In the church the churchwardens have a special seat of honour assigned to them.  They control the temporalities and may beard even the cure himself.  Large sums of money pass through their hands.  They receive the pew rents,—­and every habitant has a pew; they receive the voluntary offerings.  It often happens that the Church accumulates large sums of money and that, if the building of a presbytere or parish church is decided upon, there is enough on hand to pay for it outright.  The municipal council and the schoolboard, on the other hand, are always poor.  The habitant watches their taxation with a parsimonious scrutiny and it is a thankless task to carry on their work.

Municipal interests represent of course only a part of the village’s political thought.  In provincial politics, federal politics, there is often in Quebec an interest keener even than in other parts of Canada.  It would be too much to say that the habitant has a wide outlook on public questions; but the village notary and the village doctor are likely to have political ambitions and rivalry becomes acute; often indeed the curse of the village is the professional politician.  At times in Quebec politics have been closely associated with religion and always the bishops are persons to be reckoned with.  Their attitude has ever been that, if the policy of one or the other party seems to be inimical to the Church, they have the right to direct Catholic electors to vote against such a party.  From the point of view of British supremacy in French Canada it would be a mistake to say that the bishops in a political role have always been mischievous.  After the conquest they soon became the most staunch supporters of the authority of George III and through the Church the British conqueror was able to reach the people.  When the American Revolution began, the bishops were strenuous for British connection and from the pulpits came solemn warnings against the Americans.  Again in Britain’s war on Revolutionary France the Canadian bishops were with her, heart and soul.  They ordered Te Deums when Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the battle of the Nile, and over Trafalgar there were great rejoicings.  After Waterloo we find in French Canada perhaps the most curious of all the thanksgivings; at Malbaie, as elsewhere, a Te Deum was sung and the people were told in glowing terms of the victory of the “immortal Wellington” which had covered “our army” with glory and ended a cruel war.  Later, in the days of Papineau, the Church opposed rebellion; she has since opposed annexation to the United States.  She has also helped to preserve order.  If a crime was to be detected, the cure read from the pulpit a demand that any one, who could give information to further this end, should do so.  Solemn excommunication was pronounced against offenders; to make the warning impressive the priest would drop to the ground a lighted candle and put it out with his foot; so would God extinguish the offenders thus denounced, and those who abetted their crimes.