The Abbé La Tour, not a very trustworthy authority, wrote Mémoires sur la Vie de M. de Laval, premier Évêque de Québec in 1761,—a small book which is worth looking into, though not with the object of accepting all its statements. Frontenac is bitterly attacked, his faults magnified, and many serious charges are preferred against him. But one volume, however, was published,—a thin book of a few pages, bearing the imprint of Jean Frederick Motiens, Cologne, 1761. The second volume was never printed. The copy of vol. i. which the Abbé Vemey possessed has this note in the latter’s handwriting: “L’Abbé de la Tour de Montauban, author of this Life, of which the first volume only has been published, promised me a manuscript copy of the second volume; but he did not keep his word. Owing to the unfair manner in which Bishop St. Vallier was treated in the second volume, his family objected to its publication.” The first volume ends with the year 1694. A second edition was published at Paris in 1762.[715]
A useful work, which should not be lost sight of in the consideration of this period, is L’Histoire de l’Hôtel Dieu de Québec, de 1639 à 1716, by the reverend mother, Françoise Juchereau de St. Ignace, printed in Paris in 1751. It is rich in facts and incidents, and especially valuable as an authority on the missionary activity of the time, and on the attempt made by the clergy to evangelize the savages. A supplementary work, prepared with great care and thoroughness from original documents, and bearing the same title, has been written by the Abbé H. R. Casgrain. It is brought down to 1840, and was published at Quebec in 1878. The Abbé is one of the most industrious of the French-Canadian writers, and his book is full of interesting details and notes.[716]
In the third series of Historical Documents published under the auspices of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1871, is a paper entitled “Recueil de ce qui s’est passé en Canada au sujet de la guerre, tant des Anglais que des Iroquois, depuis l’année 1682.” It contains a good account of the Lachine massacre, the truthfulness of which may be accepted. The author accompanied Subercase to the scene.[717]
In a collection entitled, Bibliotheca Americana: Collection d’ouvrages inédits ou rares sur l’Amérique, with the imprint of Leipsic and Paris, appeared the Mémoire sur les Mœurs, Coustumes, et Réligions des Sauvages de l’Amérique Septentrionale, par Nicolas Perrot, publié pour la première fois par le R. P. Tailhan, de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1864. Considerable importance is attached to this memoir by Charlevoix, La Potherie, Ferland, and others, who frequently quote it in their narratives. Harrisse (no. 833) says that this work seems to have been written day by day from 1665 to the death of Perrot, who was an eye-witness of events under the administration of De la Barre, Denonville, and Frontenac. Colden gives a part of the narrative in his History of the Five Indian Nations, London, 1747.[718]
It remains to characterize the chief general works of our own time, which indicate the great interest with which modern research has invested the story of New France. The French-Canadians generally accept François-Xavier Garneau as their national historian, and his Histoire du Canada well entitles him to that consideration. He began writing his history in 1840, and published the first volume in Quebec in 1845, the second in 1846, and the third, treating of events down to 1792, in 1848. A new edition, revised and corrected, and brought down to 1840, appeared at Montreal from Lovell’s press, in 1852, and a third edition at Quebec in 1859.[719] In 1882 the fourth edition, edited by his son,[720] was issued at Montreal by Beauchemin & Valois. It is enriched by many valuable notes, and has a recognized place as a work of conspicuous merit.
The ecclesiastical history of Canada is particularly illustrated by the Abbé J. B. A. Ferland in his Cours d’Histoire du Canada, 1534-1759, Quebec, 1861 and 1865, two volumes. The author died while the second volume was passing through the press, and the completing of the publication devolved upon the Abbé Laverdière, one of the ablest scholars in the Canadian priesthood. Ferland had access to many documents of great interest, and his work shows judgment and a skilful handling of the rich store of materials within his reach.[721]
The Histoire de la Colonie Française en Canada, with maps, by the Abbé Faillon, a Sulpitian priest of very great ability, was projected on an extensive plan. The author visited Canada on three separate occasions, spending several years in the country, and made the most of his opportunities in gathering his material, not only there, but from the archives of the Propaganda at Rome and from the public offices in Paris. The result was a work of high value; but it must be read with a full perception of the author’s intention to rear a monument to commemorate the labors and trials of the Sulpitians of Montreal.
Parkman[722] thus speaks of him: “In all that relates to Montreal I cannot be sufficiently grateful to the Abbé Faillon, the indefatigable, patient, conscientious chronicler of its early history; an ardent and prejudiced Sulpitian; a priest who three centuries ago would have passed for credulous, and withal a kind-hearted and estimable man.”
Three volumes only appeared, the first two in 1865, and the third in 1866. The latter deals with events covered by a small portion of the period discussed in this chapter. M. Faillon’s death at Paris in 1871 prevented further publication; but he has left in manuscript enough prepared material to complete the work as far as the conquest of 1759-1760. The book was published anonymously, according to the custom of the Congregation of St. Sulpice.[723]