The panels of wainscoting upon the walls were
surrounded by delicate arabesques, and hung with paintings of
historic interest--portraits of the kings, governors, intendants,
and ministers of state who had been instrumental in the colonization
of New France.
Over the Governor's seat hung a gorgeous escutcheon of the royal
arms, draped with a cluster of white flags sprinkled with golden
lilies, the emblems of French sovereignty in the Colony.
Among the portraits on the walls, besides those of the late and
present King,--which hung on each side of the throne,--might be seen
the features of Richelieu, who first organized the rude settlements
on the St. Lawrence into a body politic--a reflex of feudal France;
and of Colbert, who made available its natural wealth and resources
by peopling it with the best scions of the motherland, the noblesse
and peasantry of Normandy, Brittany, and Aquitaine. There too might
be seen the keen, bold features of Cartier, the first discoverer,
and of Champlain, the first explorer of the new land and the founder
of Quebec.
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