1700-1721
HALF A CENTURY OF PEACE AND PROGRESS
CIVIC SIDE LIGHTS
I.
THE LONG PEACE--THE TWO GOVERNORS--TAVERN LICENSES--PERMIT
TO MARRY--CULTIVATION OF HEMP--FIRST ATTEMPT OF THE LACHINE
CANAL BY THE SEIGNEURS--GEDEON DE CATALOGNE--CHAUSSEGROS DE
LERY--"SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES"--CLAUDE DE RAMEZAY--WAR PRICES--LINEN
AND CLOTH INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED--AN ORDINANCE AGAINST DIRTY
STREETS--AGAINST PIGS IN THE HOUSES--MARKET REGULATIONS--THE
USE OF THE COMMONS--SALE OF LIQUOR TO SAVAGES--THE SEIGNEURS
AND THE HABITANTS--REGULATIONS CONCERNING TANNERS, SHOEMAKERS
AND BUTCHERS--ENGLISH MERCHANDISE NOT TO BE TOLERATED AT
MONTREAL--A MARKET FOR CANADIAN PRODUCTS DESIRED--CONCENTRATION
IN THE EAST VERSUS EXPANSION IN THE WEST--CONGES--FAST
DRIVING--ROAD MAKING--HORSE BREEDING RESTRAINED--PIGS TO
BE MUZZLED--LIQUOR LICENSES OVERHAULED--SNOW-SHOEING TO BE
CULTIVATED--DIVERSE NATIONAL ORIGINS--A MARBLE QUARRY--THE DEATH
OF A RECLUSE--MURDERER BURNT IN EFFIGY--CARD MONEY--A "BOURSE"
FOR THE MERCHANTS--PATENTS OF NOBILITY TO THE LEBER AND LE MOYNE
FAMILIES--PARTRIDGE SHOOTING--A "CURE ALL" PATENT MEDICINE--POSTAL
SERVICE--A PICTURE OF MONTREAL ABOUT 1721 BY CHARLEVOIX.
Having already recorded the treaty with the Indians in 1701, and the
history of Queen Anne's war which terminated in the peace of Utrecht,
we may now survey in several chapters the civil progress of Montreal
from the beginning of the eighteenth century and during the long peace
which lasted to the beginning of the final war with the English, which
ended in the capitulation of Montreal in 1760.
M. Philippe de Rigaud Marquis de Vaudreuil, as governor of Montreal
(1698-1703), early renewed some of the old trouble of infringing on
the authority of the governor general, for in 1700, on May 5th, the
king's minister wrote to Vaudreuil that His Majesty did not wish
him to interfere directly or indirectly in the administration of
justice, nor would the king pardon him for putting the inhabitants
in prison without the orders of M. de Callières.[165] Otherwise the
ordinary administration of the town progressed. We have preserved the
granting of a Montreal tavern license from May 5th to Pierre Billeron
de Lafatigue and Marie Fortier, his wife, to sell and retail drinks,
_a pot et a pinte_," and refreshments _par assiette_" (plate), with
the injunction, "not to intoxicate the savages, and to make observed
among them the regulations of our seigneurs of the council, with
the prohibition of giving drink and food during the celebration of
divine service or past 9 o'clock in the evening." License holders
were to allow the police to inspect and they were to keep copies
of these regulations posted in their inns. The civil, military and
ecclesiastical hours of the day were told by the parish church clock,
which had existed up to 1701; its remains were found in a lumber room
in 1770. But about 1701, the superior of the seminary, M. de Belmont,
brought from France the famous timepiece at the cost of 800 francs,
about the value of the same number of dollars nowadays. In 1751 it got
out of order for the first time but it was thoroughly renovated during
Montgolfiers' rule of the seminary and it served faithfully as the only
public clock till recent times.[166]
A permit to marry, granted by de Callières to a soldier coming to the
Montreal district, and dated from Quebec, January 7, 1702, gives us a
glimpse of the military jurisdiction of the time. "We give permission
to one named Poitevin, a soldier of the company of Longueuil, to
espouse the daughter of Julien Blois of Long point. The civic seigneur
will not make any difficulty in marrying them.
"(Signed) Le Chevalier de Callières."
At this time M. de Vaudreuil was thinking of building his château
in Montreal, and on May 6th, the minister writes to the Intendant
Champigny "that the King has granted 1,000 _livres_ to help M. de
Vaudreuil to build his home." On the same day he wrote to the latter
telling him "that as the inhabitants of Montreal are too far from the
sea to take up the fishery industry otherwise than by associating
themselves with those of Quebec, he should urge his people to the
cultivation of the soil and especially of hemp, which the Kingdom
of France has to import from the northern countries." On the same
day, the minister wrote to de Ramezay,[167] who had recently arrived,
congratulating him on the good condition of the 300 recruits taken by
him from France. M. de Ramezay at the same time was appointed, in the
absence of de Callières and de Vaudreuil, to the command of the whole
extent of the colony, thus clearly designating him for future honours.
Montreal's destiny as the head of navigation was early forced upon the
attention of the enterprising missionaries and traders who embarked
from Montreal for the West. The rapids of the Sault St. Louis presented
an initial difficulty, and eyes had long been cast on the possibility
of avoiding them by constructing a canal, connecting the _lac à loutre_
on the west side, by a channel, to the Lake St. Louis, so that canoes
could start from the Little River St. Pierre, near Place Royale, and
pursue their way inland and westward until they reached the Lake St.
Louis. Thus, therefore, was evolved the first attempt at a Lachine
Canal in 1700.
