The Great Intendant : A Chronicle of Jean Talon in Canada, 1665-1672Chapais, Thomas
History
The Great Intendant : A Chronicle of Jean Talon in Canada, 1665-1672
Chapais, Thomas
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Intendants -- Canada -- Biography; Talon, Jean, comte d'Orsainville, 1625?-1694
Montreal or Ville-Marie was scarcely more important than
Three Rivers. The population of the whole district numbered
only 625. A fort built by Maisonneuve and Ailleboust at
Pointe-a-Callieres; the house of the Sulpicians at the
foot of the present Saint-Sulpice Street; the Hotel-Dieu
on the other side of that street; the convent of the
Congregation sisters facing the Hotel-Dieu; a few houses
scattered along the road called 'de la Commune,' now
Saint-Paul Street; and on the rising ground towards the
Place d'Armes of later years a few more dwellings--these
constituted the Montreal of primitive days. On the top
of the hill called 'Coteau Saint-Louis' was erected an
intrenched mill--'Moulin du Coteau'--which could be used
as a redoubt to protect the inhabitants. The Sulpicians'
house, the Hotel-Dieu, the convent of the Congregation,
and the houses of the Place d'Armes and of 'la Commune'
were connected with the fort by footpaths. Before 1672
there were no streets laid out. The only place of public
worship was the Hotel-Dieu chapel, fifty feet in length
by thirty in width. The superior of the Sulpicians was
Abbe Souart. Mother Mace was superioress of the Hotel-Dieu,
but the mainstay of the institution was the well-known
Mademoiselle Mance, who, by the aid of Madame de Bullion's
benefactions, had founded it in 1643. The illustrious
Sister Marguerite Bourgeoys was at the head of the
Congregation, which owed its existence to her pious zeal
and devotion to the education of the young. Among the
'Montrealistes' of note the following should be specially
mentioned: Zacharie Dupuy, major of the island; Charles
d'Ailleboust, seigneurial judge; J. B. Migeon de Bransac,
fiscal attorney; Louis Artus Sailly, who had been for
some time juge royal; Benigne Basset, at once registrar
of the seigneurial court, notary, and surveyor; Charles
Le Moyne, king's treasurer, interpreter, soldier, settler,
who was later to be ennobled and receive the title of
Baron de Longueuil; Etienne Bouchard, surgeon; Pierre
Picote de Belestre, a valiant militia officer; Claude de
Robutel, Sieur de Saint-Andre; Jacques Leber, a merchant
who controlled almost the whole trade of Ville-Marie.
Altogether the white population of Canada, including the
settlers and labourers arriving during the summer of
1665, numbered only 3215. Yet the colony had been in
existence for fifty-seven years! It was certainly time
for a new effort on the part of the mother country to
infuse life into her feeble offspring. This was a task
calling for the earnest care and the most energetic
activity of Tracy, Courcelle, and Talon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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