1663-1664
THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL AND THE SEIGNEURS OF THE ISLAND
GREAT CHANGES, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL
MILITIA SQUADS ESTABLISHED--THE FORMATION OF THE CONFRATERNITY
OF THE HOLY FAMILY--THE EARTHQUAKE AT MONTREAL--POLITICAL
CHANGES--THE RESIGNATION OF THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED
ASSOCIATES--CANADA BECOMES A CROWN COLONY--THE TRANSFER OF THE
SEIGNEURY OF THE ISLAND FROM THE COMPANY OF MONTREAL TO THE
"GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY"--ROYAL GOVERNMENT--THE APPOINTMENT
OF THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL--CHANGE IN THE MONTREAL JUDICIAL
SYSTEM--FORMER HOME RULE PRIVILEGES RESCINDED--MONTREAL
UNDER QUEBEC--PIERRE BOUCHER'S DESCRIPTION OF CANADA AND
MONTREAL--SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PERIOD--MONTREAL SOLDIERY--THE
ELECTION OF POLICE JUDGES--ATTEMPT TO SUPPLANT MAISONNEUVE AS
LOCAL GOVERNOR--DISCORD IN THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL.
Meanwhile the war was still in progress and news had come that the
Iroquois had determined to seize Montreal, by surprise or force, as
their own post, after putting the inhabitants to fire and sword. To
meet this threat, de Maisonneuve issued an ordinance, January 27, 1663,
inviting the colonists to form into militia squads of seven persons of
which one should be elected corporal, for the purpose of supplementing
the regular garrison soldiers. On February 4th "to the end that the
country may be saved," he established a _camp volant_, or flying
squadron, composed of twenty such squads, to be known under the title
of the Militia of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, "since
this island is the property of the Holy Virgin." It will be remembered
that already de Maisonneuve had established his Military Confraternity,
or guard of sixty-two. In all things the religious character of the
foundation of Montreal is seen.
At Quebec the liquor traffic with the Indians went on more boldly,
owing to the absence of Mgr. Laval, and disorders were multiplied, such
as the burning of one of the houses on the night of January 23d.
An event, which is reported from many sources and was regarded as a
supernatural visitation was, however, more effective in putting the
fear of the Lord into the liquor traffickers than all the previous
thunderings of the clergy.
On February 5th, the eve of Carnival Monday, or "lundi gras," the first
hoarse rumblings of an earthquake which were noted all over Canada,
were heard at Ville Marie while M. Souart, the curé, was holding
prayers in the church, and after five or six minutes the earth began to
swell and move. The terror-stricken people left the church lest they
should perish in the ruins. At the Hôtel-Dieu, many of the sick ran out
and spent the night on the rolling snow-covered ground. The gayeties of
carnival were abandoned and fear fell upon the people. The tremblings
lasted for seven or eight minutes.
One direct effect of the earthquake was to make the ladies form, under
the suggestion of Père Chaumonot, the Jesuit, then on a visit to
Montreal, and with the co-operation of M. Souart, a pious association
under the name of the "Confraternity of the Holy Family." Its
formation, on July 31st, was greatly promoted by Madame d'Ailleboust,
widow of Louis d'Ailleboust, the former governor general, who, since
his death in 1660, had taken up her abode at the Hôtel-Dieu. It was
approved in March 1665, by Mgr. Laval. Subsequent associations spread
all over Canada for two centuries.
The pictures given of the earthquake are most graphically painted by
writers of the period, such as those in the "Relations." In the forest
the trees were apparently at war, being uprooted and cast against one
another, so that the Indians said the forest was intoxicated. The hills
and mountains were in the same confusion. Mountains were laid low and
the valleys were filled up. The ice beds of the rivers broke up and
the water, mingled with mud, poured up in jets on high. The streams
quitted their beds or changed the colours of their waters, some yellow,
others red; the great St. Lawrence was whitish for eight days. To the
affrighted people it seemed that the spirits of darkness and the powers
of the air were permitted to league themselves. But there was little
loss of life "and the harvest," says Sister Marie de l'Incarnation,
"was never more fruitful. There were no sicknesses. You see by this
that God only wounds to bless and that his inflictions which we have
experienced, are only the chastisement of a good Father." The effects
of this earthquake still are visible. From Cape Tourment to Tadoussac
there were changes in the contour of the land and of the banks of the
St. Lawrence. The picturesque name, Les Eboulements, in the Bay of St.
