[Footnote 13: It was no doubt in large measure due to the extraordinary physical vitality of the French race in Canada that so strong a tendency was manifested towards this reversion, which of course was facilitated by the general condition of life in a country that was little else than forest. "_L'ecole buissonniere_" was at every one's door, and the men of the colony were not alone in feeling the call of the wild. Mere Marie de l'Incarnation, in her _Lettres Spirituelles_ says: "Sans l'education que nous donnons aux filles francaises qui sont un peu grandes, durant l'espace de six mois environ, elles seraient des brutes pires que les sauvages; c'est pourquoi on nous les donne presque toutes, les unes apres les autres." See Ferland's _Cours d'Histoire du Canada_, vol. ii. p. 85, who quotes this passage without any reference to page. Passages of similar purport may, however, be found on pp. 231 and 258 of the first edition (1681) of the _Lettres Spirituelles_.] [Footnote 14: Mr. P. T. Bedard, in his lecture on _Frontenac_, published in the _Annuaire_ of the Institut Canadien of Quebec for 1880 speaks of Frontenac's "duplicity" in this matter, a stronger term than the facts seem to justify.] [Footnote 15: Vol. iii. pp. 446-52.] CHAPTER V DIVIDED POWER If the king read carefully, as he says he did, the cruel mass of correspondence which Frontenac forwarded to him in connection with the Perrot-Fenelon imbroglio, he could hardly have failed to come to the conclusion that something was amiss in the state of Canada. Frontenac had begged, somewhat piteously, that he might be "sustained," and sustained he was in a manner, as we have just seen; but the king and the minister had their own opinion on the subject, which they only partly expressed in words, the rest they translated into action. Frontenac, from the date of his arrival in Canada, had been the only visible source of authority. Laval was in France, looking after the long delayed bull which was to raise him from the doubtful rank of a bishop _in partibus_ to the full legal status of bishop of Quebec. Talon, too, had left the country a few weeks after the governor's arrival, and no one had been sent to replace him. The old warrior had, therefore, had things entirely his own way, and his own way had not proved to be the way of peace. To place matters on a better footing, the court decided on two measures: to reorganize the Sovereign Council, and to revive the office of intendant. The council, it will be remembered, consisted of four members and an attorney-general, nominated by the governor and the bishop jointly, and holding office during their good pleasure. Henceforth it was to consist of seven members, each holding office by direct commission from the king. The main object of the change was to enable it to act with more independence in the performance of its proper functions, which were essentially of a judicial character. A secondary effect, probably