Maisonneuve, forced by circumstances revealed in the proclamation,
was determined to put down the passion for games of chance, strong
drink and blasphemy, as soon as they should show themselves. It is
not difficult to imagine excesses creeping in during the long winter
evenings in a small enclosed garrison town, where there was no outlet
for higher forms of amusement, especially as fear of invasion kept the
inhabitants closely confined. Three of his garrison, Sébastien Dupuis,
Nicholas Duval and Pierre Papin, having, through drink and gambling,
found themselves unable to pay their debts, had deserted the garrison
and fled the neighbourhood. They were arrested at a distance of only
four leagues from Ville Marie, brought back and confined in irons in
the fort on January 8, 1659.
After stating the causes leading to his proclamation of January 18th
the governor continued: "In consequence we forbid (1) Any person
whatsoever, of whatever rank or condition, an inhabitant of this
place or elsewhere, to sell, wholesale or retail, under any pretext
whatsoever, without an order from us, expressed in writing, any
intoxicating liquor, under penalty of an arbitrary fine, the payment
of which will be rigidity and forcibly exacted (à lesquelles on sera
contraint par corps).
"(2) Moreover, we interdict all games of chance.
"(3) We rescind and annul any promise, written or verbal, direct or
indirect, made or to be made, as well for the aforesaid game or for any
other sort of game, with a prohibition to tavern keepers to sue in a
court of justice for the recovery of this kind of debts under a penalty
of twenty _livres'_ fine, and of the confiscation of the sums demanded.
"(4) As for those who shall be convicted of having taken to excess
wine, _eau de vie_, or other intoxicating liquors, or having sworn by
or blasphemed the holy name of God, they shall be chastised, either by
an arbitrary fine or by corporal punishment, according to the exigency
of the case.
"(5) To obviate the above mentioned desertions we declare, by the
present observance, that all the fugitives shall be by the same
convicted of the crime of desertion; and, moreover, that all who shall
abet them in their flight, whether by concealment or assistance of any
kind, shall be considered to be guilty of the same crime."
This vigilance and firmness had its results, for we do not find any
record of any contravention of any section of the above till February
22, 1663, when a man was severely punished for drunkenness and
blasphemy.
When spring was approaching this same year of 1659, by a decree of
April 5th, knowing the restlessness of the men to go fishing and
hunting, and thus risk their own individual lives besides hindering the
establishment of a lasting peace by provoking the enemy, he forbade
them, under pain of punishment, to go to any place for hunting or
fishing where they might be in danger of falling into the enemy's hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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