The waning effectiveness of the strategy of la petite guerre in the 1750s did not long precede the passing of New France itself. The British conquest was no more graphically impressed upon the minds of the population than by the removal of the French coat of arms which had proclaimed, from the gates of the towns of the colony, the authority of the French King throughout New France. This shield, exquisitely hand carved in eastern white pine in the baroque style of the period, is attributed to Noel Levasseur, the foremost sculptor of his time in New France. It is said to have hung over the porte Saint Louis at QuÄbec.