M. Ernest Marceau in 1906 gave the results of some of his
investigations among the papers of the Sulpicians, for the history of
the efforts of the seigneurs of Montreal to overcome the difficulties
of the navigation between Lachine and Montreal. He relates these as
follows:[168]
"A few years only had elapsed since the establishment of the
French at Montreal, when the necessity for bettering the means of
communication between the rising city and the settlements already
existing at Lachine, Ste. Anne, etc., became apparent. The young colony
was too poor, however, to think of building a canal with locks to
overcome the very considerable fall in the nine miles of river from
Pointe-à-Callières to Lachine.
"The route followed by the canoes at the time was along the north
shore of the St. Lawrence, but it was exceedingly dangerous, and
many portages intervened between navigable stretches. Even in these
so-called navigable stretches, towing had to be resorted to. A number
of accidents had already happened, in which men and canoes had been
lost. In the year 1700, the Superior of the Sulpicians, Mr. Dollier
de Casson,[169] undertook to improve the Little River St. Pierre, and
to make it navigable for canoes, from its mouth to Lake St. Pierre, a
shallow body of water lying about half way between Montreal and Lachine
(this lake has long disappeared, owing chiefly to the works done in
connection with the Lachine Canal), and to open up a cut from the lake
to a point on the St. Lawrence above the worst part of the rapids.
[Illustration: CHART OF A PART OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL SHOWING THE
LACHINE CANAL
(La Morandière)]
"A notarial contract was passed, between the contractor, Gédéon de
Catalogne,[170] and Mr. Dollier de Casson, for the excavation of a canal
twenty-four arpents, or about one mile, in length, twelve feet wide
at the surface of the ground, and of varying width at the bottom,
according to the depth of cutting. The water flowing through the canal
was to be at least eighteen inches deep, at the period of lowest water
in the St. Lawrence.
"The work was begun in October, 1700, and in February of the year
following the contractor failed, after having performed the greater
part of his contract, the whole of the cut being completed at the time,
except for a depth of three or four feet on some 2,400 feet in length.
"The canal was excavated for about one-third of its length through clay
mixed with boulders, the balance being through quarry rock.
"A settlement was made with the contractor in the Spring, the amount
paid being 12,500 _livres_, which represents about $15,000 of our
present currency.
[Illustration: REAR VIEW OF MAISON DE CATALOGNE, RUE ST. VINCENT]
[Illustration: MAISON DE CATALOGNE, RUE ST. VINCENT]
[Illustration: This house commonly reputed in late years to be that of
a rich trader, Charles Hubert _dit_ Lacroix, cannot be substantiated as
such by any document. What is true is that the house is built on the
original concession to Nicholas Hubert _dit_ Lacroix, a tailor of some
civic distinction, who appears in Montreal for the first time in 1655.
Houses then were built of logs. To archæologists the house appears to
have been built at the same period as the Château de Ramezay, in the
first part of the eighteenth century. The interior decorations are of
a later period.]
"The work was left in this unfinished condition, notwithstanding the
repeated attempts to push it to completion, the Sulpicians' revenues,
which were very unimportant at that time, finding better use in other
directions.
"In 1708, Louis XIV ordered plans and estimates of the work to be
submitted to him, the undertaking having been recognized as devolving
upon the royal authorities, but, owing to the conditions of affairs in
France during the latter part of the reign, the scheme had to be again
postponed.
"Almost every year after this, the Canal de la Chine is mentioned in
the correspondence between the superiors of the Montreal house and the
head of the Sulpician Order in Paris, as also in letters addressed to
the Governors of the colony.
"In 1717, Mr. Chaussegros de Léry, who had charge of all military and
civil engineering works in Montreal, reported that three-fourths of the
work was done. The Crown could not yet at the time give the necessary
help to perfect the canal, but instructions were given not to abandon
the idea.
"Again in 1733, the same engineer made a complete survey of the route
and prepared fresh plans and estimates. The old line had evidently been
abandoned, as the probable cost of the work is put down at 255,000
_livres_, or about $300,000. The new scheme contemplated a canal with
locks. Unfortunately, no copy of the report of Mr. Chaussegros is on
record in the documents referred to.
"From that date nothing can be found in the Seminary papers relating
to the canal, which would seem to indicate that the work was never
completed. It is quite likely, however, that the imperfect channel
could be used by canoes during the periods of high water. Be that as
it may, traces of it in the shape of a half-filled ditch, are still
to be seen in a field near the Canadian Pacific Railway embankment at
Rockfield."
In the year 1703, on May 26th, de Callières died, and M. de Vaudreuil
succeeded him on August 1st as governor general, while M. Claude de
Ramezay replaced the latter as governor of Montreal, being appointed by
the king as such in August. The minister, this same month recommended
de Vaudreuil, Beauharnois and the Marquis d'Alogny to make use of his
advice in regard to the police and the management of the troops.
In 1704 we hear of an ordinance of the Governor General de Vaudreuil,
dated December 12th, being sent to Montreal to forbid seditious
assemblies. It had been brought to his notice that there had been a
large gathering of the inhabitants near Montreal for the purpose of
obliging the merchants to furnish them salt and other merchandise at a
lower price. But on the explanation of the Governor de Ramezay and the
superior of the seminary, M. de Belmont, that there had been nothing
seditious in the meeting which had been called simply to protest and
to draw attention to their complaints, things went no further than the
issue of the ordinance, although the "meeting" was still the subject
of letters to France in 1705. In that year de Ramezay had been having
his troubles with the authorities of Quebec. In a letter from the
minister (Pontchartrain) the latter strongly disapproves of his conduct
in heading a cabal against de Vaudreuil and Beauharnois, and of the
impropriety of raising himself up as a reformer of the higher powers of
the colony.
