Pigs straying in the streets, in 1710, brought an ordonnance from Raudot of June 29th; they had been the cause not only of filth, but of sanitary disorders and infection, and owners were given five days to enclose them, otherwise the pig were to be permitted to be killed and the proceeds to go to the poor of the Hôtel-Dieu. On the 4th of August, Raudot enjoined on all the owners of pigs in the colony to put muzzles on them so that those found doing damage to grain or field produce, without their muzzles on, could be killed for recompense.
The licencing permits of Montreal were overhauled by Antoine Denis Raudot, conjoint intendant, during his stay in Montreal in June, 1710, when by an ordonnance dated June 23d, having found that there were many selling liquors without permission of the local government, he ordered that there should only be ten licenced "cabaretiers-aubergistes," who shall sell all kinds of drink to the French, but not after 9 o'clock in the evening, and never to the Indians, under penalty of losing their licences.
In addition, he licenced nine other innkeepers, to sell beer only, and then in moderation, to the Indians, three for those of the St. Louis district, two for that of Sault-au-Récollet, two for the Nepissingués, and two others for the Abenakis, Ottowans and other savages, who came to the town to trade. Those with this beer licence had to refuse liquor to the Indians after the retraite battue, and never to let them take drink away with them; while they were obliged to give lodging to the savages if they wanted to stay. This second set of licence holders, however, had the privilege of selling any kind of drink to the French. We can imagine that these latter outlying saloons were in danger of being disorderly. Yet the number of illicit "houses" increased so that in 1726 Claude Thomas Dupuy issued an ordonnance, dated November 22d, which affected Montreal as well as other cities in the regulation of the sale of liquors. By this new order, which contained fourteen articles on the subject of innkeepers and liquor sellers of all kinds, from the fashionable hôtel of the time to the humbler vendor of wine who had his piece of evergreen bush outside his door—a bundle of pine sprigs, maybe, to show that drink was served inside. Even all those who had been given licences previously by local authorities were now to send in their titles and credentials before receiving in return a new licence expressly signed by the intendant himself. It was a necessary measure borne in upon him by many officers of troops, masters and fathers of families, who complained that the numerous cabarets were turning the youth, the soldiers and the servants away from duty, respect and service. Hence the intendant's drastic measure in striking at the root of the evil by putting down illicit vendors and restricting the legitimate licences.
As an instance of the methods of the day we may cite an instruction of the king to MM. de Vaudreuil and Bégon of June 15, 1712. "M. Bégon will take in hand the reduction of the number of horses. The habitants have only need of them to till the soil, to haul their timber and to transport their wheat. It is not natural that the inhabitants should make use of them during the winter to communicate with other places instead of going on snowshoes, as they ought to do. Too great attention cannot be paid to make the people take to this usage, now almost a lost art, and the habitants should be prevented as far as possible from leading an easy life by these soft methods, since such diminishes their strength and breaks down their courage."
MICHEL BEGON
Those interested in the first mention of immigrants of various nationalities, settling in Montreal, will find that in 1712 two ladies, English Catholics, Marie Silver and Esther O'Wellen, had obtained the favor of naturalization. At the same time, June 24th, the king demands a complete list of all English Catholics settled in Canada.
In 1714 we find mention, by Intendant Bégon, of an Irishman, "Jean La Haye, un Irlandais" (probably John Lahy, Leahy, or Lahey, who had been settled in the district of Lachine for twenty-two years), who had been arrested with an Englishman, Jean Joublin, Anglais (probably a John Jobling), for counterfeiting card money. These were probably prisoners of war who had remained behind.
On the date of March 7, 1724, at Versailles, a brevet to practice medicine in Montreal under the orders of Sieur Tarrazin, royal physician of Quebec, was granted to one Timothy Silvain (Sullivan), an Irishman by birth. On March 19, 1714, letters of naturalization were granted to an Englishman, Claude Mathias Senif, settled at Montreal.