personally to details, gave orders for the levy of troops
and for the shipping of the men and supplies, and urged
on the officials in charge so that everything should be
ready early in the spring. To M. de Courcelle he wrote
these welcome tidings:

His Majesty has appropriated over 200,000 livres to
do what he deems necessary for the colony. One hundred
and fifty girls are going thither to be married; six
companies complete with fifty good men in each and
thirty officers or noblemen, who wish to settle there,
and more than two hundred other persons are also going.
Such an effort shows how greatly interested in Canada
His Majesty feels, and to what extent he will appreciate
all that may be done to help its progress.

That the minister was not actuated merely by a passing
mood, but by a set purpose, may be seen from a passage
of a letter to Terron, the intendant at Rochefort: 'I am
very glad,' Colbert wrote, 'that you have not gone beyond
the funds appropriated for the passage of the men and
girls to Canada. You know how important it is to keep
within the limits, especially in an outlay which will
have to be repeated every year.'

In the meantime Talon was pleading the cause of Canada
in another direction. Always intent on freeing New France
from the commercial monopoly of the West India Company,
he renewed his assault against that corporation, and at
last he was successful. This signal victory showed plainly