1674.] APPEAL TO THE KING. 39 



the king. Perrot was taken from the prison, which 

 he had occupied from January to November, and 

 shipped for France, along with Fenelon. An im- 

 mense mass of papers was sent with them for the 

 instruction of the king ; and Frontenac wrote a 

 long despatch, in which he sets forth the offences of 

 Perrot and Fenelon, the pretensions of the ecclesi- 

 astics, the calumnies he had incurred in his efforts 

 to serve his Majesty, and the insults heaped upon 

 him, " which no man but me would have endured 

 so patiently." Indeed, while the suits were pend- 

 ing before the council, he had displayed a calmness 

 and moderation which surprised his opponents. 

 " Knowing as I do," he pursues, " the cabals and 

 intrigues that are rife here, I must expect that 

 every thing will be said against me that the most 

 artful slander can devise. A governor in this coun- 

 try would greatly deserve pity, if he were left 

 without support ; and, even should he make mis- 

 takes, it would surely be very pardonable, seeing 

 that there is no snare that is not spread for him, 

 and that, after avoiding a hundred of them, he will 

 hardly escape being caught at last." * 



In his charges of cabal and intrigue, Frontenac 

 had chiefly in view the clergy, whom he pro- 

 foundly distrusted, excepting always the Eecollet 

 friars, whom he befriended because the bishop and 

 the Jesuits opposed them. The priests on their 

 part declare that he persecuted them, compelled 



1 Frontenac au Ministre, 14 Nov., 1674. In a preceding letter, sent by 

 way of Boston, and dated 16 February, he says that he could not suffer 

 Perrot to go unpunished without injury to the regal authority, which 

 he is resolved to defend to the last drop of his blood. 