An insight into the hardships experienced at Montreal as a result of
the wars with the English colonies, may now be presented. The vessel,
La Seine, which was carrying to Canada provisions and merchandise of
all kinds and the cargo of which was estimated at a million _livres_
(_tournois_), left Rochelle in the summer of 1705 and was captured by
a Virginian fleet in spite of the heroic resistance of the Chevalier
de Maupeon. The vessel was seized and its passengers, among whom was
Mgr. de St. Vallier, were taken as prisoners to England. Such and
similar disasters made living conditions dear at Montreal and famine
was frequent. A missionary of this period says that wearing apparel and
houses were of an extraordinary price at Montreal. The innkeepers made
their fortune in diluting the drink, especially that which they sold to
the Indians, who drank all that they could get, in exchange for their
peltry. "You have served me out of the savages' barrel," grumbled one
of the workmen to the servant who had just given him some liquor.
The scarcity of clothing material, caused by the loss of La Seine,
brought with it, however, an advantage to the colony. On the suggestion
of the Intendant Raudot, the king's council permitted the inhabitants
to make linen and druggets with the homemade yarn and worsted of the
country. For hitherto France had insisted on the right of supplying
Canada with its manufactured articles. It forbade home industries.
Even the wool gathered on the St. Lawrence banks was shipped to France
and returned in the form of a coarse cloth. All clothing therefore had
been very expensive in the colony. Necessity became, therefore, the
mother of invention and we thus find Madame de Repentigny, who had
greatly contributed to the progress of this industry, writing in 1708:
"There is at present a considerable quantity of handicrafts which work
at making linen in Canada. Women and men work at them. The men have a
taste for deerskin clothing, which costs them much less than the cloths
from France; they nearly all wear it with homemade drugget _surtouts_
over it." On his side M. Bigot wrote in 1714: "There are in Montreal
as many as twenty-five looms for making linen and worsted goods. The
Sisters of the Congregation have shown me the collender which they
have made for their clothing, which latter is as fine as that made in
France; there are also made here, materials of black for the clothes of
the priests, and of blue for those of the '_pensionnaires_.'"
How the ladies of Montreal were participating in the industrial
progress of the city may be seen in the letters of the minister, the
intendant and to Madame de Repentigny. In 1706 he writes to Intendant
Raudot, asking for samples of the cloth which Madame had made from
nettles and bark and which she says is better than that made from linen
and hemp. On June 30, 1707, he writes to Madame de Repentigny that he
has received the samples of cloth and the little tablets of cotton
syrup; that he has noticed with pleasure what she has told him of the
number of cloth workers in the Island of Montreal, but he finds the
price of her cloth too high.[171] He is pleased to be informed of the
sugar that is made in Montreal and of the blue earth that has been
found by the Indians thirty leagues from Montreal. Another year, he
records his pleasure at her discoveries of dye woods near Montreal and
on July 7, 1711, he writes of his satisfaction at her zeal for the
progress of the colony. On June 29th he writes that he will recommend
her son for the post of ensign and encourages her to redouble her
efforts for the increase of her manufactures.
A survey of the various _ordonnances_ issued by the intendants of this
period supplies much insight into the life of the city. During the
months of June and July, 1706, Jacques Raudot was in Montreal. The
_ordonnances_ issued by him there are of valuable historical usefulness
in providing an insight into conditions then prevailing. That dated
June 22d concerns the streets, primarily. "Having learnt," it begins,
"on arriving in this town the state of disorder in which the streets
are, being almost impracticable at all seasons not only for foot
passengers, but for carriage and cart traffic, and this on account of
the mire which is found in the said streets, and which comes not so
much from the bad nature and inequality of the land as from the filth
which the inhabitants throw there daily, and being persuaded that this
comes from not giving the streets the slope necessary for the flow of
the drainage, not being able to do anything of more utility for the
town than to remedy these disorders, and having conferred with Sieur
de Bellemont (sic), superior of the seminary, Fleury Deschambault,
lieutenant general, Raimbault, King's procurator of the department of
_Justice Royale_ of this town, we order that, hereafter, there shall
be given the following slopes." Then follow the list of streets to be
altered, directions for the remaking of the roads and footpaths, and
the sharing of the expenses, the order for the observance of the new
alignments, penalties for throwing rubbish into the streets, etc.
Then also follow penalties and confiscations for keeping pigs in the
houses, and for allowing cattle to stray in the streets. The renewal
of the prohibitions against unlicenced liquor houses is also made. It
concludes with instructions for the establishment of a market on the
_place d'Armes_ to meet the needs of the growing town. The market days
are to be on Tuesdays and Fridays, weekly. This is for the convenience
of the country vendors, who are not to sell their produce elsewhere,
in private stores, as formerly. In order to enable the inhabitants
to purchase in the market and to prevent the hotel keepers and
_cabaretiers_ from buying up everything before the citizens were astir,
Raudot enjoins, that the former shall not buy in the market before 8
o'clock in the morning under a penalty of 3 _livres_.
Another _ordonnance_ of July 2d settles the disputes amongst themselves
of the inhabitants as to the use of the commons of the island _vis à
vis_ their homes.
Another of the same date relieves the _habitants_ of Notre-Dame des
Neiges from an obnoxious clause in their concessions of land, granted
by the seigneurs, by which these would be confiscated if they sold
spirituous and intoxicating liquors to the savages. They represented
that this clause was now useless, since the prohibitions had been made
so severe by the king's _ordonnances_, they were not likely to do so,
but they might falsely be accused and thus their lands might be in
danger of confiscation. With the consent of Mr. Cailhé, (Caille), who
acted for the seigneurs, their petition was granted.
