Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 1. Under the French Régime, 1535-1760

The census of Montreal for this year (1667) is given as 766 souls; Three Rivers and its dependencies, 666; Côte de Beaupré, 656; Isle of Orleans, 529; Quebec, 448; other settlements under the government of Quebec, 1,011; Beauport, 123; Côte de Lauson (south shore), 113. In this year there were 11,448 arpents under cultivation in New France. There were 3,107 heads of cattle, besides 85 sheep. These latter began to be imported in 1665, at the same time as the horses. In the following year 15,649 arpents were cultivated and the production of wheat amounted to 130,978 minots.

But more clergy was needed, so this year M. Souart, the curé of Montreal, went over to France to seek new missioners for the work of the Sulpicians. He left behind him M. Giles Pérot as curé and MM. Galinier, Barthélemy and Trouvé. At the Hôtel-Dieu the venerable superioress, Mother Macé, had five nuns under her direction, and at the house of the "Congregation" Marguerite Bourgeoys, with three helpers, continued her good work.

M. Souart brought back a most enthusiastic worker who was none other than the redoubtable Abbé de Queylus. There was at last no opposition on the part of Laval. The elements leading to this change of front are twofold: firstly, the archbishop of Rouen had some time ago renounced all pretension to jurisdiction in New France, and thus was removed Laval's contentious attitude against de Queylus, for it was not a question of persons with him, but of prerogatives. He had looked upon de Queylus as the representative of a rival authority which might tend to raise "altar against altar," and lead to schism and so destroy his policy of church centralization. Secondly, de Queylus had received an invitation from the king, who had been apprised of his good qualities through the papal nuncio, Picolomini, now become a cardinal, and the king's word went with Laval.

Accordingly, when de Queylus arrived in the spring with three Sulpicians, M. René de Brébant de Galinée, M. François Saturnin Lascares d'Urfé, [96] and his former secretary, M. Antoine d'Allet, Laval received them most cordially and gave de Queylus letters patent as his vicar general, a post held by him in Montreal during all his further stay.

Laval has described this reception himself in a letter to his friend, M. Poitevin, the curé of St. Fossé at Paris. Speaking of the consolation in receiving M. de Queylus and the new workers he says: "We have embraced them all in the name of Jesus Christ. What gives us most sensible joy is that we see our clergy disposed, with one heart and one soul, to procure the glory of God and the salvation of souls, both French and Indian. The fatherly tenderness which the king has made apparent to New France and the notable contributions he has made to make it more numerous and flourishing, furnishes an ample harvest field for all to employ their zeal and spend their lives for the love of Jesus Christ, who has given them the first inspirations to consecrate themselves to Him and His church."

This was not a diplomatic change of attitude with Laval. He was incapable of dissimulation or subterfuge. He saw the glory of God in the new situation and thenceforward the Sulpicians had a true friend and admirer.

On their part the Jesuits were no less cordial in their welcome. The "Relation" for 1668 speaks of the same powerful reinforcement of the clergy for Montreal and hoped for much good from "these great missionaries."

There were now about fifteen Sulpicians in Montreal when, in the month of June, 1668, an embassy of Iroquois came from the Bay of Kenté, on the banks of Lake Ontario, asking for a black robe to instruct their people in the religion of the white man. Two young priests, M. Fénelon and M. Trouvé, having offered themselves, on September 15th, Mgr. Laval gave them letters to establish their mission, and they embarked at Lachine on October 2d, and arrived at the Bay of Kenté (Quinté) on October 28th. This was the first mission of the Sulpicians. Their good work, begun at Montreal, was to stretch far and wide. If we do not follow them in detail it is because we are sketching only the original and cradle events of great movements in these annals. In the winter M. de Queylus sent M. Dollier de Casson and M. Barthélemy to Lake Nipissing.

The peace with the Iroquois left further opportunity for self-sacrificing missioners to work among them, so that in 1669 the clergy were glad to welcome the return of the Recollects. Not only did Laval welcome them, but the Jesuits, who succeeded them on the renewal of the French possession, after the occupation by the English under Kirke, though they are represented by mischief-making historians as having "supplanted" them, wrote as follows of their joy at their coming, in the "Relations" of 1670:

"The Reverend Recollect Fathers, who have come from France to be a new succour to the missionaries in the growth of this church, have given us an excess of joy and consolation. We have received them as the first apostles of this country, and in recognition of the obligation due to them by the French colony, the inhabitants of Quebec have been delighted to receive these good religious, now established on the same ground where they dwelt forty years before the French were driven from Canada by the English."

In fact, arrangements were made by those who had been put into possession of the Recollects' former estates, held prior to 1629, to cede them, and the friars now had an estate of ten by ten arpents, for which the governor general gave them new titles by an act of October 23, 1670.

We have now to record the appointment of a new governor for Montreal, left officially vacant since de Maisonneuve's departure, three and a half years ago, although several commandants had represented the Seigneurs. The choice fell upon M. Marie François Perrot, a gentilhomme by birth, and captain of an Auvergne regiment, who was then on the point of crossing over with his regiment to establish himself with his wife in Canada and doubtless make his fortune.

