Chapter I: Preface

The author of the following work desires to acknowledge his obligations to two preceding writers who have dealt with the life and times of Count Frontenac, the late Mr. Parkman, and M. Henri Lorin. The merits of the former are too well known and too thoroughly established to need any commendation at this time. If he charms by the lucidity and picturesqueness of his style, none the less does he achieve a high level of historical accuracy, and manifest the control of the true spirit of historical criticism. The work of M. Lorin is, perhaps, less attractive in point of style, but it treats the whole subject from an independent point of view, and in a very comprehensive manner. It is a treasure-house of carefully sifted facts in relation to the career of Canada's most famous governor under the old regime. A certain French writer once complimented another--a dim recollection suggests that it was Buffon who so complimented President Debrosses in regard to his work on language--by saying that whoever treated the same subject "_apres lui_" would also have to do it "_d'apres lui_"; and such the author inclines to think has, to some extent, been his situation in relation to his two able and industrious predecessors. At the same time the present work has not been written without consultation of original sources, and it is trusted that it will be found--for Canadian readers especially--a not unserviceable or uninteresting narrative.

W. D. LE SUEUR

CONTENTS

_CHAPTER I_ Page

CANADA BEFORE FRONTENAC, 1603 TO 1632 1

_CHAPTER II_

CANADA BEFORE FRONTENAC, 1632 TO 1672 23

_CHAPTER III_

THE BEGINNING OF FRONTENAC'S ADMINISTRATION 61

_CHAPTER IV_

THE COMMENCEMENT OF TROUBLES 87

_CHAPTER V_

DIVIDED POWER 105

_CHAPTER VI_

THE LIFE OF A COLONY 131

_CHAPTER VII_

GOVERNORSHIP OF M. DE LA BARRE, 1682 TO 1685 171

_CHAPTER VIII_

GOVERNORSHIP OF MARQUIS DE DENONVILLE, 1685 TO 1689 197

_CHAPTER IX_

FRONTENAC TO THE RESCUE 229

_CHAPTER X_

FRONTENAC DEFENDER OF CANADA 263

_CHAPTER XI_

FIRE AND SWORD ON THE BORDER 305

_CHAPTER XII_

THE DRAMA OF WAR--PEACE AT THE LAST 333

INDEX 365