On the same day another order from Raudot straightened out the doubts
of some _habitants_ as to the meaning of clauses in their concessions,
granting the seigneurs rights of claiming lumber. It was decided on the
representation of M. Cailhé that the seigneurs would be content with
lumber rights on one _arpent_ in every location of sixty _arpents_,
never having meant to claim universal rights. They still, however,
reserved all their rights to claim from the habitations all the wood
that was necessary for their own buildings and for public works.
Again on the same day: "the Seigneurs are justified in demanding
their rents and arrears from certain _habitants_ holding concessions
from them, who had claimed that their lands were not staked out." The
seigneurs prevailed, representing that the dearth of landmarks was the
fault of the land owners, who had to provide them and had failed to
pay for them, rather than through any difficulty on the part of the
seminary.
The growth of Montreal brought new settlers who wished to set up
in business; in consequence, Jacques Raudot, in 1706, drew up an
_ordonnance_ on July 20th, limiting the number of tanners, shoemakers
and butchers. "Seeing that the town of Montreal is daily growing in the
number of inhabitants who come to establish themselves, and that the
number of every kind of trade increases in proportion, while awaiting
the pleasure of His Majesty in establishing a _corps de métier_, we
believe that it is fitting time for us to prescribe certain rules,
particularly for the tanners and shoemakers, the observation of which,
while being useful to the inhabitants, in that it will provide the
workers themselves with emulation, while giving them the means of a
livelihood, and of confining them to the special functions of their
separate trades, we ordain:
"I. That there shall only be two tanners in the town, viz., Delaunay
and Barsalot, so that they may both have work; the five butchers
who are at present in business will share in equal portions both in
number and in quality the skins of all the beasts slaughtered on their
premises unless the said tanners prefer to make an arrangement among
themselves to have the skins furnished to each by two butchers apiece
whom they shall agree upon, and the fifth butcher to furnish his share
every six months.
"II. That the said tanners shall be obliged to give the said skins all
the necessary and required dressings, so that the public may have good
merchandise, and this under penalty of 3 _livres_ for each hide not
found, on our prescribed visits, to conform to the quality demanded by
our present _ordonnance_.
"III. We forbid the said butchers to retain any skins and make French
shoes, under a penalty of 3 _livres_ for each skin retained, but we
permit them to retain some of an inferior quality to make shoes for the
savages.
"IV. We forbid them to purchase skins from those coming in from the
country, whom we order to take their goods to the market set up in this
town, where they shall be exposed for sale for tanners only.
"V. While awaiting an opportunity to make regulations, to confine each
to his allotted trade, we permit Delaunay, in consideration of the
business set up by him, to have only three _garçons_ shoemakers and one
apprentice, etc."
On the 28th of the same month Raudot ordered thirteen who had rented
lots from the seigneurs on "lower" street, either to pay their rent
or to hand them over by a certain date to the seigneurs on the
reimbursement of the expenses for the buildings thereon and other
improvements, the value of the same to be settled by experts mutually
agreed upon.
The students of mercantile economy will find that on November 11,
1707, the Intendants Raudot (père et fils), writing to the Minister
Pontchartrain, speak of the sad state of the country produced by the
low price of the beaver, but still more by the loss of 50 per cent
on the money given in France for the Canadian letter of exchange. In
1709 M. de Pontchartrain is surprised to hear that Montreal is filled
with English merchandise--a thing not to be tolerated. This was not
surprising, seeing that the Canadians were not producers, and the
purchase of all their supplies from France became very expensive. A
memoir of Raudot of July, 1708, gives an explanation that suffices. Too
much reliance had been placed on the beaver trade which had been the
pivotal point of the prosperity of the country, but it was necessarily
a precarious resource. Sooner or later, there must result either a
rarity of this product or a decrease in price. At present the colony
was suffering from the latter. Agriculture, he pointed out, should be
the principal object, but it was only an accessory. The beaver had been
the gold mine of the country. The inhabitants had sought the woods
first, preferring an adventurous and profitable life to a laborious one
on the soil. Thus they had cultivated laziness and negligence. There
was, however, a great quantity of cattle and easy food supplies, but a
great scarcity of clothing. The trade of the country turned on a sum of
600,000 _livres_ and it was with this sum that it had to settle for its
purchases in France. This is too little for a population of eighteen
to twenty thousand souls. Everyone pays in kind for the merchandise
bought in France, in such a way that money does not even come this way.
Merchandise is very dear and the _habitant_ will not work except for a
fat salary, saying that he uses up more wearing apparel in working than
he can gain by his work. The remedy for this state of affairs is, to
urge the population to the production of wheat, cattle, timber, oils,
ships, by finding a market for Canadian products. He further deprecates
the policy then in vogue of thinking too much of the trade interests of
France. He urges the minister to be wide-minded, and to realize that by
providing a wider field for the colony, the interest and prosperity of
the colony ought sooner or later increase the prosperity of the mother
country.
If France had learned this lesson of colonization, there would never
have been the loss of this country to the English a half century
later. The pupildom of New France was continued far too long by an
overstrained, narrow and jealous paternalism.
We have made these lengthy notes on the trade relations of the colony
because Montreal was the center of the beaver traffic. Indeed, as
we have seen, there were not wanting those who were opposed to
the expansion of the colony through outlying posts, but wished to
concentrate in the lower part of the colony--the same principle already
prevailing, which was to stand in the way of the growth and development
of Ontario and Upper Canada in later years under the British rule.
