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the conquest of new france-第7章

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continent。



The English colonies had twenty white men to one in Canada。 Yet

Canada was long able to wage war on something like equal terms。

She had the supreme advantage of a single control。 There was no

trouble at Quebec about getting a reluctant legislature to vote

money for war purposes。 No semblance of an elected legislature

existed and the money for war came not from the Canadians; but

from the capacious; if now usually depleted; coffers of the

French court at Versailles。 In the English colonies the

legislatures

preferred; of all political struggles; one about money with the

Governor; the representative of the King。 At least one of the

English colonies; Pennsylvania; believing that evil is best

conquered by non…resistance; was resolutely against war for any

reason; good or bad。 Other colonies often raised the more sordid

objection that they were too poor to help in war。 The colonial

legislatures; indeed; with their eternal demand for the

privileges and rights which the British House of Commons had won

in the long centuries of its history; constitute the most

striking of all the contrasts with Canada。 In them were always

the sparks of an independent temper。 The English diarist; Evelyn;

wrote; in 1671; that New England was in 〃a peevish and touchy

humour。〃 Colonists who go out to found a new state will always

demand rights like those which they have enjoyed at home。 It was

unthinkable that men of Boston; who; themselves; or whose party

in England; had fought against a despotic king; had sent him to

the block and driven his son from the throne; would be content

with anything short of controlling the taxes which they paid;

making the laws which they obeyed; and carrying on their affairs

in their own way。 When obliged to accept a governor from England;

they were resolved as far as possible to remain his paymaster。 In

a majority of the colonies they insisted that the salary of the

Governor should be voted each year by their representatives; in

order that they might be able always to use against him the

cogent logic of financial need。 On questions of this kind Quebec

had nothing to say。 To the King in France and to him alone went

all demands for pay and honors。 If; in such things; the people of

Canada had no remote voice; they were still as well off as

Frenchmen in France。 New England was a copy of Old England and

New France a copy of Old France。 There was; as yet; no 〃peevish

and touchy humour〃 at either Quebec or Versailles in respect to

political rights。



Canada; in spite of its scanty population; was better equipped

for war than was any of the English colonies。 The French were

largely explorers and hunters; familiar with hardship and danger

and led by men with a love of adventure。 The English; on the

other hand; were chiefly traders and farmers who disliked and

dreaded the horrors of war。 There was not to be found in all the

English colonies a family of the type of the Canadian family of

Le Moyne。 Charles Le Moyne; of Montreal; a member of the Canadian

noblesse; had ten sons; every one of whom showed the spirit and

capacity of the adventurous soldier。 They all served in the time

of Frontenac。 The most famous of them; Pierre Le Moyne

d'Iberville; shines in varied roles。 He was a frontier leader who

made his name a terror in the English settlements; a sailor who

seized and ravaged the English settlements in Newfoundland; who

led a French squadron to the remote and chill waters of Hudson

Bay; and captured there the English strongholds of the fur trade;

and a leader in the more peaceful task of founding; at the mouth

of the Mississippi; the colony of Louisiana。 Canada had the

advantage over the English colonies in bold pioneers of this

type。



Canada was never doubtful of the English peril or divided in the

desire to destroy it。 Nearly always; a soldier or a naval officer

ruled in the Chateau St。 Louis; at Quebec; with eyes alert to see

and arms ready to avert military danger。 England sometimes sent

to her colonies in America governors who were disreputable and

inefficient; needy hangers…on; too well…known at home to make it

wise there to give them office; but thought good enough for the

colonies。 It would not have been easy to find a governor less

fitted to maintain the dignity and culture of high office than

Sir William Phips; Governor of Massachusetts in the time of

Frontenac。 Phips; however; though a rough brawler; was reasonably

efficient; but Lord Cornbury; who became Earl of Clarendon; owed

his appointment as Governor of New Jersey and New York in 1701;

only to his necessities and to the desire of his powerful

connections to provide for him。 Queen Anne was his cousin。 He was

a profligate; feeble in mind but arrogant in spirit; with no

burden of honesty and a great burden of debt; and he made no

change in his scandalous mode of life when he represented his

sovereign at New York。 There were other governors only slightly

better。 Canada had none as bad。 Her viceroys as a rule kept up

the dignity of their office and respected the decencies of life。

In English colonies; governors eked out their incomes by charging

heavy fees for official acts and any one who refused to pay such

fees was not likely to secure attention to his business。 In

Canada the population was too scanty and the opportunity too

limited to furnish happy hunting…grounds of this kind。 The

governors; however; badly paid as they were; must live; and; in

the case of a man like Frontenac; repair fortunes shattered at

court。 To do so they were likely to have some concealed interest

in the fur trade。 This was forbidden by the court but was almost

a universal practice。 Some of the governors carried trading to

great lengths and aroused the bitter hostility of rival trading

interests。 The fur trade was easily controlled as a government

monopoly and it was unfair that a needy governor should share its

profits。 But; after all; such a quarrel was only between rival

monopolists。 Better a trading governor than one who plundered the

people or who by drunken profligacy discredited his office。



While all Canada was devoted to the Roman Catholic Church; the

diversity of religious beliefs in the English colonies was a

marked feature of social life。 In Virginia; by law of the colony;

the Church of England was the established Church。 In

Massachusetts; founded by stern Puritans; the public services of

the Church of England were long prohibited。 In Pennsylvania there

was dominant the sect derisively called 〃Quakers;〃 who would have

no ecclesiastical organization and believed that religion was

purely a matter for the individual soul。 Boston jeered at the

superstitions of Quebec; such as the belief of the missionaries

that a drop of water; with the murmured words of baptism;

transformed a dying Indian child from an outcast savage into an

angel of light。 Quebec might; however; deride Boston with equal

justice。 Sir William Phips believed that maligna
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