"After the conquest of Quebec, the British government prohibited the religious male orders from augmenting their numbers, excepting the priests. The orders were allowed to enjoy the whole of their revenues as long as a single individual of the body existed; then they reverted to the crown. The revenue of the Jesuit Society was upward of £12,000 per annum when it fell into the possession of the government. It had been for several years enjoyed solely by an old father, who had survived all the rest. He was a native of Switzerland; his name, Jean Joseph Casot. In his youth he was no more than porter to the convent, but, having considerable merit, he was promoted, and in course of time received into the order. He died at a very advanced age, in 1800, with a high character for kindness and generosity: his large income was entirely employed in charitable purposes. The lands belonging to the Jesuits, as well as to the other religious orders, are by far the best in the country, and produce the greatest revenues."--Lambert's _Travels in Canada_, vol. i., p. 59. "The Jesuits, who in the early settlement of the country were merely missionaries, obtained a patent (_Petits Droits des Colonies Françaises_, vol. ii., p. 441), by which they acquired a license to purchase lands, and hold property as in France. The property the Jesuits possessed in this country in after times was acquired by grants from the kings of France; by grants from the Company of New France; by gifts from individuals, and by purchase."--Smith's _History of Canada_, vol. i., p. 27; Weld, p. 249. Smith estimates the revenues of the society, when, after P. Casot's death, they reverted to the crown, at only £1600 per annum. Weld comes nearer to the statement of Lambert. He visited Quebec in 1796, four years before P. Casot's death, and states that the great possessions of the Jesuits had centered in him, and amounted to £10,000 per annum. It is to be remembered that in 1764 the order of Jesuits was abolished by the King of France, and the members of the society became private individuals. "The college of the Jesuits at Quebec was long considered as the first institution on the continent of North America for the instruction of young men. The advantages derived from it were not limited to the better class of Canadians, but were extended to all whose inclination it was to participate in them, and many students came thither from the West Indies. From the period of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the states of Europe, and the consequent abolition of their order on that continent, this establishment, although protected by the British government, began rapidly to decline.