A memoir presented to M. de Pontchartrain in 1710 makes this position
clear, while the replies in the margin by M. de Vaudreuil, the
governor, and MM. Raudot (father and son), joint-intendants, show
the opposite view. The memoir hopes that the _congés_ or permits to
trade up-country will not be repeated; they have been the source of
all the evils, lawlessness and pernicious traffic in _eau de vie_ and
of the stagnation of agriculture, contrary to the aim of this colony,
which was to humanize and evangelize the savages. This suppression
of _congés_ would have the effect of raising the value of beaver
skins, whose present abundance cheapens the market at this time. It
would be of more avail to allow the Indians to bring their poultry to
Montreal in exchange for merchandise, for the expense of transporting
merchandise to them in the West raised the price so much that the
Indians were constrained to go to the English for their supplies. The
English did not allow their people to trade far afield. It was because
M. de La Barre had not followed a similar policy that the French had
had a war of fourteen years with the Iroquois.
The Marquis' reply was to the effect that it was the abuse of the
_congés_, too frequently granted, and not their moderate use that
was at fault. Rightly exploited and curtailed, they would favor
the conversion of the Indians, the increase of the colony and the
preservation of peace. The chief thing was to stop the liquor traffic.
As for the savages going to the English, three or four hundred leagues,
for cheaper merchandise, that was unreasonable if the goods were taken
to them. But if they were not, and the choice lay between Montreal
and Orange, then they would certainly choose the latter place because
of cheaper prices. The fourteen years' war was not a result of the
_congés_, but of M. de La Barre's action in allowing the Iroquois to
pillage the French. It is true that the English do not mingle with
the affairs of the Indians, but prefer to allow them to destroy one
another; thus they are not loved and have no influence. Our policy
is otherwise, and hence our strength. We maintain the peace of the
whole West. If Michillimackinac had been reestablished, the "sauteux"
would not have attacked the Pottawatomies, or attempted to cut the
ears of the Iroquois--a failure which may still lead us to war again.
What restrains the Iroquois from striking a blow at any of the savage
tribes is, that they know, that by our efforts they will not have the
opportunity of destroying these nations one after another, as they did
formerly, but that they will have all of them on their back, at one and
the same time.
A picture of a Sunday morning or feast day crush at the church door
after service is to be found in an _ordonnance_ of Jacques Raudot of
January 21, 1708, when on account of the disorders arising, from those
_habitants_ with carriages and those on horseback, urging their horses
to depart so quickly that they butt into one another and even into the
foot passengers, to the risk of wounds and even of life, he enjoins
under a penalty of 10 _livres_, applicable to the local parish church,
that none should put their horses into a trot or a gallop until they
are ten _arpents_ from the church. This notice was fixed at the door of
Notre Dame. It is to be hoped the _curé_ had no occasion to look for
any fines, after it had been sufficiently promulgated.
Road traveling in 1709 was no easy thing at all times, but in the
winter least of all.[172] Yet it was necessary to keep up communication
between Montreal and Quebec, so we can appreciate the wisdom of Jacques
Raudot's _ordonnance_ of December 13th of this year, enjoining all the
_habitants_ of the country in the districts north of the St. Lawrence
to cut out, each one, before his habitation, a roadway in the places
most convenient, as well as to make a roadway across the lake in the
accustomed places.[173]
In 1709 we find Raudot dealing a blow at horse breeding. In an
_ordonnance_ of June 13, 1709, being informed that the _habitants_ of
the government of Montreal are rearing too great a number of horses
to the detriment of horned and wool bearing cattle, whose pastures
are eaten by the horses and whose number was decreasing, and as the
attention of the government ought to be principally directed to their
increasing abundance, it is ordered that each inhabitant shall not have
more than two horses, or mares, and a colt, after the seeding time of
the year 1710, to give time to get rid of the superfluous ones; after
which they will be obliged to slaughter those not disposed of.
Pigs straying in the streets, in 1710, brought an _ordonnance_ from
Raudot of June 29th; they had been the cause not only of filth, but of
sanitary disorders and infection, and owners were given five days to
enclose them, otherwise the pig were to be permitted to be killed and
the proceeds to go to the poor of the Hôtel-Dieu. On the 4th of August,
Raudot enjoined on all the owners of pigs in the colony to put muzzles
on them so that those found doing damage to grain or field produce,
without their muzzles on, could be killed for recompense.
The licencing permits of Montreal were overhauled by Antoine Denis
Raudot, conjoint intendant, during his stay in Montreal in June,
1710, when by an _ordonnance_ dated June 23d, having found that
there were many selling liquors without permission of the local
government, he ordered that there should only be ten licenced
"cabaretiers-aubergistes," who shall sell all kinds of drink to the
French, but not after 9 o'clock in the evening, and never to the
Indians, under penalty of losing their licences.
In addition, he licenced nine other innkeepers, to sell _beer only_,
and then in moderation, to the Indians, three for those of the St.