Paul, records the fall of a hill nearby into the river, thus forming
the present island. The earthquake spread to New England and the New
Netherlands, and similar terrors affected the minds of the people as in
Canada.
While these warlike physical changes were terrifying Canada, in France
the constitution of the bodies governing its temporal law and order
were also being overhauled in a more peaceful manner. On February
24th the few remaining rich members of the Company of One Hundred
Associates, which had the monopoly of New France since 1626, were
constrained, seeing impending dissolution by force, to offer the
resignation of their charters, by a renunciation pure and simple.
In the March following this was accepted by the king. The colony came
at last directly under the crown and happier times were in store for
it. Splendid colonizing ideas were being prepared by Louis XIV and Jean
Baptiste Colbert, the successor of Mazarin, which if carried out would
have prevented the necessity of the cession of 1760. The words of the
edict will not surprise our readers.
[Illustration: COLBERT]
"Since it has pleased God," says this prince, "to give peace to
our kingdom, we have nothing more strongly to heart than the
re-establishment of commerce, as being the source and the principle
of the abundance which we take upon ourselves to procure for our
people. This has led us to inform ourselves of the state of New France
which our king, our very honoured lord and father, had given over by
a treaty of 1626 to a company of one hundred persons. But in place
of learning that this country had been populated as it should be,
considering the long time of its possession, we have recognized with
regret that not only the number of its inhabitants is very small, but
that they are every day in danger of being driven out by the Iroquois.
Recognizing, besides, that this company of one hundred men is nearly
extinct owing to the voluntary retirement of a great number, and that
the few remaining are not powerful enough to maintain this country,
by sending forces and men necessary to swell and defend it, we have
resolved to take it from the hands of this company, which has resigned
it to our good purposes. For which reasons we declare that all the
rights of property, justice and _seigneurie_ granted by our most
honoured lord and father, by the charter of April 29, 1626, shall be
and do remain reunited to our crown, to be henceforth exercised in our
name by the officers whom we shall name to this effect."
Thus the future Canadian society was being thought out on the basis
of an over-parental feudalism, probably the best form for the times,
though it sadly crippled the initiative of the French-Canadian
population, with results seen to this day. Yet the population was no
more than twenty-five hundred souls, of which eight hundred were at
Quebec.
At the same time the negotiations for the transfer of the seigneury of
the island of Montreal were completed. During the visit of Mademoiselle
Mance several meetings of the Company of Montreal had been held, the
members of which, with the exception of some directors of the Seminary
of Paris, and M. de Maisonneuve, were reduced to five. On March 9th
the act of transfer, to be found in the Edicts and Ordinances of the
Province of Quebec, states that:
"Considering the great blessings, which God has poured upon the Island
of Montreal for the conversion of the savages and the edification of
the French, by the help of MM. Olier, de Renty and others, for twenty
years; and now, in later years the gentlemen of the Seminary of St.
Sulpice have laboured by their care and zeal to uphold this good work,
having exposed their persons and having made contributions for the
good of the colony and increase of the glory of God; the Associates
desiring moreover to contribute on their part by seconding the pious
designs of the Gentlemen of the Seminary, and in honour of the memory
of the founder and one of the promoters and benefactors of the work of
Montreal, they have, after several conferences on the subject, and in
furtherance of the greater glory of God, given to these gentlemen all
the proprietorial rights which they have in the Island of Montreal, as
also the seigneurial manor house, called the Fort, the farm, the tilled
lands and all the rights that they have in their island."[90]
In this donation special reference was made to the services of M. de
Maisonneuve. He was to continue, during his life, governor and captain
of the island and of the seigneurial manor house under, however, the
pleasure of the Gentlemen of the Seminary. He was to have, in place of
remuneration, half of the farm lands and the revenues of the mill.
