Chapter lV

Quebec and Pondichery an urban fort city of the French

The development of a structured town in Quebec was rather

slow because of the initial problems faced by Champlain and others.

Champlain built the Lower Town 'Habitation" in 1608 because it

fulfilled his requirements as a trading post. The town was known as a

'habitation', which, according to Furetiere, meant a small colony, a

settlement in a deserted and uninhabited place." It had a natural

harbour, clean drinking water, lumber, and good land for cultivation

nearby. He saw that trade with permanent settlement was essential

in order to consolidate the power of France in America.

The occupation of the St. Lawrence area formed the key to the

vast and unknown territories from where fur supplies came. He

chose Quebec as the first settlement area on the sloping ground

between the river and the cliffs. He built a fort, which was

surrounded by a moat, and supplied with cannons placed at the

corners. He made arrangements for the severe winter by cultivation

of rye and wheat. This was the first step towards self-support to

prevent any calamity. In earlier expeditions many such as those of

" Rbmi Chmirr , Q&xc: A French alqnisl Town in America. 1880 10 169Q,

(Onawa: Minister of the Supply and Services Canada, 1991) P. 20.

119

Jacques Cartier and Sir Robewal in 1535-40 died of scurvy and lack

of proper food. From Quebec the fur trade could be controlled to a

certain extend. The sad part was that Quebec remained an outpost

as late as the 1650.

For the purpose of trade the French chose Montreal and Trois

Rivieres lower. MonMal became the hub of the colony. The

Suipician secular clergy came to take over the seigneury of Montreal

and started their missionary work. Their target was to convert the

natives and start education for them. Qudbec, the original habitation,

remained the administrative and cultural centre of the colony; a

capital city designed to demonstrate authority and order. "Walls

protected and bounded the city. Erected to afford security to the

inhabitants and to safeguard territorial integrity, they hemmed in the

city's expansion; they brought about crowding and encouraged multi-

storied construction. Fortification also influenced city layout by

requiring wide military roads for manoeuvres and other defence

needs, which affected street grid patterns as well as lot division^.'^

Quebec had a Lower Town that was essentially its commercial

port, its merchant's quarter and its warehouses. It also had a central

community space where a church was located in front of which

'' RBmi Chernier, QuBbec: A French Colonial Town in America. 1660 to 1690, P

18

120

people could gather on public occasions. In social terms, it was the

lower dass and bourgeois sector of town. The Upper Town was the

enclosed section on the heights that housed the administrative,

cultural and religious elite. It exemplified the common social

distinctions of the period that were to be found in most European

planned towns."

The town planning undertaken by the administration of New

France had a passion for visible order and symmetry." in all the

major colonial towns that the French established one sees the

attempt to plan growth and maintain control. The plan was also to

survey oficial road allowances outside the towns in the rural areas to

facilitate the transport and communication. The first known town

plan was that of the Governor Huault de Monlmagny for the 'cily" of

Qubbac in 1634.'' Though this settlement at narrowing of the St.

Lawrence River had been permanently established in 1608, the

European population of the entire colony did not exceed 250 souls in

" Bill Hiller 8 Julienne Hanscn, The Social Loaic of Space (Cambndge: Cambrlge

University Preu, 1989), Passim.

" Peter N. Moogk, puildina A House in New France: an avaunt of the ~emle~iti9S

of and w s m e n in early Canad@ (Toronto: MeCllelland and SteWrt. 19TI),

p. 13.

" ibi.,13

121

1636.'' Quebec was still a small French outpost sewing as a base

for the fur trade.

When the Unuiine and Augustinian nuns arrived in 1639, a

bishop in 1659 and the Sulpician secular priests as seigneurs of the

island of Montreal missionary work was of paramount importance.

The clergy worked with the royal officials to keep relations as

harmonious as possible in the colony and to uphold the established

order of a hierarchical society. Progress of was however lethargic

and the colony's ability to survive was in doubt until 1663 when Louis

XIV assumed direct rule of Canada from the trading companies that

had administered the colony in the King's name. Official

encouragement to immigration in the 1660's raised the immigrant

population to about 6,500 persons in 1672, when France's wars in

Europe diverted the monarch's money and interest away from the

colony.

In addition to social and occupational distinctions, and visible

order, a town required facilities of control. Although government was

generally benevolent and paternalistic, it was in Vleory absolutist and

the King's Will could be imposed brutally when required. Quebec

and Montrbal, during most of the French regime, had no military

peter N. ~ocgk , Buildina A House in New France: an account Of the mmexitis

of dbnt end crabmen in erdv Can&, p. 13

122

barracks and no large contingents of troops. Nevertheless, the

French settlers were very conscious of the authority of the state.

There were public demonstrations and boisterous protests over food

shortages, profteering and unjust levies, but these revolts against

constituted authorityw The concept of control to promote social

harmony, extended to local decrees regarding market days, disposal

of garbage, fire prevention, hours of business, and Sunday

observance. Just as society was expected to be orderly, so towns

were laid out in orderly fashion and governed by regulations

bolstering the ideals of harmony, equity and Subservience in one's

proper place in the social hierarchy.

The situation in French Pondichery was similar to in New

France. The town planning took time, as Govemor Franpise Martin

was the one responsible for building up the fort in Pondichery that

developed into the main town. The fort building was undertaken as a

safety measure because war in 1676 between two Indian nobility

Sher Khan Lodi and Nazir Muhammad took place. At first a bastion

was added to the loge that the French had. Franpis Martin had

made some arrangements for people who were essential for trade

purpose to stay in Pondichery loge. He set up a separate village for

the weavers, textile painters and coral polishers so that he could get

" Terence Clowlsys. 'Thunder Guecrtr: Popular Dirturbsnws in Early French

Csnsd.,'&tcfical P e a (1979), pp. 11-31.

123

work done without any disturbances. Town planning with respect to

fortification and public order were based on manuals." The

development of the European town reflected the economic interest of

the colonial development that took place. The French and the

lndians (Tamil speaking population of PondichBry) lived in separate

areas that were divided by a lagoon. This lagoon was tumed into the

Grand Canal built by the French as part of their drainage system and

the point of separation of the lndians from the French town. There

were two streets that ran parallel to the canal. The Quai du Ambour

and Quai du Gingy and these areas became settlement quarters of

the Indians.

Franwis Martin invited the lndians to settle and develop the

place, as he was interested in maintaining a cordial relationship with

them. However the lands that essentially became French

possession were for a price as the Company had purchased the

lands from the original owners. It was only in 1702 that the Superior

Council set up in PondichBry played a major role in utilisation of

these lands. The Council collected taxes from the lndians to build

the walls of the fort. The Superior Council administered the

" M, de Guignard, k' icwle de Men, ou m8moks i ~ t ~ c t i f s surle Corn Milifaim

(Psis: Simart, 1725) and M. Guiliaute, MBmoh sur le tw fwme de la wlkw 1749

(Wealeham: H e m n , 1874). T w woilts summarized earlier dispersed

trwtber on the wtjoct.

124

improvement of housing and legal property titles that had become a

major concern in the European town area. Household industries and

handicrafts moved into the town but a plan regarding this

development had yet to be traced. Pondichbry, like QuBbec, was to

be an orderly public space.

Frangois Martin had to pay a huge amount of 5,000 chakras in

the court of Gingee to fortify Pondichbry. The fort was built in the

form of an il~egular rectangular structure near the Bay of Bengal.

There were four circular towers and was called Fort ~ a r l o n g . ~

There were eleven plans for the fortifications and later in the urban

development of Pondichbry. Nicolas de Fer (1646-1723) in 1705

drew the first plan for developing and making Pondichery town a

bigger area. He lived in Paris and was an eminent cartographer. His

plan de Pondichery a la cote Commandel occupe par la Compagnie

Royale des lndes Orientales mis au Jour par N, de ~ 8 7 , ' ~ appears in

his work on Atlas Curieux and the same plan is also recorded in

Marguerits, V. labemaide. Le RBvdufion et k ,w l i Jsements Frencaa dans

m, p 25

" A Susan Gole, A Series of sarlv Dnnted maos of India in Facsimile, (New Delhi:

Jayaprlnts. 1980). No: 23; for further information see Susan Gole's Earlv M ~ D S Q!

m. (New Yoh: Humanitis Press, 1976) and Indian Maps And Plans. fm

& & . # J J - , (New Delhi: Manoharial

Publiatianr, 1989)

125

Beaurain's Atlas de GBogmphique Ancienne et modeme in 1751.

The original size of the plan of Pondichbry appears to be just 35.5 x

24cm. This plan mentioned the latitude and longitude of the town

and contained other information about the streets and the town plan.

In the second plan of Pondichbry the streets and adjoining

villages are marked. This plan is dated 1748 and called 'plan de la

vilie de Pondichbry". There were fourteen houses within the fort

area that came up and the local population of Pondichbty did not

have their houses there. On the roadsides there were markets in the

Podicherrian area across the canna1 and all roads were

interconnected to the market area. The third plan, dated 1750,

published in the Le Petit Atlas Maritime (1764) by Jacques Niwlas

Franwis Bellin clearly shows the fortifications". It included the four

gates and the full detail of the town within the fort. The whole town

plan was listed in the form of numerals ranging from one to twenty-

one. These twenty-one important locations were the most important

areas of the town inside the fort. 'Plan du front de la ville

PondichBry" dated as January 1756, gives a front view dimension of

the European town overlooking the sea. The fifih to ninth plans do

not cover the time period of this thesis. Town plans for Louisbourg

indicate a common concern I the eighteenth century for order, safety

" J ~ I J O S ~ i c o b ~ a ~ ~ i n , Le w1if auas rne#img, ([micmfoml. S.l.s.n., 1974) and

Plan & Nouvdb OMang, (Ithaca, New York: Historic Urban Plans. 1864).

