Monsieur de Frontenac insulted by a Sulpician.

You will remember that at the beginning of the year 1674, Governor de Frontenac and the Lord Abbot François de Salignac de Fénelon, a Sulpician from Montréal, were the best friends in the world. Their relationship turned to vinegar when Monsieur de Frontenac asked his friend to use his influence so that François-Marie Perrot could come and meet him in Québec. It was a pleasure for Abbot de Fénelon to act as intermediary and a confident Perrot arrived in our town where he was thrown into jail.

Thinking that he had been duped by his friend, from his throne in Notre Dame church in Montréal the abbot preached a sermon with innuendo, blaming the governor for being overzealous. Since, in addition, he had publicly pleaded in favour of Perrot and tried to visit him in prison, the governor called his ex-friend before the Sovereign Council.

The appearance took place yesterday, August 21, 1674, in the presence of Monsieur de Frontenac. Hat firmly on his head, the abbot entered the council chamber looking for a place to sit. The governor asked him to remove his headgear and remain standing. The abbot replied by jamming his hat down to his ears and walking to and fro in front of the members of the tribunal. He insisted that the crime of which he was accused was only in the mind of the governor and that ecclesiastics had the right to speak sitting down and with their heads covered before the courts.

This looks like a quarrel that could last a long time. The hearing of the accused continues tomorrow.

Illustration: J. D. Kelly, Confederation Life.

Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682, and from 1689 to 1698.