M. Perrot had married Talon's niece, Madeleine de Laguide, and it was the former intendant, then about to revisit Canada for a second time, who solicited the vacant post from M. de Bretonvilliers, the superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris who granted it by a letter addressed to M. Perrot on June 13, 1669, being "duly informed of your good life and character, talents, capacity and good qualities, we have made choice of your person to fill and exercise the office of governor ... without you at the same time being able to make pretensions to any salary or remuneration other than the country has been accustomed to give."

On the voyage, Perrot, his wife and Talon were shipwrecked, and they saved their lives on a broken mast by having promised a large sum of money to the sailors for having assisted them to it. Five hundred emigrants came with this expedition.

But on Perrot's arrival in Montreal, where he and his wife were well received, in pity for their shipwreck and out of interest in the lady governor—for Maisonneuve had been a sorry bachelor—he sought to have his commission made more certain by letters patent from the king. Accordingly, this was finally effected through Talon and Colbert, by letters dated March 14, 1671, and with the consent of M. Bretonvilliers, whose rights seemed not to be infringed, since it had been the custom for the governor generals named by the seigneur companies, also to receive a royal commission.

CHAPTER XVIII

The northern part of the island facing the Rivière des Prairies and Ile Jésus—a dangerous spot—was chosen for two contiguous "noble fiefs" by Dollier de Casson on December 1, 1671 and given to Phillipe de Carion de Fresnoy, lieutenant in Lamothe's company, and Paul de Morel, ensign in the same company.

To strengthen the position of these seigneurs, Carion and de Morel, smaller concessions were granted nearby in the early months of 1672. On December 26th M. Zacharie Dupuis, the commandant of the town, received the letters patent of his seigneury of Verdun.

The southwest of the island, facing the Lake of the Two Mountains, had yet to be guarded, and on January 19th Dollier de Casson gave a fief to M. Sidrac de Gué, now Sieur de Boisbriant, and added "the neighbouring island and shallows" at a given denomination, which afterwards caused a lawsuit.

M. de Gué shortly sold his fief to Charles Le Moyne, Sieur de Longueuil, and Jacques Leber, his brother-in-law. It passed later to the son of the latter and became the fief of the Sieur de Senneville, as it was then named. In April [97] following, a seigneury was given to Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux, the judge. On July 30th the fief adjoining called "Belleville" was given to the brothers Louis de Bertet de Chailly and Gabriel de Bertet de la Joubardière. Finally a fourth, adjoining the latter, was assigned to M. Claude Robutel de Saint André.

The vulnerable points on the Island of Montreal thus being provided for, Talon determined to revert, as he says, "to the ancient custom of the Romans of distributing proedia militaria to the soldiers of a subjugated country," and the large distribution of "noble fiefs" and patents of nobility of officers and others likely to guard a country, dates mostly from the months of October and November of the year 1672. In order to further strengthen Montreal and the entrance of the Richelieu River,—both principal positions for Iroquois descents,—fiefs were given to Sieurs de Laubia, de Labadie, de Moras, de Normanville, de Berthier, de Comporte, de Randin, de la Valterie, M. Jean Baptiste Legardeur de Repentigny, the son of Captain de Saint Ours, and the Sieur de Berthelot, to whom was given Ile Jésus, originally conceded to the Jesuits but not having been cultivated, was yielded up by them on November 7, 1672.

All the above concessions were made on the left bank of the St. Lawrence, from Lake St. Peter to the head of the island, ascending to the Rivière des Prairies. From the mouth of the Richelieu and ascending up stream on the other side of the river many other concessions were made by Talon to de Sorel, du Pas, de Chambly, Chevalier Pierre de Saint Ours (captain of the Carignan-Sallières regiment), Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur, de Vitré, de Verchères, de Varenne, de Grandmaison, Michel Messier, of Montreal, to whom was given the seigneury of St. Michel, and Jacques Le Moyne, also of Montreal, that of Cap de la Trinité; to Sidzac du Gué de Boisbriant, was given the Ile Thérèse facing Bout de l'Isle; to M. Boucher, the Seigneur de Boucherville, to Charles Le Moyne, two fiefs, one of which he called Longueuil, from his place of origin at Dieppe, in Normandy, and the other Chateauguay. To Zacharie Dupuis was given Heron Island; to M. Perrot the island below the southwest corner of the island, afterwards named Ile Perrot, after him, as well as Ile á la Paix, Iles aux Pins, Ste. Geneviève and St. Gilles.

This list of names has been given, since it is synonymous with that of many of the parishes hereafter erected in these districts, for not many of the seigneurs were as yet wealthy, and they could not fulfill the double condition of providing a village mill and a village church. Though noble in name, many were as poor as church mice. Having been granted their lands, for a nominal sum, in return for "fealty and homage," the new noble had to work hard to clear his land within a limited time, else he would forfeit it, for few had capital to work it. To make his claim permanent he had to subdivide his domain to cultivators en censive, or censitaires who tilled the land and paid his "cens et rente" on St. Martin's day to the seigneur, as was common at Montreal, in the shape of half a sou and a pint of wheat for each arpent. There were, however, restrictions such as having to grind his corn at the seigneur's mill, when there was one, for such was an expensive luxury. This was practically the only one of the "banalités," as they were called, of the French feudal system introduced into Canada, and it was not very much of a hardship. The "corvée" still existed, by which the seigneur could demand personal labor. In Canada this was about six days a year and was frequently remitted, as the seigneur found that the expense of food for the workers, etc., made it not worth his while to use their labour.