He was to have his apartments in the seigneurial manor house, in which
the Gentlemen of the Seminary, as Seigneurs, shall henceforth have the
right to live.
After some hesitation, in view of the expense of the undertaking, the
Seminary of St. Sulpice at Paris, on March 31st, finally undertook the
work for which their founder had always intended them, and Montreal was
saved from the abandonment which at one time during the negotiations
looked imminent. There was a desire to have M. de Queylus sent back,
but Laval, then in Paris, was adamant in his firmness.
On his part, he was very well received at court. The king would have
Laval made "Bishop of Quebec" and he gave him the abbey revenues of
Maubec in the diocese of Bourges to sustain the position when the see
of Quebec should be erected, which was not to be for many years. The
most important preparation for the better government of New France, and
one in favor of Laval, was the edict, published in March by the king,
of the appointment of a Sovereign Council to sit at Quebec, unless
judged more convenient elsewhere. This was to consist of the governor
general, the bishop, or in default the highest ecclesiastic on the
spot, the intendant when appointed, five councillors and a _procureur
du roi_.
The nomination of these councillors was to be made conjointly by
the governor general and the bishop, and they could dismiss them or
continue them at pleasure. This gave Laval greater power than before,
for hitherto under d'Avaugour, he had only a right to be called to
the council with a "voix délibératrice," as a simple councillor among
creatures chosen by the governor general. The Baron d'Avaugour was
recalled,[91] and Laval was constrained to name his successor, his
choice falling unfortunately on M. Saffray de Mézy, then town major
of Caen, whom he had formerly met at the Hermitage of Caen, where M.
Bernières gathered his pious friends whom he thought he could rely on
to extend the glory of God. De Mézy's letters were signed on May 1st,
before d'Avaugour's second year of the usual term of three years was
completed. On March 26th Laval, in preparation for rearing a colonial
clergy, erected a seminary and united it with that of the Foreign
Missionaries of Paris, from whom he wished to draw some volunteers.
In the April following he obtained an edict from the king regulating
the "dime" for church support and the poor rate, to be fixed at the
thirteenth part of the income of each colonist. It was arranged also
that the curés should be removable at the will of the bishop and his
successors.
The bishop of Petrea reached Quebec on September 15th with the new
governor general, de Mézy, and M. Louis Gaudais, Sieur du Pont. The
latter had been sent by the king as an envoy to enquire into the
government of d'Avaugour, and in addition to report on the most
convenient means for the colonization and cultivation of the country.
The troops which the king had desired to send to subdue the Iroquois
were not as yet at liberty to come, but in their place, 100 families
containing 500 persons, with expenses defrayed for a year, were
dispatched this year.
By September 28th the new councillors, Rouer de Villeray, keeper of the
seals; Jucherau de la Ferté, M. Ruette d'Auteuil, Legardeur de Tilly,
d'Amours; and the new king's procurator, M. Bourdoin, with Gaudais, the
royal commissioner acting as intendant _ad interim_, had collaborated
with de Mézy and Laval and had issued a severe edict forbidding the
liquor traffic with the Indians.
There was now great stir under the new form of Royal Government. Mézy
and Laval were announced as Chiefs of the Council. The inhabitants made
offer of their "foi et hommage" for their land tenures. Officers for
the administration of justice, according to civil law, were appointed.
Regulations for commerce and social progress were promulgated. New
France was declared a province or a kingdom and Quebec a "town." A
mayor, Legardeur de Repentigny, and two aldermen, Jean Maudry and
Claude Charron, were elected, and municipal life seemed promised.
These officers met on October 6th, but by November 14th their election
was revoked by the council and the office of syndic again restored.
This abortive municipal life was apparently too great a stride in the
autocratic government then in vogue. Yet Canada was beginning to emerge
from its petty parish condition and its struggling state. The privilege
granted Laval of exacting one-thirteenth part of the fruits of the
earth and of a man's labour on the earth for church establishment was
not satisfactory, and finally it was reduced to one-twentieth for
the rest of monseigneur's life; later it was reduced by Laval to a
twenty-sixth.
