Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 1. Under the French Régime, 1535-1760 — Background and Themes

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Authors: Atherton, William H. (William Henry), 1867-1950 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2014 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Montréal (Québec) -- History; Montréal (Québec) -- Biography; Montréal (Québec) -- Maps -- Bibliography Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 242,852

Reading time 1056 min

Text sections 29

For Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 1. Under the French Régime, 1535-1760 — Background and Themes, the stored edition analysis reports 242,852 words, 17 hr 36 min estimated reading time, and 29 detected text sections.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #47809

Atherton's history of Montreal under French rule uses a formal, documentary voice, shifting from narrative to quoted decrees and letters. The text blends Cartier's voyage accounts with administrative details, such as marriage incentives and the filles du roi, revealing a tension between heroic founding stories and bureaucratic record.

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ns were a hostile people or was it from selfish reasons to keep the presents of the generous strangers for themselves? At any rate, Cartier sets out for Hochelaga and on Tuesday, September 26th, enters Lake St. Peter with a pinnace and two boats. This lake was not named by Cartier, but subsequently it was named Lac d'Angoulesme, either in honour of his birthplace or more probably that of Francis I, who was Count of Angoulême. It was left for Champlain entering upon the lake, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1603, to give it its present name. Cartier's pinnace could not cross Lake St. Peter owing to the shallowness of the water[7] which forced him to take the boats to Hochelaga, starting about six miles below St. Mary's current. The journey through Lake St. Peter and the arrival at Hochelaga must now be followed in the words of Jacques Cartier, the first historian of Montreal (Phinney Baxter, pp. 157-171).

"The said twenty-eighth day of September we came into a great lake and shoal of the said river, about five or six leagues broad and twelve long, and navigated that day up the said lake without finding shallowing or deepening, and coming to one of the ends of the said lake, not any passage or egress appeared to us; it seemed rather to be completely closed without any stream. And we found at the said end but a fathom and a half, wherefore it behooved us to lay to and heave out our anchor, and go to seek passage with our boats. And we found that there were four or five streams all flowing from the said river into this lake and coming from the said Hochelaga; but, by their flowing out so, there are bars and passages made by the course of the water, where there was then only a fathom in depth. And the said bars being passed, there are four or five fathoms, which was at the time of year of the lowest waters, as we saw by the flow of the said waters that they increased more than two fathoms by pike.

"All these streams flow by and surround five or six fair islands[8] which form the head of said lake; then they come together about fifteen leagues above all into one. That day we went to one of them, where we found five men, who were hunting wild beasts, the which came as familiarly to our boats as if they had seen us all their lives, without having fear or apprehension; and our said boats having come to land, one of these men took our captain in his arms and carried him ashore as lightly as he would have carried a child of five years, so large and strong was this man. We found they had a great pile of wild rats,[9] which live in the water, and are as large as rabbits, and wonderfully good to eat, of which they made a present to our captain, who gave them knives and paternosters for recompense. We asked them by sign if that was the way to Hochelaga; they answered us yes, and that it was still three days journey to go there.

"HOW THE CAPTAIN HAD THE BOATS FITTED OUT FOR TO GO TO THE SAID HOCHELAGA, AND LEFT THE PINNACE, OWING TO THE DIFFICULTY OF THE PASSAGE; AND HOW HE CAME TO THE SAID HOCHELAGA, AND THE RECEPTION THAT THE PEOPLE GAVE US AT OUR ARRIVAL.

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Atherton's history of Montreal from 1535 to 1760 moves between two distinct registers: the narrative sweep of exploration and the dry precision of colonial administration. The opening chapter recounts Jacques Cartier's arrival at Hochelaga, quoting his recitation of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel over the lord Agohanna, while later sections reproduce royal edicts and financial accounts verbatim. This alternation between dramatic scene-setting and bureaucratic documentation shapes the reader's experience of the French regime as both a story of discovery and a system of governance.

Narrative Voice and Documentary Interruptions

Atherton frequently shifts from third-person narration to direct quotation of primary sources. In the chapter on colonization under early trading companies, he reproduces Colbert's 1668 letter urging early marriages, complete with the king's present of twenty livres. These inserted documents break the narrative flow, giving the text the feel of a compiled archive rather than a continuous story. The effect is deliberate: the reader encounters the past through the voices of its administrators, not just through the historian's summary.

This technique also appears in the discussion of the filles du roi. Atherton quotes Marie de l'Incarnation's observation that marriages were celebrated thirty at a time, then immediately follows with Colbert's instructions and the text of a state council decree fining unmarried men. The juxtaposition of personal testimony and official regulation highlights the dual nature of colonial society as both a human enterprise and a state project.

Pace and the Weight of Administrative Detail

The book's pace is uneven, alternating between brisk narrative passages and slow, detailed expositions of policy. The early chapters on Cartier move quickly, with vivid descriptions of the crossing of Lake St. Peter and the naming of Mount Royal. But as the text progresses into the 17th century, the rhythm slows. Atherton devotes considerable space to the structure of trading companies, the terms of royal monopolies, and the financial arrangements for transporting settlers.

For example, the section on the Company of One Hundred Associates includes a list of shareholders and the precise conditions of their charter. Similarly, the account of the filles du roi includes an item of expense paid to Demoiselle Etienne for chaperoning girls. These details ground the narrative in economic reality but also test the reader's patience, creating a tension between the desire for story and the demands of historical evidence.

Recurring Motifs: The Cross and the Crown

Two motifs recur throughout the excerpts: the cross and the crown. Atherton frames French colonization as a Christianizing movement, noting that Cartier recited Scripture over Agohanna and that the Recollects and Jesuits arrived early. Yet the crown's interests are never far behind. The chapter on early trading companies begins with the phrase 'The Cross and Crown,' and Roberval's commission explicitly links colonization to feudal projects and the deportation of criminals.

This dual emphasis appears again in the treatment of marriage policy. Colbert's letter frames early marriage as a demographic necessity for abundance, while the church's role is evident in Marguerite Bourgeoys' training of girls. Atherton notes that New France was viewed as a mission field, yet the state's financial incentives—the king's present, the fines—reveal a pragmatic calculus. The cross and crown are not opposed but intertwined, each serving the other in the colonial project.

Readers approaching this volume should be prepared for a work that is as much a documentary collection as a narrative history. Atherton's method rewards those who attend to the quoted sources, which often carry more life than his own prose. The book's value lies less in its interpretive framework than in the raw materials it preserves: the voices of Cartier, Colbert, Marie de l'Incarnation, and the anonymous filles du roi. For a focused reading, follow the thread of administrative decrees and personal letters, which together reveal the mechanics of empire.

There is something about Atherton’s Montreal—those marriage contracts and royal decrees tucked between Cartier’s voyages—that felt less like history than a ledger of quiet human efforts. It reminded me of a different sort of record, the careful, almost tender account in Reminiscences of Leo Nicolayevitch Tolstoi — Context and Discussion, where a life is remembered through small, daily gestures rather than grand pronouncements. Both left me with a soft ache for all the unglamorous work behind any founding.