126

and social control. John Johnston, grder at l ouisboura: Measure of

Control in a French Colonial Societv. 17151758 East Lansing:

Michigan State University Press, 2000) features the elaborate plans

stored in the Bibliotheque National (Paris) and the Archives du Genie

(Paris).

The fifth plan Le Plan de la ville de Pondichdry adte par M.Duc

da Pmslin en Fevrie 1768 has more details of the inner regions of

Pondicherry. The sixth plan of 1771, Plan de la ville de PondichBry

of Bourcet shows the town renovated after the British had destroyed

it after occupying it for a period of time from 1769. "The seventh

plan was of 1777, in the form of a folio entitled Registre du papier

tem'er de la ville da PondichBty fait en execution de I'om'onnanca de

M. M. les administmtors de Roy, en data du 1 Juillet 1777, in 28 cm x

43.5cm form, indicates the buildings within the fort in various coiours.

Minute details of all lands and owners are given in the register

accompanying it. The eighth plan, Plan de la ville et environs de

PondichBry lave lors du seige de cette ville fait par les Anglais an

1778 provides the details of barracks that were constructed, the four

gates and an additional gate of Pondichery i.e. Madras gate along

with the, Valudavur, Villiyanoor , Cuddalore and Muthialpet Gates.

These details of the plans fmrn seventh to tenth is given only to follow the plans

order for informatim purpw and nothing elss as It does not fall in the period

taken Iw remarch.

127

General Monroe drafted the ninth plan of Pondicherry after the

British attack of Pondichbry in 1778. The tenth plan of 1789 was

drawn after the British returned Pondichkry to the French in 1783

according to the Treaty of Versailles. The town was planned to have

an oval shape with a boulevard area and a ring road ail around it.

De Philines was in charge of the fortification work in 1792. The

eleventh plan of 1793 was made before Pondichbry surrendered to

the British.

The town plans give an insight into the urban development of

Pondichbry. The French population along with the Portuguese,

Dutch and Creoles lived in the European town and the sea was the

natural boundary on the east. The Canal on the west gave the town

a distinct segregationist atmosphere as it separated the areas of the

Indians from the French. The streets were similar to those of France

with the mint, the Capuchin missions, and the church all within the

fort area. The Grand Bazaar was the main area of business for the

French and the lndian merchants. The houses of the French were

built in the French style with grand chambers, kitchen, bathroom and

courtyard. The latrine was built in the Portuguese style outside the

house for hygienic purposes. The houses had large gardens with

flowers, fruit and vegetables. Common lndian plants and trees like

coconut, acacia, and palm were grown in the ba&yards because of

the cash value of the kernels of the fruit. In the eighteenth century

128

the houses had individual numbers to differentiate them from each

other. During the earlier part it was a sort of sign to differentiate the

buildings. The houses were built on both sides of the street with

domestic space in behveen houses to show the individual space.

There was also the public space that was owned by the Compagnie

des lndes Onentales, the administrators of the comptoir.

The streets were well laid out, well maintained and connected

to the four gates of Pondichbry. The streets met at right angles and

were twenty-five in numbers. Wells were constructed for water

facility in the French quarter. The Topas, Portuguese, Armenians

and the French owned property in the European area. There were

records and registers of the property deeds. Taxes were paid on the

property. A few lndians had property in this sector. Kanadappa

Mudaliar the Dubash of the French Governor and Ananda Ranga

Pillai the Dubash of Governor Dupleix, but very few others. Legal

documents were translated from Tamil the language of the lndians of

Pondichbry into French and were presented to the notary in 1742.

The lndians lived in their own areas, which were more suitable for

their intermingling with their own people. The rich lived in large

houses that were often modelled on French villas that made them

feel on par with the French.

129

A wall with cannon was build by the French for the protection of

the Pondichemans. There were separate streets allocated for the

Indians according to their caste. This allocation of streets did not

have anything to do with the French. This system of separate

quarters originated long before the amval of the French. Each caste

lived in its own area in houses made with the available materials.

They differed according to family wealth. There were large families

who lived together and followed the extended family system. These

houses were built in an elongated form; as the family increased the

house was extended. The very poor and lower caste population

lived in mud houses with thatched roof of palm leaves. According to

the occupation of the population the houses differed in style. The

fishermen living near the sea had houses made of simple mud

plastered with cow dung to give it strength. The roof is made of

bamboo and woven palm leaves. The houses are small and the

kitchen was always outside the house a wise sign of safeguarding

houses from being bumt and causing mass destruction. Despite

this houses used to gut to pieces and nothing remained of it as the

materials used to build the house were not fireproof but were

ignitable. Summer time was the wont time of fire as the heat made

the palm fronds and the similar materials used to thatch the roof

ignite at a very fast rate, During the rains an additional roof was

made for the kitchen that was normally an open area with a Stove

made of mud or stone.

The chettis lived in houses that were made of stone or wood.

They usually were large had a courtyard and everything needed was

inside the house. A wall surrounded the house for privacy. The

Brahmins lived in agraharam that is a typical Brahmin household. It

was circular in shape and might be made of mud, or stone. The

pillars inside the house were wooden to support a high roof. The

courtyard was laid out for the sun to shine into all the rooms, and

beautified with a tulsi or the basil tree. This basil tree is worshipped

by the Hindus throughout India and is considered to be holy and

offered to their gods. The rooms were usually small and lacked

ventilation. The lower castes could not enter the Brahmins

household. Guests of the same caste only were entertained.

However the later Brahmins entertained their guests on verandas

and sprinkled cow dung mixed with water to take away the impurity

that a person might have brought into the area. No communal meals

were partaken with persons of other castes.

It is a very different situation prevailing at the New France.

Quebec and Montreal there was not the same racial segregation as

was evident in Pondichery because the First Nations at Quebec lived

in a separate Huron community north of the French town. At

Montreal the Iroquois lived on a separate reduction across the St.

Lawrence River and the Algonkian lived around the Missouri on the

131

mountain north of the French town. However, in both cases, the

First Nations came into the European towns to sell their goods, buy

in the shops and sometimes frequent the towns. Social interaction

was much more common than hitherto to as believed to have been

the case."

Travellers, such as Peter Kalm, visited the upper sector of

Quebec and therefore were less well acquainted with the humbler

parts of town. The inhabitants of the lower town used to drive their

cattle and sheep up the slope to pasture on the plain behind the

elitist quarter until the Governor ordered the Upper Town closed off

and a stairway just wide enough for one person built connecting the

upper and lower towns. In 1676, the Sovereign Council issued urban

regulations, a model at the time, for ~ u 6 b e c . ~ These regulations

imposed a building code, fire precautions, garbage disposal,

environmental guidelines and hygienic practices. They had little

impact on the lower town, however, where low, narrow wooden and

black stone houses crowded together at the foot of cliff. Along the

waterfront in no particular order were the merchant warehouses with

85 [This is the conclus~on of Jan Grabouski, 'The Common Ground. Settied Natives

and French in Montreal, 1667.1760; (Unpublished Ph.D, thesis, University of

Montreal, 1993), pp. 189-191, 303-3053

" Cornelius Jaenen 8 Cecilia Morgan, a s . , Material Memow Documents in Pre-

Gonfederation Hiatgy (Don Mills: Addition-Wesley, 1998): pp. 30-32.

132

quarters above or adjoining, artisans' workshops and retail bakeries,

butcher shops and grocers. At the mouth of the St. Charles River

sprawled the royal shipyards, dominated halfway up the slope by a

brewery and the Intendant's residence.

Montreal was a much more bustling commercial centre

because of the annual trade fair when hundreds of Native canoe

man came each spring, hundreds of French voyageurs joined them

in flotillas laden with trade goods for the Upper Country each

autumn, and dozens of soldiers were filleted among the inhabitants.

A wooden palisade enclosing stone commercial buildings, wooden or

stone houses, dominated by six or seven steeples, surrounded the

town. There were more taverns than shops giving the town an

unruly rep~tation.~'

When the French acquired Pondichery they had to purchase

land or obtain it from the Nawabs as gifts for their neutrality or

support in internal wars. The Governor of Pondichery sold land to

the missionaries rather than offering it as a gift. Franqois Martin,

Governor of Pondichbry, sold land to the Capuchin clergy who came

to settle in Pondichbry but they did not have the full amount to pay to

the Governor. It was the Indians who helped them with a sum Of 119

" Olivirr MaurauH, Mpntrbal en 1742 (QuBbec: Cahiers des Dih, 1942)

133

pagodas and 22 panams to buy the plot where they built their

church. The Capuchins built their residence and a hospital with ten

small rooms to take care of the sick. They got a bigger house when

Madame Dupleix helped them. They bought a building from a

widow named Catelouse and turned it into an orphanage. This was

registered on 29 December 1758 in order to shelter all orphan

including few Indians. This was a much appreciated community

service.

