There Is A Place Where With A Bundle Of
Straw It Could Be Set On Fire At Any Time,...
Some of the gates will
not close, there is no watchtower, and no place to shoot from." -
(Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout, 1685).
When Frontenac resumed the Government, he was much disturbed at the
condition of the chateau, and begged for slate to cover the roof, as
the rain was coming in everywhere. At the same time the Intendant
Champigny reports it to be rotten and ruinous. This was in the year
made famous by the English attack, and the dramatic scene in the hall
of the old building when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps,
whose fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691,
Frontenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 15,000 or
20,000 francs to repair his mansion.
In the next year the king promised to send him 12,000 francs, in
instalments. Frontenac acknowledges the favour, and says that he will
erect a new building, and try in the meantime not to be buried under
the old one, as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard. -
(Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Septembre, 1692). A misunderstanding
with the Intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the
work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been "obliged to send
for carpenters during the night, to prop up the chateau, lest he
should be crushed under the ruins." The wall of the fort was, however,
strengthened, and partly rebuilt to the height of sixteen feet, at a
cost of 13,629 francs.
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