Not all the seigneurs were as diligent and as fortunate as Charles Le Moyne, of Montreal, who, from being the son of an innkeeper at Dieppe, founded the noble house of Longueuil and whose son Charles, Baron Longueuil, built a fort and a home which Frontenac said, gave an idea of the fortified châteaux of France.

Still many of these struggling nobles, with the revenue of a peasant, but who did sell their seigneuries, became fairly wealthy in time, and were the nucleus of the Canadian "noblesse" and "gentilhommes" for many a long day, though it must not be understood that all seigneurs were also ennobled, as in France.

Some of the lazier sort, who perchance looked to the "get rich quick" method of peltry trading, rather than the laborious toil of tilling the earth, were soon the victims of their own circumstances; for a few years later, in 1679, Duchesneau, the intendant, writing to the minister in France, says: "Many of our gentilhommes, officers and other holders of seigneuries, lead what in France is called the life of a country gentleman and spend most of their time in hunting and fishing. As their requirements in food and clothing are greater than those of the simple 'habitants' and as they do not devote themselves to improving their land, they mix themselves up in trade, run into debt on all hands, incite their young 'habitants' to range the woods and send their own children there to trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest, in spite of the prohibition of His Majesty. Yet, with all this, they are miserably poor." [98]

"It is pitiable," says another intendant, Champigny, in 1687, "to see their children, of which they have great numbers, passing all summer with nothing on them but a shirt, and their wives and daughters working in the fields."

Later, an intendant wrote to France not to create any more gentilhommes, for it meant making "beggars."

But it must be remembered that later letters of patent of nobility were not so easily granted as at this early tentative period, when noble, habitant, and peasant had a hard struggle with the soil to make all ends meet.

To form an idea of the establishment of a parish, it must be remembered that each seigneur was required to build a mill and a chapel to be served by a priest. The mill meant a heavy expense; the machinery had all to come from France, and the miller's wages had to be paid; the farmers, bringing grain, small in number. Beyond the three mills belonging to the seigneurs of the island at this period there was the one erected at Pointe aux Trembles and that erected by Jean Milot, a toolmaker, at a cost of 1,000 écus, after purchasing on November 9, 1670, La Salle's lands at Lachine, and that was finally taken over by the seminary also, on November 2, 1673. La Salle had been required to construct a mill, since his concession was larger than the military fiefs of 200 arpents granted to the other petty seigneurs. To these latter, the necessity of erecting their own mills was foregone on the stipulation that their grain and that of their censitaires, should be ground in the seminary mill.

The building of a parish church and providing a priest, both difficult tasks in this poverty-stricken time, were delayed for some time. The seminary meanwhile sent out its missioners to conduct services at Lachine and Pointe aux Trembles and the surrounding district. A temporary chapel was made in the rooms of farmers' houses as is done in country districts in the Northwest today. It was not till November 18, 1674, that the people of Pointe aux Trembles took definite steps for church erection, which resulted in the church of L'Enfant Jésus, blessed by the superior of the seminary on March 13, 1678, with the assistance of the curé of the new church and M. Jean Cavelier, brother of La Salle and a priest of the seminary.

The feudal system, prefigured by Richelieu long ago in his commission to the Marquis de la Roche and "following the custom of Paris," based on the tenure of land, was established as soon as peace was obtained, as the best method of building up the colony and of looking after private interests. It was a most suitable method for the time. The feudal absolutism then created, both of church and state, were necessary for the French at a period when they had not learned the first elements of self-government. The pity was that this system of leading strings was too prolonged and overdone, especially as later the French government did not do its duty by the people, thus preventing its progress by ruining its initiative. Had not the bolder spirits broken through it, we should not have had the redeeming point in the history of these times—the brilliant geographical discoveries. But in those early wild times the military civilization now forming and the paternal influence of the clergy at Montreal, seigneurs and parish priests, did much for that distinctively Canadian love of discipline and order, which is the foundation of the great and mighty people Canada is destined to be.

Talon, writing to Colbert on November 13, 1666, says: "I have already commenced the enfiefments by Montreal, the principal fief of this country, in receiving its 'foi et hommage' as also its 'aveux et dénombrements.'" A papier terrier, or land roll, was ordered to be made and a list of all the lands, houses and other properties accurately defined and registered. Uncertain titles were made clear and others made out that had been neglected.

The condition of land tenure was not onerous; the "cens and rentes" paid annually were not an equivalent for value received but a simple recognition of the legal primitive right of the seigneurs, on property given. Thus at Montreal, land sites on the portion reserved for the future town, had been given on the annual payment of five sous an arpent, while on those in the town itself all the annual revenue demanded was a liard for each fathom.

In all the Island of Montreal the tax for each arpent of land was two liards and a half pint of wheat. Thus the receiver of 100 arpents only paid fifty sous and fifty pints of wheat. In the first years, as the soil was not thought to be at its full value, he was relieved of all taxation. Sometimes, even the above slight tax was, for sufficient reason, modified. When any farm or small holding was sold or it passed by inheritance to collaterals, the seigneurs were entitled to "lods et ventes," a tax of one-twelfth of the estimated value of the land. This was usually paid within forty days of the transfer and a rebate was generally given of one-third, but not necessarily. If the farm was sold at a price lower than the seigneur thought proper, he had the right to purchase it back at the estimated value on which the tax of one-twelfth had been demanded. This system was by no means unjust. The seigneur gained very little, for during two centuries there were many lands which passed from father to son, or were passed on by donation without anything accruing to the seigneur who, it must be remembered, had practically granted the lands free to the "censitaires." It was only in later years when the lands became of substantial value that the "lods et rentes" gave a real source of income to them.

