repeated warnings from Mgr. de Laval, that they espoused the cause of
the governor in the disputes between the latter and the intendant,
Duchesneau. Their gratitude towards M. de Frontenac, who always
protected them, is easily explained, but it is no less true that they
should have respected above all the authority of the prelate who alone
had to answer before God for the religious administration of his
diocese.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Racine's _Athalie_.

[5] A sort of porridge of water and pounded maize.




CHAPTER VIII

THE PROGRESS OF THE COLONY


This year, 1668, would have brought only consolations to Mgr. de Laval,
if, unhappily, M. de Talon had not inflicted a painful blow upon the
heart of the prelate: the commissioner obtained from the Sovereign
Council a decree permitting the unrestricted sale of intoxicating drinks
both to the savages and to the French, and only those who became
intoxicated might be sentenced to a slight penalty. This was opening the
way for the greatest abuses, and no later than the following year Mother
Mary of the Incarnation wrote: "What does the most harm here is the