The roll of the English drum and the sharp "word of command" of a British
adjutant or of his
Drill sergeant, for a century or more, resounded in the
halls, in which Latin orisons were formerly sung; and in the classic
grounds and grassy court, [59] canopied by those stately oaks and elms,
which our sires yet remember, to which the good Fathers retreated in sweet
seclusion, to "say" their Breviaries and tell their beads, might have
been heard the coarse joke of the guard room and coarser oath of the
trooper.
It had been claimed as a "magazine for the army contractor's provisions on
14th November, 1760." On the 4th June, 1765, His Excellency General James
Murray had it surveyed and appropriated for quarters and barracks for the
troops, excepting some apartments. The court and garden was used as a
drill and parade ground until the departure of Albion's soldiers. Here was
read on the 14th November, 1843, by Major-General Sir Jas. Hope's
direction, the order of the day, at the morning parade, congratulating
Major Bennet and the brave men of the 1st Royals, whom he was escorting to
England in the ill-fated transport "Premier," on the discipline and good
conduct manifested by them during the incredible perils they had escaped
at Cape Chatte when the Premier was stranded.
How singular, how sad to think that this loved, this glorious relic of the
French regime, entire even to the Jesuit College arms, carved in
stone over its chief entrance, should have remained sacred and intact
during the century of occupation by English soldiery - and that its
destruction should have been decreed so soon as the British legions, by
their departure, in 1871, had virtually handed it over to the French
Province of Quebec?
The discovery of the 28th August, 1878, of human remains beneath the floor
of this building - presumed to be those of some of the early missionaries -
induced the authorities to institute a careful search during its
demolition. These bones and others exhumed on the 31st August, and on the
1st and 9th September, 1878, were pronounced by two members of the
Faculty, Drs. Hubert Larue and Chas. E. Lemieux, both Professors of the
Laval University, (who signed a certificate to that effect) to be the
remains of three [60] persons of the male sex and of three [61] persons of
the female sex. Some silver and copper coins were also found, which with
these mouldering remains of humanity, were deposited under lock and key in
a wooden box; and in September, 1878, the whole was placed in a small but
substantial stone structure, in the court of the Jesuit Barracks, known as
the "Regimental Magazine," pending their delivery for permanent disposal
to Rev. Pere Sachez, Superior of the Jesuits Order in Quebec.
In May, 1879, on opening this magazine, it was found that the venerable
bones, box and all had disappeared, the staple of the padlock on the door
having been forced.
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