mission. He went up to Montreal accordingly before the navigation closed, in company with the governor, to take formal possession of the island, but returned to winter in Quebec. In the spring he took his whole party up the river, arriving at Montreal on the 18th of May. Madame de la Peltrie leaving her own work at Quebec accompanied him, only to return, however, after a short stay. An altar was erected on the riverside, and mass was celebrated by the Jesuit father, Vincent, who afterwards delivered an address, in which he said he doubted not that the grain of mustard seed they were then sowing was designed by Providence to become a mighty tree.

The prophecy has been amply fulfilled, but many anxious years had to pass before the destiny of the tree was at all assured. The position of Montreal was far more precarious than that of Quebec, as it was so much more accessible to the sworn enemies of the colony, the Iroquois. For twenty-four years Maisonneuve held the post of military governor, edifying all by his piety, and inspiring confidence in all by his bravery and vigilance. The story of his trials and of his prowess, is it not told, with a rich blending of supernatural elements, in the naïve record of Dollier de Casson, and the more comprehensive and systematic, but equally naïve, history of the learned and unfailingly interesting Abbé Faillon? And yet—such is the irony of human events—when a very pious governor, the Marquis de Tracy, came out in 1665 as the king's lieutenant-general for all his North American possessions, one of his first acts, inspired, it is said, by the council at Quebec, was to dismiss this veteran warrior as being unfit for his position. Making no demur, attempting no self-justification, but bowing to the stroke, which he regarded as an intimation of the will of Providence, the brave Maisonneuve retired quietly to France, where he spent the remainder of his days.

After a service of twelve years as governor M. de Montmagny was relieved in 1648, and replaced by M. d'Ailleboust, who had previously exercised judicial functions at Montreal in close association with M. de Maisonneuve, whom he resembled in the exalted and ascetic character of his piety. The name of Montmagny had been translated by the Indians into "Onontio," signifying "Great Mountain"; and henceforth all French governors were, in Indian parlance, "Great Mountains." M. d'Ailleboust retained office only three years. During his administration, as during that of his predecessor, the Iroquois were incessant in their depredations, which they would sometimes carry on under the very palisades of Montreal. They succeeded during this period in all but exterminating the Hurons, their traditional foes and now allies of the French. One or two treaties were made with the aggressive savages, and once or twice they were repelled with loss; but the treaties were not to be depended on, nor were the defeats such as to give them serious check. One event which marked the latter part of M. de Montmagny's administration must not be overlooked. The Company of New France, or of the Hundred Associates, had, as we have seen, begun operations upon the retrocession of the colony by England in 1632. According to their charter their work was to be one of colonization as well as of trading; but ten years later the total French population of Canada, Montreal included, did not exceed two hundred souls. The country, instead of being developed, was being strangled, the company having absolute control, not only of the fur trade, but of its commerce generally, which it hampered in every possible way. Meantime the company itself was losing money. Negotiations were therefore entered into between the inhabitants, represented by M. de Repentigny, who went to France for the purpose, and the officers of the company. The result being that, in the month of January 1645, a treaty, as it was called, was made between the company on the one hand, and the inhabitants, through their delegate, on the other, by which the former, while retaining all their sovereign proprietary and feudal rights, with power of nominating the governor and the judges, threw open to the latter, not individually but as a community, the fur trade of Canada on condition that they should assume all expenses of civil administration and military defence, pay the salaries of the clergy, bring into the country every year twenty new colonists, and finally hand over to the company annually one thousand pounds weight of assorted beaver skins. The inhabitants were, by this arrangement, which received the royal sanction on the 6th March 1645, formed into a corporation, afterwards called the "New Company," to distinguish it from the Company of New France or the "Old Company." It was understood that the New Company would elect its own managers; while the Old Company reserved the right to keep certain officials of its own in the country to watch over its interests, throwing the cost of their maintenance, however, on the inhabitants in their corporate capacity.

This arrangement was received at the time with some satisfaction by the colonists, but in reality it was a most illiberal one, under which it was impossible for the country to thrive. Its immediate effect was to send nearly all the men of the settlement into the woods, and to turn the wilder and more daring spirits into coureurs de bois, a class of men who will figure largely in our subsequent narrative. Two years later we find the inhabitants complaining to the king that the new scheme was working very badly, and giving rise to serious "abuses and malversations." The king did not know very well what to do about it; but by the advice of certain of his ministers he decided to place the government of the colony on a slightly wider basis, with just the least particle in it of a representative element. To this end he created a council which was to consist of the governor, the ex-governor, if he were in the country, the superior of the Jesuits, pending the appointment of a bishop, and two inhabitants to be selected by the council, or three if the ex-governor were not residing in the country. In addition, the three settlements of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers could each elect a "syndic," to hold office for three years, and to have a deliberative voice in the council, but no vote.

The effect of this measure, which seems to have been adopted without consulting the Company of New France, was to give the council full control of the fur trade of the country. That trade had to bear all the expenses of government, as well as provide for the toll to be paid to the Old Company; and it rested with the council to fix the proportion which the inhabitants should contribute out of the gross proceeds of the furs they either bought from the Indians or procured by the chase. If they bought from the Indians they would have to pay for them with goods purchased at the general stores, which again were controlled by the council or its nominees; and it was a constant matter of complaint that the prices of these goods were so high that it was impossible to trade with the Indians on any favourable terms; the latter, as a rule, having sense enough to put up their prices accordingly. A more burdensome system, or one more liable to abuse, could not easily be imagined.

In 1651, M. de Lauson was sent to replace M. d'Ailleboust. The question at this time was seriously debated whether the colony would not have to be abandoned. The settlement at Montreal was in imminent danger of extinction. Maisonneuve saw clearly that, with the scanty force he had, it was only a matter of time when the place would be at the mercy of the foe. He therefore sailed in this year for France, determined, if he could not obtain reinforcements, to return to Canada and bring all his people back to France. The