The cost
frightens me. I have done nothing." - (La Barre au Ministre, 1682).
Meules, however, received orders to do what was necessary, and, two
years later, he reports that he had rebuilt the wall, repaired the
fort, and erected a building, intended at first for the council,
within the area. This building stood near the entrance of the present
St. Louis street, and was enclosed by an extension of the fort wall.
Denonville next appears on the scene, with his usual disposition to
fault-finding. "The so-called chateau," he says (1685), "is built of
wood, and is dry as a match. There is a place where with a bundle of
straw it could be set on fire at any time,... some of the gates will
not close, there is no watchtower, and no place to shoot from." -
(Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout, 1685).
When Frontenac resumed the Government, he was much disturbed at the
condition of the chateau, and begged for slate to cover the roof, as
the rain was coming in everywhere. At the same time the Intendant
Champigny reports it to be rotten and ruinous. This was in the year
made famous by the English attack, and the dramatic scene in the hall
of the old building when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps,
whose fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691,
Frontenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 15,000 or
20,000 francs to repair his mansion.
In the next year the king promised to send him 12,000 francs, in
instalments. Frontenac acknowledges the favour, and says that he will
erect a new building, and try in the meantime not to be buried under
the old one, as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard. -
(Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Septembre, 1692). A misunderstanding
with the Intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the
work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been "obliged to send
for carpenters during the night, to prop up the chateau, lest he
should be crushed under the ruins." The wall of the fort was, however,
strengthened, and partly rebuilt to the height of sixteen feet, at a
cost of 13,629 francs. It was a time of war, and a fresh attack was
expected from the English. - (Frontenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4
Nov, 1693). In the year 1854, the workmen employed in demolishing a
part of this wall, adjoining the garden of the chateau, found a copper
plate bearing an inscription in Latin as follows -
D. O. M.
Anno reparatae salutis
Millesimo sexcentesimo nonagesimo tertio
Regnante Augustissimo Invictissimo ac
Christianissimo Galliae Rege
Rege Ludovico Magno XIIII
Excellentissimus ac Illustrissimus Dnus Dnux
Ludovicus de Buade
Comes de Frontenac, totius Novae Franciae
Semel et iterum Provex,
Ab ipsomet, triennio ante rebellibus Novae
Angliae incolis, hanc civitatem Quebecensem,
Obsidentibus, pulsis, fusis ac penitus
Devictis,
Et iterum hocce supradicto anno obsidionem
Minitantibus
Hanc arcem cum adjectis munimentis
In totius patriae tutelam populi salutem
Nec non in perfidae, tum Deo, tum suo Regi
Legitimo, gentis iterandum confusionem
Sumptibus regies oedificari
Curavit,
Ac primarium hunc lapidem
Posuit,
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 59 of 451
Words from 30783 to 31328
of 236821
