Meanwhile, the Indian allies still kept away. But on September 7th the fort welcomed a body of sixty of them who came under the escort of a band of the soldiers sent out from France the previous year. These latter had been ordered on arriving to winter with the Hurons and protect them from the Iroquois, and they were now on their way back to the governor of Quebec with a load of skins to the value of thirty to forty thousand livres.
It will be remembered that the disposition of the peltry was now in the hands of the colonists themselves on condition that they should maintain the upkeep of the departments of church and state. On arriving in Quebec there was a disagreement as to the disposal of the profits of the sale. Finally the colonists devoted part of their proceeds to the construction of the Jesuit house there.
This year also de Montmagny and the inhabitants applied the product of 1,250 beaver skins to their new church being constructed at Quebec and dedicated to Our Lady of Peace in view of the conclusion of peace, now heartily desired.
The possibilities of trade must have appealed to the Montrealers from the arrival of the above party, the more so as their restrictions had been removed.
This month, the negotiations for peace were concluded at a representative gathering of Iroquois and the French allies with the French party under de Montmagny and thus the first Iroquois war was over.
Peace now gave M. de Maisonneuve an opportunity to go to France to arrange the affairs of his father; so putting his own in order, he left the government of Ville Marie in the good hands of his lieutenant, Louis d'Ailleboust. He departed, to the great grief of all the fort gathered at the harbour mouth, but with the promise of a speedy return. M. de Maisonneuve left Quebec on October 20th, on one of the Company's ships bearing their season's fur skins to France. He "deported," as we would say, with him the "undesirable" Sieur de Labarre, whose hypocrisy had been unmasked in Montreal, "when it became known," as Dollier de Casson quaintly relates, "he was frequently taking promenades in the wood with an Indian woman whom he had defiled (qu'il engrossa). There was no more of the saint about this man than his chapelet and his deceitful look, for under the guise of virtue he hid a very wicked life which has made him since finish his days behind a 'bar' which was heavier than his name of Barre."
This year the Jesuit missioners in charge of Ville Marie were Fathers Buteaux and Isaac Jogues. Both of these men were zealous pioneers. Each bore on his body the marks of Iroquois' ill treatment. Yet they did not ask to be recalled to France and rest on their laurels. Father Jogues had, however, been recalled after his mutilation, but his missionary zeal prompted him to return. He profited by the peace, which brought many of the Iroquois out of curiosity to the fort, to make friends with them as he wished to work among their tribes shortly.
After Maisonneuve had concluded the arrangement of his father's affairs he was free for many conferences with members of the Company of Montreal. Ever since they had written to the pope in 1643 it was their great desire, and that of Maisonneuve especially, it being thought that peace was concluded, to establish a bishopric in Canada. As they had agreed to support the expense of maintaining such a post, preferably at Montreal, they arranged that one of their number, a M. Legauffre, a secular priest who had a private fortune of his own, should be nominated to fill the episcopal see.
His unexpected death now came, but he left a legacy of 30,000 livres towards the founding of a see.
In the meeting of the bishops at the general assembly of the clergy on May 25, 1646, Mgr. Godeau, bishop of Grasse, promoted the movement for the establishment of the see, and in July, at the meeting of July 11th, Cardinal Mazarin promised to employ his services with his majesty towards that end, while he also promised 1,200 écus. But as at Quebec and Three Rivers there was no desire for a bishop, especially in view of the uncertain nature of the peace, the negotiations were eventually discontinued, as it became evident that the state of the country was too unsettled. Still the progressive Montrealers had by their enterprise and initiative suggested the establishment of a see, which was erected later on the coming of Laval.