The feudal system worked well. Being based on land tenure, it centralized the people and made them powerful against attack, out of proportion to their numbers, as New England found later. It was as wise a system for New France as the introduction into Massachusetts "of free and common soccage."

It was wisely handled, on a more democratic basis than that of France, and there were no real grievances. The habitants and seigneurs moved side by side; indeed they frequently exchanged places. The class distinctions were never thus very arbitrarily defined as in France.

Whatever we may think of the military seigneuries, that of the Sulpicians of Montreal was very beneficial. Their rule was progressive and zealous. Speaking of such religious seigneurs William Bennett Munroe, Ph. D., professor of government, Harvard University, in his chapter in Volume II of "Canada and Its Provinces, 1912," entitled "The Seigniorial System and the Colony," says: "The priests seem to have had faith in the colony—which was more than could be said of all the Carignan officers who took lands from the king. This faith and optimism the priests often communicated to the people around them, and the results were seen in the neighbouring farms. The church in New France never lost, as at home, its grip on the confidence of those from whom it drew its chief strength—the rural classes. While it may seem that the crown was lavish to a fault in satisfying its claim to landed property, yet the church really gave the colony far more than it took away; for, if ever there abode on this earth labours worthy of their hire, these were the pioneer priests whose loyalty and devotion to France appear on every page of early Canadian history. The church owed much to the seigniorial system, but it made ample repayment." (P. 566.)

The parish life of Montreal, as that also of subsequent parishes, was that of an organized community or civil corporation. The head was the seigneur. One section, composed of those able to bear arms, formed the militia with its officers.

The seigneur could appoint its judge, and if unable to provide one, he could turn the cases arising to a neighbouring court, such as at Montreal. In addition, there would be the greffier, or clerk of the court, sergeants and the gaoler.

Municipal affairs were, at this time, managed at the "hangar," on the common of Montreal, through the syndic who had been appointed by a plurality of votes of the inhabitants in council, summoned thither by church bell. At these elections the judge was present as presiding officer, replacing the greffier, as mentioned in a previous chapter, and he was accompanied by the procureur fiscal and the greffier. Sometimes this election, for greater formality, was made in the hall of the seigneurs or at the château of the fort, as in the case of the election of syndic, Louis Chevalier, on May 15, 1672.

The syndic controlled the general law and order, and when necessary, called in the judge to his assistance, as on April 8, 1674, when the judge fined some delinquents, on the complaint of Louis Chevalier, then syndic, for damage done by straying cattle.

In order to surround the officers of the community with some dignity, various ranks were assigned, so that there should be an order of procedure in church or elsewhere, and notably in processions. In the latter the order was as follows: the governor general, the local governor, the officers of justice, the churchwardens. In the processions and in other religious ceremonies the military could claim no rank.

The marguilliers, or churchwardens, for their election needed an official document drawn up by the public notary, since they were an important body, being empowered to make contracts in the name of the Fabrique, and to make acquisitions and alienations. Zacharie Dupuis, major of the island, in 1666 is mentioned in such an act as honorary churchwarden. Up to 1676 these officers were elected by a general gathering, but at this date Laval ordered that the system, obtaining at Quebec since 1660, of election by secret votes, certified by past and present churchwardens, should be adopted in other parishes. In some localities, besides the marguilliers there was appointed a treasurer, or receiver of gifts or of fines made applicable to the Fabrique by the judge and other magistrates. According to custom, the parish church of each place was maintained by the inhabitants, as well as the establishment of the cemetery, and the preservation of its enclosure from damage. On one occasion we find at Montreal that cattle had broken into the enclosure, and the palisading had to be repaired.

No general taxation was made but it was ordered, in a general assembly, that M. Frémont, one of the priests of the cemetery, should go accompanied by one of the parishioners to canvass all the sections of the parish for a subscription for the purpose. Nevertheless we find that if the parishioners neglected their Easter duty of providing "blessed bread" for the church or chapel, an ordinance of Quebec of January 13, 1670, condemned them to an arbitrary fine.

As to the soldiers remaining after Tracy's departure, they had other duties beside the peopling of the colony. According to the feudal system incorporated by Talon, they were to take up land and incidentally be thus, by their presence, a safeguard for others against Iroquois attack. Montreal district, being the head and front of Iroquois invasion, consequently welcomed these colonists, and from Lake St. Peter to Lachine, on both sides of the St. Lawrence, fiefs were granted large and small to officers and men. Chambly, Sorel, Saint Ours, Contrecœur, de Berthier, de la Valterie, Varenne, Verchères, soldiers' names, mark military seigneuries established about this time. Thus strong sentinel posts were, by Talon's masterly statesmanship, gradually linked together by this band of soldiers now turned husbandmen after the fashion prevailing since the Roman invasions of Gaul and Britain. The holdings were near one another and were called "côtes." We have named several of them as already existing in the vicinity of Montreal.

