He wanted to plough one day
and hunt the next, so that in the long run he rarely did
anything well. This spirit of independence was very
pronounced. The habitant felt himself to be a free man.
This is why he spurned the name 'censitaire.' As Charlevoix
puts it, 'he breathed from his birth the air of liberty,'
and showed it in the way he carried his head. A singular
type, when all is said, and worthy of more study than it
has received.
CHAPTER VI
'AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM'
Church and State had a common aim in early Canada. Both
sought success, not for themselves, but for 'the greater
glory of God.' From beginning to end, therefore, the
Catholic Church was a staunch ally of the civil authorities
in all things which made for real and permanent colonial
progress. There were many occasions, of course, when
these two powers came almost to blows, for each had its
own interpretation of what constituted the colony's best
interests. But historians have given too much prominence
to these rather brief intervals of antagonism, and have
thereby created a misleading impression. The civil and
religious authorities of New France were not normally at
variance. They clashed fiercely now and then, it is quite
true; but during the far greater portion of two centuries
they supported each other firmly and worked hand in hand.
Now the root of all trouble, when these two interests
came into ill-tempered controversy, was the conduct of
the coureurs de bois.
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