TALON'S ADMINISTRATION ENDS
In the survey of Talon's first term of office mention
was made of the many enterprises he set on foot for the
internal progress of the colony. One of these was
shipbuilding. During his second term a stronger impulse
was given to this industry. One of the intendant's first
official acts after his arrival in 1670 was to issue a
decree for the conservation of the forests suitable for
shipbuilding purposes--to prohibit the felling of oak,
elm, beech, and cherry trees until the skilled carpenters
sent by the king should have inspected them and made
their choice. It is interesting, too, to find that in
all grants of land Talon inserted a clause reserving
these trees. Shipbuilding in Canada was to be encouraged
and promoted. Had not Colbert given forty thousand livres
for the purpose? A shipyard was set up on the banks of
the St Charles river. Many ships were built there; at
first only small ones, but the industry gradually developed.
In 1672 a ship of over four hundred tons was launched,
and preparations had been made for another of eight
hundred tons. Seven years earlier only nineteen out of
2378 vessels in the French mercantile marine had exceeded
four hundred tons. The infant shipyard at Quebec was
doing well.
Agriculture and industry were flourishing in New France.
Hemp was being grown successfully, and a larger quantity
of wool was made available by increasing flocks of sheep.
The intendant insisted that women and girls should be
taught to spin. He distributed looms to encourage the
practice of weaving, and after a time the colony had
home-made carpets and table-covers of drugget, and serges
and buntings. The great number of cattle ensured an
abundance of raw hides. Accordingly the intendant
established a tannery, and this in turn led to the
preparation of leather and the making of shoes; so that
in 1671 Talon could write to the king: 'I am now clothed
from foot to head with home-made articles.' Tobacco was
grown to some extent, but Colbert did not wish to encourage
its cultivation by the Canadian farmers. The minister
was better pleased when the intendant wrote concerning
potash and tar. A Sieur Nicolas Follin undertook to make
potash out of wood ashes, and was granted a privilege
with a bounty of ten sous per ton and free entry into
France for his product. The potash proved excellent. In
the meantime an expert on tar named Arnould Alix came
from France and found that the Canadian trees were
eminently fit for the production of that article, so
necessary in shipbuilding; indeed at this time Colbert
was doing his best to manufacture it in France so that
the shipyards of the kingdom might use French tar instead
of the foreign product. The news that it could be made
in Canada was very welcome to the minister.
The intendant continued his search for mines, but without
substantial results. There had been much talk of iron
ore at Baie Saint-Paul and also in the region of Three
Rivers. The Sieur de la Potardiere was sent to examine
these ores; but, although his report was favourable and
Colbert seemed highly interested and began to speak of
casting cannon on the shores of the Saint-Maurice, for
some reason nothing was done, and sixty years were to
elapse before the establishment of the Saint-Maurice
forges.
In another chapter we saw that Talon was always ready to
help the religious institutions and that he was very
friendly towards the Hotel-Dieu at Quebec. This hospital
had become too small for the requirements of the growing
population. At his own expense the intendant had a
substantial wing erected, superintending the work himself
and at the same time securing for the institution an
abundant supply of water. The Ursulines also received
ample evidence of his goodwill and friendship. He was
greatly pleased with their Seminaire Sauvage (Indian
seminary), where they displayed an unceasing zeal for
the instruction and civilization of the little red-skinned
girls. The Jesuit Relation of 1671 mentions the baptism
of an Indian girl with her mother. Talon wished to be
godfather and asked Madame d'Ailleboust to act as godmother.
Laval officiated. In 1671 the Ursulines had fifty Indian
girls in their Seminaire Sauvage, and in Montreal the
Sulpicians and the Sisters of the Congregation, as already
narrated, were devoting themselves to the Indian children.
In this good work the intendant was greatly interested.
He rejoiced in educational progress, as is shown by the
following from one of his letters to the king:
The Canadian youth are improving their knowledge. They
take to schools for sciences, arts, handicrafts, and
especially navigation; and if the movement is sustained
there is every reason to hope that this country will
produce mariners, fishermen, seamen, and skilled
workmen; for the youth here are naturally inclined to
these pursuits. The Sieur de Saint-Martin (a lay
brother at the Jesuits), who knows enough mathematics,
is going to give lessons at my request.
New France at this time was prosperous and happy. 'Peace
reigns within as well as without the colony,' wrote Talon
at the end of the year 1671. There was work and activity
on all sides. New settlements were opened, new families
were founded, new industries were born. No wonder that
Talon, when he reflected on what had been achieved in
seven years, should have written: 'This portion of the
French monarchy is going to become something great.'
