De Maisonneuve before leaving for France persuaded the governor of Quebec to send ten men as a reinforcement to Ville Marie. Dollier de Casson, the quondam soldier now priest, treating this quaintly as follows, says facetiously that de Lauson kept his promise, "sending their arms in advance," meaning that he sent none at all. This is confirmed by M. de Belmont, who says that "M. de Lauson sent, in spite of his own wish, ten soldiers without arms and provisions." "But he sent them so late," says Dollier, probably on the testimony of eye-witnesses, "and put them on a chaloupe so poorly clad that they almost froze to death, and they were taken for living spectres coming, as mere skeletons, to confront the hardships of the winter. It was a rather surprising thing to see them arrive in this turnout at this season, considering that it was the 10th of December; so much so that it seemed doubtful whether they were men or not, this only being cleared up when they were seen close at hand; moreover in constitution these men were most sickly, two of them being mere boys, though in truth they have become since very good settlers, of whom one is called Saint Ange and the other, Lachapelle. These poor soldiers were no sooner here than their hosts proceeded to warm them up as well as they could, by giving them good cheer and good clothing, and then they came to be of service in repelling the Iroquois whom we had to deal with at close quarters every day."
Surely Montreal must have been looked upon as a forlorn hope!
NOTE
THE EXPLOIT OF PLACE D'ARMES
The site of this is claimed by the Abbé Rousseau in his "Maisonneuve," page 77, as the space in front of the fort known as the Place d'Armes, afterwards the market place and now known as Custom House Square, and the road abutting the new buildings of the Hôtel-Dieu arising at the corner of St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice) and the corner of St. Paul Street.
The Abbé Faillon, Vol. II, page 25, "Histoire de la Colonie Française," argues for the present Place d'Armes in front of Notre Dame Parish Church. M. L. A. Huguet Latour, the first editor of the Annuaire de Ville Marie, holds the same view.
There was a blazed trail, running up the slope of St. Sulpice Street, which probably went up to the mountain where de Maisonneuve placed his cross. In a map of 1680 such a road ran by the northwest corner of the present Place d'Armes.
Faillon claims it was here that the exploit took place; the argument of time and distance for the action as related by de Casson being more congruous for this position than at the lower position just outside the fort in the sight of the defenders within. But it must be remembered that the present Place d'Armes did not get its name from this exploit. This name does not appear till 1717, when Chassegros de Léry, engineer of New France, forwarded to France a lengthy report as to the advantage of Montreal for the purposes of fortifications. In this report he said:
"I have marked a place d'armes, in front of the parish church where might afterwards be moved a number of barracks, the houses which are in that place being of small value."
During the year the work was commenced, but from lack of funds it was discontinued. Up to 1721 no further progress was made but in that year it was fairly entered upon and de Léry superintended it. (Vide "Canadiana," Vol. I, pp. 47, 63, 77; notes of John Talon Lespérance, Henry Platt, Wm. McLennan.)