The taking over of the colony as a royal possession began to affect
other places than Quebec. At Montreal, the assumption of the
seigneurial duties and privileges was not without difficulty. On
August 18th, the commission which had been privately given by M. de
Bretonvilliers to M. Souart was publicly ratified. But hardly had
the Sovereign Council been installed than it took away the right of
the Seigneurs to administer justice in civil and criminal cases, and
on September 28th appointed M. Arthur de Sailly as judge, Charles Le
Moyne, king's procurator, Bénigne Basset as chief clerk and notary of
the sénéchal's court, all of whom took the oath on October 19th.
Similar inferior courts of justice were also established at Three
Rivers; appeal could be made on trivial causes to the supreme council.
The customary law of Paris, or "_coutume de Paris_," based on the civil
law of Rome, was the fundamental law of Canada, and still governs the
civil rights of the people.
Hitherto Maisonneuve had acted as administrator of justice, but now the
seigneurs named Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux as judge and retained
Bénigne Basset as clerk of the Seigneurs.
The new appointments, made over their heads in defiance of their
rights, caused M. Souart, on behalf of the seigneurs, to go to Quebec
with M. de Maisonneuve, to protest. But while there, de Mézy dealt a
further blow by presenting Maisonneuve with his commission of governor
of Montreal, thereby intimating that the seigneurs had no right of
appointment. M. Souart, relying on the decree of 1644 giving this
power to the seigneurs, then the Company of Montreal, protested, and
he was ordered to produce the letters patent for proof; meanwhile de
Maisonneuve was to act as governor of Montreal, by the power just
granted by the governor general, till the king should order otherwise.
In the meantime de Maisonneuve acted on his new commission but always
without prejudice to the rights of the seigneurs. This loyalty was also
shared by Bénigne Basset for, in a contract of marriage for November
16, 1663, he signs himself as clerk in the royal sénéchal's court,
notary royal, and clerk for the seigneurs. It may be for this reason
that he was supplanted later in his office in the sénéchal's court by
Sieur de Mouchy, who had been appointed by the Sovereign Council "for
good reasons." Maisonneuve's position at Montreal was also getting
insecure. There was now an effort on foot to bring Montreal under
control of Quebec as the seat of the royal government and the veteran,
de Maisonneuve, as an adherent of the old ways, was jealously viewed
by de Mézy and perhaps by Laval. Certainly Montreal was now being
dominated by the newly-imported royal policy.
But the new colonial policy was to bring good results from the new
blood infused. If wisely handled, the new régime would have worked
permanent good.
The resignation of the Company of New France, on February 24, 1663, was
accepted by the king in March of the same year, and the edict on the
creation of the Supreme Council followed in the April following.
From the date of the establishment of the Supreme Council, September
18, 1663, Civil Government may be said to have begun. Hitherto no
deliberative board had sat to discuss the affairs of the colony. There
had been a vague and indefinite system of government by the chartered
companies, but there had been no constituted hierarchy, either in the
political or in the judicial order.
The council was modeled on that of the parliament of Paris. The terms
of the "ordonnance" of its creation indicated that the king wished to
create here, in Canada, an authority to supply what the parliament
of Paris, seeing its great distance away, could not provide for.
Yet the Sovereign Council was never a real parliament, although
it contained in germ, if not actually, all the power of one. The
dignity of the new body was so great later that when Frontenac came
as a governor he considerably astonished the simple burgesses of the
little fortress of Quebec with all the pomp at his command. He would
be in truth a "Viceroy," and Gascon that he was, he would play the
part. Others also in their sphere would reproduce the usages of the
Paris mother parliament; hence the troubles about "préséance," among
the counsellors, which seem so trivial to us, but not so to them,
punctilious in their observance of their high positions. With Paris
for an example, it is not surprising that Frontenac dismissed his
counsellors, when it suited him, for did not Louis le Soleil do the
same himself?
The "ordonnance" of the creation of the council, after indicating the
composition of its members and outlining its general powers, then
continues: "Moreover we give power to the said council to commission,
at Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers and in all other places, as many, and
in the manner as it shall deem necessary, persons as shall judge in the
first instance without chicanery and delay, the procedures of different
proceedings which may arise between private persons, and shall name
clerks, notaries and scriveners, surgeons and other officers of justice
whom they shall judge proper, our desire being to drive all chicanery
as far as possible out of the said country of New France, with the end
that prompt and speedy justice may be rendered."