Unfortunately his activities and service in Canada were
nearing their end. His health was breaking down. Louis
XIV had promised that he should be relieved from his
arduous task in two years. Talon reminded his royal master
of this promise, and on May 17, 1672, the king was pleased
to give him permission to come home. Courcelle had asked
for his own recall; his request was also granted and the
Comte de Frontenac was named in his stead. No intendant
was appointed to fill Talon's place. At the beginning of
September 1672, while Talon had still two months to serve,
Frontenac arrived in Quebec to take up his duties as the
sole executive head of the colony. [Footnote: Another
volume of this Series, The Fighting Governor, tells of
what happened in New France in Frontenac's time.]
One of Talon's last official acts was the allotment,
under authority of a decree of the King's Council of
State, of a large number of seigneuries--a matter of the
highest importance for the development of the colony. He
set himself to the task with his usual activity and
earnestness. From October 10 to November 8 he authorized
about sixty seigneurial concessions to officers and others
desirous of forming settlements. In one day alone (November
3) he made thirty-one grants. The autumn of 1672, during
which all these seigneuries were created, should be
remembered in the history of New France. Before Talon,
it is true, seigneurial grants had been made in Canada,
but only intermittently and without any preconceived plan
or well-defined object. Now it was quite different. The
grants made by Talon, and the way in which they were
made, show clearly the execution of a well thought-out
scheme. If Talon was not the founder he was the organizer
of the seigneurial institution in Canada. The object was
twofold--to protect and to colonize the country. By his
concessions to Sorel, Chambly, Varennes, Saint-Ours,
Contrecoeur--all officers of the Carignan regiment--he
created so many little military colonies whose population
would be composed chiefly of disbanded soldiers. These,
being warriors as well as farmers, would be a strong
barrier against possible Iroquois incursions. His second
object, to stimulate colonization in general, was
anticipated by a provision--inserted in each grant--that
the seigneurs should live on their domains, and that
their tenants should do the same; this would mean the
planting of many new settlements on both shores of the
St Lawrence. It was a sound policy. For over a century
the seigneurial system was to Canada a source of strength
and progress. [Footnote: This view is fully sustained
by Prof. W. B. Munro of Harvard University, who has made
an exhaustive study of the subject. The reader is referred
to the narrative of The Seigneurs of Old Canada in the
present Series, written by him.] Its organization was
the crowning work of the intendant Talon in New France.
Talon's task was over. He had happily fulfilled his
mission. He had set government and justice upon a foundation
which was to last until the fall of the old regime. He
had given a mighty impulse to agriculture, colonization,
trade, industry, naval construction. He had encouraged
educational and charitable institutions, created new
centres of population, strengthened the frontiers of
Canada, and, with admirable forethought, had prepared
the way for the future extension and growth of the colony.
He has had his critics. The word paternalism has been
used to describe the system carried out by him and by
Colbert. He has been accused of having too willingly
substituted governmental action for individual activity.
But, taking into consideration the time and circumstances,
such criticism is not justified. When Talon came to
Canada, the colony was dying. A policy of ensuring
protection, of liberal and continuous subvention, of
intelligent state initiative, was a necessity of the
hour. Everywhere ground had to be broken, and the government
alone could do it. The policy of Colbert and Talon saved
the colony.
The great intendant left Canada in November 1672. It was
a mournful day for New France. In recognition of his
services the king had made a barony of his estate, 'des
Islets,' and had created him Baron des Islets. Later on
he became Comte d'Orsainville. He had previously been
appointed Captain of the Mariemont Castle.
Talon never came back to Canada. Louis XIV and Colbert
received him with expressions of the greatest satisfaction.
After a time he became premier valet de la garde-robe du
roi (first valet of the king's wardrobe), and finally he
attained the coveted office of secretary of the king's
cabinet. He died on November 24, 1694, at the age of
about sixty-nine years, twenty-two years after his
departure from Canada.
Jean Talon is one of the great names in Canadian
history--the name of one of the makers of Canada.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The author's larger work, 'Jean Talon, Intendant de la
Nouvelle France', is the principal source of information
for the foregoing narrative. Consult also Parkman, 'The
Old Regime in Canada'; Colby, 'Canadian Types of the Old
Regime'; Kingsford, 'The History of Canada', vol. i.;
the chapters, 'The Colony in its Political Relations'
and 'The Colony in its Economic Relations,' by Adam Shortt
and Thomas Chapais, in 'Canada and its Provinces', vol. ii.
END