The work of opening up the land was the great hope of the king. About this time horses began to be employed, for up to July 16, 1665, they were unknown to the Indians, and great was their astonishment to see the twelve French "elks" that arrived that day, and the docility with which they obeyed their masters. It was a great honour indeed to possess one of these. Of the consignment of one stallion and twelve mares in 1670, the following distribution was made: the stallion and a mare to M. Chambly, two to M. Lachenaye, and one each to MM. Talon the intendant, Saint Ours, Sorel, Contrecœur, Varenne, Latouche, Repentigny, La Chesnaye, and Leber. They were given with a view to their multiplication and, indeed, of all the other animals sent, the horses were the most prolific and successful. The conditions to be observed were: they should be kept in condition for three years; if any died during that time through the fault of the "donné," he should pay the king's receiver the sum of 200 livres. After the expiration of three years he might sell it and the foals, one of which he was to keep for the king's receiver, as well as the sum of 100 livres. It was further ordered that when these foals, given to the king's receiver, had reached the third year, they were to be given to private individuals as before on the same terms. Thus the stock breeding was merrily continued.

Cattle were sent to New France at this period, thus: 1665, 12 mares, 2 stallions, 7 sheep; 1667, 12 mares, 2 stallions, 29 sheep; 1668, 15 horses, 44 sheep; 1669, 14 horses, 50 sheep; 1670, 13 horses; 1671, horses and asses.

The asses sent in 1671 were distributed as follows: Sieur Marsollet, a male ass; Sieur Neveau, a female ass; the Jesuit Fathers, one male and one female ass; M. Dudouyt, a female; M. Damours, a female; M. de Villieu, a female; Sieur de Longchamps, a female; Bourg Royal, a female; Sieur Morin, a female. These did not suit the climate so readily. [99]

The cost of these horses and sheep was great. Each mare cost 120 livres, each stallion, 200, the sheep, about 6 livres apiece. In 1665 the transportation and feed of the consignment cost 11,200 livres. By November, 1671, Talon wrote that there were enough horses. Cows and pigs had already become as familiar as in France. It will be remembered that in 1647 a horse was sent for M. Montmagny, the governor general. In these early days the birch bark canoe was more useful than the horse, for the rivers were then the only highways.

Later on Montrealers became so interested in horse rearing that, "ignorant of their true interests," they had to be forbidden by Intendant Raudot in 1709 to possess more than two horses or mares, and one foal, for fear of neglecting the rearing of horned cattle.

But it must not be supposed that these seigneuries and small holdings grew up like mushrooms. The farmer's initiation for the first two or three years was a rough one. It was only by very patient labour, and, little by little, that the lands were cleared, tilled, and the modest house put up, and an assured means of easy livelihood secured. The cultivators had to follow the same strenuous methods that those, opening their concessions in the Northwest, employ today.

At Montreal, while there was still fear of the Iroquois, we have seen how difficult it was to work the fields, and how, for mutual protection, they had temporarily to till small portions of the seigneur's domain till they could safely go farther afield. But in 1664, when it was known that the king's troops were coming, many obtained new concessions on Côte St. Louis, some towards the mountain, some at the foot of the current near the fortified farm of Ste. Marie. In 1665 many resolved to go below the foot of the current and beyond the River St. Peter, for the lands on this side of the river, and especially those at Point St. Charles, had already been conceded, and although abandoned during the wars, were still claimed. East and west, the colonists now went afield to Côte St. Martin, Côte St. François (later called Longue Pointe), Côte St. Anne, Côte St. Jean (later called Pointe aux Trembles). At the latter place in 1669, land was given to Jean Oury with the intention of a village church and mill, being erected thereon.

These côtes were restricted to their river neighbourhood to guard the settlements from Iroquois descents by the stream.

This same plan was adopted along the whole length of the St. Lawrence. "It is pleasant to see at present," says the "Relation" of 1668, "nearly all the banks of our River St. Lawrence peopled with new colonies, with new villages rising, which facilitate navigation and render the journey, more agreeable by the sight of the houses, and more convenient by the frequent resting places offered."

All were not as diligent as could be desired in putting up within the year stipulated hearth and home (feu et lieu), or in clearing their concessions. Consequently when Talon was in Montreal in May, 1670, in consequence of just complaints he ordered that in future no copyholder should be granted land unless, in addition to building his homestead, he should put two arpents under cultivation yearly under penalty of forfeiting his grant, unless he could prove illness or other strong cause restraining him. Moreover, in the new contract, it was to be stipulated that no one could claim title to his land until he had put up his buildings and had placed two arpents in cultivation, with a pickaxe, for up to this, as seen by the concessions preserved in the archives up to 1657, a man had been thought to have tilled his ground if he had felled the trees and had uprooted all the roots which were a foot in diameter or upwards, and had used the others in such a way that a cart could pass along without obstacle.

Yet there were still difficulties, for on January 12, 1675, the Seigneurs put up the following public notice at the parish church, the fort, and the different mills:

"We have learned from many complaints, that several of our tenants take no trouble, not only to establish their homes on their lands and to put them to use, but even neglect to fell the timber, or to keep in order the little space they have cleared on taking possession. This negligence retards the advancement of the colony and prevents many strangers coming to take up land in this island and to dwell here. It causes a dearth of wheat and grain from which the people have suffered during the past two years. Finally it entirely ruins the adjoining lands already tilled, both because of the continued shadows which the standing woods cast on them, and because the squirrels and other small animals left on these uncultivated lands leave them to eat and destroy the greater part of the grain to the ruin of other lands."

