brilliant, was to be in many respects the most important,
and his influence the most far-reaching in the destinies
of the colony.

Talon was born at Chalons-sur-Marne, in the province of
Champagne, about the year 1625. His family were kinsfolk
of the Parisian Talons, Omer and Denis, the celebrated
jurists and lawyers, who held in succession the high
office of attorney-general of France. Several of Jean
Talon's brothers were serving in the administration or
the army, and, after a course of study at the Jesuits'
College of Clermont, Jean was employed under one of them
in the commissariat. The young man's abilities soon became
apparent and attracted Mazarin's attention. In 1654 he
was appointed military commissary at Le Quesnoy in
connection with the operations of the army commanded by
the great Turenne. A year later, at the age of thirty,
he was promoted to be intendant for the province of
Hainault. For ten years he filled that office and won
the reputation of an administrator of the first rank.
Thus it came about that, when an intendant was needed to
infuse new blood into the veins of the feeble colony on
the St Lawrence, Colbert, always a good judge of men,
thought immediately of Jean Talon and recommended to the
king his appointment as intendant of New France. Talon's
commission is dated March 23, 1665.

The minister drafted for the intendant's guidance a long
letter of instructions. It dealt with the mutual relations
of Church and State, and set forth the Gallican principles