La Corne St. Luc assailed the new regulations of the
Intendant in no measured terms of denunciation, in which he was
supported by Rigaud de Vaudreuil and the Chevalier de Beauharnais.
But Bigot, without condescending to the trouble of defending the
ordinances on any sound principle of public policy, which he knew to
be useless and impossible with the clever men sitting at the table,
contented himself with a cold smile at the honest warmth of La Corne
St. Luc, and simply bade his secretary read the orders and
despatches from Versailles, in the name of the royal ministers, and
approved of by the King himself in a Lit de Justice which had
justified every act done by him in favor of the Grand Company.
The Governor, trammelled on all sides by the powers conferred upon
the Intendant, felt unable to exercise the authority he needed to
vindicate the cause of right and justice in the colony. His own
instructions confirmed the pretensions of the Intendant, and of the
Grand Company. The utmost he could do in behalf of the true
interests of the people and of the King, as opposed to the herd of
greedy courtiers and selfish beauties who surrounded him, was to
soften the deadening blows they dealt upon the trade and resources
of the Colony.
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