The Sovereign Council was held at Quebec but it ruled over Montreal,
not in broad lines of general policy only, but in what we would call
village politics. It went into very small details indeed and the parish
church portals were frequently posted with proclamations from Quebec.
There does not seem to have been much home rule for Montreal in those
days.
A picture of this period is presented in the "Histoire Véritable et
Naturelle de la Nouvelle France," dedicated to Colbert, the minister,
by a letter written from Three Rivers on October 8, 1663, by Pierre
Boucher, who had been sent to France by the inhabitants of La Nouvelle
France for help, in 1662, when he had conversed with Colbert personally.
His object was to explain the physical and natural history of the
country to encourage colonization. He expresses surprise that the
country still remained inadequately populated, but he warns Colbert
against any policy of sending criminals to this country. Tramps were
not wanted in Canada. If any insinuated themselves they knew, how to
hang them, as elsewhere. Doubtful women were not tolerated either.
Those women that came were vouched for by responsible persons or
relatives.
Speaking of the climate he says: "From the beginning of May, the heat
is extremely great, though we are only coming out of the depth of
winter. This is the reason why everything goes ahead and in less than
no time the earth is covered with verdure. It is remarkable that the
wheat sown at the end of April or as late as May 21st is harvested in
September. The winter is very cold, but it is a bright frost, and for
the most part the days are beautiful and serene.
"Mont Royal, the last of our settlements, is situated on a beautiful
and great island. The lands are very good and produce grain in
abundance; everything is going on well there; fishing and hunting are
also very good."
Montreal is described as having a rich soil, but requiring horses[92] to
till it. As these are expensive he hopes the "bon roi" would assist,
especially by exterminating the Iroquois, who killed the cattle. Most
of its trees were oak. There was no hemp, but the soil was suitable for
its cultivation.
Speaking of the caribous he says that the males have forked feet, which
in running, open so widely that they never sink in the winter snows no
matter how deep these may be. He speaks of the skill of the beavers in
constructing their dams, which the waters cannot break through, saying
that they thus arrest the courses of little streams, inundating a great
part of the country and forming pools for them in which to play and to
have their dwellings. The savages had the greatest difficulty on their
hunting expeditions in destroying these dams.
Describing social life, he says that the country produced strong boys
and girls, but they were led to study with difficulty. Wine was drunk
in the best houses, beer in others, and a favourite drink in common
use was "bouillon." Some houses were built of stone covered with pine
boards, some were built with upright posts filled in with masonry;
others were framework buildings of wood. There were no women servants
in Canada. Most of the men started as servants and in a few years
were at their ease working for themselves. He advised all who came to
Canada to be ready to put their hands to anything, building or land
clearing. They should bring provisions for two years, especially flour.
He gives many other details showing the value of money and the price of
things. The great difficulty beyond the mosquitoes and the length of
the winter was the fear of the stealthy Iroquois who were here, there
and everywhere, never attacking but when they were in strong force.
When discovered they take to flight, and as they are so agile in their
movements, it is difficult to pursue them. He trusted the "bon roi"
would assist in destroying them. "And," says Boucher, "it would not be
a difficult thing to get rid of them, for they consist but of eight to
nine hundred men capable of bearing arms. It required only prudence and
sufficient force to destroy them."
Boucher was accompanied from France by Dumont, an officer in charge of
100 soldiers. In Dumont's account of his visit, written in 1663 in the
"Relations," he says of Montreal that the inhabitants were the most
soldierly in the country--a remark made also by Boucher. Boucher's
mission to France helped to persuade the king to take over the colony
as a royal possession. When the king's forces came to exterminate the
Iroquois the Montreal fighting men did justice to their reputation, as
we shall see.
