Politics, Patronage, and the Imperial Interest: Charles de Beauharnais's Disputes with Gilles Hocquart
| Autor: | S. Dale Standen |
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| Rok vydání: | 1979 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Canadian Historical Review. 60:19-40 |
| ISSN: | 1710-1093 0008-3755 |
| DOI: | 10.3138/chr-060-01-02 |
| Popis: | 'JE SUISUN VIEUX MILITAIRE,' wrote Charles de Beauharnais, the sixtynine-year-old governor general of New France, 'd'age •t savoir ne pas donner prise sur moy." The words were writrein in •74 to JeanFr•dfiric Phdypeaux, comte de Maurepas, the minister of the marine, in response to anonymous accusations of favouritism made at court the previous year. Students of New France will recognize immediately in this glimpse the personal pattern of colonial politics. They will also anticipate as part of the pattern a series of quarrels with the intendant, Gilles Hocquart, over precedence,jurisdiction, the distribution of patronage, any number of 'abuses' of' royal offices, and, buried somewhere, policies on important public issues. If it is a truism that the politics of the governors general of New France were highly personal and were often displayed in rancorous disputes with the intendants, the extent to which these disputes were institutionalized, or rendered unavoidable by the structure of colonial government, is more controversial. A century ago Francis Parkman concluded that conflict was not only inevitable but intentional. 'In truth,' he wrote of' the governors and intendants of New France, 'their relations to each other were so critical, and perfect harmony so rare, that they might almost be described as natural enemies. The court, it is certain, did not desire their perfect accord; nor, on the other hand, did it wish them to quarrel: it aimed to keep then on such terms that |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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