The Bazaar in Pondichery was the main hub of the fort. Mainly

Indians ran the bazaar and the French had a minor role in the

market. The bazaar sold any thing like perishable and non-

perishable goods. There was heavy demand for tobacco, sugar,

onion and turmeric. On Tuesdays the weekly market was held on

the roadsides of the bazaar and an estimated ten thousand people

gathered to buy or sell goods. The Chettis had the monopoly in the

market area. They owned the shops and interchange of goods took

place at this market. The warehouses were built near the shore but

there were few Indian warehouses in the European town. Goods

were brought from the markets to the warehouses and from they're

taken to the port to be taken by ship to various parts of the world.

The roads from the bazaar were linked to the port for this purpose.

Slaves transported goods onto the ships or from the ship to the

market area. The market was also the place for slave trade. The

134

Governors of Pondichery indulged in the slave trade and a better

price was paid for boys than girls.

By 1672 confidence in Canada's future led to the first effective

measures in town plans. In that year Francois Dollier de Casson,

superior of the Sulpician Clergy who was the seigneurs of Montreal

Island marked out the streets of 'ville Marie de Montreal." This

westemmost settlement in the St. Lawrence valley had been founded

30 years earlier and was harassed by the Iroquois Confederacy that

looked upon the community as an intrusion into its territory. In 1672,

Governor General Buade de Frontenac made the case for regulating

the town of Quebec's development. 'Nothing," he wrote to the

Minister of the Marine and Colonies,'has appeared to me to be so

fine and so magnificent as the location of the town of Quebec [ . . . I ,

but I find, or rather it seems to me, that a very grave error has been

committed in allowing private individuals to build houses according to

their own fancy and without any order [...I. I believe one should

consider not only the present situation, but also the future stage Of

thing^."^ He proposed to the minister to endorse a plan for the

fortification of the town. This was done to facilitate any individual

wanting to construct or build any street and squares within the town

area. The individual would take into consideration the existing

' Guy Ftwun, La de /as Nwve/leFlpa~a, P. 73-14.

135

symmetry of the town and continue construction. Frontenac did not

await a reply from the King of France. In March 1673 he forbade

further construction unless authorized by him and in conformity with

the projected street alignments 'to give, by this means, some form

and symmetry to a town that one day must be the capital of an

immense co~ntry.'~'

The Lower town of Quebec was too well advanced in its

haphazard growth and its site was too confined to yield to a vision of

broad avenues and expensive squares. In the 1680's the small

Piace Royale was created with the monarch's bust in bronze as its

centrepiece and a minimum width of twelve feet was set for the

Lower Town's streets. The same street allowance was chosen for

Trois-Rivibres in 1735, nearly a century after that town had been

established. The Upper Town of Quebec was still malleable in the

seventeenth century and two arteries, SaintJean and Saint-Louis

streets were run parallel to one another through the town. One

began at the 'grand place" in front of the cathedral and the other led

from the Governor's fort to the royal road that, by 1734, linked the

towns in the St. Lawrence valley. The division of Quebec into an

upper elitist town and a lower commercial popular sector, with the

Intendant housed halfway between the two areas, illustrate

" Guy FrBpaun, La Civilisatbn de /as Nwvelle-Fmng, p.14

136

geographically the ideal social structure the French hoped to

recreate in the colony. As one-eighteenth century writer observed,

'the superior class ... will always be the most powerful brake keeping

the popular masses from straying from their ~bedience."~'The layout

of the town of Qu6bec bespoke of symbolic power and established

hierarchy of social Class and occupation. Closely associated with

this ordering of society was the administration of justice aimed at

maintaining royal authority, aristocratic privilege and social

harmony." This was the ideal 'pacified society' that the French

were trying to build.g2

The royal administration wanted the towns of New France to be

compact as well as defensible and these suburbs developed while

there was still vacant land within the town walls. It was an absurd

situation created, in part, by people who accumulated town lots for

speculation. The Intendants of the colony, whose jurisdiction

extended to public order in the towns, tried to force the owners of

unoccupied lots to either build on that land or to sell it to someone

who would erect a house. In April 1685, those with vacant land in

LOUIS SIbast~n Merciea, Tableau da Paris (Amsterdam: 1Q89), Vol. XII, p. 4.

O' Jacques Mathlew, La NwvelleFmnce, les Francais en Amdriaua du Nod,

WIe-Wllle si&/g, (QuBbec: Pressen de I'UnivenitB Laval, 1991), pp. 98-101

" Nwberl Elks, 1 a Clvilisath des m z ~ (Pa& Celmann-Levy, 1978) pp.116

118.

137

QuBbec's Lower Town were ordered to do just that by the following

summer. The law was ineffective for it had to be reissued in 1707

with a provision for reuniting the empty lots to the royal domain. It is

remarkable that there was still unused land in an area whose

confined location forced residents to build on small lots. At Montkal

the demands of the intendent were modest; in 1688 each resident

was restricted to owing one square arpent within the town and on

that site the owner was to build 'a house of stone and mortar or of

heavy timber with a masonry chimney' within a year.

In the Initial decades of French settlements, the population of

the colony was more urban than rural. Urbanisation engenders its

own fonn of social organisation and fosters a particular kind of

~andscape.'~ It gives rise to institutions like in QuBbec, the way of

life, which is different from the villages, certain sets of activities,

which are different from those of the rural folk. In a colonial context,

urbanisation takes on a special character; a petition shows as from

some of the inhabitants of Quebec to the Sovereign Council in

1 6 8 3 . ~ In the town area in Quebec the merchants had privileges

that protected their trade. This was according to the regulation

granted in 1645. They had the exclusive rights to the fur trade within

the area. Thus they were the only ones who could have authorised

" Chenief, Quebec A French Colonial Town In America. 1660 to 169P. p. 9.

" Ibid., 9

138

shops and stores in the area. The merchants in a petition to the

council reminded them of why the special privileges were granted to

them that they wished to have respected and enforced.

At the conceptual level, there was not a perfect match between

the kind of colonial town that Quebec was and towns or cities in

France certain traits were common to both. Quebec was first and

foremost a Catholic capital in a Catholic colony, but it was also a

town of refuge (with its poor), a military town (with its forts, its

garrison, its own governor, and its militia), and a trading town (with

its public squares, its markets, and the privileges afforded its own

citizens but denied to non- resident^).^' Too, the town was

increasingly becoming a place of retirement; people were retiring

there to live a quieter, easier life than was possible in the

countryside.

Quebec was nevertheless similar to French towns and cities in

terms of its physical characteristics. Despite Montmagny's initial

plan, its streets still evoked the layout of medieval towns, and its

many open spaces gave it a rustic atmosphere. In the Upper Town a

multiplicity of convents, monasteries, and churches (the seminary,

the buildings housing the Jesuit, Unuline, and Recollect orders, the

' Chenier, @ebac A French Colonial T o m in America. 16BO to 16QQ p.11

139

Hotel Dieu, and the cathedral) pervaded the urban landscape, while

in the Lower town, a Certain amount of crowding could already be

seen. Royal engineers in the colony were less closely supervised

than in France therefore they were able to plan towns 'to be broad,

functional, cut out of the whole cloth to a single pattern," in the

opinion of Anne ~ l a n c h a r d . ~ In the 1720s Jean Francois de Ve~ i l l e

drew up plans for the town and fortification of Louisbourg along the

same line as Qubbec.

Pondichery became the entrbpot for activities of French in

Indo-China. Pondichbry being an entrbpot had affected the structure

of the fort town. As all administrative and port activities were

concentrated near the sea and around the square close to the

residential areas of the Frenchmen called as Viile Blanche a proof of

French rational superiority consciousness. The construction of the

Pondichbry fort was on the basis of for of Vauban de Tourani in

France. Fran~ois Martin started the construction of the Pondichbty

fort in 1702 and by the time he passed away the town had a

population including the Pondicherrians of forty thousand. The fort

was christened Fort St. Louis in 1706 and same time Martin passed

away. During his time itself five bastions were built on the north,

west, south part of the town. These bastions were named Bastion

" Anne Blanchard, Les' du mv de Louis XIV et a Louis XVI: dtude du

p m s des fwtfl~atim. (Montpellier: Universitb Paul-ValbV. 1Q79), PP. 429432.

140

Dauphin, Bastion Bourgogne, Bastion Berry, Bastion Bretagne, and

Bastion de la ~ompagnie."

The successors of Franqois Martin like Duliver and Hebert did

not do anything for the maintenance of the fort. They were busy with

slave trade and their own activities. Under Lenoir the fort was taken

care of by aligning the streets. Planting flowers, shade trees and

gardens in the public areas beautified the town. Streets were lined

with shade trees like mango, neern, peepal, and tamarind so that the

pedestrians can enjoy cool breeze and shade during hot summers.

Permission was granted by Lenoir to the rich landlord to build rnulti

storied houses, and Governor Lenoirs house was made of brick and

tiled roof. From 1728 onwards construction of residential and official

buildings took place in the Pondichbry fort. A prison for natives was

built near the Grand Bazaar. A hospital in 1734 was constructed on

the southwest part of the fort. The mint house was built near the old

Cuddalore Gate in 1736. Foundation for a new Govemon palace

was laid by Dumas in 1738. The palace was with a clock tower but

Dumas did not have the pleasure of living there for a long time.

