A CHAPTER ON CANADIAN NOBILITY. "The names and memories of great men are the dowery of a nation. They are the salt of the earth, in death as well as in life. What they did once, their descendants have still and always a right to do after them. "--Blackwood. A Quebec barrister, snatched too soon from fame and friends, thus embodied in verse Canada's motto: "Sur cette terre encor' sauvage, Les vieux titres sont inconnus ; True nobility must consist, for us, in courage, talent and virtue; such we consider the genuine guinea's stamp; the rest is all plated ware, which once tarnished by vile acts or unworthy sentiments, not all the blue blood of all the Howards could rescue from contempt. On one point the Latin and the Teuton of Canada do seem to understand one another thoroughly, viz., in their estimate of monarchical ideas. They respect the sovereign and honor his chief men, the nobles not the men of pleasure such as those with whom Louis XV, surrounded his throne and oppressed his subjects, but honorable men such as Victoria and the English people are proud of; well represented by that aristocracy of merit "specially charged to perpetuate traditions of chivalry and honor; " whose door is open to the people, as their highest recognition of popular merit; whose worth is testified to by the English as well as by the French; who is eulogized in high terms by men of commanding intellect, such as Montesquieu, Montalembert, Guizot, Chateaubriand. (1) Merit is then the touch-stone which wrung from these brilliant writers the unqualified praise they bestowed on the nobility of Great Britain. Let us see whether we can apply this test to one of the oldest and most honored names in our own history; we mean that of the Baron de Longueuil, In former times, we had bloody wars to wage; merciless foes existed on our frontiers; the soil then found generous and brave soldiers to defend it: men who went forth each day with their lives in their hands, ready to shed the last drop of blood for all they held dear, their homes, their wives, their children. Has the stout race of other days degenerated, grown callous to what its God, its honor, its country may command in the hour of need? We should hope not. We said the Baron de Longueuil. Who was the Baron de Longueuil? With your permission, kind reader, let us peruse together the royal (1) "The nobility of Great Britain is the finest modern society since the Roman Patriciate," has said the illustrious Chateaubriand. His vast researches, his presence at the English court as French ambassador, in 1822, had given him ample opportunity of judging. This estimate does not quite agree with that of the author of "Representative Men," Emerson: "Twenty thousand thieves landed at Hastings. These founders of the House of Lords were greedy and ferocious dragoons, sons of greedy and ferocious pirates. They were all alike; they took everything they could carry. They burned, harried, violated, tortured, and killed, until everything English was brought to the verge of ruin. Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity and wealth, that decent and dignified men now existing boast their descent from these petty thieves, who showed a far juster conviction of their own merits, by assuming for their types the swine, goat, jackal, leopard, wolf, and snake, which they severally resembled. "It took many generations to trim, and comb, and perfume the first boat-load of Norse pirates into royal highnesses and most noble knights of the garter; but every sparkle of ornament dates back to the Norse boat."-English Traits. patent erecting the seigniory of Longueuil into a barony: it is to be found in the Register of the proceedings of the Superior Council of Quebec, letter B, page 131, and runs thus: "Louis, by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all present, Greeting: It being an attribute of our greatness and of our justice to reward those whose courage and merit led them to perform great deeds and taking into consideration the services which have been rendered to us by the late Charles Le Moyne (1); Esquire, Seigneur of Longueuil, who left France in 1640 to reside in Canada, where his valour and fidelity were so often conspicuous in the wars against the Iroquois, that our governors and lieutenant governors in that country employed him constantly in every military expedition, and in every negotiation or treaty of peace, of all which duties he acquitted himself to their entire satisfaction; -that after him, Charles Le Moyne, Esquire, his eldest son, desirous of imitating the example of his father, bore arms from his youth, either in France, where he served as a lieutenant in the Régiment de St. Laurent, or else as captain of a naval detachment, in Canada, since 1687, where he