n for patroness of the Church of Kebec the
Holy Virgin under the title of her Conception, which we believe to be
immaculate, so we have celebrated this festival with solemnity and
rejoicing.

"The festival of the glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, father, patron and
protector of New France, is one of the great solemnities of this
country.... It is, in my opinion, through his favour and through his
merits, that the inhabitants of New France who live upon the banks of
the great river Saint Lawrence, have resolved to receive all the good
customs of the old and to refuse admission to the bad ones.

"And to tell the truth, so long as we have a governor who is a friend of
virtue, and so long as we have free speech in the Church of God, the
monster of ambition will have no altar there.

"All the principal personages of our colony honour religion; I say with
joy and God's blessing, that those whom His goodness has given to
command over us, and those also who are coming to establish themselves
in these countries, enjoy, cherish, and wish to follow the most sincere
maxims of Christianity.... Justice reigns here, insolence is banished,
and shamelessness would not dare to raise its head.... It is very
important to introduce good laws and pious customs in these early
beginnings, for those who shall come after us will walk in our
footsteps, and will readily conform to the example given them by us,
whether tending to virtue or vice."

We could multiply evidence on this point. The Jesuits always recall this
good feature of the settlers, their respect for their religion, its
worship and its ministers.

The author of the "Secret Life of Louis XV," says that New France owed
its vigour to its first settlers; their families had multiplied and
formed a people, healthy, strong, honourable, and attached to good
principles. Father Le Clercq, a Recollet, the Venerable Mother de
l'Incarnation, and many others, seem to take pleasure in praising the
virtues of our first ancestors.

Champlain had begun his administration by establishing order everywhere,
and chiefly among the soldiers, who easily understood military
discipline, but the religious code with more difficulty. Fort St. Louis
was like a school of religion and of every virtue. They lived there as
in a monastery. There was a lecture during meals; in the morning they
read history, and at supper the lives of saints. After that they said
their prayers, and Champlain had introduced the old