Later on in the year, on Pentecost Sunday, Maisonneuve published
a decree of His Majesty, already given in council March 9, 1657,
forbidding the sale of wine or _eau de vie_ to the Indians under pain
of corporal punishment.
A picture of Montreal of this year is preserved for us in the state
papers under date of March 4, 1659, by the new governor-general, the
young Vicomte d'Argenson, who had arrived less than a year ago in
Canada and who now came in the spring of 1659 to visit Montreal.
[Illustration: PIERRE DE VOYER D'ARGENSON]
He was a man of upright conduct, virtuous life and full of devotion
for the development of the colony. He came with great ideas of his
prerogatives as governor-general in relation to the subordinate
position of a local governor such as obtained in other provinces of
the kingdom of France. But he had to be made aware of the special
privileges granted to Maisonneuve as the representative of the Company
of Montreal.
Arriving at Montreal, he expected honours paid to him such as a
governor-general would receive in France, when on entering a fortress
he would have the keys given to him with other like signs of submission.
The governor of Montreal received him with politeness, but without
absolutely refusing the keys, put difficulties in the way lest he
should seem to acknowledge his inferior position to the representative
of the Company of One Hundred Associates. The case required diplomacy
and adroitness, and Maisonneuve acted tactfully. As for receiving the
"mot d'ordre" he only accepted this on the third day and then he sent
his major for it.
D'Argenson realized the situation which the independent Maisonneuve
had created, and doubtless it is in consequence of these painful
impressions that he penned the following pessimistic description of the
settlement.
After complaining of his reception he adds: "I must talk with you
about Montreal, a place which makes a deal of noise and is of little
consequence. I speak from knowledge; I have been there this spring,
and I can assure you that if I were a painter I should soon finish my
picture of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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