He Loves To See
In His Chiefs Those Precious Qualities Which Constitute The Statesman.
"All these gifts of the Great Spirit, wisdom in council, prudence in
execution, and that sagacity we exact in the Captains of our nation, you
possess them all in an eminent degree.
"We warmly applaud your appointment to the exalted post of Lieutenant-
Governor of the Province of Quebec, and feel happy in taking advantage of
the occasion to present our congratulations.
"May we also be allowed to renew the assurance of our devotion towards our
august Mother, who dwells on the other side of the Great Lake, as well as
to the land of our forefathers.
"Accept for you, for Mrs. Caron and your family, our best wishes."
CHATEAU BIGOT.
ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE.
"Ensconced 'mid trees this chateau stood -
'Mid flowers each aisle and porch;
At eve soft music charmed the ear -
High blazed the festive torch.
But, ah! a sad and mournful tale
Was hers who so enjoyed
The transient bliss of these fair shades -
By youth and love decoyed,
Her lord was true - yet he was false,
False - false - as sin and hell -
To former plights and vows he gave
To one that loved him well."
The Hermitage.
From time immemorial an antique and crumbling ruin, standing in solitary
loneliness, in the centre of a clearing at the foot of the Charlesbourg
mountain, some five miles from Quebec, has been visited by the young and
the curious. It was once a two story stone building, with ponderous walls.
In length it is fifty-five feet by thirty-five feet broad - pierced for six
windows in each story, with a well-proportioned door, in the centre. In
1843, at the date of my first visit, the floor of the second story was yet
tolerably strong: I ascended to it by a rickety, old staircase. The ruin
was sketched in 1858, by Col. Benj. Lossing, and reproduced in Harper's
Magazine for January, 1859. The lofty mountain to the north-west of it
is called La Montagne des Ormes; for more than a century, the
Charlesbourg peasantry designate the ruin as La Maison de la Montagne.
The English have christened it the Hermitage, whilst to the French
portion of the population, it is known as Chateau-Bigot, or Beaumanoir;
and truly, were it not on account of the associations which surround the
time-worn pile, few would take the trouble to go and look at the dreary
object.
The land on which it stands was formerly included in the Fief de la
Trinite granted between 1640 and 1650 to Monsieur Denis, a gentleman
from La Rochelle, in France, the ancestor of the numerous clans of Denis,
Denis de la Ronde, Denis de Vitre, &c. The seigniory was subsequently sold
to Monseigneur de Laval, a descendant of the Montmorency's, who founded in
1663 the Seminary of Quebec, and one of the most illustrious prelates in
New France, the portion towards the Mountain was dismembered. When the
Intendant Talon formed his Baronie Des Islets [321] he annexed to it
certain lands of the Fief de la Trinite, amongst others that part
on which now stands the remains of the old chateau, of which he seems to
have been the builder, but which he subsequently sold. Bigot having
acquired it long after, enlarged and improved it very much. He was a
luxurious French gentleman, who, more than one hundred years ago, held the
exalted post of Intendant or Administrator under the French Crown, in
Canada. [322] In those days the forests which skirted the city were
abundantly stocked with game: deer, of several varieties, bears, foxes,
perhaps even that noble and lordly animal, now extinct in eastern Canada,
the Canadian stag, or Wapiti, roamed in herds over the Laurentian chain of
mountains, and were shot within a few miles of the Chateau St. Louis. This
may have been one of the chief reasons why the French Lucullus erected the
little chateau, which to this day bears his name - a resting place for
himself and friends after the chase. The profound seclusion of the spot,
combined with its beautiful scenery, would have rendered it attractive
during the summer months, even without the sweet repose it had in store
for a tired hunter. Tradition ascribes to it other purposes, and
amusements less permissible than those of the chase. A tragical occurrence
enshrines the old building with a tinge of mystery which the pen of the
novelist has woven into a thrilling romance.
Francois Bigot, thirteenth and last Intendant of the Kings of France in
Canada, was born in the Province of Guienne, and descended of a family
distinguished by professional eminence at the French bar. His commission
bears date "10th June, 1747." The Intendant had the charge of four
departments: Justice, Police, Finance and Marine. He had previously filled
the post of Intendant in Louisiana, and also at Louisburg. The
disaffection and revolt caused by his rapacity in that city, were mainly
instrumental in producing its downfall and surrender to the English
commander, Pepperell, in 1745. Living at a time when tainted morals and
official corruption ruled at court, he seems to have taken his standard of
morality from the mother country; his malversations in office, his
extensive frauds on the treasury, more than L400,000; his colossal
speculations in provisions and commissariat supplies furnished by the
French government to the colonists during a famine; his dissolute conduct
and final downfall, are fruitful themes wherefrom the historian can draw
wholesome lessons for all generations. Whether his Charlesbourg (then
called Bourg Royal) castle was used as the receptacle of some of his most
valuable booty, or whether it was merely a kind of Lilliputian Parc au
Cerfs, such as his royal master had, tradition does not say. It would
appear, however, that it was kept up by the plunder wrung from sorrowing
colonists, and that the large profits he made by paring from the scanty
pittance the French government allowed the starving residents, were here
lavished in gambling, riot and luxury.
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