Louis district, two for that of Sault-au-Récollet, two for the
Nepissingués, and two others for the Abenakis, Ottowans and other
savages, who came to the town to trade. Those with this beer licence
had to refuse liquor to the Indians after the _retraite battue_, and
never to let them take drink away with them; while they were obliged
to give lodging to the savages if they wanted to stay. This second set
of licence holders, however, had the privilege of selling any kind of
drink to the French. We can imagine that these latter outlying saloons
were in danger of being disorderly. Yet the number of illicit "houses"
increased so that in 1726 Claude Thomas Dupuy issued an _ordonnance_,
dated November 22d, which affected Montreal as well as other cities
in the regulation of the sale of liquors. By this new order, which
contained fourteen articles on the subject of innkeepers and liquor
sellers of all kinds, from the fashionable _hôtel_ of the time to the
humbler vendor of wine who had his piece of evergreen bush outside his
door--a bundle of pine sprigs, maybe, to show that drink was served
inside. Even all those who had been given licences previously by local
authorities were now to send in their titles and credentials before
receiving in return a new licence expressly signed by the intendant
himself. It was a necessary measure borne in upon him by many officers
of troops, masters and fathers of families, who complained that the
numerous cabarets were turning the youth, the soldiers and the servants
away from duty, respect and service. Hence the intendant's drastic
measure in striking at the root of the evil by putting down illicit
vendors and restricting the legitimate licences.
As an instance of the methods of the day we may cite an instruction of
the king to MM. de Vaudreuil and Bégon of June 15, 1712. "M. Bégon will
take in hand the reduction of the number of horses. The _habitants_
have only need of them to till the soil, to haul their timber and to
transport their wheat. It is not natural that the inhabitants should
make use of them during the winter to communicate with other places
instead of going on snowshoes, as they ought to do. Too great attention
cannot be paid to make the people take to this usage, now almost a lost
art, and the _habitants_ should be prevented as far as possible from
leading an easy life by these soft methods, since such diminishes their
strength and breaks down their courage."
[Illustration: MICHEL BEGON]
Those interested in the first mention of immigrants of various
nationalities, settling in Montreal, will find that in 1712 two ladies,
English Catholics, Marie Silver and Esther O'Wellen, had obtained the
favor of naturalization. At the same time, June 24th, the king demands
a complete list of all English Catholics settled in Canada.
In 1714 we find mention, by Intendant Bégon, of an Irishman, "Jean La
Haye, un Irlandais" (probably John Lahy, Leahy, or Lahey, who had been
settled in the district of Lachine for twenty-two years), who had been
arrested with an Englishman, Jean Joublin, Anglais (probably a John
Jobling), for counterfeiting card money. These were probably prisoners
of war who had remained behind.
On the date of March 7, 1724, at Versailles, a brevet to practice
medicine in Montreal under the orders of Sieur Tarrazin, royal
physician of Quebec, was granted to one Timothy Silvain (Sullivan), an
Irishman by birth. On March 19, 1714, letters of naturalization were
granted to an Englishman, Claude Mathias Senif, settled at Montreal.
Engineers and others will note the reply of the king on March 22, 1714,
concerning the proposition of M. de Breslay, who had sent the king a
specimen of a marble taken from a mountain situated twenty-one leagues
from Montreal and at a league and a half from Long Sault, and who
recommended the completion of the Lachine Canal. The king replied that
the canal was not practicable by reason of the expense and the marble
did not appear excellent enough to warrant it either.
In the course of this history we have given indications of the lives
of some of the outstanding characters of Montreal whom the genius of
the place fostered. It is fitting that we should take notice of the
last days of the recluse, Jeanne LeBer, whose extraordinary career was
one of the products of the age now being treated. She died on October
3, 1714, in her fifty-third year, after having lived fifteen years as
a recluse in her parents' house and twenty more in the retreat made
by herself in the Convent of the Congregation. The manner of her life
was thus described as early as 1702 by M. Bacqueville de la Potherie
in his "Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale." "I can not pass by in
silence," he says, "an extraordinary trait of virtue of a young lady,
making her abode in the Community of the Sisters of the Congregation,
Miss LeBer, the only daughter of the richest merchant in Canada.
She has an apartment in which she is enclosed, having no outside
communication than that offered by a window looking out into the
chapel. Her food is brought her, through a little opening in the door
of her chamber. She sleeps on the hard floor. Her spiritual director is
M. Leguenot, an ecclesiastic of St. Sulpice, and she sees her father,
M. LeBer, only once or twice a year. In this solitude in which she has
been for eight or nine years, she has formed a new temperament so that
she could, with difficulty, now embrace any other manner of life. She
has, however, a peaceful and docile disposition: the kind of life she
lives does not consist in the abstract speculations of mental prayer,
though she employs two hours daily in its practice. All the rest of the
time she gives herself to good works of which she makes a present to
the community."
Her benefactions were very great. By a contract of October 10, 1696,
she gave the sum of 3,000 _livres_ for the maintenance of a sister to
worship day and night before the Blessed Sacrament in the Community
Chapel. On the 25th of October, 1708, she gave another foundation of
8,000 _livres_ for a daily mass, 2,000 of which was to be expended in
the upkeep of the lights and sacred vessels. She also was desirous of
adding to the convent suitable buildings for the boarding house of the
_pensionnaires_ and for the schools and of founding a number of burses
for the education of poor girls who could not afford the pension. The
foundation stone was placed on May 13, 1713, and on September 9, 1714,
she disposed of the sum of 13,000 _livres_ for the burses mentioned.
After this act she did not live more than twenty-four days, having
contracted an affection of the chest through rising during the night,
as was her wont, to worship the Blessed Sacrament. Her death was the
signal of an outburst of reverence. In the "History of the Hôtel-Dieu
of Quebec," Mother Jucherau chronicles the event thus: "Her body was
exposed for two days for the consolation and devotion of the whole of
Montreal and the neighbourhood, whence crowds came to look upon and
wonder at the holy body of this virgin. Her intercession was invoked
with confidence. Her poor tattered garments and even her straw slippers
were seized, as well as anything belonging to her, as revered relics.
