When Frontenac resumed the Government, he was much disturbed at the condition of the château, and begged for slate to cover the roof, as the rain was coming in everywhere. At the same time the Intendant Champigny reports it to be rotten and ruinous. This was in the year made famous by the English attack, and the dramatic scene in the hall of the old building when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps, whose fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691, Frontenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 15,000 or 20,000 francs to repair his mansion.
In the next year the king promised to send him 12,000 francs, in instalments. Frontenac acknowledges the favour, and says that he will erect a new building, and try in the meantime not to be buried under the old one, as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard.— (Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Septembre, 1692). A misunderstanding with the Intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been "obliged to send for carpenters during the night, to prop up the château, lest he should be crushed under the ruins." The wall of the fort was, however, strengthened, and partly rebuilt to the height of sixteen feet, at a cost of 13,629 francs. It was a time of war, and a fresh attack was expected from the English.—(Frontenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov, 1693). In the year 1854, the workmen employed in demolishing a part of this wall, adjoining the garden of the château, found a copper plate bearing an inscription in Latin as follows—
D. O. M.
Anno reparatae salutis
Millesimo sexcentesimo nonagesimo tertio
Regnante Augustissimo Invictissimo ac
Christianissimo Galliae Rege
Rege Ludovico Magno XIIII
Excellentissimus ac Illustrissimus Dnûs Dnux
Ludovicus de Buade
Comes de Frontenac, totius Novae Franciae
Semel et iterum Provex,
Ab ipsomet, triennio ante rebellibus Novae
Angliae incolis, hanc civitatem Quebecensem,
Obsidentibus, pulsis, fusis ac penitus
Devictis,
Et iterum hocce supradicto anno obsidionem
Minitantibus
Hanc arcem cum adjectis munimentis
In totius patriae tutelam populi salutem
Nec non in perfidae, tum Deo, tum suo Regi
Legitimo, gentis iterandum confusionem
Sumptibus regies oedificari
Curavit,
Ac primarium hunc lapidem
Posuit,
JOANNES SOULLARD, Sculpsit
(Translation)
"In the year of Redemption, 1693, under the reign of the Most August, Most Invincible, and Most Christian King of France, Louis the Great, fourteenth of that name, the Most Excellent Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, Governor for the second time of all New France, seeing that the rebellious inhabitants of New England, who three years ago were repulsed, routed, and completely vanquished by him, when they besieged this town of Quebec, are threatening to renew the siege this very year, has caused to be built, at the expense of the King, this Citadel, with the fortifications adjoining thereto, for the defence of the country, for the security of the people, and for confounding again that nation perfidious alike towards its God and its lawful King, and he (Frontenac) has placed here this first stone."
A year later, the rebuilding of the château was begun in earnest. Frontenac says that nothing but a miracle has saved him from being buried under its ruins, that he has pulled everything down, and begun again from the foundation, but that the money has given out.— (Frontenac au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1694) Accordingly, he and the Intendant sold six licenses for the fur trade, but at a rate unusually low, for they brought only 4,400 francs.
The King hearing of this sent 6,000 more. Frontenac is profuse in thanks, and at the same time begs for another 6,000 francs, "to complete a work which is the ornament and beauty of the city" (1696). The Minister sent 8,000 more, which was soon gone; and Frontenac drew on the royal treasurer for 5,047 in addition. The Intendant complains of his extravagance, and says that he will have nothing but perfection; and that besides the château, he has insisted on building two guard-houses, with mansard roofs, at the two sides of the gate. "I must do as he says," adds the Intendant, "or there will be a quarrel." (Champigny au Ministre, 13 Oct., 1697). In a letter written two days after, Frontenac speaks with great complacency of his château, and asks for another 6,000 francs to finish it. As the case was urgent he sold six more licenses at 1,000 francs each, but he died too soon to see the completion of his favorite work (1698). The new château was not finished before 1700, and even then it had no cistern. In a pen sketch of Quebec, on a manuscript map of 1699, preserved in the Dépôt de Cartes de la Marine, the new château is distinctly represented. In front is a gallery or balcony resting on a wall and buttresses at the edge of the cliff. Above the gallery is a range of high windows, along the face of the building, and over these a range of small windows and a mansard roof. In the middle is a porch opening on the gallery, and on the left extends a battery, on the ground now occupied by a garden along the brink of the cliff. A water-colour sketch of the château taken in 1804, from the land side, by William Morrison, Jr., is in my possession. [37] The building appears to have been completely remodelled in the interval. It is two stories in height, the mansard roof is gone, and a row of attic windows surmount the second story. In 1809 it was again remodelled at a cost of ten thousand pounds sterling, a third story was added, and the building, resting on the buttresses which still remain under the balustrade of Durham (Dufferin) Terrace, had an imposing effect when seen from the river. It was destroyed by fire in 1834.—(Parkman's Old Regime.)
HALDIMAND CASTLE
After sketching Fort St. Louis, begun in 1624,—a refuge against the Iroquois, and whose bastions rendered useless disappeared shortly after the conquest, as well as giving the history of the Château St. Louis proper, destroyed by fire 23rd January, 1834, it behoves us to close the narrative with a short account of the origin of the wing or new building still extant, and used since 1871 as the Normal School. This structure generally, though improperly styled the Old Château, dates back to the last century. On the 5th May, 1784, the corner stone was laid with suitable ceremonies, by the Governor-General, Sir Frederick Haldimand; the Château St. Louis had been found inadequate in size for the various purposes required, viz.: a Vice-regal residence, a Council room for the Legislative, the Executive and Judiciary Councils, &c.