The fort area was destroyed by the British attack and all the

constructions had to be redone in 1765 by Law de Lauriston came as

97 Frands Cyril htony, w r of India Pond~cherrv State, Val. 11,

(Pondicheny: Government Press, 1982) P. 1191

141

the Governor. Till then the French functioned from an area outside

the Fort. Houses of the Pondicherrians destroyed and of the French

were rebuilt in three years time. It is interesting to note that Law was

considerate towards the weaving community like Martin. He made

sure that they had trees planted between their houses so that they

could continue with weaving from the house itself. A very common

site in Pondichery even now is of weaver weaving cloth tied between

two trees. This fort and town area functioned smoothly till it fell into

the hands of the British in 1774.

In 1759 Quebec the fortified capital of New France was forced

to capitulate after a three-month siege and naval bombardment. The

following summer three British armies entered Montrbal, and after

the fall of most of the interior military posts and the coilapse of the

First nation alliance system. The commercial centre of the colony

was unable to withstand a siege therefore a capitulation was

arranged in the September of 1760. The colony was under military

occupation and military rule for three years. The definitive Treaty of

Paris in 1763 ceded New France to the British crown and in 1764 a

civil government was established.

The immediate British policy was to attempt to reconcile the

new subjects Canadians and First Nations to the British rule. It was

soon realized the British and French societies had some common

142

characteristics, so that the British regime would also be the

continuation of what has been called an ancien regime society. Two

French regime institutions survived the conquest and took on added

significance under the new rulers-the church and the seigneurial

system. The Roman Catholic Church continued to provide religious

educational and welfare services, and began to play an important

role in the formation of the ideology of the conquered population.

The seigneurial tract was fully occupied and provided a region of

homogeneous population that British immigrants could not penetrate.

So there arose the concept of two charter groups, the descendants

of the hvo European colonizing powers.

The British began to introduce their organisational framework

but had to make many concessions to the already established social

order. These concessions established in Canada a principle of

duality in the colony. Under British rule the society along the banks

of St. Lawrence continued to evolve within a different and alien

context. New France lived on in Quebec and through this new

expression of itself, is referred to as the French fact and influenced

the development of whole of Canada.

Chapter V

Agriculture pattern in New France and Pondichbry

The most striking feature of French Canadian society is

its very persistence, enduring over the centuries in an alien, often

hostile environment. This capacity for survival has been attributed to

a number of factors, some related to time and circumstances and

some to the product of conscious effort. One hypothesis is that as

an agrarian society French Canada was able to survive because it

was physically and socially isolated from external influences, at least

up to the time North America began to industrialize. Another

explanation is the nature of the rural French-Canadian community,

with its seigneurial origins and its well-integrated structure.

Moreover, it is argued that the traditional French-Canadian elites,

especially the clergy, succeeded in isolating the community from the

North American mainstream by perpetrating an ideology and a range

of social policies that kept intact French Canada's distinctive

institutions and way of life.

One finds opposing ideologies and differences of interpretation

about the colonial bourgeoisie and agriculture in the St. Lawrence

valley. The seigneurial question is of great importance in Quebec

1 44

historiography. From F. X. Garneau's Histoire du Canada (1845-48)

to 1960, the dominant thesis was that before being transplanted to

New France, the seigneurial system of the ancien regime had been

the object of purification. Canada was to be a classless society and

of a nation homogeneous in terms of ethnic origin, language, and

religion.

Explorers, traders and missionaries pushed along the St.

Lawrence along the tributaries of Great Lakes draining into Hudson

Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Along the St. Lawrence agricultural

settlement was narrowly constr i~ted.~ It is here that the Canadian

Shield presses in upon the river from the north. During the French

Regime beaver pelts were an attraction to the Shield area as a result

agricultural settlements reduced tremendously. 'The Shield and the

St. Lawrence intersect twenty-five miles below Quebec and at the

point of intersection hills rise sharply from the river for a thousand

feet or more. To the east the walls of hills is broken in several

places, and the valleys inundated by the postglacial Champlain Sea,

are covered with sedimentary deposits on which fertile soils have

formed. Such a valley at Baie Saint-Paul opposite Ile aux Courdres

was settled before 1700, but most of the north shore was cut off to

settlement twenty-five miles below Quebec. From there the river

" Richard Colebrwk Harris, pg 9-10

145

swings away from the shield to a maximum distance midway

between Quebec and Montreal of more than twenty miles."se

Towards the south of the river is the northeastward extension

of the Appalachian Rough lands. The relief in these hills and

mountains is not unlike that of the southern fringes of the Shield, and

the effects of glaciations are almost as marked. A mantle of glacial

drift coven the underlying sedimentary rocks, but soils developed on

this ground are generally more fertile and cultivable than in the

Shield area. During the French regime, the northwestern boundary

was a barrier to settlement. At Montreal this boundary is forty miles

away, at Lake Saint-Pierre at least thirty and below Quebec does it

approach the river. The settlement on the west of the Ile de Montreal

was restricted by Canadian governors and Intendants who would not

grant seigneuries along either the upper St. Lawrence or the Ottawa

River the two principal routes of the fur trade. Farms on both the

routes have been exposed to attacks by the Fint ~ a t i o n s . ' ~ ~ The

habitants used these routed legally and illegally. The St. Lawrence

waterway drew on an enormous hinterland, agricultural settlement

and the seigneurial system expanded in the narrow limits i.e. within

eo Richard Colebrook Harris pg.10. A Map No. B is given towards the end of the

thesis to show the principal waterways in Canada.

'm Richard C W w k , p. 10-11

146

the area bounded by the Shield, the Appalachian Rough lands, and

the western limit of seigneurial c~ncessions.'~'

Although not an ideal system seigneurialism did not impose

one roads dues on consistories that would have discouraged

agricultural settlement. The system became more like the

metropolitan system as the colony became populated; land suitable

for fanning taken up, and villages appeared along the banks of the

St. Lawrence waterways. Seigneurs began to exercise their

traditional privileges, to increase their dues whenever new

concessions were granted and to reside in urban areas while living

from the revenues of their rural estates.

Nevertheless, during the years of French rule, the system was

never unduly oppressive; the habitant fanner was not a serf but a

free as an independent owner of his land. Cole Harris in his The

Seioneurial Svstem in Canada 1966) provides a balanced

assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of this system of

landholding and agricultural product i~n. '~~ The first work of Marcel

Trudel in the 1950s, and of Georges Baillargeon ten years later, as

well as Maurice Seguin's thesis, La NaUon Canadienne et 1'

lo' Refer to Map No. C for further detail towards the end of the thesis.

I02 Richard Colebrook Hams, Tho Saiineuriai System in Canada (Madison:

University of W i n s i n Press, 1968), pp. 1-75

147

agriculture 1760-1860, reinforced this historiographical tradition that

held that after 1760 it was the English seigneurs who diverted the

regime from its original design and transformed it into an exploitative

system.

The French officials dealt with the headman of the village

community in French India so that peace could be maintained. The

Indian villages around Pondichbry had a village governance body,

which was under the headman. The French considered it important

to get the trust of the village headman as his words were the rule and

the population of the village would act accordingly. This official

recognition was to ensure that there would be no problem in the

revenue collection. The French followed the Dutch method of

collection of revenue as it was more organised and was prevalent in

Pondichbry.

The agricultural pattern, land tenure, and land grants in

Pondich6ry and New France will give an idea of the actual

colonisation process that the French adopted. This is apart from the

economic gain in the form of revenue generated from agricultural

produce. In the process of exploring revenue the areas of cultivation

could produce, the French implemented the seigniorial system. In

Pondichery the system was not successful, as there was an existing

system of agriculture that seemed more proffable. It was the

148

Compagnie des lndes Occidentales, in charge of the administration

in the area that acquired land for the crown. It was not the same in

New France where the direct rule of the monarch was introduced in

1663. The idea of peaceful coexistence following the traditional

pattern of agriculture with little innovation at Pondichbry brought

many villages under direct French control. All these villages were

rich revenue producing areas. The villages Theduvanatham and

Archivak (Abhishekapakkam), Odiyampattu, Thirukkanji and

Kottakuppam were given to M. Dumas by Nawab Safdar Alikhan, the

Nawab of Carnatic, as a gift for his exemplary courage and wisdom

shown during the Maratha incursion in September 1740.

In Hyderabad, Nasir Jung became the Nizam, but soon

thereafter he was killed. Dupleix who became the Governor of

Pondichbry in 1722 made Muuafar Jung the Nizam of Hyderabad

and sent a military force for his protection. Muuafar Jung was

pleased with the help rendered to him by the French, and he gave

Dupleix as Maniam (freeland), Bahur, Valudavur and Villinuar and

Bahur in full possession. These lands that were given as gifts were

the governor's personal property. But a part of the tax collected from

these lands went to the Crown coffers. It is very interesting that the

land revenue system was called Ijem. The middlemen called tax

farmers collected taxes; these middlemen collected more than

required legally so that they could keep part as their personal gain.

Early evidence of land administration about nearby places in

Pondichery is known from the Bahur plates of the IX century. This

record the gift of three villages near Pondichbry given to a person

named as Vidyastana. The Bahur plates rewrd that the boundaries

of land given were differentiated by seeing the permanent locations

such as rivers, mountains or rock, canals, big tree etc. as landmarks.

