, 245, 246,
248 ; powers of, 252.
Seminary, founded by Laval, 160; its
wealth, 163, 164. "
Servants, status of, 283.
Settlers, their hardships, 241, 242.
Ship-building, beginning of, 298.
Slavery in Canada, bcginniug of, 388 ;
Indians enslaved, 388.
Social pleasures, regulation of, 344-
347, and 347 note.
Society at Quebec, features and quality
of, 386, 387.
Sulpitians, a religious o'ganization,
passim.

Tadoussac, a trading station at mouth
of Saguenay, 237; sale of brandy
permitted at, 326.
Talon, Jean Baptiste, royal intendant
of Canada, 176 ; his personal appear
ance and qualifications, 207; essays
to galvanize the colony, 209 ; in
augurates commercial and manu
facturing enterprises, 210-213; his
probity, 214 ; letters to Colbert, 418 ;
memoire on state of Canada, 432,
433.
Taxation in Canada, 301, 302.
Temperance meeting, first on the con
tinent, 322.
Temperance question, the, 121 ; free
sale of brandy, 123, 322.
Tilly, Le Gardeur de, member of La
val's council, 136 ; reappointed,
154.
Torture of prisoners permitted by
Jesuits, 69-71 note.
Torture permitted by French law, and
practised in Canada, 283, 284.
Touches, Peronne des, son of Dumes
nil, killed by violence, 134.
Toimnente, Cape, view from, 362,
363.
Tracy, Marquis de, lieutenant-general
of Canada, arrival of, 177, 178 ; his
vigorous policy, 181 ; expedition
against Mohawks, 192; most suc
cessful of all expeditions against
Indians, 206.
Trade, right of nobles to engage in,
260 ; restriction of, 289, 290 ; great
est evil of, 292; statistics of, 292
note; Denonville's letter on, 422,
423.

448

INDEX.

V.
Varennes, Rend Gaultier de, a French
officer who married a bride of twelve
years, 227 note.
Vasseur, an engineer, extract from let
ter of, 384, 385.
Verendiye, Varennes de la, discoverer
of Rocky Mountains, birth of, 227
note.
Vignal, Guillaume de, a priest, 41;
killed and eaten by Iroquois, 57.
Villages, Talon's, 236.
ViUeray, Rouer de, member of Laval's
council, 136 ; Argenson's opinion of
him, 138 ; banished by Mezy, 155.

Vitrv, Sieur de, aided in establishing
fishery, 293, 294. w.
Witches, scarcity of, 355 ; a Huguenot
specimen, 355.
Wives for settlers, supplied by the
king, 219 ; their quality 219 ; for
officers, " select young ladies," 219;
a glutof demoiselles, 220 ; character
of, 220; matrimonial regulations,
222, 223; "mixed goods," 223;
matrimonial market at Quebec, 223.
Women, Iroquois, political rights of
30 note.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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