1671-1673

NOTABLE LOSSES

DE QUEYLUS FINALLY LEAVES VILLE MARIE—DE COURCELLES AND TALON RECALLED—TRIBUTE TO THEIR ADMINISTRATION—MGR. DE LAVAL ABSENT FOR THREE YEARS—THREE DEATHS—MADAME DE PELTRIE—MARIE L'INCARNATION—JEANNE MANCE—HER LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.

In the autumn of 1671 the AbbÉ Queylus left Montreal with M. d'Allet and M. de GalinÉe, the cartographer. It was his hope to further the interests of his beloved Ville Marie, but his failing health kept him in France, where he died on March 20, 1677.

Towards the end of 1671 de Courcelles was recalled, to be followed by Talon in the following year. This was the result of the growing estrangement between the governor and the intendant. Both had wisely written asking for their recalls and each had urged the plea of ill health. Both received characteristic letters from the king accepting their resignations, and Colbert wrote to Talon: "As you are both returning to France, the little difficulties that have arisen between M. de Courcelles and yourself will have no consequences."

All's well that ends well! The administration of both had been excellent and their influence on Montreal was productive of great good. On April 6, 1672, Louis Buade, Comte de Frontenac, was appointed governor general.

On his arrival Talon and de Courcelles left together, towards the end of 1672. We cannot do better than repeat the skillful appreciation of the "Relation" for that year which gracefully ignored in silence the blamable acts of their administrations and remembered the good, so that, commenting on the chagrin felt at the sight of the vessels in the harbour bearing M. de Courcelles and Talon away, it said: "'Eternellement,' we shall remember the first, who has so well reduced the Iroquois to their duty, and 'Éternellement' we shall desire the return of the latter to put the finishing touches to the projects he has begun so profitably for the good of the country."

This same year Mgr. de Laval went to France to settle the long deferred question of the establishment of a bishopric of Quebec and was absent for three years, as we shall relate.

But although the king created Talon Comte d'Orsainville in 1675, having already made him Baron des Islets in 1671, he never returned, and Canada was without an intendant for three consecutive years, when on June 5, 1675, M. Duchesneau was appointed to succeed him.

Various griefs fell upon the colony at this time. On November 18, 1671, Madame de la Peltrie, one of the earliest pioneers of Montreal, died at the Ursuline Convent at Quebec, where she had dwelt in humble seclusion for eighteen years, in charge of the linen of the community.

Six months later another, Marie de l'Incarnation, whose valuable letters of this early period, from 1639-72, we have frequently quoted, also went to her reward.

But a greater grief fell upon Montreal on June 18, 1673, when the beloved and venerable Jeanne Mance, now aged sixty-six to sixty-seven years [108] passed away at 6 o'clock in the evening in the quiet of the HÔtel-Dieu which she had so lovingly founded and administered. According to her wish, made verbally to M. Souart, the executor of her last will and testament, her body was buried in the church of the HÔtel-Dieu and her heart was encased in a double vase of metal and placed "en dÉpÔt" under the lamp of the tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament until the new parochial church, then being built, should be ready to receive it. Unfortunately it never reached its destination, for during the delay of the church erection a fire, breaking out in the HÔtel-Dieu, consumed the venerable relic.