1689.] CHARACTER OF DENONVILLE. 183 



instinctive antipathy for Indians, snch as some per- 

 sons have for certain animals ; and the coureurs 

 de hois, and other lawless classes of the Canadian 

 population, appeared to please him no better. 

 Their license and insubordination distressed him, 

 and he constantly complained of them to the 

 king. For the Church and its hierarchy his de- 

 votion was unbounded : and his government was 

 a season of unwonted sunshine for the ecclesi- 

 astics, like the balmy clays of the Indian summer 

 amid the gusts of November. They exhausted 

 themselves in eulogies of his piety ; and, in proof 

 of its depth and solidity, Mother Juchereau tells 

 us that he clicl not regard station and rank as 

 very useful aids to salvation. While other gover- 

 nors complained of too many priests, Denonville 

 begged for more. All was harmony between him 

 and Bishop Saint-Vallier ; and the prelate was con- 

 stantly his friend, even to the point of justifying his 

 worst act, the treacherous seizure of the Iroquois 

 neutrals. 1 When he left Canada, the only mourner 

 besides the churchmen was his colleague, the in- 

 tendant Cbampigny ; for the two chiefs of the 

 colony, joined in a common union with the Jesuits, 

 lived together in unexampled concord. On his 

 arrival at court, the good offices of his clerical 

 allies gained for him the highly honorable post of 

 governor of the royal children, the young Dukes 

 of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri. 



1 Saint-Vallier, Etat Present, 91, 92 (Quebec, 1856). 



