The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-02-09
OLD FEUDAL CUSTOMS.
Some That Still Survive In Por-
tions Of Canada.

Seigniories Near Quebec stIn Run on the
Principles Laid Down In Paris -Four
Centuries Ago and Repeated Long
Ago the French Revolution.
Parkman and others have told us all
about the mild feudal system which
prevailed in French Canada down to
1854. The seignior received a grant of
wild land from the king on condition
that he should put settlers upon it. He
had to preserve the oak timber for ship
building, and the red pine for the man
ufacture of tar, and to notify the
kings agents if he found minerals on
the seigniory. He had to go through
the form of paying homage and fealty
to the kings representative at Quebec
when he entered on possession, some
times oftener, and to pay fifth of the
purchase money if he sold the estate
to the royal Golfers, though he was al
lowed rebate of two-thirds for cash
down. The censitaire or habitant, who
held the land under the seignior, had
to pay the annual Gems ct rentes, often
a sol (cent), or half sol, with half a
pint of wheat or few live capons or
eggs for each arpent. The land of the
censataire passed to his heirs, but, in
Sc1SC hO SO4NA 4AlS 4ttCLllhC, IAAC
lods ct ventes came into play, and one
twelfth of the purchase money went
to the seignior. BY the droit de re-
trait the seignior could compel.a pur-
chaser within forty days of the sale to
transfer the property to him at the
price paid if he thought it had not
fetched enough.
The censitaire had to get his wheat
ground at the Seignior's mill and on
some seigniories to have his bread
baked at the seignior's oven, paying a
toll in each case; to give 1.-THE of the
fish he caught to the seignior, to do
corvee or road work, and to get out
! stone and timber for public purposes.
Seigniors who could afford to support
local magistrate were empowered to
administer superior, mean and inferior
justice on their estates, but as class
they were very poor and this right fell
into desuetude.
In 1854, says the New York Post. the
parliament of Canada bought out the
seigniors. There were 100 of them, in
possession of 22O fiefs, embracing 6,O00,-
900 acres of cultivated land. The
censitaire was given his choice of two
things-the Gems ct rentes were capi-
talizcd, and he could either pay the
capital sum to the seignior, in which
case, of course, he got q clear title to
his holding, or continue on as tenant
at a rental equal to per cent. of the
capitalization. The tenant 1 came
across, or his father before him, had,
like many more, chosen the latter
course. The other seigniorial rights
were settled by the government at a
cost of about 100000 The system
would have been abolished before 1854
only the Roman Catholic church was
afraid that in the debaele, as timid
souls called it, the tithes and fabrique
taxes which she collected by authority
of law might be abolished. too.
The landlord of whom have spoken
was good enough to let me look at a
batch of old papers and books in which
the doings of his predecessors in the
seigniory and of their censitaires are
recorded for $50 years. These papers
enabled one to form tolerably good
idea of the sort of life the people led.
First as to prices: In 1867, as other
documents show, wheat sold in the
markets of Quebec at 80 cents per bush
! el. A creditor was bound to accept it
at that price. Beef sold for cents and
pork for cents per pound, the four
pound loaf for 10 cents. Prices had
dropped a little by 173S. Wheat was
| then worth 62 cents. In 1T42 it fell to
40 cents. There had been good crop
in the region east of Quebec on the
south shore of the st. Lawrence, which
was regarded as the granary of New
France. Capons sold for 10 cents each
in 1746, but when paid as Gems ct rentes
their conventional price was 20 cents
Most of the deeds called for ''good fat
| IF tho ~ e
May
In 1740 carpenters and blacksmiths
got from 60 to 80 cents day, unskilled
| laborers 40 cents. Cloth of all kinds
except homespun was dear. The for
eign trade of the colony was confined
| to France and French possessions but
there was a good deal of smuggling
by land and water from New England
and New York. Twenty yards of ssfine
woolen CLOTH cost 6255 cents a yard in
1746. The censitaires and the common
people generally clothed themselves in
homespun, Petoffe du pays, made boots
out of green beef hides, got their sugar
from the maple, and had, as rule,
plenty of game and fish. Most of them
had vegetable patch. They ex-
changed timber or furs for store goods
| as they required. The well-to-do seig-
niors imported wine, brandy, velvet,
| lace, jewelry, etc. An all-velvet suit
with dress-sword, rufies, buckles and
a gilt snuff box thrown in, cost $50 in
1770. The poorer seigniors lived much
as their censitaires lived. Their wives
and daughters were forced to work in
the fields to save the cost of hired la
Dor, which was scarce. Just before the
British conquest the colony was flooded
with Deprecated paper money, and the