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not likely be at present, in this fair Land of the West, 

 any loving subjects to greet Victoria, as Queen. 



It might not be an uninteresting subject of research, 

 to trace the complex origin of the 80,000 souls com- 

 prised in the population of the Ancient Capital. 



For years, Quebec meant New France, though its 

 successful rival, Montreal, very soon played an impor- 

 tant part in colonial affairs. New France in fact was 

 originally peopled by emigration from Brittany, Nor- 

 mandy, Perche, Poitou, Anjou, Aunis, &c, industrious 

 and moral peasants, hardy fishermen, adventurous 

 mechanics in quest of homes and a livelihood free from 

 the heavy imposts then beginning to weigh on the 

 French nation. An important class soon came to the 

 front, in a country in which the Indian dialects had to 

 be studied and used : the class of french interpreters, 

 composed of men, who eventually attained important 

 situations of trust ; one of whom was for a time charged 

 with the administration of the colony, the Baron de 

 Longueuil ; let us also mention others such as Marsol- 

 let, Nicolet and Couture. 



Great care seems to have been practised in the selec- 

 tion of colonists, by the public companies and later on, 

 when Quebec became a crown colony, by the king ; 

 unlike the mode of colonizing which obtained for the 

 Isle of St. Christophe and other islands. 



The disbanding of several companies of the dashing 

 Carignan Kegiment, brought out here by the Marquis of 

 Tracy, in 1665, through the infusion of new blood raised 

 the standard of colonists, adding a refined element to 

 the sparse population. Louis the Great had tempted 

 the officers, many of whom were connected with the 

 French nobility, to settle in Canada, by royal gifts of 

 waste lands, offering to the privates farm stock and 

 land as well. This accounts for the names of several 

 old seigniories, called after their first proprietors, all 

 military men : Sorel, Chambly, Vercheres, Berthier, 

 Granville, Contrecceur, Varennes, Kougemont, La Val- 