All the land within the kingdom has been surveyed and detailed

records of the land rights, including schedules of tax-free lands were

maintained in the registers. Details of waste lands, lakes, tanks,

wells and river, rocks and even trees were recorded for the purpose

of giving land as grants to temples and Brahmins or for revenue

purp~se.'~' During the time of the Cholas land was the main form of

land revenue as such lands were classified into different grades as

many as twelve or more grades (taram). The unclassified land was

known as taramili During the Vijayanagar period land revenue and

land assessment was very severe. During the Mughal period for

better administration purpose land mass was divided into subahs

which was subdivided into sarkan and each sarkars comprised of

parganas. Each pargana consisted of a union of different villages

under the control of amaldar.

'@ Francis Cyril Antony. w e e r of India. Union Territow of Pondichem. Vol. I1

(Pondicherry: Administration of the Union Territory of Pondicherry, 1982), p. 923

150

In Pondichbry Anandaranga Pillai's Diary emphasises the fact

that parganas and the appointment of amaldan was prevalent. The

French followed the land revenue administration of the Dutch and

what was prevalent earlier. Direct land pattern of that time was that

it was farmed out to renters and who gave it to the renters or leased

it to the ryots under adamanomlM (usually an agreement signed

between the ryot and the renter who was the farmer). Land was

generally farmed out for a period of five yean as the general

condition of the crop depended on many conditions. As such it was

better to take or give the land for a stipulated amount of period was

what was followed. The t i ~ a i and the varam form of adamanon

deductions of about ten percent was made from the crop before it

was harvested by the ryot for payment of village servants, artisans,

temples needs etc. The choice was left to the ryot to pay the dues

and normally the adamanom t i ~ a i was preferred because the

ownership of land was his and in the varam he was slave of the

farmer.

Land was classified as paddy that was wetland or small grain

that was in dry land. The dry land was usually assigned on a fixed

rent tirvai while the wetland was rented or cultivated to the crop

I M Land was granted under two heeds in adamanom called vararn and tirvai.

Under the tiwai the land was granted to the ryot on fixed rent. Under varam the

produce was shared between the farmers and the ryots.

I51

sharing system. In the case of the lands having irrigation facilities,

varam gave more to the farmers than to the cultivators as the

cultivators received 113, 112, 215 to 9/20 of the crops according to the

nature of crop. Under the tirvai the accounts were settled in two

crops. Samba crops are abundant and the cultivator paid two third of

his tirvai and in the second karcrop that was not very abundant. The

third cultivation of crop was meant for the cultivator. The cultivator

was given extra time by the farmer in case his crop was not ride

enough for hawesting and in retum the cultivator gave gifts to the

farmer. In some cases where extension of time was over the crop

went to the new account of the farmer and the cultivator was at a

loss.

The assignment of lands on the adamanon was made clear to

the people by beating of tom-tom thus giving it a public declaration

and also by giving wwles that contained the rates of the land.lo5 The

deeds pertaining to the adamanoms were generally registered with

the local notary called Tabellion. The quantum of share indicated in

one deed was the basis to fix the share for the subsequent

adamanom. So a ryot often writes a less figure of his share in order

so that he has to pay a less share. Land was handed over from

father to son and sometimes it did to belong to them also

'" Francis Cyril Antony, Gazetteer of India, Vol. II, p. 927 from A.A. 1827,

Ordonnanca of 26 May 1827,pp. 11C-122

The land revenue was collected by the amaldan who is posted

in each parganas or group of villages and there were two peons

appointed by the king. These peons were bound to give the renter

and the farmer accounts of each year and of each village. The

collected amount had to be remitted to the treasury before the due

date. Permission however was granted to the amaldar to remit the

arrear after the due date and they were to give gifts to the

Governon. Nattars or the village headmen helped the amaldars in

performing their duties. In order to mark the beginning of the

collection of land revenue, tying toranams or flags in each village

was started and the amaldars as well as the nattars gave to the

farmers the details of expenditure incurred. The farmers levied some

extra taxes like resum'" and sadalwar '''at the ate of ten percent of

the total amount. Sometimes an extra amount was collected for the

expenditure on the European soldiers and coolies admitted in the

hospital.lo8 It is seen that only after 1816 the French brought some

regulations with regard to land regulation and on 25 October 1826

issued an Ordonnance Royal. 'Under this ordinance lands were to

be perpetually farmed out to Europeans or their descendants and

'" Resum was a cuslornary perquisites

107 Sadalwar was a continpncms tax

'w~rancis Cyril Antony. Gazetteer of India. Vol. I1 p. 927 as in B.O. M t e of 23 May

1845, p. 11

153

they were to enjoy all the rights of a French citizen on condition that

the land should be brought under cultivation within a fixed time. The

farmer had to pay a security equal to two years lease amount and

were allowed to rent out their lands in turn to others."10e

Th6 Compagnie des lndes Occidentales exploited lands and

got an income of 524 pagodas of which 229 came from

Ariyankuppam, 84 from Kalapet and 76 from Olandai. The balance

of 135pagodas came from the seven small villages. In 1706 when

the Ozhukarai was acquired 566 pagodas was got in total and this

amount doubled, as the lands were very fertile in this area.'l0 In

1710 when Hebert was the Governor the Company followed the

system prevailing in Pondichbry of renting out lands for a specific

number of years. The revenue of the company increased to 42,553

French livres."' Nainiappapillai the Mudaliar chief was responsible

for enhancing the French land revenue, as he was the mediocre for

negotiation with the Carnatic Nawab the Murungappakkam village for

the French. The French Company in return started granting lands to

Pondicherrians for cultivation. In 1724 lands of Ariyankuppam and

Ozhukarai villages were given to Guruvappapillai the nephew of

'" Francis Cyril Antony, Gazetteer d Indie. Vol. II p. 927

"O bi., p. 945 as in Paul Kaeppelin. La mpagn ie des lndes Orientales el

Franvir Martin, 1808, p. 538

1 '1 Fnncb Cyril Antony, Gazenesr ofInd&. Vol. II p. 945

is4

Anandarangapillai at the rate of 2,155 pagodas.ii2 1733 for five

years four important areas were leased out to rich Pondicherians at

the rate of 2,649 pagodas per annum. The lease was renewed for

another period of five years in 1738 at 4,152 pagodas. The French

made a huge profit and the distribution is given below-

Year of land leased by the French 1773'"

Ozhukarai villages 2.017 pagodas

From the official records it is understood that land revenue

underwent changes and cultivation of the land was mostly done by

the low castes and ownenhip of the land was in he hands of the rich

landlords. Cultivation depended on hired labour and a large number

of agricultural labourers increased during the French rule in

PondichBry.

Ariyankuppam village's

"' Franc18 Cyril Antony, pareneer of lndip Vol. II p and elso in Yvonne Robert

GaebelB. Enfance et Adokscance d' Ananda Rangapoullb , p.72

Francis cyril Antony, mof Indio.04. II p and also in Martineau.

Dupleix et lSln& Fmnpiw, Vol. 11, 1920, p, 54

0,619 pagodas

155

In New France, the Govemor and Intendants under royal

government (1663-1760) did not obtain land. However. it was not

illegal to seek remuneration over and above the annual salaries they

were paid. Instead of investing in land, which was plentiful and

cheap in the seventeenth century, the royal officials turned to the fur

trade. They formed alliances with prominent merchants in the colony

to this end. However, this often brought them into conflict with rival

merchants, as was the case with Governor Frontenac's interests in

the activities of the explorer-trader, Cavelier de La ~aile."'

The agriculture of French India was closely connected to the

policy of assimilation. The village community was bound together

economically on the basis of traditional occupations. Each

community was divided into an infinite variety of sub groups. In the

French villages included the Chetfis, the merchant class, the Reddis,

the landowners, and the Vaniyas. The territory of Pondichery was

divided into eight communes. However, these were not communes

similar to those in France. These were districts each comprising

about thirty villages called "'ldees" 'The aldee (small village) was

composed of about one hundred dwellings. There were in each

aldee two or three large houses of leading landlords or notable

merchants.

"4 john F, ~ ~ ~ b ~ , ~ h o (o(Odord: Oxford Univenity P r W .

19.87) for a mprehensive description of commercial affairs.

Landowners, tenants, fanners and agricultural labourers made

up the population of the aldee. The PaNy or the Vaniyas were the

major cultivating caste in Pondichbry's rural hinterland. The majority

of cultivators were owners of the lands, but most of them owned only

a few kulis (1 kuli is equivalent to 53-25 m2). The rich landowners

possessed 30 to 50 kanys and a very few possessed more than 100

kanys. (12 kany is equal to 5,350 m2, about % hectare). The rich

landlords had at their service pannayals who lived in a state of semi

bondage. These pannayals were men, who put themselves at the

services of a landlord either to pay the interest on an old debt or as a

mean of making a living. They did not receive wages in the form of

cash. They were given a meal daily and at the end of the month

twenty-two measures of paddy were given to feed him and his family.

A very interesting custom quite like in the stories given in the Bible,

in practice in certain aldees of Bahur, is to give to the Pannayal as

much millet as his wife can carry as wages. During the French

regime agriculture became more and more commercialised.

In New France Gedeon de Catalogne, royal surveyor, made a

survey of the rural region in 1712."5 The agricultural land at that

time was divided into seventy-eight seigneuries that had been

"' Gedeon de Catalogne, 'Mdmoire sur les seianeurie$' Bulletin de Rechercher

Hisloriques No. Z(1915) pp 257-335.

