But, if the company was lapsing into inertness, other agencies, not of a commercial character, were at work laying the foundations of institutions destined to exert a most important and lasting influence on the future life of the colony. The year in which Champlain died witnessed the establishment at Quebec by the Jesuit, M. de Rohault, son of the Marquis de Gamache, of a college for boys. Four years later, in 1639, a vessel arrived from France bearing two ladies, of note, Madame de la Peltrie and Madame Guyard, Mère de l'Incarnation, whose mission was to establish a school for girls, white and Indian, and whose names are illustrious as the founders of the Ursuline Convent. On the same vessel were a number of nuns sent out by the Duchess d'Aiguillon to perform hospital duties: this was the origin of the Hôtel Dieu. In the year 1641 M. de Maisonneuve, a pious layman, conducted to Canada a small band of trusty followers whose destination was the Island of Montreal, where it was proposed to form a strictly Christian colony. With M. de Maisonneuve was a pious lady, Mdlle. Mance, who three years later became the founder of the Hôtel Dieu at Montreal, funds for the purpose having been supplied by a rich benefactress in France, Madame de Bullion. Looking forward nine years, that is to say to 1653, we find the admirable Sister Margaret Bourgeoys establishing at Montreal the Congrégation de Notre Dame for the education of girls. As Garneau well says, "the love of learning and charity gave birth in Canada to all the great establishments destined for public instruction and the alleviation of human suffering."
The question may naturally be asked how it happened that Canada, at this very early stage of its history, attracted so much attention as a field for missionary and educational effort. An explanation is to be found in the fact that the Jesuits, from the time when they first entered on their work in this country, made a practice, under instructions from the head of their order, of writing year by year a narrative of their doings, which they despatched to France, and which was there published and circulated amongst those who were interested in religious work. These narratives constituted the celebrated _Relations des Jésuites_, which form the chief source of information regarding the history of Canada for a period of over forty years. Of these interesting annals, forty volumes of which in all were published, Parkman has said: "The closest examination has left me no doubt that these missionaries wrote in perfect good faith, and that the _Relations_ hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy historical documents." On the other hand the latest historian of the Jesuits in New France, the Rev. Father Rochemonteix, while also asserting the substantial accuracy of the _Relations_, acknowledges that "they do not reflect the complete physiognomy of New France; they only show one side of it, the most attractive, the most consoling, namely, the progress of Christianity, its toils and heroic struggles, and the valiant achievements of the colonists. The rest is intentionally left in the shade, passed over in silence. The other side of the physiognomy is omitted, or nearly so. What we have is history, but incomplete history."[3]