At this period the mode of living was very simple. The house was one
long room lighted by three windows, in which all the family ate, slept
and worked. At the bottom of the apartment was the bed of the parents,
against the wall; in a corner a contrivance which served as a bench by
day and a bed by night for the children. On the right, as you entered,
you would have seen the open chimney rising a little above the room,
and slung from a chain was the family cooking pot. Near the fireside
was a small staircase or ladder leading to the grain loft above lighted
by one or two small windows. A table and a few chairs or benches or a
collapsible chair and table in one, completed the primitive furniture
in the living room.
But we must not forget the old gun hanging over the bed, ready at hand
during the night should the Iroquois suddenly attack. This served also
as the family forager for meat, and game, both feathered and "red
skins." There was good shooting in the neighbourhood of Montreal,
with plenty of ducks and partridges. It is recounted that in 1663 a
hunter in Quebec brought down thirty-two grey turtle doves with one
shot. On the rivers they were so numerous that the rowers could hit
the troublesome birds with their paddles. The settlers, when they
had collected all they needed and salted there for the winter, had
abundance left over to give to the dogs and the pigs.
There was not much hunting in the woods by Montrealers, but the Indians
brought into the market near the fort, the original "place d'armes,"
a goodly amount of bear, elk, venison, wild cow, moose, beaver and
muskrats, and other meats.
On "fish days" the good Montrealer had no excuse for not keeping church
abstinence, for eels sold at an _écu_ a hundred, and sturgeons, shad,
dory, pike, carp, groundlings, brill and maskinongé abounded. From
Quebec they received the salmon and the herring, trout from Malbaie and
white fish from Three Rivers.
Provisions, clothing and property originally were exchanged by barter,
e. g., a small lot of land went for two cows and a pair of stockings; a
larger piece would go for two bulls, a cow and a little money.
Money became less rare when the troops arrived. Meanwhile the war
with the Iroquois was carried on with the usual incidents, as already
described.
At Montreal there seems to have been more fear of the exactions of
Quebec than of the incursions of Iroquois. Quebec had endeavoured to
restrain all trade to itself, and in consequence of this monopoly
prices were very high in Montreal, and many households were in want.
At the same time there were complaints as to the adequacy of the
police arrangement, so that there seemed to be ground for fearing some
sedition.
Accordingly on February 15, 1664, Paul de Chomedey published an
ordinance ordering the habitants to assemble on the Sunday following,
February 24th, to the place called the "hangar," to elect five of the
principal inhabitants to regulate the matters of police for the town.
This day, the weather being bad, saw very few at the voting place, and
we find the syndic, Urbain Bauderau, asking for a reannouncement of the
same ordinance for next Sunday, March 2d. This was done, and at least
226 were present, to judge by the votes recorded. The following were
elected police judges: Louis Prud'homme, 23 votes; Jacques Le Moyne,
23; Gabriel le Sel, Sieur du Clos, 19; Jacques Picot, Sieur de la Brie,
24; Jean Leduc, 19.
[Illustration: VOTES RECORDED OF AN ELECTION OF CIVIC OFFICERS]
Dated March 6th, another document of de Maisonneuve is preserved, in
which it is recorded that the above five had been ordered to appear
before the governor to take the oath, and had done so, but Le Sel and
Leduc, having said and declared that they did not know how to write or
sign, the three others signed the commission of appointment. Meanwhile
the position of de Maisonneuve as governor of Montreal was becoming
insecure and in June of this year he was called to Quebec by M. de Mézy
who named Captain Etienne Pézard, Sieur de la Touche, to succeed him in
his position. What the reason was, beyond the jealousy of the governor
general, or a possible secret instruction from the government, we do
not know. Yet this latter appointment never took place, for we find de
Maisonneuve still governor till his final removal by Tracy at the end
of 1665, and even then M. Dupuis, the town major, was only appointed as
commandant till Perrot was officially appointed in 1669.[93]
At Quebec the early months of 1664 were signalized by the outburst
in flame of the smouldering dissatisfactions and the growing discord
marring the harmony hitherto existing between Laval and de Mézy,
the joint chiefs of the Sovereign Council. The dual rule was found
impossible, especially as the council was considered by de Mézy to be
a packed one in favour of Laval. It came to a head on February 3d,
when the governor sent his major, the Sieur d'Angouville, to announce
to the bishop that he had forbidden three of the council, de Villeray,
d'Auteuil and Bourdon, the king's procurator, to appear at the council
until they had been justified by the king for the cabals he alleged had
been fomented against himself by them. He prayed the bishop to confirm
this interdiction of those "who had been named in his favour" and to
proceed in the nomination of three others. He did more: he proclaimed
the same interdiction at the sound of the drum by a proclamation signed
also by the three other councillors. Further, on February 13th, he
published another declaration forbidding several practices which he
said he felt bound to stop, so as not to betray the interests of the
king.
