Page 167 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

of the storm would have fallen on his head, as he was the only Jesuit
in hlontreal. He ielt iliat lie wuirid have served as an exarnple to others
and perhapfi occasioned a perstxution of his confrères in Pennsylvania
and hla~yland."'~l' In his own defense he prutested that the vicar-
~eneral, Rl onsignor hlontgolfier, had given Carroll the permission and
that ihe lattcr had niit lived irith hjm and had djned ivith hirn only onee.
But Father Floquet had disiileyed Bishop Briand's iirders and snffered
for his insubordinati~n."~'
Xo native son nf Britain eould have been a stauneher snpporter of
British rule i!i Canada than Bishop Jean Briand who had h~en burn in
Franee iri 1715. Within two veexs of his ordination tweiity-Sour )-&ais
later, -4bbé Briand had set sail for Canada with Monseignenr Puntbiiand,
Bishop of Quebee. The nishop named Briand canori of his caihedral,
kept hirn uear hirn and hnnoured hirn with hi9 ccirifiden~e.l~~' Wheii
Poritbrjand died in 1760, the possibility of having a suceessor named
1i!. ~he Kin=, (if France Leing out of the question, the eanona of Quebee
riained adrnjniatrators for the varicius distriets iif the Canadian rnission.
Canada haring lieen definitively veded t n Englaud, the Chapter elected
Mnu~ieur Etieriiie ILlontpolher, ihe vicar-general, uuanirriously. He
betocik himcelf to Enpland to get his norriination aer:epted, but Generai
Murray had rvritten gain et hirn aud the goverurnent wa3 nnwilling ta
reeopize hirri. Montgolfier resiged and narried Briaiid; - "1 know nri
one iri this ccilony". he wrote, "more suitable to fiIl this position than
hlonsieiir Briaiid n ho joins iu hi5 favour the vote of the clergv anri
peoplc and lie rnnst rnarked protection of the goverrimen t."cH'
hlorisieur Briand, elected by the Chapter in Septeniber. I'i64, et
out the loliowing November for London, fnrtified by a letter of re-
cnmmeudation fruiii Gerieral Murray. After sorrie dehy and dinieuhies
he sueeeecled iu having hiinself put forth as the Bishop of Quebec, a:
thr same tirrie safcgunrding the riphta nf the Hniy See. The bulls were
despatched from Roiiic in Jaiiusry, 1766. On Mareh 16, the anniversary
of his orcliuation, Jean Oliibier Briand was eousecrated by the Bishoyi
of Blois in the Church ot Sainte Marie de Merri in Paris. He arriw-3
in Quebei: on June 26 whare the qiiseopal chair had been vacant for six
yesrs.
It msv be said lhat wheu the drnericans invaded in 1775, it was
Bishop Briand who Ly his loyalty and authority preserved ~he eolon!
for England; his exhortations and exarnple were followed by the clerg)-
aud then by the people. He proved to the Britieh authorjties that il he
knew how tri defend ihe righrs of Cod and of the Pope, he aleo krrew
how tii defend those of Lis kjiig. Thc governorg kneii. how to sppreciate

(41 ) 3lsriin 1. J. Grif fin, ediiur, The Ameiicon Caîholic Hisiorira1 Reseorches
i PliiiadeIliluü: lY07), XXIY (July, 1907), p. 235.
(4:) Cuildny, op. ci!., pp. 1M-lOA.
(43) hlL' H. Tziu et 1'aLIié C.+O. GaFnon, edi tors, iCItrndements, Zettrcj Pusiorales
e! C.rciilaires des E~,;~nes de Qilébec (Québec: Iniprimerie Générale A.
Coié ri Lie. 18881, Diiigmplucal Sketcli, p. 166.
Ibid., p. 165.