GREAT CHANGES, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL
MILITIA SQUADS ESTABLISHED—THE FORMATION OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY FAMILY—THE EARTHQUAKE AT MONTREAL—POLITICAL CHANGES—THE RESIGNATION OF THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES—CANADA BECOMES A CROWN COLONY—THE TRANSFER OF THE SEIGNEURY OF THE ISLAND FROM THE COMPANY OF MONTREAL TO THE "GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY"—ROYAL GOVERNMENT—THE APPOINTMENT OF THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL—CHANGE IN THE MONTREAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM—FORMER HOME RULE PRIVILEGES RESCINDED—MONTREAL UNDER QUEBEC—PIERRE BOUCHER'S DESCRIPTION OF CANADA AND MONTREAL—SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PERIOD—MONTREAL SOLDIERY—THE ELECTION OF POLICE JUDGES—ATTEMPT TO SUPPLANT MAISONNEUVE AS LOCAL GOVERNOR—DISCORD IN THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL.
Meanwhile the war was still in progress and news had come that the Iroquois had determined to seize Montreal, by surprise or force, as their own post, after putting the inhabitants to fire and sword. To meet this threat, de Maisonneuve issued an ordinance, January 27, 1663, inviting the colonists to form into militia squads of seven persons of which one should be elected corporal, for the purpose of supplementing the regular garrison soldiers. On February 4th "to the end that the country may be saved," he established a camp volant, or flying squadron, composed of twenty such squads, to be known under the title of the Militia of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, "since this island is the property of the Holy Virgin." It will be remembered that already de Maisonneuve had established his Military Confraternity, or guard of sixty-two. In all things the religious character of the foundation of Montreal is seen.
At Quebec the liquor traffic with the Indians went on more boldly, owing to the absence of Mgr. Laval, and disorders were multiplied, such as the burning of one of the houses on the night of January 23d.
An event, which is reported from many sources and was regarded as a supernatural visitation was, however, more effective in putting the fear of the Lord into the liquor traffickers than all the previous thunderings of the clergy.
On February 5th, the eve of Carnival Monday, or "lundi gras," the first hoarse rumblings of an earthquake which were noted all over Canada, were heard at Ville Marie while M. Souart, the curé, was holding prayers in the church, and after five or six minutes the earth began to swell and move. The terror-stricken people left the church lest they should perish in the ruins. At the Hôtel-Dieu, many of the sick ran out and spent the night on the rolling snow-covered ground. The gayeties of carnival were abandoned and fear fell upon the people. The tremblings lasted for seven or eight minutes.
One direct effect of the earthquake was to make the ladies form, under the suggestion of Père Chaumonot, the Jesuit, then on a visit to Montreal, and with the co-operation of M. Souart, a pious association under the name of the "Confraternity of the Holy Family." Its formation, on July 31st, was greatly promoted by Madame d'Ailleboust, widow of Louis d'Ailleboust, the former governor general, who, since his death in 1660, had taken up her abode at the Hôtel-Dieu. It was approved in March 1665, by Mgr. Laval. Subsequent associations spread all over Canada for two centuries.
The pictures given of the earthquake are most graphically painted by writers of the period, such as those in the "Relations." In the forest the trees were apparently at war, being uprooted and cast against one another, so that the Indians said the forest was intoxicated. The hills and mountains were in the same confusion. Mountains were laid low and the valleys were filled up. The ice beds of the rivers broke up and the water, mingled with mud, poured up in jets on high. The streams quitted their beds or changed the colours of their waters, some yellow, others red; the great St. Lawrence was whitish for eight days. To the affrighted people it seemed that the spirits of darkness and the powers of the air were permitted to league themselves. But there was little loss of life "and the harvest," says Sister Marie de l'Incarnation, "was never more fruitful. There were no sicknesses. You see by this that God only wounds to bless and that his inflictions which we have experienced, are only the chastisement of a good Father." The effects of this earthquake still are visible. From Cape Tourment to Tadoussac there were changes in the contour of the land and of the banks of the St. Lawrence. The picturesque name, Les Eboulements, in the Bay of St. Paul, records the fall of a hill nearby into the river, thus forming the present island. The earthquake spread to New England and the New Netherlands, and similar terrors affected the minds of the people as in Canada.
While these warlike physical changes were terrifying Canada, in France the constitution of the bodies governing its temporal law and order were also being overhauled in a more peaceful manner. On February 24th the few remaining rich members of the Company of One Hundred Associates, which had the monopoly of New France since 1626, were constrained, seeing impending dissolution by force, to offer the resignation of their charters, by a renunciation pure and simple.
In the March following this was accepted by the king. The colony came at last directly under the crown and happier times were in store for it. Splendid colonizing ideas were being prepared by Louis XIV and Jean Baptiste Colbert, the successor of Mazarin, which if carried out would have prevented the necessity of the cession of 1760. The words of the edict will not surprise our readers.