Section II, 1888. [ 13 ] Trans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 



U.—TIte Last Decade of French Unie ai Quehec, 1749—1759. 



By J. M. LeMoine. 



(Read May 25, 1888.) 



The interest shown by this Section in Canadian history, may render acceptable the 

 sketch I shall now present of the governing circles at Quebec, during the last decade 

 of French rule — a very dark page in Canadian annals. I am well aware that our his- 

 torians have, in a general way, done justice to the closing era of the Bourbon regime in 

 New France. I wish, however, to enlarge on the subject, and to acquaint you with the 

 very text of a curious memoir bearing on those times, adding a few comments. This 

 memoir, I have reason to believe, is little known to the English-speaking community, there 

 being so far no translation into their language. 



In the year 1838, a committee of the Literary and Historical Society, of Quebec, of 

 which the learned George B. Faribault was the leading spirit, urged upon the association 

 the propriety of publishing a French MS.' of some 207 pages, placed in the hands of a 

 member of the committee by an influential person in Montreal, who received it from Gen. 

 Burton, at one time after the Conquest commandant in that city ; there seems to have 

 been also extant a second copy, in the possession of the Hon. Thos. Dunn, a high ofHcial 

 in his day. Mr. Dunn seems to have communicated this document to the Hon. Wm. 

 Smith, as he quotes several passages from it in his " History of Canada," published at 

 Quebec in 1815. 



This memoir presents a graphic, dark but vivacious portraiture of the dealings of 

 the high officials, during the last years of French power. It is quite in accord with the 

 record drawn up by the general historian, only it is much more circumstantial. 



The writer must have been an official himself, admitted behind the scenes, but ready 

 to handle without gloves the accomplished villains, who dishonored France and oppressed 

 the colony. Canada, deserted and betrayed, seems to have been ripe for a change of rule. 

 On perusing this memoir, one can easily understand why the oppressed and neglected 

 colonists so readily accepted the new regime with its guarantees, so soon as it became an 

 accomplished fact. 



Let us scan some of the incidents of this drooping period, so stiikingly portrayed in 

 the entourage of Intendant Bigot. 



Prepare for the downfall of French power in New France. Selfishness, lust, and 



^ Mémoires du S de C , contenant l'Histoire du Canada durant la Guerre et sous le Gouvernement 



Anglois : Published by the Literary and Historical Society, of Quebec, under the title " Mémoires sur le Canada, 

 depuis 1749 jusqu'à 1760, en trois parties, avec Cartes et Plans Lithographies, publié sous la direction de la Société 

 Littéraire et Historique de Québec en 1838. Ré-imprimé par elle en 1873 : Middleton & Dawson, Québec." 



