These painful events only too plainly fore shadowed the fate awaiting the Canadian col ony. Instead of sending men, France persisted in raising at great expense useless fortifications at Louisburg and at Quebec. Canada was to fall through lack of foresight.
The episcopacy of Monsignor de Saint-Val Her lasted until 1727. The endowments with which he enriched the various religious estab lishments of the country have been estimated at i600,000. His successor, Monsignor Du plessis-Mornay, never came to Canada. He governed his diocese by an administrator. Re signing in 1734 he was replaced by Monsignor Dosquet who devoted himself to promoting the education of youth and the religious life in the communities. Monsignor de Lauberiviere, who succeeded him, died a month after his arrival in his diocese, victim of his charity in attending soldiers attacked with scurvy (1740). His sue tessor was Monsignor de Pontbriand (1741 60), the last bishop under the French regime. He built a cathedral, restored the Ursnline monastery at Trois-Riviires and the Hotel-Dieu of Quebec, which had been destroyed by fire, established ecclesiastical retreats, and by his science and virtue was the model of his clergy.
Among eminent priests of this epoch should be mentioned M. de Belmont, superior of Saint Sulpice at Montreal (1701-32), who covered the region with his liberalities and his works; M. Normant du Faradon, his successor (1732 59), who with the Venerable Mother d'You Ole shares the glory of having founded the admirable charitable institution of the Grey Sisters. Consult Faillon, S. S., (Vie de la Venerable Mire d'Youville' (Montreal 1852). To Saint-Sulpice belonged also that abbe Pic uet to whom the town of Ogdensburg erected 1899) a monument, as well as to its founder. onsult (Lewes edifiantes et curieuses' (Lyon 1819) ; (Memoire sur la vie de M. Plaine' by M. de la Lande, of the Acadamy of Sciences, p. 262; (Biographie universelle ancienne et modern& (Paris 1823, Vol. p. 289) ; (Revue canadienne, janvier et fevner 1870,> Vol. VII; ()'abbi Picquet,) by J. Tasse.
The events which precipitated the fall of Canada are well known. Quebec was taken
(1759), but the bishop, Monsignor de Pont briand, died at Montreal (1760) without seeing that town in the hands of the English. M. Briand undertook the administration of the region of Quebec; M. de Moptgolfier, Sulpician, of that of Montreal. The Treaty of Paris which ceded Canada to England was signed 10 Feb. 1763. The period of establishment closed for the Canadian Church, and that of conflicts and of progress opened.
2. After 1763.—All the natural chiefs of the Canadians recrossed the ocean with the French flag. A population of 70,000 souls was abandoned without a guide. The clergy alone remained, invested with the double mission to preserve the ancestral faith and direct the peo ple in the attainment of their civil and political rights. They understood their mission and it can be truthfully said that they did not fail therein.
The Treaty of Paris, it is true, guaranteed the Canadians "the free exercise of their re ligion," but with the addition "so much as the laws of Great Britain will permit." This re striction left a great latitude in the interpreta tion of the treaty. In fact it was a species of persecution. The government of London thought to substitute the Anglican hierarchy and religion for the Catholic hierarchy and re ligion and flattered itself in easily overcom ing the conscience of a handful of colonials. The French laws were abolished and the oath of allegiance exacted from all Canadians. They notified the priests that they would have to subscribe to it or prepare to leave Canada. It was a demand to abjure and rebel against the authority of the Roman See. At the same time they prepared a list of the churches, the priests, their charges, their revenues, their property, also one of the religious communities with their constitutions, rights, privileges and prop erties. In addition George III encouraged the governors to found Protestant schools so that the Church of England could be established in principle and in practice, and the inhabitants gradually be brought to embrace the Prot estant religion, and their children educated in theprinciples of that religion.