To remedy this the seigneurs gave their tenants four months to put their lands in order and to cut down all standing timber on pain of forfeiture to the seigneurial domain.

Even in cutting down the timber there were abuses at Montreal. To provide against the carelessness of riverside cultivators, as all were at this time, in dumping their lumber into the river, Talon issued the following order in October, 1670: "Whereas it has been pointed out to us that the inhabitants of Montreal between Ste. Marie and La Petite Chine (Lachine) have cut their timber so that, having fallen into the river, it prevents navigation and blocks communication, we order them to cut their wood into logs and to place them on the stream in such a way that they may be carried away with the ice when it melts this year."

These logs could then be sold at Quebec in return for the necessities of life.

The history of the first public roads and bridges at Montreal now begins as the outcome of all this clearing and passing of carts to and fro. In the procès verbal of the road from Pointe aux Trembles to the stream, Jean des Roches gives us an insight into the formalities usually pursued. When the habitants had asked for a road, the Seigneurs or their representatives would meet them at the place indicated, when the projected road was traced and landmarks placed at intervals stamped with the lead seal of the Seigneurs. After the new road was clearly defined, a statement was drawn up, and then each proprietor set to work to clear the road space running through his property; if a bridge was necessary, one of logs was constructed; if a stream had to be crossed, being common property, all contributed to the construction of this as a public work. Thus the first bridge was thrown over the St. Pierre by order of M. Talon, dated October 24, 1670.

Several roads had already been partially made, e. g., from the redoubt of L'Enfant Jésus to Petit Lac (or the marsh which is now occupied by Place Viger and a part of St. Denis and Craig Streets); from the Coteau St. Louis to that of Ste. Marie; and provisional roads were made through the woods on either side of the River St. Pierre, and the marshy roads made practicable by log foundations or log bridges.

All these roads were eighteen feet broad, with the exception of the road bordering the River St. Lawrence, which Talon fixed at twenty feet; but the Seigneurs raised it to thirty-six feet seeing that it was used as a towing path for the horses drawing the bateaux between the currents and the rapids, and as it was the principal means of communication and circulation between the lower and higher parts of the island, they ordered the riverside owners to keep it in order. To indemnify them for the loss of this extra space, other land was added to the other extremity of their concessions. As most of these improvements took place under Intendant Talon, Abbé de Queylus and Dollier de Casson, city planners may know to whom honour is due.

CHAPTER XIX

The records of the city archives for June 23, 1672, give the details of a general assembly of the principal representatives of Montreal to build a large brewery to supplant that already in existence, and now found by experience, after the advent of the soldiers to be too small for the needs of the growing community. The money for this apparently municipal venture was borrowed from the Gentlemen of the Seminary, the only bankers of the time. Two water mills now began to be constructed, since with the advent of the soldiers, the old windmill at the fort and that of the "Côteau" no longer sufficed.

The manufacture of homespun materials was encouraged by Talon, but as yet it did not make much headway. Still Talon, writing in 1671 to Colbert, could report that he had caused drugget, coarse camlet, étamine, serge, woolen cloth and leather to be manufactured in Canada, adding: "I have, of Canadian make, the wherewithal to clothe myself from head to foot."

The first market place was opened in 1676 opposite the seigneurial manor house, which was established on St. Paul Street, and its site was the land now occupied today by the Inland Revenue and that running down to the river. Up to its opening, all sales had been conducted in private houses. The market was held every Tuesday and Friday from 8 o'clock A. M. in summer and 9 A. M. in winter to 11 o'clock A. M., and as there was no public clock then in the city the hour of commencing and closing were sounded by the parish church bell.

Some market prices of the period may be cited. M. Boucher, in his "Natural History of New France," written about 1663, says that a minot of wheat (French measure, 39 litres) cost 20 sous and sometimes 6 francs. After the arrival of the troops it sold for no more than 3 livres. In 1669, creditors were bound to receive the wheat of their debtors at 4 livres the minot. Under M. d'Argenson a barrel of 500 eels was sold for 25 to 30 francs. A hundred planks, 10 feet long, 10 inches broad and 1 inch thick, were worth 50 livres. Butter was sold at 12 to 16 sous a pound. An ox of seven to eight years, good for slaughter, went for 200 livres; an ordinary sow, 30 livres; a pig, good for killing, from 45 to 50 livres.

The day's work of a mason, a carpenter and a joiner was paid at the rate of 40 sous; that of a good manual labourer, 30 sous. Hired servants, after their time of service was completed, obtained 30 to 45 écus yearly, although their board cost their masters 200 livres, and in bad times 300. In 1663, day labourers, when boarded, were paid in winter at the rate of 2 sous and 30 in the summer. But after the arrival of the soldiers and the increase of population, prices were raised accordingly. By a judgment of the court of Montreal in 1667 the daily wage of manual labourers was valued at 40 sous and of artisans at 3 livres.

