The Fighting Governor | Page 9

indeed, no class--not even the clergy--which
was exempt from assault by wrathful nobles. In the course of an
altercation the Duc d'Epernon, after striking the Archbishop of
Bordeaux in the stomach several times with his fists and his baton,
exclaimed: 'If it were not for the respect I bear your office, I would
stretch you out on the pavement!'
In such an atmosphere was Frontenac reared. He had the manners and
the instincts of a belligerent. But he also possessed a soul which could
rise above pettiness. And the foes he loved best to smite were the
enemies of the king.

CHAPTER III

FRONTENAC'S FIRST YEARS IN CANADA
Frontenac received his commission on April 6, 1672, and reached
Quebec at the beginning of September. The king, sympathetic towards
his needs, had authorized two special grants of money: six thousand
livres for equipment, and nine thousand to provide a bodyguard of
twenty horsemen. Gratified by these marks of royal favour and
conscious that he had been assigned to an important post, Frontenac
was in hopeful mood when he first saw the banks of the St Lawrence.
His letters show that he found the country much less barbarous than he
had expected; and he threw himself into his new duties with the
courage which is born of optimism. A natural fortress like Quebec
could not fail to awaken the enthusiasm of a soldier. The settlement
itself was small, but Frontenac reported that its situation could not be
more favourable, even if this spot were to become the capital of a great
empire. It was, indeed, a scene to kindle the imagination. Sloping down
to the river-bank, the farms of Beauport and Beaupre filled the
foreground. Behind them swept the forest, then in its full autumnal
glory.
Awaiting Frontenac at Quebec were Courcelles, the late governor, and
Talon the intendant. Both were to return to France by the last ships of
that year; but in the meantime Frontenac was enabled to confer with
them on the state of the colony and to acquaint himself with their views
on many important subjects. Courcelles had proved a stalwart warrior
against the Iroquois, while Talon possessed an unrivalled knowledge of
Canada's wants and possibilities. Laval, the bishop, was in France, not
to return to the colony till 1675.
The new governor's first acts went to show that with the king's dignity
he associated his own. The governor and lieutenant-general of a vast
oversea dominion could not degrade his office by living like a
shopkeeper. The Chateau St Louis was far below his idea of what a
viceregal residence ought to be. One of his early resolves was to
enlarge and improve it. Meanwhile, his entertainments surpassed in
splendour anything Canada had yet seen. Pomp on a large scale was
impossible; but the governor made the best use of his means to display

the grace and majesty of his office.
On the 17th of September Frontenac presided for the first time at a
meeting of the Sovereign Council; [Footnote: In the minutes of this
first meeting of the Sovereign Council at which Frontenac presided the
high-sounding words 'haut et puissant' stand prefixed to his name and
titles.] and the formal inauguration of his regime was staged for the
23rd of October. It was to be an impressive ceremony, a pageant at
which all eyes should be turned upon him, the great noble who
embodied the authority of a puissant monarch. For this ceremony the
governor summoned an assembly that was designed to represent the
Three Estates of Canada.
The Three Estates of clergy, nobles, and commons had existed in
France from time immemorial. But in taking this step and in expecting
the king to approve it Frontenac displayed his ignorance of French
history; for the ancient meetings of the Three Estates in France had left
a memory not dear to the crown. [Footnote: The power of the
States-General reached its height after the disastrous battle of Poitiers
(1356). For a short period, under the leadership of Etienne Marcel, it
virtually supplanted the power of the crown.] They had, in truth, given
the kings moments of grave concern; and their representatives had not
been summoned since 1614. Moreover, Louis XIV was not a ruler to
tolerate such rival pretensions as the States-General had once put forth.
Parkman thinks that, 'like many of his station, Frontenac was not in full
sympathy with the centralizing movement of his time, which tended to
level ancient rights, privileges and prescriptions under the ponderous
roller of the monarchical administration.' This, it may be submitted, is
only a conjecture. The family history of the Buades shows that they
were 'king's men,' who would be the last to imperil royal power. The
gathering of the Three Estates at Quebec was meant to be the fitting
background