The Count de Raymond was the most eccentric governor that the colony of Île Royale, present-day Cape Breton Island, had ever known. Many people that served under him thought he was delusional, and not without reason. Says historian T.A. Crowley: “Raymond was the most flamboyant governor of a Canadian colony between Frontenac and Lord Durham. With Frontenac he shared an unbounded ambition and a passion for extravagant living. For both men the title of governor evoked, as Mme de Sévigné wrote, “noise, trumpets and violins.” Like Durham, Raymond gloried in pomp and ceremony.”

Below is a portion of official correspondence between the Count de Raymond and the Secretary of the Navy, Antoine-Louis Rouillé, comte de Jouy, preserved in “Les Derniers Jours de l’Acadie, 1748,1758” by Gaston du Boscq de Beaumont. Raymond apologizes that the partridge pies he sent Rouillé from Cape Breton were putrid upon their arrival in France (likely in transit for more than a month), and conveys his hopes that the four new ones he is sending are still good enough to be eaten by Louis XV once they arrive in Versailles. He also follows up on a random assortment of animals that he happened to send along, as well.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading this absurd document as much as I did.

Count de Raymond to the Secretary of the Navy Rouillé

Louisbourg, 22 December 1752

…

I understand that the pies that I sent you last year did not arrive at the right port. I was told that we could attribute it to the length of the crossing and to some damage that they had sustained. I do not yet consider myself beaten, and I vow that I have close to my heart the desire to have you, and the King, eat partridge from this island, truly, they have a remarkable taste, are larger than those of France and are of great beauty. This time I’ll risk four pies, of four partridges each, therefore two for you, and once you have opened them, if you find them good enough, I think that the singularity of having the King partake of pies from Île Royale would be a real treat for His Majesty. It would be even greater if my project is a complete success, that there are two pies in which I included truffles from my home which, after the precautions we took, arrived very fresh, so that you will be able to say, and to the King as well, that you have eaten two Angoumois truffle pies, having come from Île Royale.

I’ve prepared another experience. I have the honour of sending to you four plumed partridges, the beauty and the novelty of which will certainly bring you delight. I had their beaks dipped in wax, so that no air gets in, and they can be preserved for a longer time.

To distinguish the two pies, I’ve had written below: Truffles, and the two others, Made in Île Royale. I’m risking, too, two hares, that if they arrive at the right port, will make a singularity, being all white, it’s natural in this climate that hares in the summer are like those of France, but in the winter they become white.

I truly hope that all of this arrives at the right port. I’m impatient to know if the moose that survived the crossing, and that I learned had arrived in Rochefort safe and sound, has reached you.

I’ve also given Monsieur Villejouin a squirrel which could be given to the King. There is surely none other like it in France, it is an extremely rare species, of great beauty, of great gentleness and very private. It roams freely around the room and is comfortable with cats and dogs. His name is Bonne.

…

Would you permit me to ask you if you might do a ‘droigt de cour’ to the King for me?

Signed

C^te de Raymond