In a state paper by Talon for Colbert's information, in 1669, the intendant's Gallican views reveal themselves fully. He complains of the excessive zeal of the bishop and clergy which led them to interfere in matters of police, thus trespassing upon the province of the civil magistrate. He went on to say that too strict a moral discipline of confessors and spiritual directors put a constraint on consciences, and that, in order to counterbalance the excessive claims to obedience of the clergy then in charge, other priests should be sent to Canada with full powers for administration of the sacraments. It is more than probable that in writing these lines Talon was thinking of the vexed question of the liquor traffic, always a source of strife between the civil and the spiritual authorities. Talon and his colleagues, Tracy and Courcelle, had to deal with the question of tithes. In 1663 tithes had been fixed by royal edict at one-thirteenth of all that is produced from the soil either naturally or by man's labour. This edict was prompted by the erection of the Quebec Seminary by Laval, and established in Canada the tithes system for the benefit of the new clerical institution, to which was entrusted the spiritual care of the colonists. The latter, who previously had paid nothing for the maintenance of the clergy, protested against the charge, notwithstanding that it was in conformity with the common practice of Christian nations. Laval, taking into consideration the poverty of the colony at the time, freely granted delays and exemptions, so that in 1667 the question was still practically in abeyance. In that year the bishop presented to Tracy a petition for the publication of a decree in respect to the tithes. The lieutenant-general, the governor, and the intendant gave the matter their attention, and after discussion an ordinance was passed for payment of tithes, consisting of the twenty-sixth part of all that the soil grows, naturally or by man's labour, for the benefit of the priests who ministered to the spiritual wants of the people. There was a proviso stating that the words 'by man's labour' did not include manufactures or fisheries, but only the products of the soil when cultivated and fertilized by human industry. The assessment of one-twenty-sixth was to be levied for a term of twenty years only, after which the tithes were to be fixed according to the needs of the time and the state of the country. Later on, in 1679, a royal edict made perpetual the rate of one-twenty-sixth. For years the practice prevailed of levying tithes only on grain. But in 1705 two parish priests maintained that they should be levied also on hemp, flax, tobacco, pumpkins, hay--on all that is grown on cultivated land. A heated discussion in the Sovereign Council took place, led by the attorney-general Auteuil. The two priests contended that the ordinance of Tracy, Courcelle, and Talon did not limit the tithes to