157

granted mostly to military officers, civil servants, merchants and a

few mariners. As the seigneuries became populated, the land

rendered productive by the consitaires (free farmers), who received

the land free but were subject to annual dues called cens et rentes in

perpetuity, the seignuers began to enjoy increased income and many

retired to Montreal or Quebec leaving the administration of their

estates to a managers. This was not a feudal system because the

consitaires were not bound to the land but could annul their contracts

whenever they wished. Some farmers did leave their land to engage

in the fur trade or operate town tavern.

The land on the whole in Pondichdry was classified into three

categories - wetlands, dry lands and wastelands. In the wetlands the

main crops cultivated were paddy (rice the staple food of south

India), plantain, coconut, palm, sugarcane, betel leaves and betel nut

(areca nuts). In the dry land, or manavav land, the crops cultivated

were cotton, groundnut and millet, which were considered to be cash

crops. The wastelands were the barren lands including the

marshlands, where cultivation could not be done.

In New France, the farms were surveyed into long narrow

strips"' running back from the St. Lawrence and Richelieu River to

' Map No. D given towards the end of the thesis.

158

the hilly and rocky Appalachian range. This survey pattern meant

that the farmhouses were relatively close together along both banks

of the river giving the countryside the aspect of a ribbon of settlement

rather than of distinct villages. Each farm usually had a variety of

soils and terrain suitable to mixed farming. At the river's edge,

where fishing was carried out, the marshland provided fodder for

cattle. Then came rich dark soils suitable for cereal crops, then

upland meadows for grazing cattle and sheep. And finally the

forested hills that provided wood for fuel lumber and stone for

building. The French settlers grew a variety of pulses and these

turned out to be good source of food that kept them healthy during

long winters.

In the days of Pallavas or the Vijayanagar rulers some

historians assert that there was a type of feudalism different from

European feudalism. There was no pyramidal structure of feudal

authority. The mar am"' system of land tenure and the

Nayankara"8 system in the military tended to depict the Vijayanagar

117 Amaram system d lend tenure was started in M]ayanagarrule in South ind~e.

"' Nayankara system of land revenue prevailed during the Vqayanagar dynasty

rule in South India. According to the system under started Deve Raya lands were

given to the Nayaks who ware the important commanden of the king or to nobles.

These commanders and nobles would maintain a certain amount of soldiin and

hones for the king. They were supposed to help the king in case of war and

159

as a feudal society. The French in Pondichbry realised the

importance of agriculture and had provided irrigation facilities by

constructing reservoirs, feeding channels and other diversion. In fact

many of the existing irrigation works were carried out during the

French period. The famous 'Ousten Lake" was the largest lake and

prominent source of water for the Villianur Commune. It had been

built during the days of Vijayanagar rulers and was repaired by the

French.

Ananda Ranga Pillai, the Indian Dubash to the French

company during the period of Dupleix was known to have spent

money for the repair of reservoirs and canals in Pondichery. The

French had undertaken the construction of a few ~ n i c u t s " ~ in

provide all assistance. In return for this service the King gave land grants to the

Nayaks. The Nayaks maintained the soldiers and the horses from the taxes

collected on the lands. The lands were sublet to small farmers who would cuhivate

the lands and in return get small amount of wages or a parl of share of the crop.

The major share went to the Nayaks. Tlw lands under the Nayenkara system were

hereditary. As such the Nayaks became very powelful and they revolted against

the king and became independent sovereigns. Thus the Vqayanagar Nlers faced

the problem from the Neyaks and the Nayaks led Vijayanagar for a certain

period of time.

'ID It is lhke the modern version of a small dam but was built with stone, lime and

moltar and was the main source of collection of rainwater with doors that could be

modulated to let water flow into smaller tunnels built. This in turn was connected

160

Pondichbry. They repaired the Sutfakanni anicut; it served the

irrigation of Sutfakanni Village. The Kilur anicut built across

Kuduvayur was another contribution of the French. Again, the credit

goes to the French for the repair of the ancient anicut at Tirvkkanji.

The French paid attention to canal irrigation. Villianur channel

starting from Pillaiyarkupparn anicut provided with direct irrigation

facility to an area of about 200 hectares in Villianur and Ozhukara~

commune.

Besides, well and tanks were used for irrigation. Having taken

keen interest in the development of agriculture and irrigation facilities

for the cultivation of more acres of lands, the French company aimed

at getting fixed revenue from the land. At first, the French used to

collect land revenue directly but it proved to be a hard task for them

due to the insincere and evasive tactics practised by the native

clerks, who were employed by the company in assisting in tax

assessment and collection. To ensure a 'fixed' income the French

took to Uim (a form of land revenue) 'farming' of its territories to the

chosen one, naturally to the highest bidder. When the company

could not get a handsome offer it resorted to direct collection.

appointing its own clerks and others. This was because the person

to the main Irrigation fields where the caretaker of the fdds would supervise the

flow of water and regulate the water according to the need. Once the water was

fed into the h l d s the anicut doers would be closed so that water is preserved.

161

in charge of collection was a middleman who would take out his

commission before giving the remaining revenue to the Company.

He was able to manipulate the records to suit his purpose.

The company was the owner of the entire lands that were

bought from the native Pondicherrians. However, in the years 1706

and 1708 Olugarai village was leased out to Sinnagaridy for a fixed

amount. At times, the company farmed out its villages, the sale of

tobacco, beverages, fishing rights and other source of revenue. The

duty of the revenue collector was the collection of revenue for the

company. Also he took care of irrigation facilities in the villages that

were directly allotted to him. Revenue was collected in cash as well

as in kind and the company had the final say in the mode of

collection. Payment in cash could be made in instalments, as an

indication of the market value of the crops. Natural calamities could

also make it necessary to pay by instalments.

In spite of the various measures taken by the company, after

1770 there followed a period of acute financial distress at

Pondichbry. There were no funds available to pay the civil and

military employees or to purchase provisions for the inhabitants. An

important reason for this crisis was the defective system of collecting

revenues under the company's administration. All collection of

revenue generated from land like amca nuts, betel leaves, tobacco,

162

alcohol (which was in the form of toddy, which was tapped by the

toddy tappers from the palm trees) from customs (both land and sea)

etc. was farmed out to private persons. Mostly rich native

Pondicherrians and in some cases those closely connected with the

administrative officials. The system was open to abuse. Added to

the already existing financial crisis the company was faced with the

outbreak of famines at different periods. The famine of 1687 was the

earliest mentioned in the records. Famine was marked by shortages

of food as people migrated to different places in search of

assistance. Franpis Martin arranged for the import of rice for

distribution to the poor. Similar famines occurred in the years 1708,

1711 and 1737. However the one that occurred in 1760 was the

worst. In order to eradicate the shortage of food and to stimulate the

import of cereals to the town, duties and levies were suspended.

Comparison with the situation in New France is difficult

because the Compagnie des lndas Omidentales was not interested

in land but rather held the monopoly of the export of furs to France.

All hides, dressed furs were to pass through its warehouses in

QuBbec, where an export duty was imposed, for a shipment to

France. Monthal merchants accumulated the monopoly by sending

some furs clandestinely, using Amerindian middlemen who were free

to trade in their own interests with both French and English, to

163

Albany and New York, thus avoiding paying duty and also obtaining

some English manufactured goods in exchange.

The French were humanitarian in their outlook towards revenue

collection. Whenever there was scarcity of fwd-grains as the result

of drought and famine, they relaxed the entry tax on food-grains.

The tax collected from the inhabitants for fortifying Pondichdry was

withdrawn in view of their sorry state even after persistent pressure

from France for its continuation. Company officials were willing to

ignore imperial orders out of consideration for local crises. The

French in Pondichery ensured a fixed sum of revenue to carry on

commercial enterprises through the farming out system. The

company did not bring in much innovation in the field of agriculture,

but it encouraged the cultivation of those cash crops like groundnuts,

paddy, betel, and sugarcane, that brought in substantial revenues.

Lack of innovation may also be traced to the rural backwardness of

the French in their homeland in the field of agriculture. in the field of

agriculture they more or less followed traditional practices found in

the rest of village society in India during the medieval period. '*' in

New France, a similar humanitarian view persisted. During yeas of

drought or insect infestations that reduced crop yields, price controls

were put in place to assure fair prices for flour and bread.

'm Revue Hislotique Do Pondicherry, Vol.XIII 1976-1B80, p.138

The Seigne~rial system in France originated in the Gall*

Roman period and had developed as part of the ancient land tenure,

which was an important aspect of feudalism. Land became a key

support of the social structure as dignity of man was assessed on the

basis of his land holdings. The King granted lands to nobles in

exchange for services, particularly militaly services, and so

established a social hierarchy based on land tenure. The lord or

seigneur then granted small plots to peasants farmers in exchange

for annual dues based on the production of the land. During the

French regime in New France, it was found necessary to modify the

Custom of Paris in order to suit the needs of the population to which

it was app~ied.'~' There was abundant land in the colony but it had

first to be cleared of its forests and brought into cultivation.

Seigneurs, therefore, could not impose onerous obligations on

pioneer farmers. Instead, they found it difficult to attract settlers to

develop their estates or seigneuries. The royal officials found it

necessary to assume the burden of encouraging immigration when

the monopoly company, the religious orders, and seigneur failed to

attract large numbers of settlers from France.

