There existed, at Quebec, a ring composed of the Intendant's secretary, Deschenaux, of the Commissary General of Supplies, Cadet, of the Town-Major, Hugues Péan; of the Treasurer-General, Imbert. Péan was the Chief and Bigot the Great Chief of this nefarious association. Between Bigot and Péan, another link existed. Péan's favour at Court lay in the charms of his wife. Madame Péan, née Angélique De Meloises, was young, pretty, witty and charming; a fluent and agreeable speaker—in fact so captivating that François Bigot was entirely ruled by her during all his stay at Quebec. At her house in St. Louis street he spent his evenings; there, he was sought and found in May, 1759, by Col. de Bougainville returning from Paris, the bearer of the dispatches, announcing the coming struggle.
Would you like some of the pen-photographs which a clever French contemporary [121] has left of the corrupt entourage of the magnificent intendant, here are a few:
"Brassard Deschenaux, the son of a poor cobbler, was born at Quebec. A notary who boarded with Deschenaux, senior, had taught his son to read. Naturally quick and intelligent, young Deschenaux made rapid progress and soon found something to do in the office of Intendant Hocquart where Bigot found him and succeeded in having him appointed clerk in the Colonial Office at Quebec. Industrious, but at heart a sycophant, by dint of cringing he won the good graces of Bigot, who soon put unlimited trust in him, to that degree as to do nothing without Deschenaux's aid, but Deschenaux was vain, ambitious, haughty and overbearing and of such inordinate greed, that he was in the habit of boasting 'that to get rich he would even rob a church.'
"Cadet was the son of a butcher. In his youth he was employed to mind the cattle of a Charlesbourg peasant; he next set up as a butcher and made money. His savings, he invested in trade; his intriguing spirit brought him to the notice of the Intendant Hocquart, who gave him contracts to supply meat for the army. Deschenaux soon discovered that Cadet could be useful to him; he made him his friend and lost no opportunity to recommend him to the Intendant. He was accordingly often employed to buy the supplies for the subsistence of the troops. In verity, there were few men more active, more industrious, more competent to drive a bargain. The King required his services and secured them, by having Cadet named Commissary General. He had his redeeming points—was open-handed in his dealings—of a kindly nature and lavish even to excess."
The worthy Commissary General, like Péan, was blessed with a charming
wife, whom Panet's Diary styles "La Belle Amazone Aventurière."
Probably like her worthy spouse,—of low extraction; "elle n'était pas
sortie de la cuisse de Jupiter," to use a familiar French saw.
She certainly was not, like Caesar's wife "above suspicion." Madame
Cadet, later on, transferred her allegiance from the rich butcher
Cadet, to one "Sieur Joseph Ruffio";… but let us draw the veil of
oblivion over the short comings of another age.
"Capt. Hughes Péan, Chevalier de la Livaudière, was Town Major of Quebec, aide-Major des Troupes." He was not long in discovering that with an Intendant like Bigot, he could dare anything. Had he not without any trouble netted a gain of 50,000 half crowns? A large quantity of wheat was required for Government; he was charged with the purchase. There was a fat job in store for the Town Major. How was his master the Intendant to manage the matter for him? Bigot was a man of resource, who never forgot his friends. First, he provided Péan with a large sum out of the Treasury to buy the wheat as low as possible for cash; and then his complaisant council passed an order or Ordonnance fixing the price of grain much higher than that at which Péan had purchased. The town Major charged it to the Government at the rate fixed by the Ordonnance; the difference left him a handsome profit. He thought he would next try his hand at building coasting craft, which he could manage to keep constantly in commission for Government; this also was lucrative. Other devices, however, were resorted to; a secret partnership was entered into between Cadet and a person named Clavery, who shortly after become store-keeper at Quebec. Cadet was to purchase wheat in the parishes, have it ground at a mill he had leased, the flour to be sent abroad, secretly. Péan, too, had large warehouses built—at Beaumont some say. Cargoes of grain were thus secretly shipped to foreign ports in defiance of the law. Bréard, the Comptroller-General, for a consideration winked at these mal- practices, and from a poor man when he landed in Canada, he returned to France in affluent circumstances.
The crowning piece of knavery was the erection of a vast shop and warehouses near to the Intendant's Palace. Clavery had charge of this establishment, where a small retail business was carried on as a blind. The real object was to monopolize the trade in provisions and concentrate it here. Clavery was clerk to Estebe, Royal store-keeper at Quebec. In this warehouse were accumulated all such provisions and supplies as were wanted annually, and ordered from France for the King's stores at Quebec.
It was the practice of the Intendant to send each summer the requisitions to Paris. Bigot took care to order from France less supplies than were required, so as to have an excuse to order the remainder in times of want, at Quebec. The orders were sent to Clavery's warehouse, where the same goods were sold twice over, at increased rates. Soon the people saw through the deceit, and this repository of fraud was called in consequence La Friponne, "The Knave."
Want of space prevents me from crowding in photos of the other accomplished rogues, banded together for public robbery during the expiring years of French domination in Canada.