48 FRONTENAC AND DUCHESNEAU. [1675-80. 



council, should act as its president. 1 The com- 

 mission of Duchesneau, however, empowered him 

 to preside only in the absence of the governor ; 2 

 while Frontenac is styled " chief and president of 

 the council " in several of the despatches addressed 

 to him. Here was an inconsistency. Both parties 

 claimed the right of presiding, and both could 

 rest their claim on a clear expression of the royal 

 will. 



Frontenac rarely began a new quarrel till the 

 autumn vessels had sailed for France ; because a 

 full year must then elapse before his adversaries 

 could send their complaints to the king, and six 

 months more before the king could send back his 

 answer. The governor had been heard to say, on 

 one of these occasions, that he should now be 

 master for eighteen months, subject only to an- 

 swering with his head for what he might do. It 

 was when the last vessel was gone in the autumn 

 of 1678 that he demanded to be styled chief and 

 president on the records of the council ; and he 

 showed a letter from the king in which he was so 

 entitled. 3 In spite of this, Duchesneau resisted, 

 and appealed to precedent to sustain his position. 

 A long series of stormy sessions followed. The 

 councillors in the clerical interest supported the 

 intendant. Frontenac, chafed and angry, refused 

 all compromise. Business was stopped for weeks. 



1 Declaration da Roy, 23 Sept., 1675. 



? " Presider au Conseil Squverain en {'absence du dit Sieur de Fron- 

 tenac." — Commission de Duchesneau, 5 Juin, 1675. 



3 This letter, still preserved in the Archives de la Marine, is dated 12 

 Mai, 1678. Several other letters of Louis XIV. give Frontenac the same 

 designation. 



