Before leaving M. de Maisonneuve named the nephew of Louis d'Ailleboust, M. Charles d'Ailleboust, Sieur des Musseaux, to be the governor of Montreal in his stead.
In the meantime the new governor general, M. de Lauson, of whom we have spoken already, had arrived on October 13th to succeed M. Louis d'Ailleboust at Quebec. This was no good tidings for Montreal, for as Dollier de Casson remarks, the new governor made known "his good feelings towards the Messieurs de Montréal" and the good treatment they ought to hope from him by retrenching 1,000 from the 4,000 _livres_ granted by the general Company for the upkeep of the governor and his garrison.[68]
"I do not wish," says he, "to say anything touching the conduct of this gentleman towards this island, more especially as I wish to believe that he has always had the very best of intentions, although he was always wise to his own interest since if he had more frequently strengthened the embankment here, the Iroquois inundations would not have so easily taken their course towards Quebec and they would not have done the mischief they did, for they have not always respected even his own family."
De Maisonneuve before leaving for France persuaded the governor of Quebec to send ten men as a reinforcement to Ville Marie. Dollier de Casson, the quondam soldier now priest, treating this quaintly as follows, says facetiously that de Lauson kept his promise, "sending their arms in advance," meaning that he sent none at all. This is confirmed by M. de Belmont, who says that "M. de Lauson sent, in spite of his own wish, ten soldiers without arms and provisions." "But he sent them so late," says Dollier, probably on the testimony of eye-witnesses, "and put them on a chaloupe so poorly clad that they almost froze to death, and they were taken for living spectres coming, as mere skeletons, to confront the hardships of the winter. It was a rather surprising thing to see them arrive in this turnout at this season, considering that it was the 10th of December; so much so that it seemed doubtful whether they were men or not, this only being cleared up when they were seen close at hand; moreover in constitution these men were most sickly, two of them being mere boys, though in truth they have become since very good settlers, of whom one is called Saint Ange and the other, Lachapelle. These poor soldiers were no sooner here than their hosts proceeded to warm them up as well as they could, by giving them good cheer and good clothing, and then they came to be of service in repelling the Iroquois whom we had to deal with at close quarters every day."