Rapport de l’archiviste de la province de Québec pour 1920–1921 (review)

194 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW addeda philosophical graspof principlesand a piquant masteryof style which makes his book one of the most remarkable contributions to American history during recentyears. He has, in fact, revisedand enlarged a chapter of North American history. Is it audaciousto suggestthat other chapters of North American history await a similar revision,at the hand of an historian with similar qualifications? W. S. WA•,LAC•Rapport de l'archivistede la provincede Quebec pour 19œ0-19œ1.Quebec: Ls-A. Proulx, Imprimeur De Sa Majest• Le Roi. 11921.] Pp. vii, 437. M. PI•.RR•.-G•.oRG•.S ROY,the archivist of Quebec,isto be congratulated upon the appearanceand form of this, his first report. It makes an attractive volume, much to the credit of the provincial government, whichhasnot begrudged, obviously,a generous appropriationto publish historical documentsof French Canada in befitting style. A feature of the report is a collectionof wills. The list beginswith a note upon the last testament of Champlain, and continueswith the text of the will of De M•zy. Then follow photographicfacsimiles,together with the printed text, of the wills of Frontenac, Calli•res, Vaudreuil , and La Jonqui•re. That of Vaudreuil has beentaken from the original in the Dominion Archives. Two pieces would fall into the category of descriptive surveys of French Canada at different periods. The first, entitled "Etat Present du Canada," refers to the year 1754. Boucault, its author, was concerned primarily with the geographyand the commerceof the colony. The text of Boucault is taken from the original in the Dominion Parliamentary Library. A second exposesthe "troubles" in Quebec in 1727 and 1728 consequentupon the death of Mgr de Saint-Vallier. It is from the penof the Intendant Dupuy, and isprinted from a transcript in the Quebec Archives taken from the original in the Biblioth•que Mazarine in Paris. For the epochof the SevenYears War and the fall of Quebecreaders will agreeheartily with M. Aegidius Fauteux that the "Journal of the Siegeof Quebec,"which is printed here with his own editorial annotations , is "une contribution pr•cieuse." The journal beginswith May 10, and endswith September 18, 1759. M. Fauteux is content to let the journal remain anonymous,without labouring the point of his own surmise as to its authorship. The document is enhanced by a most careful and exhaustive set of referencesto other contemporary accounts of the operationsaround Quebec. These referencesM. Fauteux adds REVIEWS OF BOOKS 195 asnotes. Much interestwill attach alsoto another document: a reprint of the registerof the General Hospital of Quebec,giving the burial lists:, -L of those who died in the hospital from wounds sustained in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Sainte Foye. It is entitled "Les H•ros De 1759 Et 1760 Inhum•s Au Cimeti•re De l'HgpitalGgn •ral De Qugbec." In oneentry will be found the expression"natif de l'ancienne France" (p. 265), an unusual term to meet with. The presenceof a Huguenot in the colony is attested by the notice of the burial of one Lacoste, as follows: L'an mil sept cent cinquante-neuf,le trois d•cembre, a •t• inhum• dans le cimeti•re de cet h0pital, le corpsdu nomm• Lacoste,sergentau r•giment de Lassarre , compagniede Viilard, d•cgdghier apres avoir fait abjuration des h•rgsies de Calvin entre les mains de M. Jacrau, ptre, commis• cet effet de Mr. le grand vicaire, et regut ensuiteles sacrementsde l'•glise; en foy de quoy nousavons sign&. JACRAU;RIGAUVILLE. AnotherCalvinist,whodiedthe followingJanuary•p. 264), abjuredhis heresyand was given absolution. Among other piecesmention shouldbe made of an authoritative list of the colonists who left France for Montreal in 1653. This list with its annotations comes from M. E.-Z. Massicotte. The entire proc$s of a caseat law involving a mariaœe • la œaumine is given in reprints from court records. It pertains to a very specializedfield, and doesnot call for comment. Readerswho imagine that the Archives are of little practical useto the provincewill do well to noticethe variety andextent of the inquiries deferredto the Archivist during the current year of the Report. The inquiriesare principallyuponbiographicaland genealogical points,and comefrom all sectionsof the public. It was a...