The master and apprentice system was not in vogue in Canada in these days, and everyone could set up for himself. Let us hope it was not so with the doctors, of whom there were from July 8, 1669, to the end of the following year, at least five, practicing in Montreal: Etienne Bouchard and Forestier, partners; René Sauvageau de Maisonneuve and Jean Rouxelle de la Rousillière, partners; and Jean Martinet de Fontblanche. The latter, later, had an "apprentice," for in the act of January 15, 1674, by Notary Basset, we find him promising to teach his brother-in-law, Paul Prud'homme, in the three years and a half with him, his art of surgeon and everything connected with that profession. In these days the first health officers of Canada were surgeons, pharmacists, doctors, dentists, apothecaries, all in one. They were officially mentioned as "surgeons" probably because the art of surgery in the time of hostility with the Iroquois was more in demand than that of any other department of medicine.

Montreal was a small enough place to support five medical men, especially as the treatment at the Hôtel-Dieu was gratuitous. In 1669, in the month of August, the letters patent confirming this body as a permanent and authorized corporation were granted.

CHAPTER XX

To encourage permanent settlement efforts were now redoubled to provide wives for the men. In 1665, 100 girls were sent over. In 1666, twice as many; in 1667, and 1668, still more; in 1669, 150 and the same in 1670. An ordinance published in Montreal November 30, 1670, shows the efforts of the government to promote match-making—all volontaires and others not married being forbidden the privilege of hunting, fishing and trading with the savages [100] and even of entering the bush under any pretext whatever, the latter prohibition probably being intended to prevent a bachelor finding a temporary Indian substitute for a French wife. Bachelors had a hard time. Colbert, writing to Talon on February 20, 1668, says: "It will be appropriate that those, who seem to have renounced wedlock, shall have to bear additional charges and to be deprived of all honours and even to have some marks of infamy added to them."

To press the execution of these commands, all those soldiers and unattached workers not having taken up land, were ordered to marry within fifteen days of the arrival of the ships bearing the girls. Thus, Marie de l'Incarnation tells us, in 1669, that no sooner are the vessels arrived than the young men go wife hunting, and marriages are celebrated thirty at a time.

Among the children of those already settled, early marriages were encouraged. "I pray you," wrote Colbert to Talon on February 20, 1668, "to command it to the consideration of the whole people that their property, their subsistence, and all that is dear to them, depend on a general resolution, never to be departed from, to marry youths at eighteen or nineteen years, and girls at fourteen or fifteen; since abundance can never come to them except through the abundance of men." And for this purpose the "king's present" of twenty livres to each of the contracting parties was given. Fathers of families, according to the decrees of the state council of this period, who did not marry their boys and girls when they had reached the ages of twenty-one and sixteen were fined, and following this up, they had to appear every six months after before the clerk of the court to give reason for further delays under penalty of fines to be made applicable to the hospitals.

We have already given indication of the extreme care that had been exercised at Montreal in the reception of such prospective mothers of the colony; how Marguerite Bourgeoys had herself brought over on her different voyages girls of noted virtue, whom she trained to become good housewives, and for many she found eligible partners in life.

At Quebec a similar work was carried on, by a Madame Bourdon, with motherly skill and devotion. If she was not as successful as Marguerite Bourgeoys this was not surprising, since the latter was singularly endowed by nature for such a task.

These girls were chaperoned, across the ocean, by the nuns or pious persons, or by Madame Bourdon herself, and then placed under her charge until marriage. We find an item of expense for 1671 paid by the king to a Demoiselle Etienne for the care she had taken in taking girls from the general hospital to Canada and in looking after them till they were married. These were received by Madame Bourdon.

Human nature, being very much the same then as now, we can imagine that some of these girls, drawn from the orphanages of Paris and Lyons, and carefully trained by the nuns, were rude and difficult to handle, but on the whole the venture was a great success. There was, of course, as Marie de l'Incarnation says, in 1668, "mixed goods," and in 1689, "along with honest people a great deal of 'canaille,' of both sexes who cause a great deal of scandal."

But such care was taken from the very beginning of colonization, since New France was viewed in the nature of a mission field, only to send persons of good repute and to deport undesirables, that French Canadians have no need to blush at their parentage. The families descending from the Carignan soldiers may point with pride to their origins. A caustic writer, La Hontan, writing twenty years after, by his amusing, witty, and scurrilous descriptions of the matrimonial market of this period, has done much to slander these early marriages, but he is discredited, and his version is regarded as a caricature and maliciously untrue, as Parkman points out.

These girls were called "les filles du roi," since they were maintained at the charge of the king's bounty in the philanthropic orphanages of France. At Montreal, under Marguerite Bourgeoys, they were lodged with her in a house bought by Saint Ange, since the old stable was too small. There, they were carefully instructed in religion and practical affairs to become good mothers of families, and they did not leave her till the day of their marriages. At this time, a pious congregation of lay women was formed by Marguerite Bourgeoys; these met on Sundays for the practice of virtue and many of the newly arrived girls were kept in touch with the gentle and motherly Marguerite, long after their marriages. It was from this date that her home began to be affectionately spoken of as "The Congregation."

In addition to girls of a humble class, demoiselles of a more superior station were also encouraged to come to provide wives for the officers and others, of whom Colbert wished to form the nucleus of a Canadian noblesse. Several others, who first thought of passing through the noviceship at the Hôtel-Dieu and joining the Hospitalières Sisters, found their vocation otherwise, like Perrine de Bélestre, sister of Picoté, who married Michel Godefroy, Sieur de Linlot, at Three Rivers.

