The Sway of Count Frontenac
The ten years following 1663 form a decade of extraordinary
progress in the history of New France. The population of the colony
had trebled, and now numbered approximately seven thousand; the red
peril, thanks to Tracy's energetic work, had been lessened; while
the fur trade had grown to large and lucrative proportions. With
this increase in population and prosperity, there came a renaissance
of enthusiasm for voyages of exploration and for the widening of the
colony's frontiers. Glowing reports went home to the King concerning
the latent possibilities of the New World. What the colony now
needed was a strong and vigorous governor who would not only keep a
firm hold upon what had been already achieved, but one who would
also push on to greater and more glorious things.
It was in keeping with, this spirit of faith and hope that the King
sent to Quebec, in 1672, Louis de Buade, Count Frontenac, naming him
governor of all the French domains in North America. Fifty-two years
of age when he came to Canada, Frontenac had been a soldier from his
youth; he had fought through hard campaigns in Italy, in the Low
Countries, and with the Venetians in their defense of Candia against
the Turks. In fact, he had but shortly returned from this last
service when he was chosen to succeed Courcelle as the royal
representative in New France.
To Frontenac's friends the appointment seemed more like a banishment
than a promotion. But there were several reasons why the governor
should have accepted gladly. He had inherited only a modest fortune,
and most of this had been spent, for thrift was not one of
Frontenac's virtues. His domestic life had not been happy, and there
were no strong personal ties binding him to life in France.
(Saint-Simon, in his "Memoires", prints the current Parisian
gossip that Frontenac was sent to New France to shield him from the
imperious temper of his wife and to afford him a means of
livelihood.) Moreover, the post of governor in the colony was not to
be judged by what it had been in the days of D'Avaugour or De Mezy.
The reports sent home by Talon had stirred the national ambitions.
"I am no courtier," this intendant had written, "and it is not to
please the King or without reason that I say this portion of the
French monarchy is going to become something great. What I now see
enables me to make such a prediction." And indeed the figures of
growth in population, of acreage cleared, and of industries rising
into existence seemed to justify the intendant's optimism. Both the
King and his ministers were building high hopes on Canada, as their
choice of Frontenac proves, and in their selection of a man to carry
out their plans they showed, on the whole, good judgment. Frontenac
proved to be the ablest and most commanding of all the officials who
served the Bourbon monarchy in the New World. In the long line of
governors he approached most nearly to what a Viceroy ought to be.
It is true that in New France there were conditions which no
amount of experience in the Old World could train a man to handle.
Nor was Frontenac particularly fitted by training or temperament for
all of the duties which his new post involved. In some things he was
well-endowed; he had great physical endurance, a strong will, with
no end of courage, and industry to spare. These were qualities of
the highest value in a land encircled by enemies and forced to
depend for existence upon the strength of its own people. But more
serviceable still was his ability in adapting himself to a new
environment. Men past fifty do not often show this quality in marked
degree, but Frontenac fitted himself to the novelty of colonial life
exceedingly well. In his relations with, the Indians he showed
amazing skill. No other colonial governor, English, French, or
Dutch, ever commanded so readily the respect and admiration of the
red man. But in his dealings with the intendant and the bishop, with
the clergy, and with all those among the French of New France who
showed any disposition to disagree with him, Frontenac displayed an
uncontrollable temper, an arrogance of spirit, and a degree of
personal vanity which would not have made for cordial relations in
any field of human effort. He had formed his own opinions and was
quite ready to ride rough-shod over those of other men. It was this
impetuosity that served to make the official circles of the colony,
during many months of his term, a "little hell of discord."
But when the new viceroy arrived at Quebec he was in high fettle; he
was pleased with the situation of the town and flattered by the
enthusiastic greeting which he received from its people. His first
step was to familiarize himself with the existing machinery of
colonial government, which he found to be far from his liking. He
proceeded, accordingly, in his own imperious way, to make some
startling changes. For one thing, he decided to summon a
representative assembly made up of the clergy, the seigneurs, and
the common folk of New France. This body he brought together for his
inauguration in October, 1672. No such assembly had ever been
convened before, and nothing like it was ever allowed to assemble
again. Before another year had passed, the minister sent Frontenac a
polite reprimand with the intimation that the King could not permit
in the colony an institution he was doing his best, and with entire
success, to crush out at home. The same fate awaited the governor's
other project, the establishment of a municipal government in the
town of Quebec. Within a few months of his arrival, Frontenac had
allowed the people of the town to elect a syndic and two aldermen,
but the minister vetoed this action with the admonition that "you
should very rarely, or, to speak more correctly, never, give a
corporate voice to the inhabitants, for ... it is well that each
should speak for himself, and no one for all." In the reorganization
of colonial administration, therefore, the governor found himself
promptly called to a halt. He therefore turned to another field
where he was much more successful in having his own way.
From the day of his arrival at Quebec the governor saw the pressing
need of extending French, influence and control into the regions
bordering upon the Great Lakes. To dissipate the colony's efforts in
westward expansion, however, was exactly what he had been instructed
not to do. The King and his ministers were sure that it would be far
wiser to devote all available energies and funds to developing the
settled portions of the land. They desired the governor to carry on
the policy of encouraging agriculture which Talon had begun, thus
solidifying the colony and making its borders less difficult to
defend. Frontenac's instructions on this point could hardly have
been more explicit. "His Majesty considers it more consistent with
the good of his service," wrote Colbert, "that you apply yourself to
clearing and settling the most fertile places that are nearest the
seacoast and the communication with France than to think afar of
explorations in the interior of the country, so distant that they
can never be inhabited by Frenchmen." This was discouraging counsel,
showing neither breadth of vision nor familiarity with the urgent
needs of the colony. Frontenac courageously set these instructions
aside, and in doing so he was wise. Had he held to the letter of his
instructions, New France would never have been more than a strip of
territory fringing the Lower St. Lawrence. More than any other
Frenchman he helped to plan the great empire of the West.
Back to: French Exploration of America