This rupture was inevitably the result of the impossible dual
government. In France the vesting of temporal power in a bishop was not
so likely to prove unsuccessful as in a new country needing a military
governor. But to place the spiritual and civil authorities "ex aequo"
in civil government was not the wise move for the good of the church it
had been intended to be.
M. de Mézy no doubt felt the weakness of his position. The moral
strength of government would be dominated by the bishop and in a
conflict the councillors and others would side with the bishop as vicar
apostolic, who was irremovable, except by the pope, until death, while
the governor general could be recalled even before his three years were
completed. Hence his patience was tried and his dignity hurt; thus he
lost his head and went beyond his powers. On the other hand, the bishop
would honestly not have been prepared for this outburst. With pain and
astonishment Laval replied, on February 16th, that he could not in
honour or in conscience ratify the suspension of the councillors until
they should be convicted of their alleged crimes against the governor.
The suspension of Bourdon, the king's procurator, held up the
administration of justice. This Mézy endeavoured to correct by
appointing, on March 10th, against the will of Laval, another, in the
person of the Sieur Chartier. He went further and arbitrarily dissolved
the council on September 18th, and on the 24th established another
without the consent and participation of the bishop.
On September 23d M. Bourdon sailed to France at the command of de Mézy
to render an account of his service to the king. In October de Mézy
published again, at the beat of the drum, another proclamation, which
incensed the ecclesiastical party.
The dissentions in Quebec could not but have a disquieting effect on
Montreal, now politically more dependent on Quebec than ever.
FOOTNOTES:
[90] The seigneury of St. Sulpice, already granted, is included in this
as part of the whole.
[91] D'Avaugour received the news as a magnanimous soldier. On his way
home he wrote from Gaspé a memorial to Colbert in which he commends
New France to the king. "The St. Lawrence," he says, "is the entrance
to what may be made the greatest state in the world." In his purely
military way he recounts the means of making this grand possibility by
a military colonization.
[92] One horse only had reached Canada previously. It arrived June 20,
1647, and was presented to the governor, Montmagny.
[93] Etienne Pézard de la Touche never acted as governor of Montreal
owing to the rigorous protestations raised by the Seigneurs of the
island. M. de la Touche seems to have arrived in Canada in 1661 and by
the 10th of October of that year he is to be found acting as lieutenant
of the garrison of Three Rivers, in which locality he remained till
1664, when he became a captain. On June 20th he married Madeleine
Mulois de la Borde and M. de Maisonneuve as governor assisted at the
ceremony. On the same day or the next by a curious irony of fate
there is found the nomination of the newly married captain, dated
from Quebec, as Maisonneuve's successor. When the news became known
at Montreal it was looked upon by the governor general de Mésy as an
arrogation of the powers of the Seigneurs of Montreal, and an attempt
on the part of the recently created Sovereign Council to test its
jurisdiction over Montreal. The triumph of the seigneurs was evident,
for on July 23d following, de Maisonneuve was accorded by the sovereign
council his emoluments for the upkeep of the garrison for the current
year, and on July 28th is found as governor granting a new concession
of land, a practice he continued till May, 1665. On the other hand,
on July 23d, de la Touche is recorded as in charge of the accounts of
the garrison of Three Rivers. On August 8th M. de Mésy apparently by
way of a consolation accorded him the seigneury of Batiscan and of
Cap de la Madeleine, and the new seigneur busied himself in his new
position. Meanwhile de Maisonneuve's days were numbered. (Cf. Canadian
Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, 1914, No. 2, article by E. Z.
Massicotte.)