accuracy the nature of French government in Canada. From
this source we can see how the principle of paternalism
was carried out to the last detail.

But Canada was a long way from France and the St Lawrence
was larger than the Seine. It is hard to fight against
nature, and in Canada there were natural obstacles which
withstood to some extent the forces of despotism. It is
easy to see how distance from the court gave both governor
and intendant a range of action which would have been
impossible in France. With the coming of winter Quebec
was isolated for more than six months. During this long
interval the two officials could do a great many things
of which the king might not have approved, but which he
was powerless to prevent. His theoretical supremacy was
thus limited by the unyielding facts of geography. And
a better illustration is found in the operation of the
seigneurial system upon which Canadian society was based.
In France a belated feudalism still held the common man
in its grip, and in Canada the forms of feudalism were
at least partially established. Yet the Canadian habitant
lived in a very different atmosphere from that breathed
by the Norman peasant. The Canadian seigneur had an
abundance of acreage and little cash. His grant was in
the form of uncleared land, which he could only make
valuable through the labours of his tenants or censitaires.
The difficulty of finding good colonists made it important
to give them favourable terms. The habitant had a hard
life, but his obligations towards his seigneur were not
onerous. The man who lived in a log-hut among the stumps