Champlain’s portrait, attributed to Moncornet, shows us a sturdy, broad-shouldered frame, with features in keeping.  Unhappily we have no assurance that it is a faithful likeness.  No one, however, can deny that the mariner of Brouage, with his extraordinary perseverance and energy, was admirably fitted to be the pathfinder to a new realm.  Not often does one encounter in the annals of any nation a man of greater tenacity and patience.  Chagrin and disappointment he had to meet on many occasions, but he was never baffled nor moved to concede defeat.  His perseverance, however, was not greater than his modesty, for never in his writings did he magnify his difficulties nor exalt his own powers of overcoming them, as was too much the fashion of his day.  As a writer, his style was plain and direct, with, no attempt at embellishment and no indication that strong emotions ever had much influence upon his pen.  He was essentially a man of action, and his narrative is in the main a simple record of such a man’s achievements.  His character was above reproach; no one ever impugned his honesty or his sincere devotion to the best interests of his superiors.  To his Church he was loyal in the last degree; and it was under his auspices that the first of the Jesuit missionaries came to begin the enduring work which the Order was destined to accomplish in New France.

On the death of Champlain the Company appointed the Sieur de Montmagny to be governor of the colony.  He was an ardent sympathizer with the aims of the Jesuits, and life at Quebec soon became almost monastic in its austerity.  The Jesuits sent home each year their Relations, and, as these were widely read, they created great interest in the spiritual affairs of the colony.  The call for zealots to carry the cross westward into the wilderness met ready response, and it was amid a glow of religious fervor that the settlement at Montreal was brought into being.  A company was formed in France, funds were obtained, and a band of forty-four colonists was recruited for the crusade into the wilderness.  The Sieur de Maisonneuve, a gallant soldier and a loyal devotee of the Church, was the active leader of the enterprise, with Jeanne Mance, an ardent young religionist of high motives and fine character, as his principal coadjutor.  Fortune dealt kindly with the project, and Montreal began its history in 1642.

A few years later Montmagny gave up his post and returned to France.  With the limited resources at his disposal, he had served the colony well, and had left it stronger and more prosperous than when he came.  His successor was M. D’Ailleboust, who had been for some time in the country, and who was consequently no stranger to its needs.  On his appointment a council was created, to consist of the governor of the colony, the bishop or the superior of the Jesuits, and the governor of Montreal.  Henceforth this body was to be responsible for the making of all general regulations.  It is commonly called the Old Council to distinguish it from the Sovereign Council by which it was supplanted in 1663.