It is true that in New France there were conditions which no amount of experience in the Old World could train a man to handle.  Nor was Frontenac particularly fitted by training or temperament for all of the duties which his new post involved.  In some things he was well-endowed; he had great physical endurance, a strong will, with no end of courage, and industry to spare.  These were qualities of the highest value in a land encircled by enemies and forced to depend for existence upon the strength of its own people.  But more serviceable still was his ability in adapting himself to a new environment.  Men past fifty do not often show this quality in marked degree, but Frontenac fitted himself to the novelty of colonial life exceedingly well.  In his relations with, the Indians he showed amazing skill.  No other colonial governor, English, French, or Dutch, ever commanded so readily the respect and admiration of the red man.  But in his dealings with the intendant and the bishop, with the clergy, and with all those among the French of New France who showed any disposition to disagree with him, Frontenac displayed an uncontrollable temper, an arrogance of spirit, and a degree of personal vanity which would not have made for cordial relations in any field of human effort.  He had formed his own opinions and was quite ready to ride rough-shod over those of other men.  It was this impetuosity that served to make the official circles of the colony, during many months of his term, a “little hell of discord.”

But when the new viceroy arrived at Quebec he was in high fettle; he was pleased with the situation of the town and flattered by the enthusiastic greeting which he received from its people.  His first step was to familiarize himself with the existing machinery of colonial government, which he found to be far from his liking.  He proceeded, accordingly, in his own imperious way, to make some startling changes.  For one thing, he decided to summon a representative assembly made up of the clergy, the seigneurs, and the common folk of New France.  This body he brought together for his inauguration in October, 1672.  No such assembly had ever been convened before, and nothing like it was ever allowed to assemble again.  Before another year had passed, the minister sent Frontenac a polite reprimand with the intimation that the King could not permit in the colony an institution he was doing his best, and with entire success, to crush out at home.  The same fate awaited the governor’s other project, the establishment of a municipal government in the town of Quebec.  Within a few months of his arrival, Frontenac had allowed the people of the town to elect a syndic and two aldermen, but the minister vetoed this action with the admonition that “you should very rarely, or, to speak more correctly, never, give a corporate voice to the inhabitants, for ... it is well that each should speak for himself, and no one for all.”  In the reorganization of colonial administration, therefore, the governor found himself promptly called to a halt.  He therefore turned to another field where he was much more successful in having his own way.