Date Published: |
L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia
Joseph Michel Cadet
Cadet, Joseph Michel (1719-1781), purveyor-general to the French forces in Canada, was born in or near Quebec on December 24, 1719, the son of a butcher. He began life as a cattle-dealer; and in 1748 he was appointed purveyor-general for the French forces in Canada. He played a dominant part in the economic life of New France in its last years, and after 1756 practically discharged the function of commissary-general of the colony. He has been regarded as one of those who bled New France to death; and after its fall he was condemned at Paris to make restitution and was banished. Recent investigations, however, have tended to clear his name of the charges made against him; and it is significant that he was pardoned in 1764, and was allowed to return to Canada to settle his affairs. He embarked in France on a career of land speculation which ended in disaster, and he died in France in 1781. [Consult the biography of Cadet at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography] Return to the Seven Years' War home page Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. I, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., p. 336. |
© 2005
Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College |