'He
was,' says Vaudreuil, 'a very honest man.' In these words will be
found an indirect commendation of Frontenac, who discovered Du Lhut,
supported him through bitter opposition, and placed him where his
talents and energy could be used for the good of his country.

It will be remembered that Frontenac received orders from Colbert
(April 7, 1672) to {82} prevent the Jesuits from becoming too powerful.
In carrying out these instructions he soon found himself embroiled at
Quebec, and the same discord made itself felt throughout the wilderness.

Frontenac favoured the establishment of trading-posts and government
forts along the great waterways, from Cataraqui to Crevecoeur.[1] He
sincerely believed that these were the best guarantees of the king's
power on the Great Lakes and in the valley of the Mississippi. The
Jesuits saw in each post a centre of debauchery and feared that their
religious work would be undone by the scandalous example of the
coureurs de bois. What for Frontenac was a question of political
expediency loomed large to the Jesuits as a vital issue of morals. It
was a delicate question at best, though probably a peaceable solution
could have been arranged, but for the mutual agreement of Frontenac and
the Jesuits that they must be antagonists. War having once been
declared, Frontenac proved a poor controversialist. He could have
defended his forest policy without alleging that the Jesuits maintained
their missions as a source of {83} profit, which was a slander upon
heroes and upon martyrs. Moreover, he exposed himself to a flank
attack, for it could be pointed out with much force that he had private
motives in advocating the erection of forts. Frontenac was intelligent
and would have recommended the establishment of posts whether he
expected profit from them or not, but he weakened his case by attacking
the Jesuits on wrong grounds.

During Frontenac's first term the settled part of Canada was limited to
the shores of the St Lawrence from Lachine downward, with a cluster of
seigneuries along the lower Richelieu. In this region the governor was
hampered by the rights of the intendant and the influence of the
bishop. Westward of Lachine stretched the wilderness, against whose
dusky denizens the governor must guard the colony. The problems of the
forest embraced both trade and war; and where trade was concerned the
intendant held sway. But the safety of the flock came first, and as
Frontena