"Considering the great blessings, which God has poured upon the Island of Montreal for the conversion of the savages and the edification of the French, by the help of MM. Olier, de Renty and others, for twenty years; and now, in later years the gentlemen of the Seminary of St. Sulpice have laboured by their care and zeal to uphold this good work, having exposed their persons and having made contributions for the good of the colony and increase of the glory of God; the Associates desiring moreover to contribute on their part by seconding the pious designs of the Gentlemen of the Seminary, and in honour of the memory of the founder and one of the promoters and benefactors of the work of Montreal, they have, after several conferences on the subject, and in furtherance of the greater glory of God, given to these gentlemen all the proprietorial rights which they have in the Island of Montreal, as also the seigneurial manor house, called the Fort, the farm, the tilled lands and all the rights that they have in their island."[90] In this donation special reference was made to the services of M. de Maisonneuve. He was to continue, during his life, governor and captain of the island and of the seigneurial manor house under, however, the pleasure of the Gentlemen of the Seminary. He was to have, in place of remuneration, half of the farm lands and the revenues of the mill. He was to have his apartments in the seigneurial manor house, in which the Gentlemen of the Seminary, as Seigneurs, shall henceforth have the right to live. After some hesitation, in view of the expense of the undertaking, the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Paris, on March 31st, finally undertook the work for which their founder had always intended them, and Montreal was saved from the abandonment which at one time during the negotiations looked imminent. There was a desire to have M. de Queylus sent back, but Laval, then in Paris, was adamant in his firmness. On his part, he was very well received at court. The king would have Laval made "Bishop of Quebec" and he gave him the abbey revenues of Maubec in the diocese of Bourges to sustain the position when the see of Quebec should be erected, which was not to be for many years. The most important preparation for the better government of New France, and one in favor of Laval, was the edict, published in March by the king, of the appointment of a Sovereign Council to sit at Quebec, unless judged more convenient elsewhere. This was to consist of the governor general, the bishop, or in default the highest ecclesiastic on the spot, the intendant when appointed, five councillors and a _procureur du roi_.