discipline of confessors and spiritual directors put a
constraint on consciences, and that, in order to
counterbalance the excessive claims to obedience of the
clergy then in charge, other priests should be sent to
Canada with full powers for administration of the
sacraments. It is more than probable that in writing
these lines Talon was thinking of the vexed question of
the liquor traffic, always a source of strife between
the civil and the spiritual authorities.

Talon and his colleagues, Tracy and Courcelle, had to
deal with the question of tithes. In 1663 tithes had been
fixed by royal edict at one-thirteenth of all that is
produced from the soil either naturally or by man's
labour. This edict was prompted by the erection of the
Quebec Seminary by Laval, and established in Canada the
tithes system for the benefit of the new clerical
institution, to which was entrusted the spiritual care
of the colonists. The latter, who previously had paid
nothing for the maintenance of the clergy, protested
against the charge, notwithstanding that it was in
conformity with the common practice of Christian nations.
Laval, taking into consideration the poverty of the colony
at the time, freely granted delays and exemptions, so
that in 1667 the question was still practically in
abeyance. In that year the bishop presented to Tracy a
petition for the publication of a decree in respect to
the tithes. The lieutenant-general, the governor, and
the intendant gave the matter their attention, and after
discussion an ordinance was passed for payment of tithes,