THE EARLY HISTORY OF MILITIA

Here we may close the f irst period of the military history of Canada.

In 1663, the King resumed ipossession of the country, and two years later sent the régiment of Carignan, -wdth instructions to subdue the Iroqnois. This was done in 1666 at a great loss to the troops, because the campaign was conducted after the European style, conseqnently with ail the disadyantage on the side of men who were thoronghly foreign in that class of warfare. Nevertheless, they terrified the rive î^ations and gained a peace whieh lasted about twenty years.

It is a common saying that this régiment was disbanded here, and that the officers and soldiers settled on the lands. We mnst not forget that the King recalled them to France with a view to employing thèse vétérans in the then coming war against ïïolland. In 1670 there was but one eompany left in Canada. That very year, though, other troops arrived, and some also in 1671. They garrisoned Québec, Three Eivers, Sorel, Chambly, Montréal and Cataracoui in 1672. Their commandant was a captain in the infantry. The minister of war haying refused to keep the control of such a small force, it was placel by Colbert in the budget of Marina and Colonies, and thus is explained the strange name by which they were known from 1673 until 1760: "The Marine Detachment/* The historians hâve ail been misled by thèse words ; they inf er that the men in question were selected from the fleet, and this is why so many French-Canadian families believe now that their ancestors had been taken from the sea to do service in Canada. This reminds me of another mistake conceming the officers of those successive detachments sent to Canada: they were as a rule — and ail of them, we may conjecture — discharged from their respective régiments re-