the right to issue a trading
pass at his unrestrained discretion. Frontenac, who believed that the
colony would draw great profit from exploration, softened the effect of
this measure by issuing licences to hunt. It was also within his power
to dispatch messengers to the tribes {80} of the Great Lakes.
Duchesneau reported that Frontenac evaded the edict in order to favour
his own partners or agents among the coureurs de bois, and that when he
went to Montreal on the pretext of negotiating with the Iroquois, his
real purpose was to take up merchandise and bring back furs. These
charges Frontenac denied with his usual vigour, but without silencing
Duchesneau. In 1679 the altercation on this point was brought to an
issue by the arrest, at the intendant's instance [Transcriber's note:
insistence?], of La Toupine, a retainer of Du Lhut. An accusation of
disobeying the edict was no trifle, for the penalty might mean a
sentence to the galleys. After a bitter contest over La Toupine the
matter was settled on a basis not unfavourable to Frontenac. In 1681 a
fresh edict declared that all coureurs de bois who came back to the
colony should receive the benefit of an amnesty. At the same time the
governor was empowered to grant twenty-five trading licences in each
year, the period to be limited to one year.

[Illustration: FIGURE OF FRONTENAC. From the Hebert Statue at Quebec]

The splendid services of Du Lhut, covering a period of thirty years,
are the best vindication of Frontenac's policy towards him and his
associates. Had Duchesneau succeeded in his efforts, Du Lhut would
have been {81} severely punished, and probably excluded from the West
for the remainder of his life. Thanks to Frontenac's support, he
became the mainstay of French interests from Lake Ontario to the
Mississippi. Setting out as an adventurer with a strong taste for
exploration, he ended as commandant of the most important
posts--Lachine, Cataraqui, and Michilimackinac. He served the colony
nobly in the war against the Iroquois. He has left reports of his
discoveries which disclose marked literary talent. From the early
years of Frontenac's regime he made himself useful, not only to
Frontenac but to each succeeding governor, until, crippled by gout and
age, he died, still in harness. The letter in which the governor
Vaudreuil announces Du Lhut's death (1710) to the Colonial Office at
Paris is a useful comment upon the accusations of Duchesneau.