meanwhile the king, alarmed by a report from Commissioner Duchesneau,
who shared the view of the missionaries, desired to investigate and come
to a final decision on the question. He therefore ordered the Count de
Frontenac to choose in the colony twenty-four competent persons, and to
commission them to examine the drawbacks to the sale of intoxicating
liquors. Unfortunately, the persons chosen for this enquiry were engaged
in trade with the savages; their conclusions must necessarily be
prejudiced. They declared that "very few disorders arose from the
traffic in brandy, among the natives of the country; that, moreover, the
Dutch, by distributing intoxicating drinks to the Iroquois, attracted by
this means the trade in beaver skins to Orange and Manhattan. It was,
therefore, absolutely necessary to allow the brandy trade in order to
bring the savages into the French colony and to prevent them from taking
their furs to foreigners."

We cannot help being surprised at such a judgment when we read over the
memoirs of the time, which all agree in deploring the sad results of
this traffic. The most crying injustice, the most revolting immorality,
the ruin of families, settlements devastated by drunkenness, agriculture
abandoned, the robust portion of the population ruining its health in
profitless expeditions: such were some of the most horrible fruits of
alcohol. And what do we find as a compensation for so many evils? A few
dozen rascals enriched, returning to squander in France a fortune
shamefully acquired. And let it not be objected that, if the Indians had
not been able to purchase the wherewithal to satisfy their terrible
passion for strong drink, they would have carried their furs to the
English or the Dutch, for it was proven that the offer of Governor
Andros, to forbid the sale of brandy to the savages in New England on
condition that the French would act likewise in New France, was formally
rejected. "To-day when the passions of the time have long been silent,"