ther. Duchesneau is told that he must
not presume to think himself the equal of the governor. Frontenac is
told that the intendant has very important {68} functions and must not
be prevented from discharging them. The whole episode shows how
completely the French colonial system broke down in its attempt to act
through two officials, each of whom was designed to be a check upon the
other.

Wholly alienated by this dispute, Frontenac and Duchesneau soon found
that they could quarrel over anything and everything. Thus Duchesneau
became a consistent supporter of Laval and the Jesuits, while Frontenac
retaliated by calling him their tool. The brandy question, which was
partly ecclesiastical and partly civil, proved an excellent
battle-ground for the three great men of Canada; and, as finance was
concerned, the intendant had something to say about the establishment
of parishes. But of the manifold contests between Frontenac and
Duchesneau the most distinctive is that relating to the fur trade. At
first sight this matter would appear to lie in the province of the
intendant, whose functions embraced the supervision of commerce. But
it was the governor's duty to defend the colony from attack, and the
fur trade was a large factor in all relations with the Indians. A
personal element was also added, for in almost every letter to the {69}
minister Frontenac and Duchesneau accused each other of taking an
illicit profit from beaver skins.

In support of these accusations the most minute details are given.
Duchesneau even charged Frontenac with spreading a report among the
Indians of the Great Lakes that a pestilence had broken out in
Montreal. Thereby the governor's agents were enabled to buy up beaver
skins cheaply, afterwards selling them on his account to the English.
Frontenac rejoined by accusing the intendant of having his own
warehouses at Montreal and along the lower St Lawrence, of being
truculent, a slave to the bishop, and incompetent. Behind Duchesneau,
Frontenac keeps saying, are the Jesuits and the bishop, from whom the
spirit of faction really springs. Among many of these tirades the most
elaborate is the long memorial sent to Colbert in 1677 on the general
state of Canada. Here are some of the items. The Jesuits keep spies
in Frontenac's own house. The bishop declares that he has the power to
excommunicate the governor if necessary. The Jesuit missionaries tell
the Iroquois that they are equal to On