veins the accursed poison which inflamed them to theft,
rape, incest, murder, suicide--all the frightful frenzy
of bestial passion. As it was practised, the liquor
traffic could have no other result. A powerful consensus
of evidence established this truth above all discussion.
For the Indians brandy was then, as it is now, a murderous
poison. It is for this reason that at the present day
the government of Canada prohibits absolutely the sale
of intoxicating liquor in the territories where the
wretched remnants of the aborigines are gathered. The
strictness of the modern laws is a striking vindication
of Laval and those who stood by him.

Moreover the prohibition of the brandy traffic was not
as detrimental to the material development of the colony
as was contended. It was possible to trade with the
Outaouais, the Algonquins, the Iroquois, without the
allurement of brandy. The Indians themselves acknowledged
that strong liquor ruined them. The Abbe Dollier de
Casson, superior of the Montreal Sulpicians, was perfectly
right when he made the following statement:

We should have had all the Iroquois, if they had not
seen that there is as much disorder here as in their
country, and that we are even worse than the heretics.
The Indian drunkard does not resist the drinking craze
when brandy is at hand. But afterwards, when he sees
himself naked and disarmed, his nose gnawed, his body
maimed and bruised, he becomes mad with rage against
those who caused him to fall into such a state.