In the dual government of Canada the Governor represented the King and commanded the troops; while the Intendant was charged with trade, finance, justice, and all other departments of civil administration.  In former times the two functionaries usually quarrelled; but between Vaudreuil and Bigot there was perfect harmony.

Francois Bigot, in the words of his biographer, was “born in the bosom of the magistracy,” both his father and his grandfather having held honorable positions in the parliament of Bordeaux.[544] In appearance he was not prepossessing, though his ugly, pimpled face was joined with easy and agreeable manners.  In spite of indifferent health, he was untiring both in pleasure and in work, a skilful man of business, of great official experience, energetic, good-natured, free-handed, ready to oblige his friends and aid them in their needs at the expense of the King, his master; fond of social enjoyments, lavish in hospitality.

[Footnote 544:  Proces de Bigot, Cadet, et autres, Memoire pour Messire Francois Bigot, accuse, contre Monsieur le Procureur-General du Roi, accusateur.]

A year or two before the war began, the engineer Franquet was sent from France to strengthen Louisbourg and inspect the defences of Canada.  He kept a copious journal, full of curious observation, and affording bright glimpses not only of the social life of the Intendant, but of Canadian society in the upper or official class.  Thus, among various matters of the kind, he gives us the following.  Bigot, who was in Quebec, had occasion to go to Montreal to meet the Governor; and this official journey was turned into a pleasure excursion, of which the King paid all the costs.  Those favored with invitations, a privilege highly prized, were Franquet, with seven or eight military officers and a corresponding number of ladies, including the wife of Major Pean, of whom Bigot was enamoured.  A chief steward, cooks, servants, and other attendants, followed the party.  The guests had been requested to send their portmanteaus to the Intendant’s Palace six days before, that they might be sent forward on sledges along with bedding, table, service, cooking utensils, and numberless articles of comfort and luxury.  Orders were given to the inhabitants along the way, on pain of imprisonment, to level the snowdrifts and beat the road smooth with ox-teams, as also to provide relays of horses.  It is true that they were well paid for this last service; so well that the hire of a horse to Montreal and back again would cost the King the entire value of the animal.  On the eighth of February the party met at the palace; and after a grand dinner set out upon their journey in twenty or more sleighs, some with two guests and a driver, and the rest with servants and attendants.  The procession passed at full trot along St. Vallier street amid the shouts of an admiring crowd, stopped towards night at Pointe-aux-Trembles, where each looked for lodging; and then they all met