THE MAKING OF CANADA. 7 



fruits the admired transformation of the songs of France into pure and delicate mélopées. 

 (Suite : Histoire des Canadiens-français, Tome II, p. 68.) It is, however, matter of regret to 

 find that the provisions for education do not seem to have improved during the following 

 three-quarters of a century. In a mémoire of M. Hocquart, dated ITSB, to which I will 

 presently refer in more detail, complaint is made of the slender character of the education 

 Avhich even gentlemen's children receive. They hardly, he says, know how to read and 

 write, and are unacquainted with the first elements of geography and history. At Quebec 

 the chief teacher is also hydrographer and missionary, and has little time for his pui:)ils. 

 At Montreal, matters are little better. He recommends the appointment of a good master 

 for each place. Later on matters seem to imi^rove. In 1*75*7, Madame BourgaiuA'ille wrote 

 thus : — " The simple habitants of Canada would be scandalized at the name of peasants. In 

 fact, they are of better stuflT, are more intellectual and better educated than those of France." 



Government. 



The notions of mankind have changed very much as to the question of the people's 

 share in administration since the middle of the Itth century. Popular government in our 

 sense, or even in the medieval sense, did not exist in Canada at that time. Frontenac tried 

 to make a change, biit the result was one of Colbert's gentle but unmistakeable rebukes. 

 " His municipal government, and his meeting of citizens were, like his three estates, abo- 

 lished by a word from the court which, bold and obstinate as he was, he dared not disobey. 

 Had they been allowed to subsist, there can be little doubt that great good would have 

 resulted to Canada." (Parkman's Frontenac, p. 21). M. Rameau, though he lays stress 

 on the advantages which the Canadians derived from their excellent parochial system, 

 working in harmony with the organization of the seigneurie, acknowledges that the absence 

 of municipal institutions was a serious drawback. {Une Colonie féodale, pp. 290, 291). The 

 grant of such a boon would, he thinks, have doubled their energy and their power for 

 good. 



Champlain's rule, as the commissioner of the Companies, lasted from 1608 till 1635, 

 with an interruption of three years, during which Quebec was occupied by Louis Kirkt. 

 He was succeeded by Grovernors de Montmagny, d'Ailleboust, de Lauson, and d'Avaugour. 

 In 1663, M. de Mesy, on the recommendation of Mgr. de Laval, was sent out to inaugu- 

 rate the system of royal government, — the Company of the Hundred Associates having 

 been dissolved. A sovereign council was formed, modelled on the Parliament of Paris, 

 composed of the governor, the bishop, five (afterwards seven) councillors, named by them 

 conjointly, an attorney-general, and, on his arrival in Canada, the intendant, who repre- 

 sented the minister. To this body the entire administration of the colony was entnisted. 

 In 1664, the Coutume de Paris was made the law of the land. The country was divided 

 for administrative purposes into three governments, those of Quebec, Three Rivers and 

 Montreal, the two latter having their own magistrates, and courts of justice. Later on (in 

 1*717) an admiralty court was established at Quebec. 



Of the system of administration just sketched, M. Grarneau says that—" it was the 

 worst of all systems of government, being the delegation of absolute power, to be exercised 

 a thousand leagues from the delegating authority and in a state of society essentially dif- 



