18 FRONTENAC AT QUEBEC. [1672. 



speech was addressed to a double audience : the 

 throng that filled the church, and the king and the 

 minister three thousand miles away. He told his 

 hearers that he had called the assembly, not because 

 he doubted their loyalty, but in order to afford 

 them the delight of making public protestation of 

 devotion to a prince, the terror of whose irresist- 

 ible arms was matched only by the charms of his 

 person and the benignity of his rule. " The Holy 

 Scriptures," he said, " command us to obey our 

 sovereign, and teach us that no pretext or reason 

 can dispense us from this obedience." And, in a 

 glowing eulogy on Louis XIV., he went on to show 

 that obedience to him was not only a duty, but an 

 inestimable privilege. He dwelt with admiration 

 on the recent victories in Holland, and held forth 

 the hope that a speedy and glorious peace would 

 leave his Majesty free to turn his thoughts to the 

 colony which already owed so much to his foster- 

 ing care. " The true means," pursued Frontenac, 

 i; of gaining his favor and his support, is for us to 

 unite with one heart in laboring for the progress 

 of Canada." Then he addressed, in turn, the 

 clergy, the nobles, the magistrates, and the citi- 

 zens. He exhorted the priests to continue with 

 zeal their labors for the conversion of the Indians, 

 and to make them subjects not only of Christ, but 

 also of the king ; in short, to tame and civilize 

 them, a portion of their duties in which he plainly 

 gave them to understand that they had not hith- 

 erto acquitted themselves to his satisfaction. 

 Next, he appealed to the nobles, commended 