had an arm shot off by the Iroquois when fighting near Lachine, in which combat seven of his brothers were also engaged;- that Jacques Le Moyne de Ste. Hélène, his brother, for his gallantry, was made a captain of a naval detachment, and afterwards fell at the siege of Quebec, in 1690, leading on with his elder brother, Charles Le Moyne, the Canadians against Phips, where his brother was also wounded; that another brother, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, captain of a sloop of war, served on land and on sea, and captured Fort Corlard in Hudson's Bay, and still commands a frigate; that Joseph Le Moyne de Bienville was commissioned (1) He was nephew to the celebrated Surgeon Adrien Duchesne, his protector at Quebec. an ensign in the said naval detachment, and was killed by the Iroquois in the attack on the place called Repentigny; that Louis Le Moyne de Chateauguay, when acting as lieutenant to his brother, d'Iberville, also fell in the taking of Fort Bourbon, in the Hudson's Bay; that Paul Le Moyne de Maricourt is an ensign in the navy, and captain of a company in the naval detachment, acting in the capacity of ensign to his brother d'Iberville; that, in carrying out our intentions for settling Canada, the said Charles Le Moyne, the eldest son, has spent large sums in establishing inhabitants on the domain and seigniory of Longueuil, which comprises about two leagues in breadth on the St. Lawrence, and three leagues and a half in depth, the whole held from us with haute, moyenne et basse justice, wherein he is now striving to establish three parishes, and whereat, in order to protect the residents in times of war, he has had erected at his own cost a fort supported by four strong towers of stone and masonry, with a guardhouse, several large dwellings, a fine church, bearing all the insignia of nobility; a spacious farm yard, in which there is a barn, a stable, a sheep-pen, a dove-cot, and other buildings, all of which are within the area of the said fort; next to which stand a banal mill, a fine brewery of masonry, together with a large retinue of servants, horses and equipages, the cost of which buildings amount to some 60,000 livres; so much so that this seigniory is one of the most valuable of the whole country, and the only one fortified and builtup in this way; that this has powerfully contributed to protect the inhabitants of the neighboring seigniories; that this estate, on account of the extensive land clearings and work done and to be done on it, is of great value, on which thirty workmen are employed; that the said Charles Le Moyne is now in a position to hold a noble rank on account of his virtue and merit : for which consideration we have thought it due to our sense of justice to assign not only a title of honor to the estate and seigniory of Longueuil, but also to confer on its owner a proof of an honorable distinction which will pass to posterity, and which may appear to the children of the said Charles Le Moyne, a reason and inducement to follow in their father's footsteps: For these causes, of our special grace, full power and royal authority, We have created, erected, raised and decorated, and do create, erect, raise and decorate, by the present patent, signed by our own hand, the said estate and seigniory of Longueuil, situated in our country of Canada, into the name, title and dignity of a barony; the same to be peacefully and fully enjoyed by the said Sieur Charles Le Moyne, his children and heirs, and the descendants of the saine, born in legitimate wedlock, held under our crown, and subject to fealty (foi et hommage avec dénombrement) according to the laws of our kingdom and the custom of Paris in force in Canada, together with the name, title and dignity of a baron;-it is our pleasure he shall designate and qualify himself baron in all deeds, judgments, &c.; that he shall enjoy the right of arms, heraldry, honors, prerogatives, rank, precedence in time of war, in meetings of the nobility, &c., like the other barons of our kingdomthat the vassals, arrière-vassaux, and others depending of the said seigniory of Longueuil, noblement et en roture, shall acknowledge the said Charles Le Moyne, his heirs, assigns, as barons, and pay them the ordinary feudal homage, which said titles, &c., it is our pleasure, shall be inserted in proceedings and sentences, had or rendered by courts of justice, without, however, the said vassals being held to perform any greater homage than they are now liable to......... This deed to be enregistered in Canada, and the said Charles Le Moyne, his children and assigns, to be maintained in full and peaceful enjoyment of the rights herein conferred. "This done at Versailles, the 27th January, 1700, in the fiftieth year of our reign. |