Several persons, afflicted with diverse maladies, approached her coffin
and touched her with much reverence and faith, and we are assured that
they have been cured. After this great gathering her body was carried
to the door of the parish church, where a most solemn burial service
was held; the greatest marks of veneration were paid her; and M. de
Belmont, superior of the seminary, pronounced a very beautiful funeral
oration." The text chosen was from the book of Judith, Chapter XV, v.
10, "_Tu honorificentia populi nostri_." "It is thou who art the glory
of our people," indicated the degree of veneration and sanctity in
which the deceased recluse was held by the people, most of whom had
only heard of her by repute, never having seen her.
Her body was then taken to the Chapel of the Congregation and buried by
the side of her father. The following inscription was placed above her
resting place:
CI-GIST VENERABLE SOEUR JEANNE LEBER, BIENFAITRICE DE CETTE MAISON,
QUI, AYANT ETE RECLUSE QUINZE ANS DANS LA MAISON DE SES PIEUX
PARENTS, EN A PASSE VINGT DANS LA RETRAITE QU'ELLE A FAITE ICI. ELLE
EST DECEDEE LE 3 OCTOBRE 1714, AGEE DE 52 ANS.
In 1715 there occurred a charge of murder against Jean d'Ailleboust
d'Argenteuil. The major of the town and of the government of Montreal
was then Jean Bouillet, Sieur de la Chassaigne. Acting as procureur
of the king, he demanded that d'Argenteuil should be declared guilty
of the crime and condemned to have his head cut off, and, as he was
absent, this should be done in effigy. The court martial came to the
same conclusions, the judges being Captains Le Verrier and d'Esgly,
the Count de Vaudreuil, de Beaujeu, Du Vivier and de Buisson. As M.
de Vaudreuil was a relative of the accused, the place of president was
taken by the Baron de Longueuil, who held the trial in his own house.
Bankers and numismatists will learn that in the process of withdrawing
the "card" money and putting an end to its circulation, the minister
in a letter, dated February 17, 1715, to M. de Norisbel says, that
out of 230,000 _livres_, so withdrawn by M. Bégon, the intendant,
there has thus accrued to the profit of the king a benefit of 160,000
_livres_, which private persons lose. It was precisely this kind of
impoverishment suffered by the people which eventually reconciled them
to the English rule later.
In 1717, by a decree of May 11th, the merchants of Montreal were
given the same privileges of the merchants in France of meeting in a
convenient place to transact business in an exchange or _bourse_ with
the instruction to name one of their number to make representations in
the name of all for the good of commerce to the governor general and
the intendant of New France.
Genealogical students of the origins of Montreal families will learn
from an edict of March 9, 1717, that it was decreed to maintain the
children and grandchildren of Jacques LeBer, the Montreal merchant.
This was in consequence of a request presented by his son, Jacques
LeBer de Senneville, and the children of another son, Jacques LeBer
de St. Paul. It is alleged in this report that the letters patent
of nobility were promised to Jacques LeBer by M. de Frontenac, but
that subsequently by an edict of March, 1696, it was settled that
letters of nobility should not be forthcoming except for a financial
consideration. As Jacques LeBer conformed to this condition he received
his letters of nobility in November, 1696. But by another edict of
August, 1715, all the titles of nobility accorded since 1689 for a
financial consideration, were suppressed and revoked. Hence the present
request relies on the representation of the services rendered by
Jacques LeBer and his sons during all the wars; that one of them was
slain in 1691, when he was commanding a party of eighty men, in a fight
against the English, at La Prairie de la Madeleine.
In the same year letters patent of April 20, 1717, were issued giving
permission to the Le Moynes to register at the Parliament Court of
Paris and the _Cour des Aydes_, the letters of nobility accorded
in the month of March, 1668, to Charles le Moyne de Longueuil and
en-registered at the _Chambre des Comptes_ on February 21, 1680.
This document cites the service of the founder of the family,
Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, and of his sons: Charles (baron de
Longueuil), Pierre (d'Iberville), Joseph (de Sérigny), Jean Baptiste
(de Bienville), and Antoine (de Chateauguay). There is also a notice
of Francis, son of Pierre d'Iberville. This document states, that
the founder, Charles, had eleven sons, six of whom had died in the
king's service after distinguished careers. The survivors at this date
were Charles, Baron de Longueuil, de Sérigny, de Bienville and de
Chateauguay. Of these, at this period de Bienville and de Chateauguay
were in Louisiana. Charles was in Canada and an active member of the
Montreal district, holding important appointments. De Sérigny was
probably in France, for he was then the seigneur of the Château de
Loire in Aunis. The bones of the brave d'Iberville were resting in a
cemetery of Havana.
Sportsmen may learn that partridge shooting was prohibited between
March 15th and July 15th by an _ordonnance_ of MM. de Vaudreuil and
Bégon, dated January 28, 1720. In the same year the lieutenant-general
of the jurisdiction of Montreal on May 10th forbids the merchants
and private persons to keep more than ten pounds of powder on their
premises. On May 21st an _ordonnance_ of the Intendant Bégon forbade
gunshots in the town and in the barns and other buildings in the
country places.
A similar injunction was repeated by Intendant Dupuy on March 21, 1727,
with the addition of a fine of 100 _livres_, for catching them by net
or snare, or taking their eggs.
The druggists of today will hear with satisfaction of the
recommendation by the king in a letter to MM. de Vaudreuil and Bégon,
on June 8, 1721, of a powder, and the details of its composition,
that was very much valued in sicknesses. This had just been recently
made public. It was an Alkermes or _Aurifique de Glaubec_, prepared
by Bolduc and La Serre, apothecaries to the king: it could cure the
fevers, dropsy, vertigo, apoplexy, dysentery, gravel, smallpox,
etc. English and American journals of that period contain numerous
advertisements of similar "quack" medicines.
