54 FRONTENAC AND DUCHESNEAU. [1675-82. 



told him that he should not leave the council 

 chamber till he had signed the paper. " Then I 

 will get out of the window, or else stay here all 

 day," returned Duchesneau. A lively debate en- 

 sued, and the governor at length yielded the point. 1 

 The imprisonment of Amours was short, but 

 strife did not cease. The disputes in the council 

 were accompanied throughout with other quarrels 

 which were complicated with them, and which 

 were worse than all the rest, since they involved 

 more important matters and covered a wider field. 

 They related to the fur trade, on which hung the 

 very life of the colony. Merchants, traders, and 

 even habitants, were ranged in two contending 

 factions. Of one of these Frontenac was the chief. 

 With him were La Salle and his lieutenant, La 

 Foret ; Du Lhut, the famous leader of coiireurs cle 

 bois ; Boisseau, agent of the farmers of the revenue ; 

 Barrois, the governor's secretary ; Bizard, lieu- 

 tenant of his guard ; and various others of greater 

 or less influence. On the other side were the 

 members of the council, with Aubert de la Ches- 

 naye, Le Moyne and all his sons, Louis Joliet, 

 Jacques Le Ber, Sorel, Boucher, Varennes, and 

 many more, all supported by the intendant Duches- 

 neau, and also by his fast allies, the ecclesiastics. 

 The faction under the lead of the governor had 

 every advantage, for it was sustained by all the 

 power of his office. Duchesneau was beside him- 

 self with rage. He wrote to the court letters full 

 of bitterness, accused Frontenac of illicit trade, 



1 Registre du Conseil Supe'rieur, 1681. 



