distributed gratuitously, with an order that none of the young should be killed till the country was sufficiently stocked. Large quantities of goods were also sent from the same high quarter. Some of these were distributed as gifts, and the rest bartered for corn to supply the troops. As the intendant perceived that the farmers lost much time in coming from their distant clearings to buy necessaries at Quebec, he caused his agents to furnish them with the king’s goods at their own houses, to the great annoyance of the merchants of Quebec, who complained that their accustomed trade was thus forestalled. *
These were not the only cares which occupied the mind of Talon. He tried to open a road across the country to Acadia, an almost impossible task, in which he and his successors completely failed. Under his auspices, Albanel penetrated to Hudson’s Bay, and Saint Lusson took possession in the king’s name of the country of the Upper Lakes. It was Talon, in short, who prepared the way for the remarkable series of explorations described in another work. ** Again and again he urged upon Colbert and the king a measure from which, had it taken effect, momentous consequences must have sprung. This was the purchase or seizure of New York, involving the isolation of New England, the subjection of the Iroquois, and the undisputed control of half the continent.
* Talon a Colbert, 10 Nov., 1670.
** Discovery of the Great West
Great as were his opportunities of abusing his trust, it does not appear that he took advantage of them. He held lands and houses in Canada, * owned the brewery which he had established, and embarked in various enterprises of productive industry; but, so far as I can discover, he is nowhere accused of making illicit gains, and there is reason to believe that he acquitted himself of his charge with entire fidelity. ** His health failed in 1668, and for this and other causes he asked for his recall. Colbert granted it with strong expressions of regret; and when, two years later, he resumed the intendancy, the colony seems to have welcomed his return.
* In 1682, the Intendant Meules, in a despatch to the
minister, makes a statement of Talon’s property in Quebec.
The chief items are the brewery and a house of some value on
the descent of Mountain Street. He owned, also, the valuable
seigniory, afterwards barony, Des Islets, in the immediate
neighborhood.
** Some imputations against him, not of much weight, are,
however, made in a memorial of Aubert de la Chesnaye, a
merchant of Quebec
CHAPTER XIII 1661-1673. MARRIAGE AND POPULATION.
Shipment of Emigrants.—Soldier Settlers.—Importation of Wives.—Wedlock.—Summary Methods.—The Mothers of Canada.—Bounties on Marriage.—Celibacy Punished.—Bounties on Children.—Results.