DECADE OF FEENCH EULB. 15 



Street, he spent his eveuiugs ; there he was sought and fouud, in May, ITSO, by Colonel 

 de Bougainville, returning from Paris, the bearer of the official dispatches, announcing the 

 impending struggle. 



Here are some of the pen photographs which the clever writer of the memoirs has 

 left — disclosing the corrupt surroundings of the luxurious intendant:' — 



" Brassard Deschenaux, the son of a poor cobbler, w^as born at Quebec. A notary, 

 who boarded with Deschenaux senior, had taught his sou to read. Naturally quick and 

 intelligent, youug Deschenaux made rapid progress under his tuition and had soon some- 

 thing to do in the office of Intendant Hocquart, where Bigot fouud him and succeeded in 

 having him named a clerk in the Colonial Office at Quebec. Industrious, but at heart a 

 sycophant, by dint of cringing he won the good graces of Bigot, who soon put unlimited 

 trust in him to such a degree that he attempted nothing without Deschenaux's aid. But 

 Desehenaux was vain, aspiring, haughty, overbearing, and of such inordinate greed that 

 he was in the habit of boasting ' that to get riches he would even rob a church.' 



" Cadet was the sou of a butcher. In his youth he was employed in minding the 

 cattle of a peasant. He next set up as a butcher and made money. His savings he 

 invested in trade ; his intriguing spirit had brought him to the notice of the intendant, 

 who awarded him contracts to supply meat to the array. Desehenaux was not long in 

 discovering that Cadet would be useful to him. He made a friend of him and lost no 

 opportunity of recommending him to the intendant. He was accordingly often employed 

 to buy the supplies for the maintenance of the army. In truth there were few men more 

 active, more industrious, more competent to drive a bargain. The King required his 

 services and requited them by having Cadet named commissary-general. Cadet had his 

 redeeming points : he was open-handed in his dealings, kindly in manner and lavish to 

 excess in expenditure." 



The worthy commissary-general, like Péan, was blessed with a charming wife, whom 

 Panet's Siege Diary styles La Belle Amazone Aventurière. Probably, like her worthy 

 spouse, of low extraction ; " elle n'étant pas sortie de la cuisse de Jupiter," to use a 

 familiar French saw. 



Madame Cadet, later on, transferred her allegiance from the rich butcher Cadet, to 

 one " Sieur Joseph Euffio." Hugh Péan, a Canadian by birth, had succeeded his father 

 Capt. Hughes Péan, towu-major of Quebec. Totally unfit for the post, he had been re- 



' Old memoirs furnish curious details of the flittings of the great intendant between Quebec and Montreal. 

 The parliamentarj' library in this city (Ottawa) contains a lengthy and interesting MS. account, written by a 

 French official of the day, M. Franquet, inspector of fortifications in New France, in 1752. Franquet came here 

 charged with an important mission. He was just the man whom Bigot thought should be dined and wined 

 properly. Thus we find the royal inspector invited to join the intendant on a voyage to Montreal. The govern- 

 ment "Gondola," a long, flat bateau, propelled by sails as well as by oar?, accordingly left the Cul de Sac landing 

 at Quebec, on .luly 24tli, 1752. It could carry eight hundred pounds burden, with a crew of fourteen oarsmen. 

 Amidships there was a space about six feet square, inclosed by curtains and "with seats with blue cushions," 

 says the memoir; a dai.s overhead jiroteoted the inmates from the rays of a July sun, and from rain. Choice 

 wines, spirits, pasties — even ready cash — everything conducive to human sustenance or pleasure was abundantly 

 provided. History tells us there was nothing ascetic about the gay bachelor Bigot. Ladies of rank, wit and 

 beauty felt it an honor to join his brilliant court, where they met gay Lotharios — young officers of the regiments 

 stationed at Quebec. There were seats for the fair ones in the government gondola. M. Frauquet made the most 

 of the voyage, enjoyed himself amazingly, and describes some merry episodes and junketings whicli occurred at 

 Three Rivers and other trysting places, in excellent keeping with the daily routine of the magnificent intendant. 



