France and England in North America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIVParkman, Francis
History
France and England in North America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIV
Parkman, Francis
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de, 1620-1698
Frontenac had received stringent orders from the king to arrest all the
bush-rangers, or coureurs de bois; but, since he had scarcely a soldier
at his disposal, except his own body-guard, the order was difficult to
execute. As, however, most of these outlaws were in the service of his
rival, Perrot, his zeal to capture them rose high against every
obstacle. He had, moreover, a plan of his own in regard to them, and had
already petitioned the minister for a galley, to the benches of which
the captive bush-rangers were to be chained as rowers, thus supplying
the representative of the king with a means of transportation befitting
his dignity, and at the same time giving wholesome warning against the
infraction of royal edicts. [2] Accordingly, he sent orders to the
judge, at Montreal, to seize every coureur de bois on whom he could lay
hands.
[2] Frontenac au Ministre, 2 Nov., 1672.
The judge, hearing that two of the most notorious were lodged in the
house of a lieutenant named Carion, sent a constable to arrest them;
whereupon Carion threatened and maltreated the officer of justice, and
helped the men to escape. Perrot took the part of his lieutenant, and
told the judge that he would put him in prison, in spite of Frontenac,
if he ever dared to attempt such an arrest again. [3]
[3] Mémoire des Motifs qui ont obligé M. le Comte de Frontenac de faire
arrêter le Sieur Perrot.
When Frontenac heard what had happened, his ire was doubly kindled. On
the one hand, Perrot had violated the authority lodged by the king in
the person of his representative; and, on the other, the mutinous
official was a rival in trade, who had made great and illicit profits,
while his superior had, thus far, made none. As a governor and as a man,
Frontenac was deeply moved; yet, helpless as he was, he could do no more
than send three of his guardsmen, under a lieutenant named Bizard, with
orders to arrest Carion and bring him to Quebec.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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