"' Dorothy A. Heneker, The Seianiorial Regime in Canada. (Quebec: Canada.

1927), p. 24.

165

Land granted in the seignuerial system was in a geometric

pattern as it was connected to the waterways. The seigneuries had

the river at the frontage and this facilated in irrigating the fields of

crops grown by them.lz2 In order to make sure that the seigneuries

get access to water the land was divided into long strips that could

be extended further. To establish a geometric pattern the

boundaries must be pointed in the same southwest north easternly

direction as the river. Parallel lines perpendicular to the frontage

must be drawn giving to the seigneuries the shape of a narrow

rectangles running in a northwest-south easternly direction.lZ3 The

application of this geographical pattern was visible in the Bourbon

map.

The geographic pattern according to Trudel does not limit itself

to the main division but also is seen in the smaller strips and division

of the seigneuries. The seigneuries that were very large are

Beaupr6, the island of Montrdal, Batuscan, and Capde-la-Madeline;

the last two extends 20 leagues (equal to 3 miles) into the interior.

Another was Lauzon covering an area of 36 Leagues. No seigneur

had the right to keep the seigneury for his exclusive use. He could

reserve only a portion, called reserve or domain direct because he

lU Marcel Trudel, The Seigneurmi Regime, Ottawa: the Canadian Historical

&sadation Bodtktt No. 6,1976, p. 2-4

I23 TNdel, The Selgneuriai Regime. pg. 2-4

166

owned and occupied it directly. Champlain reserved an arpent of

five (one is equal to 27 and half arpents) frontage by a ~eague. '~

The seigneur had a duty towards the state by following what

state needs from him. It was mandatory for him to maintain a manor

house. Whether he lives or does not live a year is of no concern to

the state. The manor house should have a responsible tenant to

look afier the affairs of the house. The consistaire would populate

the seigneuries. The seigneur had to cede the land and was not

permitted to sell woods of his land unless it was a part of

colonization. Apart from this the seigneur had to build and operate a

flourmill, oven. This was must as he had to report to the state about

the developments and the state could ask the censistaire to build it

and collect toll.

In reality the seigneur owned the land but everything belongs to

the king. The mines and oak trees found in the seigneurs land was

the sole property of the king. The seigneur cannot cut the oak for his

personal use as oak being a sturdy tree the timber was used to build

ships. The seigneur faced tremendous pressure to maintain the

seigneuries as Louis IV would take away the land grant in case it

'" Map No. E is given towards the end of the thee to show the Quebec

Mttbinent as drawn by Champlain.

167

was found that a manor house was not well maintained and did not

generate the necessary funds.

It was in 1608 that Champlain built the Quebec habitation,

1637 marked the beginning of the distribution of lots of land.lZ5 The

Company of New France granted a total of 792 % arpents of land to

commoners, (not to nobles), in Quebec and its immediate

surrounding^.^'^ The first grant of seigneury of Sault-au-Maytelot

was to a Parisian apothecary Louis ~ebert.'" Champlain had

persuaded him to immigrate with his whole family in 1617 and the

Duc de Ventadour made the grant in 1626.lZ8 During the regime of

the Company of New France, according to its charter, the merchant

investors were to recruit immigrants and establish them in the

colony. This approach proved ineffective because investors were

interested in the fur trade and not in agriculture, therefore the Crown

assumed control in 1663. The use of a charter company to colonize

New France was ineffective because France was self-sufficient in

agriculture and did not require the cereals or cattle a colony might

provide. Settlers were difficult to recruit because Canada was

believed to be a cold hostile land populated by wild savages. It took

"' Dorothy A. Heneker, Seioniorial Reaime in Canada,, p. 126

ln ib i . . p. 126

'"ibi., p. 40 from (Can& and itr Pmvinws Val. II p. 393).

In i M . , p. 40

168

some time to overcome this negative image of the colony, Investors

were interested in profits and there would come only from codfish

and furs. Neither the fishery, which was a seasonal metropolitan

enterprise, nor the fur trade represented any extensive colonisation.

When agriculture did develop it was to support the small local

population, unlike the commercial and plantation agriculture of more

temperate zone colonies.

Seigneurial jurisdiction was originally in France a source of

substantial profit, but in Quebec, owing to meager population. The

settlement along Quebec concentrated along the north shore from

Beaupre to Trois ~iveres, '~' towards the west of QuBbec. Very little

revenue from fines and fees, etc., accrued to the seigneur, and

consequently his judicial rights were apparently never exercised to

any very important degree.'= In France, property and jurisdiction

were generally, though not always, inseparable during the feudal era,

this apparently was never so in Quebec. The possession of a

seigneury did not of itself carry any jurisdiction; this right could only

be obtained by express grant. As a rule, judicial authority was rarely

bestowed on the Canadian seigneur after the introduction of royal

129 Map No. F, G towards the end of the thesis

Dorothy A. Heneker, -e in Cenadg, P. 113

'" ibd., p. 113

'The various religious communities settled in upper town of

Qubbec because of the protection the fort walls provided and

because more land was available there than in the lower town. In

1650, Mme. De La Peltrie gave two arpents to the Ursulines, who

also received an extra perche 'along the side of their yard, and two

perches on its length." Beginning in 1651, the Ursulines also gained

possession of a three-troise strip that separated their land from rue

Saint-Louis. In 1655 Pere Guillaume Vignal gave them half an

arpent located outside of their yard on rue Saint-Louis. The same

year the Ursulines bought from Robert Caron a lot 36 pieds wide by

90 pieds deep at the corner of rue du Parloir and the three trois strip.

The order also possessed land in Lower Town. By 1663 the

Ursulines owned 9.7 arpents in Qubbec. This was so unlike

Pondichbry where the Unuiine and the Jesuits bought the lands. In

addition to land the Ursulines were given a monopoly on the eel

fishing in the St. Lawrence were, a source of revenue.

Like the Unulines, the Hospitals got a concession of 12

arpents in Upper Town in March 1637. However, by the time the

nuns took possession of the land in 1640, the area had been

reduced to 7.5 arpents. In the same year, Guillaume Couillard gave

them 25 perches of land so that a laundry could be built. Later, in

1644, he sold the Hotel-Dieu an arpent and a half of land that fronted

170

on the Saint-Charles River. Eleven years later he gave the

Hospitalieres a small parcel of land 'to help in the building of a new

infinary, chapel, and an enclosure around the hospital." Couillard

also donated the Hotel-Dieu the land for a cemetery in 1661. By

June 1663 the Hospitalieres property had increased to 9.33 arpents,

or 8397.2 square toises. Other lots were added to the property after

1663. In 1665 the gardener at the Hotel-Dieu, Denis Diedonne,

transferred to them ten arpents that fronted on what is now C6te du

~alais.'"

The Jesuits got a grant of 12 arpnts in 1637, but it, too, was

reduced, to 6 arpents, 42 perches. In 1637 their college site was

enlarged by the purchase of two arpents from Guillaume Couiliard.

The Jesuits were also granted two other lots outside their main

location; these lots looked onto the square on which Notre-Dame

church was built and adjoined the Ursulines' land. In 1661 the Notre-

Dame fabriqudparish granted them 70 perches, in a triangular lot,

between their location and Cbte de la Fabrique. On the north side of

the street the parish also gave them 28 perches in January 1663.

Including the land they held in Lower Town, the Jesuits had a total

8686.6 square toises in Qubbec, equal to that of the Ursuiines.

DomUly A. Hensker, W n i o r i a l Recime in Canada, P. 113

171

The Notre-Dame parish was set up in 1645, and the gift of a lot

80 pieds by 38 pieds from Guillaume Couillard meant that a parish

church could be built. Seven years later, Couillard gave 80 perches

to the parish or parish council. These two initial lots combined to

form the socalled fief of the parish. In June 1651 the parish council

got a concession of 38.5 perches and another of one arpent, which

was bounded by the streets that are now Buade, des Jardines,

Sainte-Anne, and du Tresor. In May 1652 12.5 perches increased

the holdings by 140 perches and later in 1654-55. The latter lot was

resewed from the land that Governor d' Ailleboust had set aside for

himself on rue Baude. The fabrique's fief totaled some 9.75 arpents

in 1656. Before 1663 the parish also owned the land on which the

cemetery was built on CBte de la Fabrique.

By 1663 the three religious communities mentioned above and

the parish owned over 27 per cent of the land in Quebec. This

affected the town's development, particularly in Upper Town. The

town of Governor Montmagny reduced the initial concessions

granted to them in order to leave room for other residents to build

their houses. His attempts to rationalise Quebec's development and

to establish a plan for it ran into difficulties because of the existing

concessions. '''

Remi Chenirr, p 134

The Arrets of Marly in 1711 were important land laws in the

history of France. Their purpose was to see that the land was 'put to

cultivation and occupied by inhabitants" rather than left unused as

the private property of a seigneur. In effect these laws set up what

has been called compulsory sub-exploitation.13 The king was

informed of the seigneurs who refused to concede land to the

settlers but held them in speculation, hoping that land values would

rise. Unconceded land earned no revenue for the seigneurs.

General Murray describes the seigneurial system that he found in

operation when he took control of the colony in 1760. '~~

The tenure of the lands here is of two sorts: 1.The Fiefs of

Seigneuries. These lands are deemed noble; on the demise of the

possessor his eldest son inherits one-half, and shares with the other

children in the remainder; if any of these die without posterity, the

brothers share the portion of the deceased exdusive of the sisters.

