The 1st of the month of December, the small amount of bread that was distributed to the people was entirely taken away, and, in its place, a half beef and half horse [ration] was to be given, a livre of each of which would only cost six sols. But the people displayed reluctance for the horsemeat and refused to accept it. That afternoon, there was a riot of women; ["Riot" seems to be too strong a term. More likely it was a disorderly mob] they assembled before the door of M. the Marquis de Vaudreuil and demanded to speak to him. M. the Marquis de Vaudreuil allowed four of them to enter.

He asked them the reason for this riot. They responded that they had come to ask him for bread. M. the Marquis de Vaudreuil said that he didn't have any to give them; that he had so little for the troops that their ration had been decreased; that the King was not obliged to furnish bread to the people and that it was up to himself to provide it; that however he had slaughtered some beef and horses in order to assist the poor in this time of dearth; that those who wished to take it could find it at the King's butcher shop at six sols a livre. The women responded to M. de Vaudreuil that they were reluctant to eat horsemeat; that the horse was a friend to man; that religion kept them from killing them and that they would rather die than eat them. M. de Vaudreuil told them that it was a chimera and a false belief on their part; that it had been eaten throughout time; that it was good and that he had ordered them to be slaughtered with care and in the same way as the beef; that it was the only relief that he could give to the people.

M. the Marquis de Vaudreuil sent those women away and told them that the first time that he should find them rioting, he would put them all in jail and have half of them hanged; he ordered MM. de Martel, commissioner of the Marine, and de Monrepos, chief of police, to lead these women to the butcher shop for them to see that the horse and the beef was of a good type; they agreed in saying that they would not partake of it, not a person, nor would the troops. After that they vanished and retired to their homes holding forth on seditious subjects. MM. de Martel and de Monrepos should have arrested some of them, but they didn't.

M. the Marquis de Vaudreuil told M. the Chevalier de Levis, December 4th, that he had just received a letter from Monsieur the Intendant who indicated to him the necessity for the troops in garrison at Quebec and Montreal to eat horse flesh. Consequently, the ration was regulated at a half livre of bread, half livre of beef, half livre of horse, a quart of peas and a half livre of bread paid in silver.

The 8th

It was ordered that the provisions would be taken, the 9th, on the basis of this last arrangement. Consequently, M. the Chevalier de Levis ordered the regiment of Beam to go to the distribution at the regular hour. He told MM. Dalquier and de Malartie to be there with the officers who ordinarily commanded because the people secretly were stirring up the soldiers not to accept horsemeat. M. the Chevalier de Levis recommended to M. de Malartie, if he perceived that the soldiers were making the slightest difficulty in accepting it, to inform him, and that he would go himself to the place of distribution.

At eight-thirty, M. de Malartie came to tell M. the Chevalier de Levis that the soldiers didn't want to accept horsemeat and that the biggest share had withdrawn from the distribution. M. the Chevalier de Levis went there immediately; on arriving, he scolded Messieurs the officers for not having contained their soldiers and allowing them to depart. They excused themselves on the grounds that it was very cold and that the butchers had not prepared more meat.

M. the Chevalier de Levis ordered M. de Malartie to reassemble the soldiers at the place of distribution. As soon as all the companies were assembled, [That the companies were reassembled indicates that the troops were not yet mutinous] M. the Chevalier de Levis had a piece of horse cut for himself and had one of his servants take it; at the same time he ordered the grenadiers to take it. They wished to make some representations to him that he didn't want to hear, telling the grenadiers to obey; that he would arrest and have hanged the first who should cause any trouble in accepting it; that if anyone had representations to make, he would listen them after the distribution was done and over with. The grenadiers didn't reply, accepted the horseflesh, and the other companies did the same without further difficulty.

After the distribution was made, M. the Chevalier de Levis told the grenadiers that, if they had any representations make to him, he would listen them gladly. They told him that they were complaining about being obliged to accept horsemeat that the people had rejected and refused to eat; that they didn't believe that the colony had been reduced to the point of having the soldiers and the people eat horse flesh; that one could judge this by the large quantity of beef that the inhabitants brought every day to the market; that, moreover, they had a lot of trouble living, as they were expected to be lodged with the inhabitants, and that they were not permitted to gather to mess together from seven to seven, and that the ration being reduced to the level it was, that it was impossible for a man to live by eating it alone; that the regiment of La Reine, which was at Quebec, had the benefit of being quartered and could mess together, and that they saw with sadness that the reduction of the provisions concerned only the troops; that the inhabitants had not cut back on anything, not even their Negroes and their pagans (that is to say: Indian slaves); that they were not unaware that in the forced circumstances, the troops were made to submit to all the reductions and content themselves that one could live on a footing of the smallest ration; but that it must be equal at least to that of the inhabitants.

M. the Chevalier de Levis answered their representations that the horse that he had given them was of good quality; that the people had the weakness and the prejudice of not wanting to eat; that the soldiers must think differently; that they were not unaware that the troops had to eat it in Prague [ Here Levis speaks from experience having been among the besieged at Prague in 1742.] and in other besieged places and that Canada should be regarded as in the same situation, since the relief of supplies that the King had sent had been captured by the English; that he would attend to having horse of fine quality delivered to them, and that to this effect he had had it taken and served on his own table and that he ate of it every day; that they were badly informed of the situation and the state of the colony; that it was in the greatest dearth; that the people in Quebec hadn't eaten bread there for a long time; that there were two thousand Arcadians who had no other food than codfish and horse; that all the officers of the garrisons of Quebec and Montreal were reduced to a small amount of bread per day; that the government of Montreal was better stocked than the others and that consequently the troops who were there were suffering less than those in Quebec. 

Regarding the beef that they saw brought to the market each day, that it was the time when the inhabitants killed the livestock that they were unable to feed during the winter and which the ice allowed them to preserve for the greater part of the winter; that the soldiers had the same freedom to buy it at the market and stock up; that, if they didn't have the money, he would order M. de Malartie to advance it to them on their accounts, which would ease their means of putting up their winter stores as much in wheat as in meat; that regarding the inconvenience whereby they could not mess together, that he would make it possible for them to procure this advantage; that moreover the troops must be persuaded that the generals were busy procuring them the most comfort possible and to preserve the colony for the King; that it was up to the troupes de terre to provide example; that he reckoned that henceforth the regiment of Beam would make no more representations; that they must be persuaded that he would keep his word that he would do them no harm, and that he would render to them all the services to which he was answerable; as also he would have punished very severely all those who would be mutinous and who would not endure everything that should be judged necessary to the good of the service; that moreover he recommended to them to have no quarrel with the soldiers of the colony nor with the inhabitants, and to do their duty with the greatest exactitude.

The grenadiers and the soldiers answered M. de Levis that they were very satisfied with what he had told them; that they would conduct themselves in such a way that he would not have any reproach to make against them; that they had all the confidence in him and that he recognized their needs.

The troops of the Marine likewise took the provisions in the afternoon without any difficulty; he heard no more representations on the reduction of the provisions.

Horsemeat and Mutiny in Canada 1757: An Excerpt From Levis' Journal

Introduction
November, 1757
December, 1757
January, 1758

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