The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-05

OLD FEUDAL CUSTOMS.
Some That Stin Survive In Por.
tons OF Canada.
YeiEniorie. Near Quebec Still Run on the
Principles Laid Down In Paris -Four
Centuries Ago and Rerr-'-:. as Long
Ago rs the French Reyo1ution.

Principles Laid Gown In raris -Four
Centuries Ago and Rerr1'~:. as Long
Ago rs the French Revoiution.
Parkman and Others have told us all
about the mild feudaH 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.
rfacture of tar, and 10 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 a fifth Of the
purchase money if he sold the estate
to the royal Golfers, though he was al
lowed a rebate of two-thirds for cash
down The censitaire or ha bitant, who
held the land under the seignior, had
90 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
nsataire passed to his heirs, but, in
case he sold dnring his lifetime. the
iods et ventcs came into play, and one
twelfth of the purchase money went
20 the seignior. By the droit de re-
trait the soignior could compel 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
SOHO scigniorics 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.
SeiCniors who could afford to support
local magistrate were empowered to
administer superior, mean and inferior
Justice Oh their estates, but as a class
they wero very poor and this right fell
into desuetude.
In 1854, says fhe New York Post. the
parliament of Canada bought out the
seigniors. There were 100 of them, in
possession of 220 fiefs. embracing 6,0oO,-
900 acres of cultivated land. The
censitaire was given his choice of two
things-the Gems ct rentes We're capi-
talized, and he could either pay the
capital sum to the seignior, in which
case, of course, he got a clear title to
his holding, or continue on as a tenant
ut rental equal to per cent of the
4s,f
hcross, 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 s., 200, coo. The system
would have been abolished before 1854
only the Roman Catholic church was
afraid that in the debacle, 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
batch of old papers and books ia which
the doings of his predecessors in the
seigniory and of their censitaires are
recorded for 15o years. These papers
enabled one TO form a tolerably good
Idea Of the sort Of life the people led.
First as to prices. Ia 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 1888 Wheat was
then worth 80 cents In 17ia 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 1146, but when paid as oens ct rentes
their conventional price was 90 cents.
Most of the deeds called for good fat
csipcns Of tho brood OF the month of
May"
la 1910 carpenters and blacksmiths
got from SO to so cents a day. unskilled
laborers so cents. Cloth Of ell kinds
except honesppn was dear. The for
eign trade Of the colony was confined
TO France and French possessions, but
there was good deal OF smuggling
by land and water from New England
and New York. Twenty yards of fine
woolen cloth" cost G2]s cents q yard in
1875. The censitai Tres and the common
people generally clothed themselves in
homeepun, retoffc du pays. made boots
out of green beet hides, got their sugar
from the maple. and had. as rule,
plenty OF game and fish. Most of them
had a 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-velvct suit
with crossword, rufies. buckles and
gilt snuff box thrown in, cost So in
ITO The poorer seigniors lived much
as tl'cir censitaires lived Their wives
snd daughters were forced to work in
the fields To save the cost of hired la
bcr, which was scarce. Just before the
British conquest the colony was flooded
with dspreoiated paper money, and the
crops falling at the same time the price
pf wheat ran up to Sl.90.
There We're no books save among the
clergy and seiyniors: printing was not
introduced until nearly a century and
half after the first printing press
had been set up in New England.
There were no schools in the rural
parishes and no semblance of munic-
ipal government either in town or
country. Public meetings were not
allowed lest they stir up sedition.
A Curious Coptic Custom.
The Coptic pa triarch of AleSaod-;,