ouraged by their French allies, who
feared that otherwise the English would win them and thereby gain the
country.

Civil and ecclesiastical authority in France were at this time very
closely united. The missionaries of New France were appointed and
removed by the authorities at Quebec and received an annual stipend
from the crown, and however diligent the missionary might be in his
calling, or however pure his life, he was liable to be removed unless
he used his influence to keep the savages in a state of hostility to
the English. The Maliseet villages on the St. John, the Penobscot and
the Kennebec rivers were regarded as buttresses against English
encroachments in the direction of Canada, and the authorities at
Quebec relied much upon the influence of the missionaries to keep the
savages loyal to France.

The first missionary at the Medoctec village, of whom we have any
accurate information, was Father Simon, who has already been
frequently mentioned in the extracts from John Gyles' narrative. He
belonged to the order of the Recollets, founded early in the 13th
century by St. Francis of Assissi. The missionaries of that order
began their labors on the St. John as early as 1620; they came to
Acadia from Aquitane. Father Simon was a man of activity and
enterprise as well as of religious zeal. He did all that lay in his
power to promote the ascendency of his country-men in the land they
loved to call "New France," but his influence with the Indians was
always exercised on the side of humanity. On this point Gyles'
testimony is conclusive. He says: "The priest of this river was of the
order of St. Francis, a gentleman of a humane generous disposition. In
his sermons he most severely reprehended the Indians for their
barbarities to captives. He would often tell them that excepting their
errors in religion the English were a better people than themselves."

We have no exact information as to the number of years Father Simon
labored at Medoctec, but he died near the close of the century.
Governor Villebon in December, 1698, wrote, "Father Simon is sick at
Jemseg," and as his name does not again appear in the annals of that
time it is probable that his sickness proved mortal. He was succeeded
in his mission by one of the Jesuit fathers, Joseph Aubery, who came
to Medoctec about 1701, remaining there seven years. He then took
charge of the Abenaki mission of St. Francis, where he continued for
46 years and died at the age