CHAPTER VII
TALON'S EVENTFUL JOURNEY
Talon returned to France in an auspicious hour. It was perhaps the happiest and brightest period of the reign of Louis XIV. France had emerged victorious from two campaigns, and the king had just signed a treaty which added to his realm a part of the province of Flanders. The kingdom enjoyed peace, and its prosperity had never been so great. Thanks to Colbert, the exchequer was full. In all departments the French government was displaying intelligent activity. Trade and commerce, agriculture and manufacture, were encouraged and protected. With ample means at their disposal and perfect freedom of action, Louis XIV and Colbert could not but be in a favourable mood to receive Talon's reports and proposals. Talon acted as if he were still the intendant of New France; and though for the time being he was not, he was surely the most powerful agent or advocate that the colony could have. The king and his minister readily acquiesced in his schemes for strengthening the Canadian colony. It was decided to dispatch six companies of soldiers to reinforce the four already there, and ultimately, upon being disbanded, to aid in settling the country. Many hundred labourers and unmarried women and a new stock of domestic animals were also to be sent. Colbert had never been so much in earnest concerning New France. He attended personally to details, gave orders for the levy of troops and for the shipping of the men and supplies, and urged on the officials in charge so that everything should be ready early in the spring. To M. de Courcelle he wrote these welcome tidings:
His Majesty has appropriated over 200,000 livres to do what he deems necessary for the colony. One hundred and fifty girls are going thither to be married; six companies complete with fifty good men in each and thirty officers or noblemen, who wish to settle there, and more than two hundred other persons are also going. Such an effort shows how greatly interested in Canada His Majesty feels, and to what extent he will appreciate all that may be done to help its progress.
That the minister was not actuated merely by a passing mood, but by a set purpose, may be seen from a passage of a letter to Terron, the intendant at Rochefort: 'I am very glad,' Colbert wrote, 'that you have not gone beyond the funds appropriated for the passage of the men and girls to Canada. You know how important it is to keep within the limits, especially in an outlay which will have to be repeated every year.'
In the meantime Talon was pleading the cause of Canada in another direction. Always intent on freeing New France from the commercial monopoly of the West India Company, he renewed his assault against that corporation, and at last he was successful. This signal victory showed plainly his great influence with the minister. Colbert conveyed the gratifying information to Courcelle:
His Majesty has granted freedom of trade to Canada, so that the colony may hereafter receive more easily the provisions and supplies needed. It will now be necessary to inform the colonists that they must provide cargoes agreeable to the French, who will supply them with necessities, and so make a profitable exchange of goods. For there is now a great supply of furs in this kingdom, and if there were no other goods available as a return cargo perhaps the French ships would not go there.
The spring of 1669 was memorable for Canada. Nearly all that Talon asked for New France was granted. But one thing which he did not ask was desired by Louis and Colbert. It is probable that Talon intended to go back to Canada, but he did not expect or wish to return immediately. Yet this was what the king and the minister deemed advisable and even essential. It was very well to send troops, labourers, women, settlers, and supplies; but, in order that all should yield their maximum of efficiency, it was necessary that the business affairs of the colony should again be placed in the hands of the intendant, who had already worked wonders by his sagacity and skilful management. There was no man who knew so well the weak and strong points, the requirements and possibilities of Canada. True, only a few months had elapsed since the king had given him permission to leave Canada, and had appointed in his stead another intendant who, naturally enough, would expect to be in charge for at least two years. But, on the other hand, the king's service and the public good demanded his reappointment. Talon had to acquiesce. He had reached Paris at the end of December. Three months later he was again intendant of New France, and on April Louis XIV wrote to the intendant Bouteroue at Quebec informing him of Talon's reinstatement. To leave France so soon must have been for Talon a great sacrifice, but it was a high compliment that Louis and Colbert were paying to his talents and administrative abilities. On May 10, 1669, the king signed his new commission, and on the 17th he received his instructions, a document much shorter than the one framed for his direction in 1665. No minute advice was needed this time, for Talon was himself the best authority on all matters relating to Canada.
Talon sailed from La Rochelle on July 15. He was accompanied by Captain Francois Marie Perrot, one of the six commanders of the companies sent to Canada; by Fathers Romuald Papillion, Hilarion Guesnin, Cesaire Herveau, and Brother Cosme Graveran. Perrot was married to the niece of the intendant. The friars belonged to the Franciscan order and to the particular branch of it known under the name of Recollets. It had been thought good to reintroduce into Canada the religious society whose priests had been the first to preach the Gospel there. The intendant's former voyage from France to Canada had lasted one hundred and seventeen days, so that, allowing for all probable delays, he might expect to reach Quebec by the end of October at the latest. But it was decreed that he was not to see New France this year. His ship was assailed by a series of storms and hurricanes and driven far from her right course. After three months of exertion and suffering the captain was obliged to make for the port of Lisbon. There the ship was revictualled; but, having sailed again, she struck upon a rocky shoal at a distance of three leagues from Lisbon and was totally wrecked. Talon and his companions were fortunately saved, and found themselves back in France at the beginning of the year 1670.
In the meantime what was going on in Canada? Talon's successor, M. de Bouteroue, was upright and intelligent, but without Talon's masterly gifts and activity. He attended principally to the administration of justice. At the judicial sittings of the Sovereign Council he was almost always present; he himself heard many cases, and often acted as judge-advocate. On his advice the council gave out an ordinance fixing the price of wheat. There had been complaints that sometimes creditors refused to accept wheat in payment, or accepted it only at a price unreasonably low. So it was enacted that for three months after the promulgation of the decree debtors should be at liberty to pay their creditors in wheat of good quality at the price of four livres per bushel.