There is an act, dated July 1, 1721, of a land sale on the Coteau St.
Louis at Montreal by the seigneurs of the seminary to M. Charles de
Ramezay de la Gesse. This was to establish a brickyard and tile works.
To 1721 we may date the first beginnings of our Canadian postal
service. In this year a posting system for the transportation of
letters and travelers was created between Montreal and Quebec and the
monopoly was rented for twenty years to M. Lanouiller on the condition
of observing a certain tariff, according to distances, imposed by the
Intendant Bégon. We may now give a picture of Montreal in 1721, as
described by Charlevoix:
"This town has a very pleasing appearance. It is well situated, well
laid out and well built. The charm of its surroundings and its streets
inspires a certain gayety, which everybody feels. It is not fortified.
A simple palisade with bastions, badly enough maintained, offers the
sole defence with a rather wretched redoubt on a little rising ground,
which serves as a boulevard and shelves down to a little square. This
is the first point which one meets on arriving from Quebec. It is not
forty years since the town was quite unprotected and exposed daily
to be burned by the savages or by the English. It was the Chevalier
de Callières who had it closed in. For some years there has been a
project afoot to surround it with walls, but it will not be an easy
task to induce the inhabitants to contribute to its expense. They are
brave, and they are not rich. There has already been found difficulty
in persuading them of the necessity of this expense since they are
strongly convinced that their valour is more than sufficient to defend
their town against any force that would dare to attack it....
"Montreal is a long square, situated on the bank of the river which,
rising insensibly, divides the whole into high and low town, without
any appreciable line of demarkation. The Hôtel-Dieu, the King's
storehouses and the place d'Armes are in the lower town; this is also
the merchants' quarter. In the upper town are the Seminary, the parish
church, the Recollects, the Jesuits, the ladies of the Congregation,
the Governor and the greater part of the officers. Beyond a little
stream which comes from the northwest and bounds the town on this
side, there are to be found some houses and the General Hospital and
on the right, above the Recollects, whose convent is at the end of the
town, or the same side, there is commencing to form a kind of suburb,
which in time will be a very beautiful district. The Jesuits have only
a small house here, but their church, which they have just finished
covering in, is large and well built. The convent of the Recollects is
much larger and its community more numerous. The seminary is in the
middle of the town. It would seem that the object has been to make
it solid and commodious rather than handsome. Its dignity, however,
is such that one is not allowed to forget that it is the Seigneurial
Manor; it communicates with the parochial church, which has more the
air of a cathedral than that at Quebec. The services are conducted with
a modesty and a dignity which inspire respect for the majesty of God,
adored there. The house of the ladies of the Congregation, although
one of the largest in the town, is too small as yet for its numerous
community. It is the mother house of the order and the novitiate of
an institute which ought to be all the dearer to New France and to
this town in particular, since it originated here and the whole colony
partakes in the advantages which so worthy an establishment brings to
it.... The Hôtel-Dieu is served by nuns, whose first members were drawn
from the Hôtel-Dieu of La Flèche in Anjou. They are poor; yet this is
seen neither in their hall, which is large and well furnished and well
supplied with beds, nor in their church, which is handsome and well
ornamented, nor in their dwelling house, which is well built, becoming
and spacious. But they are badly fed, although they are all occupied
indefatigably, whether with the instruction of children, or the care of
the sick.
"There can still be seen, from time to time, little flotillas of
Indians arriving at Montreal, but this is nothing in comparison with
the past. It is the Iroquois wars which have interrupted this great
gathering of the nations in the colony. To remedy this, storehouses
with forts have been established among the greater part of them, where
there is always a commandant and soldiers enough to place the stores in
safety. The savages always wish to have a gunsmith with them. In many
places there are missionaries among them, who would do more good, if
they were the only Frenchmen there. It would seem good to put things
again on their former basis, seeing that throughout the length and
breadth of the colony there is now peace. This would be the means of
restraining the _coureurs de bois_, whose cupidity, without speaking of
the other disorders brought about by their looseness of life, brings on
daily instances of dishonesty, which make us despicable in the eyes of
these barbarian people."
FOOTNOTES:
[165] A decree of May 7, 1679, forbids local or particular governors to
arrest or imprison any of the French inhabitants without the express
order of the governor and lieutenant-general, or that of the Sovereign
Council, or to condemn any to _l'amende_," or to exercise any judgment
of their private authority in this respect.
[166] In 1881 it was still the only one, though the post office clock
was shortly expected to rival it.
[167] In 1714-16 he again acted as administrator of the colony.
[168] The origins of our canal system. President's address before the
Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, 1906, by Ernest Marceau.
[169] He died the next year. A tablet on the seminary wall today reads:
"François Dollier de Casson, first historian of Montreal, captain under
Marshal de Turenne, then priest of St. Sulpice during thirty-five
years. He died in 1701, curé of the parish."
[170] Going up St. Gabriel Street to St. Thérèse, and then turning to
the east and going down St. Vincent to St. Amable and along the latter
street to Jacques Cartier Square, several old houses may be seen. In
one, on St. Vincent Street, erected in 1693, lived de Catalogne, who
was the engineer of the first Lachine Canal.
[171] Apparently some of the employees engaged by Madame were English
Protestants, for in a letter of the same date written to Vaudreuil and
Raudot, it is asked if the English employees of Madame de Repentigny
have yet been made Catholics.
[172] A vehicle on wheels first went from Quebec to Montreal in 1734.
[173] There is a similar disposition today to procrastinate in all city
planning and health movements.