THE LONG PEACE—THE TWO GOVERNORS—TAVERN LICENSES—PERMIT TO MARRY—CULTIVATION OF HEMP—FIRST ATTEMPT OF THE LACHINE CANAL BY THE SEIGNEURS—GEDEON DE CATALOGNE—CHAUSSEGROS DE LERY—"SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES"—CLAUDE DE RAMEZAY—WAR PRICES—LINEN AND CLOTH INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED—AN ORDINANCE AGAINST DIRTY STREETS—AGAINST PIGS IN THE HOUSES—MARKET REGULATIONS—THE USE OF THE COMMONS—SALE OF LIQUOR TO SAVAGES—THE SEIGNEURS AND THE HABITANTS—REGULATIONS CONCERNING TANNERS, SHOEMAKERS AND BUTCHERS—ENGLISH MERCHANDISE NOT TO BE TOLERATED AT MONTREAL—A MARKET FOR CANADIAN PRODUCTS DESIRED—CONCENTRATION IN THE EAST VERSUS EXPANSION IN THE WEST—CONGES—FAST DRIVING—ROAD MAKING—HORSE BREEDING RESTRAINED—PIGS TO BE MUZZLED—LIQUOR LICENSES OVERHAULED—SNOW-SHOEING TO BE CULTIVATED—DIVERSE NATIONAL ORIGINS—A MARBLE QUARRY—THE DEATH OF A RECLUSE—MURDERER BURNT IN EFFIGY—CARD MONEY—A "BOURSE" FOR THE MERCHANTS—PATENTS OF NOBILITY TO THE LEBER AND LE MOYNE FAMILIES—PARTRIDGE SHOOTING—A "CURE ALL" PATENT MEDICINE—POSTAL SERVICE—A PICTURE OF MONTREAL ABOUT 1721 BY CHARLEVOIX.
Having already recorded the treaty with the Indians in 1701, and the history of Queen Anne's war which terminated in the peace of Utrecht, we may now survey in several chapters the civil progress of Montreal from the beginning of the eighteenth century and during the long peace which lasted to the beginning of the final war with the English, which ended in the capitulation of Montreal in 1760.
M. Philippe de Rigaud Marquis de Vaudreuil, as governor of Montreal (1698-1703), early renewed some of the old trouble of infringing on the authority of the governor general, for in 1700, on May 5th, the king's minister wrote to Vaudreuil that His Majesty did not wish him to interfere directly or indirectly in the administration of justice, nor would the king pardon him for putting the inhabitants in prison without the orders of M. de Callières. [165] Otherwise the ordinary administration of the town progressed. We have preserved the granting of a Montreal tavern license from May 5th to Pierre Billeron de Lafatigue and Marie Fortier, his wife, to sell and retail drinks, a pot et a pinte," and refreshments par assiette" (plate), with the injunction, "not to intoxicate the savages, and to make observed among them the regulations of our seigneurs of the council, with the prohibition of giving drink and food during the celebration of divine service or past 9 o'clock in the evening." License holders were to allow the police to inspect and they were to keep copies of these regulations posted in their inns. The civil, military and ecclesiastical hours of the day were told by the parish church clock, which had existed up to 1701; its remains were found in a lumber room in 1770. But about 1701, the superior of the seminary, M. de Belmont, brought from France the famous timepiece at the cost of 800 francs, about the value of the same number of dollars nowadays. In 1751 it got out of order for the first time but it was thoroughly renovated during Montgolfiers' rule of the seminary and it served faithfully as the only public clock till recent times. [166]
A permit to marry, granted by de Callières to a soldier coming to the Montreal district, and dated from Quebec, January 7, 1702, gives us a glimpse of the military jurisdiction of the time. "We give permission to one named Poitevin, a soldier of the company of Longueuil, to espouse the daughter of Julien Blois of Long point. The civic seigneur will not make any difficulty in marrying them.
(Signed) Le Chevalier de Callières."
At this time M. de Vaudreuil was thinking of building his château in Montreal, and on May 6th, the minister writes to the Intendant Champigny "that the King has granted 1,000 livres to help M. de Vaudreuil to build his home." On the same day he wrote to the latter telling him "that as the inhabitants of Montreal are too far from the sea to take up the fishery industry otherwise than by associating themselves with those of Quebec, he should urge his people to the cultivation of the soil and especially of hemp, which the Kingdom of France has to import from the northern countries." On the same day, the minister wrote to de Ramezay, [167] who had recently arrived, congratulating him on the good condition of the 300 recruits taken by him from France. M. de Ramezay at the same time was appointed, in the absence of de Callières and de Vaudreuil, to the command of the whole extent of the colony, thus clearly designating him for future honours.
Montreal's destiny as the head of navigation was early forced upon the attention of the enterprising missionaries and traders who embarked from Montreal for the West. The rapids of the Sault St. Louis presented an initial difficulty, and eyes had long been cast on the possibility of avoiding them by constructing a canal, connecting the lac à loutre on the west side, by a channel, to the Lake St. Louis, so that canoes could start from the Little River St. Pierre, near Place Royale, and pursue their way inland and westward until they reached the Lake St. Louis. Thus, therefore, was evolved the first attempt at a Lachine Canal in 1700.
M. Ernest Marceau in 1906 gave the results of some of his investigations among the papers of the Sulpicians, for the history of the efforts of the seigneurs of Montreal to overcome the difficulties of the navigation between Lachine and Montreal. He relates these as follows: [168]
"A few years only had elapsed since the establishment of the French at Montreal, when the necessity for bettering the means of communication between the rising city and the settlements already existing at Lachine, Ste. Anne, etc., became apparent. The young colony was too poor, however, to think of building a canal with locks to overcome the very considerable fall in the nine miles of river from Pointe-à-Callières to Lachine.
"The route followed by the canoes at the time was along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, but it was exceedingly dangerous, and many portages intervened between navigable stretches. Even in these so-called navigable stretches, towing had to be resorted to. A number of accidents had already happened, in which men and canoes had been lost. In the year 1700, the Superior of the Sulpicians, Mr. Dollier de Casson, [169] undertook to improve the Little River St. Pierre, and to make it navigable for canoes, from its mouth to Lake St. Pierre, a shallow body of water lying about half way between Montreal and Lachine (this lake has long disappeared, owing chiefly to the works done in connection with the Lachine Canal), and to open up a cut from the lake to a point on the St. Lawrence above the worst part of the rapids.