CHAPTER XLV.
"I WILL FEED FAT THE ANCIENT GRUDGE I BEAR HIM."
The Treaty of Aix La Chapelle, so long tossed about on the waves of
war, was finally signed in the beginning of October. A swift-
sailing goelette of Dieppe brought the tidings to New France, and in
the early nights of November, from Quebec to Montreal. Bonfires on
every headland blazed over the broad river; churches were decorated
with evergreens, and Te Deums sung in gratitude for the return of
peace and security to the Colony.
New France came out of the struggle scathed and scorched as by fire,
but unshorn of territory or territorial rights; and the glad
colonists forgot and forgave the terrible sacrifices they had made
in the universal joy that their country, their religion, language,
and laws were still safe under the Crown of France, with the white
banner still floating over the Castle of St. Louis.
On the day after the arrival of the Dieppe goelette bringing the
news of peace, Bigot sat before his desk reading his despatches and
letters from France, when the Chevalier de Pean entered the room
with a bundle of papers in his hand, brought to the Palace by the
chief clerk of the Bourgeois Philibert, for the Intendant's
signature.
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