Talon has been styled the Colbert of Canada. Colbert was the most enlightened statesman of France at that period, and combined within himself most of the qualifications of his predecessors, Richelieu and Mazarin, the chief advisers of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. He was distinguished, besides, by greater personal integrity than those personages possessed. In fact, Colbert may be esteemed the principal instrument of the greatness attained by France under Louis XIV., notwithstanding the extremely despotic character and personal profligacy of this King. Talon, on a smaller scale, in Canada, by his wonderful energy and ability, effected results of a similar nature to those produced by Colbert in France, especially in procuring that all the institutions of the country and all authority should centre in the King. He also was the principal means of establishing in Canada the general system of management of affairs, political, civil, and commercial, which prevailed up to the time when the colony was finally severed from the mother country. Even the warlike disposition which the French. Canadians displayed subsequently to his days was mainly sustained by the arrangements introduced by Talon, and which secured a succession of military Seignieurs-those of Portneuf, Becancour, Sorel, Chambly, and others-whose names are noted in the struggles of the colony. To what has already been said in commendation of this remarkable man, it may be added, that he was well versed in philosophy and learning, and that he was loyal and honest. Had his successors been equally gifted and capable, as well as equally honourable in the management of affairs confided to them as Intendants, it may be conjectured that the resources and progress of the colony in all respects would have been very much greater than they were found to be at the close of another century. Not long after Talon's departure for France, where he continued to promote the interests of

Canada, his nephew, M. Perrot, became Governor or Commandant of the Island of Montreal.

The colony, under the auspices of M. de Courcelle, and especially of Talon, had made very considerable progress. Between the years 1665 and 1670, the European population had increased from about three thousand to upwards of six thousand souls.* Talon had gone on a visit to France in 1668, and when he returned in 1670 he had brought out six Recollets, whose arrival occasioned great joy among the people, with whom the religious persons of that order were favourites. Many gentlemen, also, with officers and soldiers of the Carignan Regiment, came in the same year to occupy seigniories and lands granted to them on the banks of the St Lawrence. There were at this time more than a hundred scholars taught by the Jesuits in their college at Quebec, including both French and Indians.†

Quebec had already begun to be styled a city, including numerous religious edifices, as well as groups of houses of stone and wood occupied by the French, and the cabins or wigwams of Indians, ‡ located within reach of protection from the principal structure, Fort St Louis. In Ville

* In the year 1670-71 the births of nearly seven hundred infants were registered at Quebec.

As regards the results of efforts made to train and instruct the Indian children, it is recorded that they were, on the whole, unsatisfactory. The King of France repeatedly sent out directions to spare no pains in reducing the savages to the French habits and modes of life; but all that could be done, whether for children or adults, failed to effect any permanent change in their tastes and disposition, or to wean them from their preference for forest life. On the other hand, many French went to take up their quarters among the savages, and adopted their wild ways of living.

The Indians here referred to were mostly Hurons, the relics of the dispersed Huron nation that had taken refuge in Quebec. About the period indicated in the text they were all removed to St Foye, westward of the city. Some years later, about 1674 or 1675, they were again removed, and settled about nine miles north of the city at Lorette, where their descendants are still to be seen.

Marie (Montreal) there were about seven hundred European inhabitants, and the place began to be laid out into streets within a space surrounded by a sort of wall and of quadrangular shape. M. Perrot, Talon's nephew, had been appointed Commandant by the Seminary of St Sulpice, who had jurisdiction over the Island of Montreal.

About this time a number of converted Iroquois migrated to Canada, and were located, at first, on lands at La Prairie. Subsequently, as it was found that the soil and aspect were unsuited to the cultivation of their principal article of food, maize, they were moved to Sault St Louis (Caughnawaga), and lands assigned them, which are occupied by their descendants to this day.

But, as an offset to the general conditions which favoured the welfare of the colony, the inhabitants, both French and Indians, were troubled with maladies which proved fatal to many. Scurvy (mal-de-terre) not unfrequently affected the settlers, and particularly the soldiers in garrison, as well as the aborigines. One of the most dreadful scourges of those times was the small-pox. The art of vaccination was then unknown,* so that even in Europe the small-pox was often prevalent, unchecked, and carried off its victims, both rich and poor. In North America the native tribes suffered greatly from this disease. The years 1669 and 1670 were remarkable for its prevalence among the western Indians and the Iroquois, as well as the Canadian savages. The latter fell victims to it in such numbers that soon

* The discovery of vaccination by Dr Jenner was not made until about 1776, and the value of it not recognised generally for many years after that time. The small-pox had proved fatal to members of many royal and noble families in Europe during the previous century, besides carrying off multitudes of people. Count Platoff, the Cossack chief, said to Dr Jenner in 1814—“Sir, you have extinguished the most pestilential disorder that ever appeared on the banks of the Don."

afterwards the settlement at Sillery was nearly depopulated, and Tadoussac, for a time, quite deserted.

It was also about this time that the Iroquois began to establish, on a considerable scale, a regular traffic with the northern and western Indians, in such manner as to draw off the trade in skins from the route of the Lower St Lawrence, and so as to make themselves the channel of communication with the traders of the English colonies, who paid higher prices than the French. De Courcelle, foreseeing that Canadian commerce with the western tribes would be ruined in that way, undertook the expedition to the north shore of Ontario in order to menace the Senecas, as has been already described. The same cause led that Governor to project the establishment of a fort and military station at Cataracoui (Kingston), which was afterwards built by his successor, and called Fort Frontenac. This proceeding, of course, displeased the people of the cantons, as being calculated to defeat their plans, and to intercept the northern Indians bringing in the spoils of the chase.*

*It was during the governorship of De Courcelle that Charles II. of England granted the original charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, viz., in 1669. That Company thus acquired the right to traffic over all the territory bordering upon Hudson's Bay.

In June 1672, an exploring party, dispatched by the indefatigable Talon by the way of Tadoussac, the Saguenay, and Lake St John's, succeeded in reaching the southern coast of that bay, then called by the French "The North Sea."

CHAPTER XVIII.

COUNT FRONTENAC, GOVERNOR-DISSENSIONS-ARBITRARY PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNOR-APPEAL TO THE COURT OF FRANCEFRONTENAC'S ABILITY-FORT FRONTENAC-LA SALLE-MARQUETTE AND JOLIET-DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI-NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE IROQUOIS-LA SALLE'S PROCEEDINGS-THE COUREURS DES BOIS-DISSENSIONS CONTINUED RECALL OF THE GOVERNOR AND INTENDANT-POPULATION OF THE COLONYAGRICULTURAL RESOURCES-EXPORTS-ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS -LAVAL, FIRST BISHOP OF QUEBEC, AND THE RECOLLETS—LA SALLE,

128. THE successor of De Courcelle, Count Louis de Buade Frontenac, had served more than thirty years in the armies of France before he became Governor of Canada. In conjunction with many brilliant qualities, which fitted him for exercising a strong personal influence upon the inhabitants, and especially the savages placed under his rule, Frontenac had a haughty spirit and manner, and a temper which brought him often into collision with the other officials. On the retirement of Talon, Laval also being absent in France for a time, the new Governor claimed and exercised nearly all the powers of the Supreme Council. But when a successor, M. Duchesneau, came to occupy Talon's place, and when Laval returned, Frontenac's pretensions were resisted by those functionaries, and the consequence was a state of dissension which endured throughout the period of his administration.

129. The subjects of dispute were the relative powers of the Governor, Bishop, and Intendant; also the liquor