The Great Intendant | Page 5

Tracy, Courcelle, and Talon had been instructed to try him for improper conduct in office. But before their arrival at Quebec, Mezy had obeyed the summons of another King than the king of France. He had been taken ill in the spring of the year and had died on May 6. Mezy being dead, it was wisely thought unnecessary to recall unhappy memories of his errors and misdeeds. Sufficient would be done if the grievances due to his rashness were redressed. Accordingly the dismissed officials were reinstated, and on September 23, 1665, a solemn sitting of the Sovereign Council was held, at which Tracy, Courcelle, Laval, and Talon were present, together with the Sieur Le Barroys, general agent of the West India Company, and the Sieurs de Villeray, de la Ferte, d'Auteuil, de Tilly, Damours--all the councillors in office before Mezy's dismissals--Jean Bourdon, the attorney-general, and J. B. Peuvret, secretary of the council. The letters patent of Courcelle and Talon as well as the commission and credentials of the Sieur Le Barroys were duly read and registered; the letters patent of the Marquis de Tracy had been registered previously. With these formalities the new administration of Canada was inaugurated.
The next proceeding of the rulers of New France was to prepare for a decisive blow against the daring Iroquois. Tracy and the soldiers, as we have seen, had arrived in June and three forts were in course of building on the Richelieu river, or 'riviere des Iroquois,' so called because for a long period it had been the most direct highway leading from the villages of these bloody warriors to the heart of the colony. During the summer and autumn of 1665 the Carignan soldiers were kept busy with the construction of these necessary defensive works. The first fort was erected at the mouth of the river, under the direction of Captain de Sorel; the second fifty miles higher, under Captain de Chambly; and the third about nine miles farther up, under Colonel de Salieres. The first two retained the names of the officers in charge of their construction, and the third received the name of Sainte-Therese because it was finished on the day dedicated to that saint. During the following year two other forts were built--St John, a few miles distant from Sainte-Therese, and Sainte-Anne, on an island at the head of Lake Champlain. Both Tracy and Courcelle went to inspect the work personally and encourage the garrisons.
In the meantime Talon was in no way idle. He had to organize the means of conveying provisions, ammunition, tools, and supplies of every description for the maintenance of the troops and the furtherance of the work. Under his supervision a flotilla of over fifty boats plied between Quebec and the river Richelieu. It was also his business to take care of the incoming soldiers and labourers and to see that those who had contracted disease during their journey across the ocean received proper nursing and medical attendance.
From the moment of his arrival he had lost no opportunity of acquiring information on the situation in the colony. There is a curious anecdote that illustrates the manner in which he sometimes contrived to gain knowledge by concealing his identity. On the very day of his landing he went alone to the Hotel-Dieu, and asking for the superioress, introduced himself as the valet de chambre of the intendant, pretending to be sent by his master to assure the good ladies of the hospital of M. Talon's kindly disposition and desire to bestow on them every favour in his gift. One of the sisters present at the interview--Mere de la Nativite, a very bright and clever woman--was struck by the extreme distinction of manner and speech of the so-called valet, and, with a meaning glance at the superioress, told the visitor that unless she was mistaken he was more than he pretended to be. On his asking what could convey to her that impression, she replied that by his bearing and language she could not but feel that the intendant himself was honouring the Hotel-Dieu with a visit. Talon could do no less than confess that she was right, showing at the same time that he appreciated the delicate compliment thus paid to him. From that day he was a devoted and most generous friend to the Hotel-Dieu of Quebec.
One of the first problems with which the intendant had to deal in discharging the duties of his office was the dualism of administrative authority. It has been mentioned that Colbert had founded a new trading company, known as the West India Company. This corporation had been granted wide privileges over all the French possessions in America, including feudal ownership and authority to administer justice and levy war. The company was thus invested with the right of