Whatever we may think of the military seigneuries, that of the Sulpicians of Montreal was very beneficial. Their rule was progressive and zealous. Speaking of such religious seigneurs William Bennett Munroe, Ph. D., professor of government, Harvard University, in his chapter in Volume II of "Canada and Its Provinces, 1912," entitled "The Seigniorial System and the Colony," says: "The priests seem to have had faith in the colony--which was more than could be said of all the Carignan officers who took lands from the king. This faith and optimism the priests often communicated to the people around them, and the results were seen in the neighbouring farms. The church in New France never lost, as at home, its grip on the confidence of those from whom it drew its chief strength--the rural classes. While it may seem that the crown was lavish to a fault in satisfying its claim to landed property, yet the church really gave the colony far more than it took away; for, if ever there abode on this earth labours worthy of their hire, these were the pioneer priests whose loyalty and devotion to France appear on every page of early Canadian history. The church owed much to the seigniorial system, but it made ample repayment." (P. 566.) The parish life of Montreal, as that also of subsequent parishes, was that of an organized community or civil corporation. The head was the seigneur. One section, composed of those able to bear arms, formed the militia with its officers. The seigneur could appoint its judge, and if unable to provide one, he could turn the cases arising to a neighbouring court, such as at Montreal. In addition, there would be the _greffier_, or clerk of the court, sergeants and the gaoler. Municipal affairs were, at this time, managed at the "hangar," on the common of Montreal, through the syndic who had been appointed by a plurality of votes of the inhabitants in council, summoned thither by church bell. At these elections the judge was present as presiding officer, replacing the _greffier_, as mentioned in a previous chapter, and he was accompanied by the _procureur fiscal_ and the _greffier_. Sometimes this election, for greater formality, was made in the hall of the seigneurs or at the château of the fort, as in the case of the election of syndic, Louis Chevalier, on May 15, 1672. The syndic controlled the general law and order, and when necessary, called in the judge to his assistance, as on April 8, 1674, when the judge fined some delinquents, on the complaint of Louis Chevalier, then syndic, for damage done by straying cattle. In order to surround the officers of the community with some dignity, various ranks were assigned, so that there should be an order of procedure in church or elsewhere, and notably in processions. In the latter the order was as follows: the governor general, the local governor, the officers of justice, the churchwardens. In the processions and in other religious ceremonies the military could claim no rank.