The purchaser of these fiefs enters into all the privileges and

immunities of the same, but pays a fifth of the purchase-money to

the sovereign, who is lord of the soil. By law the seigneur is

restricted from selling any part of his land that is not cleared. Is

'= J.H.Stewafl Reid, Kenneth McNaught and Hany S.Crowe. A Source book of

Canadian (hgrnana, Toronto: 1859) p. 31

'Ulbid,, p. 31.

173

likewise obliged (reserving a suffciency for his own private domain)

to concede the remainder to such of the inhabitants as require the

same, at an annual rent, not exceeding one sol or one half penny

sterling, for each arpent.

This was the law only after 171 1 .] The seigneurs have had the

right of high, middle, and low justice in their several fiefs [i.e. of

holding courts of various degrees of importance], but this was

attended with so many abuses and inconvenience that the inferior

jurisdictions were mostly disused. 2. Tene en Roture. The lands

conceded by the seigneurs [to the habitants] are the second sorts of

tenure, and these are called terres en routes. The property is

entirely in [the possession of] the possessors and the rent they pay

can never be raised upon them. They can sell it as they please, but

the purchaser is obliged to pay a twelfth part of the purchase-money

to the seignueur. The children of both sexes share equally in the

lands, but if upon a division, the several parts are found unequal to

the subsistence of a family, they are obliged to sell to one another.

By law no man can build upon a piece of land of less extent than one

arpent and a half in front, upon a depth of thirty or forty. This was

done with a view to promote cultivation, and to oblige the inhabitants

to spread out.'36

'= J.H. Stewart Reid, p. 31. Myrray misunderstood nntes to be rent, rather than

an annual kvy.

The whole system of the seigneur granting the land to the

requesting individual was very important. The seigneur could

establish a court of law in his seigneury, erect a mill where the

habitants were required to grind their gain of pay a fee in kind.

Hunting and fishing levees were seldom exacted. The habitant who

was granted land had to pay annually cens et rentes in cash or in

kind. The farmers had the right over the produce of the land and

they could transfer the land to their heirs or sell it as they pleased.

The seigneurial system left its mark on New France, as it was the

only form of property in the entire area. The colonial application of

this landholding system was much less exploitive than in France.

The richness of the soil and the capacity to produce was never

doubted because of the initial harvest of the crop. Initial problems of

cultivation were soon overcome; as a result production was

satisfactory. Agricultural land was in strips that were rectangular in

shape and extended back from frontage on a river. There was an

increase in the cultivation of staple crops that brought in more

produce. This was to have enough winter stock to prevent

starvation. Crops like barley, wheat, rye, oats, were extensively

cultivated along with vegetables grown in patches. Cattle and sheep

provided the much-needed meat for the population of Quebec.

There was no dearth of fish as the fishermen all along St. Lawrence

175

harvested it. Agriculture accounted for eighty percent of the

population's economic activity by 1750. Once established the farmer

could buy things for his needs with the produce of the land he

cultivated and owned. The habitants or farmers had often come out

as indentured servants. A large proportion of the colonists were of

urban origin in France, not peasants accustomed to farming. '"

This was very different to the condition in Pondichery where the

tenants had no control over the profits from the produce. Profits went

to the person who owned the land. However they could keep a

certain pati of the produce for their use thus ensuring that they do

not die of hunger. Much land was in the hands of the lndians and

also of French omcials. Land was purchased from the lndians or

was given as gifts in return for favours from the French. The farmers

who cultivated the fields were tenants and did not own the land.

They lived on the wages earned in kind from the owner. Those lands

that were under the Company were sublet to rich lndians who in turn

gave the land for cultivation to the tenants. The revenue collected

from the lands went into different pockets before reaching the

Company. This was why there was lots of loss from the projected

revenues. As the population increased and the value of land varied

the hold over the farmers and the tenants increased. Land began to

'" For further information Leslie Chaquette, Frenchmen into Peasants M-mitv in

jhe Pwolina of New Francp (Cambrige: Hnvard University Press, 1997)

176

be considered as a symbol of power and subsistence was the

concept that emerged from this.

Women In the seigneurlal system

This is essentially brought into the thesis in the seigneurial

context because it is they who lived along with the seigneurs and

changed the history of New France. As with all areas of historical

scholarship, women's history and historiography does not have any

meaning without dealing wRh them in the colonial context. There is

very little literature available on women colonial women especially of

New France and Pondichbry. What is available is of a biographical

nature and did not have any relevance to the women theory of

history. The general tendency while dealing with the women's issue

is considering them as an oppressed group and dealing with their

struggles against their oppressors. By treating women as a victim

places them in a male-defined conceptual framework thus making

them passive.

The existence of women in the extraordinarily harsh climate

New France is remarkable both in the traditional way of life and more

difficult for the First Nation women who had come into contact with

European settlers. Many of them married the French had to live in

the French style and they did so because they were gentle and

loving. They adjusted to their husband's way of life and even learnt

177

French so that communication became easy. In New France

winning out the hands of First Nation women and usurping their

ancestral land was becoming a part of the young French males life.

The colonial settlers had a quest for land and this crossed the need

for maintaining First NationJEuropean military alliances that had

previously kept the Europeans in check. Colonial and imperial

governments considered the natives as an encumbrance, to

progress. First Nations found themselves placed on reselves set

aside for them, more often than agriculturally unproductive land.

This was a process that began in central and eastern Canada it

eventually moved west. The First Nations who were assimilated

were those who were closely connected with the French culture or

were trading partners. For the First Nations assimilation meant that

those tribes who proffered high status, power, and recognition to

women now had to follow the Christian mental make up where the

woman's place was subordinate to man, not equal to man.

As Sylvia Van Kirk has detailed, the coming of the Europeans

meant a lowering of status form many native women. In Western

Canada where the fur trade was still strong at mid century and where

alliances had occurred between the traders and native women, the

coming of white women meant too often the throwing off of native

wives. White women were unwilling to accept First Nation women as

their equals despite the fact that both shared the challenges of living

178

in a world in which the wilderness surrounded them. For women of

native ancestry this had been true from time immemorial. For

European women, leaving the confines of settled communities, for

what they saw as an uncivilized land, was a new and at times

terrifying experience made easier in some cases by feeling superior

to the native women they found living there.

Feeling superior to others may have helped psychologically,

but it could not negate the physical hardships experienced by white

women settlers. At the beginning of settlement dislocation took

place for families and individuals. Women travelled from one part of

the country to other in search for a better future for themselves.

They braved the rough weather at the sea and came to realise that

life was not that easy in the wilderness. Women who voluntarily

came with their families or travelled alone survived because of their

hope that they were helping to build a better future for themselves

and their loved ones. For some emigration enthusiasts, these

women represented the tangible bonds of Empire, a way of

expanding Britain's rule. The single women who were coming to

New France were the kings daughters who were asked to settle

down and there by populate the barren New France.

Women who came to Canada to homestead with their families

found the challenges of pioneering had just begun. One of the

179

conditions that were most difficult to accept was the isolation. The

harsh Canadian winters in much of the country added to the sense of

being cut off from all that women had known in their former homes.

This physical isolation was accentuated by the fact that for many

families contact with the outside world was limited because of cost of

pens, ink, paper, stamps, books and magazines. With the

seigneurial system the women had a house of their own and families.

Their status was much better than many others in Pondichbry but

everything came with a price.

The seigneurial system was introduced into the colony by the

Company of New France not only to provide a rational and legal

framework for land-holding with which Frenchmen were familiar and

also as a method of colonisation because the seigneurs required

censitaires to provide them with an income. It was expected by

some to provide a system of social and state control. It did provide

Canada with a basic land survey system, running along both banks

of the St. Lawrence River, then with successive rangs behind the

riverfront concessions. It did not favour the development of towns or

service centers, so that by 1760 there were still only three towns, six

nucleated villages and 4 hamlets'38 between the islands of Montreal

and Orleans. The Custom of Paris required equal division of half the

1 3 Map No. H is given towards the end of the thesis

1 SO

property between all the children, male and female, on the death of

the parents. This would have resulted in excessively small holdings

had families not worked out strategies to avoid too much subdivision

of the land. In the end the seigneurial system had two important

consequences for the future development of Canada. One was that

it divided a framework for a class structure in which the seigneur

increasingly asserted their rights and privileges, and the other that

seigneurial tract had become virtually fully occupied by the end of the

French regime do that it became a closed area of franwphone

popu~ation.'~~

In wntrast, the French at Pondicherry had to invest to settle

down as coionisers. In the case of New France they did not have to

purchase the land from the First Nations. In the case of New France

the seigneurial system did change the geography and pattern. This

was also a cause for the economic development of the Quebec

region. The principal change that was witnessed in Quebec and

other parts of the region was the independence asserted under the

seigneurial system. Royal officials in Pondichery and Quebec could

regulate the commercial life of the towns and thereby supervise the

exports as well as imports passed through QuBbec. However they

did not have any control over the habitants in the St. Lawrence area.

'" Marcel Trudel, pg. 6

181

This was probably because it was becoming expensive and difficult

to monitor the seigneuries. It did not have any change in the

Pondichbry scenario in the agrarian