When the king's daughters married, they were given the king's dowry, varying in form and value. Sometimes it was a house with provisions for eight months, more often, fifty livres in household supplies, besides a barrel or two of salted meat. [101] And when they were married they were encouraged to rear up a fruitful progeny, for in the "Edits et Ordonnances" of the Province of Quebec, p. 67, a decree is found that "in future all inhabitants of the said country of Canada, who shall have living children to the number of ten, born in lawful wedlock, not being priests, monks or nuns, shall each be paid out of the moneys sent by His Majesty to the said country a pension of 300 livres a year, and those who shall have twelve children a pension of 400 livres; and that to this effect they shall be required to declare the number of their children every year, in the months of June or July, to the intendant of justice, police and finance, established in the same country, who having verified the same, shall order the payment of the said pensions, one-half in cash, and the other half at the end of eight years." Furthermore, he ordered that fathers of large families should have preference over others unless there was strong contrary reason. The decreasing birth rate in France at that period prompted such regulations in New France. The king's activity through Colbert in peopling his colony is seen in numerous letters to his officials. In an instruction to the Intendant Bouteroue in 1668 Colbert writes: "The end and rule of all your conduct should be the increase of the colony; and on this point I should never be satisfied, but labour without ceasing to find every imaginable expedient for preserving the inhabitants, attracting new ones and multiplying marriages."

These encouragements bore fruit. Laval, writing in 1668, says: "The families of our French people in this country are very numerous; for the most part they consist of eight, ten, twelve, and sometimes as many as fifteen or sixteen children. The savages, on the contrary, have only two or three and rarely do they go beyond four."

The Abbé de Queylus, now superior of the seminary at Montreal, wrote to Colbert on May 15, 1669, that owing to the efforts of the king "the number of the inhabitants of New France has increased two-thirds."

The population propaganda at Montreal was left largely to the seigneurs of the seminary. In 1666, there were 582 persons; in 1667, there were 766; in 1672, the population was doubled to 1,500 or 1,600 souls, as Dollier de Casson relates in his account of this year, which is the concluding chapter of his "History of Montreal."

We may fitly conclude this chapter by giving two of the worthy Dollier's reflections:

"First reflection, on the advantage that the women have in this place (Montreal) over men, which is, that although the cold climate is very healthy for the one and the other sex, it is incomparably to the advantage of the feminine, which finds itself here almost immortal—this is what everyone says since the birth of this settlement and what I myself have remarked for six years, for although there are fourteen to fifteen thousand souls here, there has only been the death of one woman for the last six years."

"The second reflection will be on the facility which people of this sex have of marrying here, a fact which is apparently clear to all the world since it is practiced every year, but which is admirably shown by an example I am going to tell you of one qui sera assez rare. It is of a woman who, having this year lost her husband, has had one of the bans published, and being dispensed of the two others had her marriage performed and consummated before her first husband was buried. These two reflections in my opinion will be sufficiently strong to thin out the Hôpital de la Pitié and to secure a good party of girls from all the Paris orphanages if only they are desirous, to live long, or to cultivate a devotion to the seventh of our sacraments."

NOTE

IMMIGRATION—1665-1670

The Compagnie des Indes Occidentales, which had been granted the domain of New France from May 16, 1664, one year after the forced retirement of the Hundred Associates, brought over on the king's account, in 1665,[3] 429 men and 100 women and girls; in 1667,[3] 184 men and 92 women and girls; and in 1668, [102] 244 of both sexes.

In addition, during the above period 422 officers and soldiers of Carignan regiment were established in the colony. In 1666 the company sent out on its own account 35 hired men (engagés); in 1669,[4] 200 men and 150 women; in 1670,[4] 100 men and 100 women; in 1671,[103] 100 men and 150 women; in 1672, the war in Holland stopped the movement.

In 1670 there came five companies of fifty men each, making with their officers an effective force of 266. Thus for the first period we have sent at the king's account about one thousand four hundred persons, and for the second 1,116 about two thousand five hundred and sixteen in all. But there was a certain number of others who came to find a position, or were brought over by the owners of fiefs or by the seigneurs of Montreal.

Talon encouraged marriages so that with the establishments of the officers and the soldiers, joined to the activity of the emigration movement from 1665 to 1668, the families had more than doubled their numbers, and the population was also almost doubled during this period.

In 1665 the first census under Talon shows, at the commencement of 1666, 3,215 souls and 533 families; at the commencement of 1668, 6,282 souls and 1,132 families.

Yet the official report of Frontenac in 1673 after the departure of Talon gave only a population of 6,705. This seems incredible and Colbert expressed surprise. From 1669 to 1672 the king had sent over 820 persons without counting the soldiers arriving in 1670. Add to this the material increase, the six to seven hundred births of 1671 and those of 1672, estimated in advance by Laval at 1,100, and it is difficult to admit that the population had only increased by 423 souls from 1668 to 1673. The census of 1675 gives 7,833. This is more reasonable and leads to the conclusion that the returns of 1673 were too small.

The population of Montreal, according to Morin "Le Vieux Montreal," was as follows: 1642, 72; 1650, 196; 1660, 472; 1665, 525; 1667, 760; 1662, 830; 1680, 1,400; 1690, 1,567; 1700, 2,100; 1710, 3,492; 1720, 5,314; 1730, 6,351; 1740, 7,710; 1750, 8,224; 1760, 8,321.