Both Montmagny and De Lisle were half churchmen, for both were Knights of
Malta. More and more the powers spiritual engrossed the colony. As
nearly as might be, the sword itself was in priestly hands. The Jesuits
were all in all. Authority, absolute and without appeal, was vested in a
council composed of the governor, Le Jeune, and the syndic, an official
supposed to represent the interests of the inhabitants. [ Le Clerc,
Etablissement de la Foy, Chap. XV. ] There was no tribunal of justice,
and the governor pronounced summarily on all complaints. The church
adjoined the fort; and before it was planted a stake bearing a placard
with a prohibition against blasphemy, drunkenness, or neglect of mass and
other religious rites. To the stake was also attached a chain and iron
collar; and hard by was a wooden horse, whereon a culprit was now and
then mounted by way of example and warning. [ Le Jeune, Relation, 1636,
153, 154 (Cramoisy). ] In a community so absolutely priest-governed,
overt offences were, however, rare; and, except on the annual arrival of
the ships from France, when the rock swarmed with godless sailors,
Quebec was a model of decorum, and wore, as its chroniclers tell us,
an aspect unspeakably edifying.

In the year 1640, various new establishments of religion and charity
might have been seen at Quebec. There was the beginning of a college and
a seminary for Huron children, an embryo Ursuline convent, an incipient
hospital, and a new Algonquin mission at a place called Sillery, four
miles distant. Champlain's fort had been enlarged and partly rebuilt in
stone by Montmagny, who had also laid out streets on the site of the
future city, though as yet the streets had no houses. Behind the fort,
and very near it, stood the church and a house for the Jesuits. Both
were of pine wood: and this year, 1640, both were burned to the ground,
to be afterwards rebuilt in stone. The Jesuits, however, continued to