Chapter VII: Frontenac and His Times (2)

But if the religious quarrel was settled for a time, a civil difficulty arose. The council no longer remained a mere body for registering the Governor’s decrees. The new order of things gave him a council of men who were opposed in many respects to his views and interests. The King had reinstated Villeray,—a former councillor, and a man wholly under Jesuitical influence. Frontenac, who thought him a “Jesuit in disguise,” called him “an intriguing busybody, who makes trouble everywhere.” The attorney-general was Auteuil, another enemy of the Governor. Tilly was a third member, and the Count at first approved of him; but his opinion was destined to change. Under the ordinance of Sept. 23, 1675, the Intendant, whose official position entitled him to rank as the third man in the colony, was appointed president of the council. His commission, dated June 5, 1675, read: “Présider au Conseil Souverain en l’absence du dit Sieur de Frontenac.” Frontenac was styled in many of the despatches which reached him from the Crown, “Chief and President of the Council.” A conflict of authority immediately arose, and both Governor and Intendant claimed with equal right (one would suppose from the royal documents in their possession) the position of presiding officer. Frontenac bided his time, and remained patient until late in the autumn, when the last vessel cleared for France. Then he asserted his claim to the title of chief and president, and demanded to be so styled on the records of the council. In support of his contention he exhibited a letter from Louis dated May 12, 1678. The Intendant, supported by the clergy, opposed the claim. The Governor refused to compromise, scolded Duchesneau, and threatened to teach him his duty, while he ordered Villeray, Tilly, and Auteuil to their houses, and commanded them to remain there until he should give them permission to leave.[698] Auteuil begged the King to interfere, and the wearied monarch wrote to his representative: “You have wished to be styled Chief and President on the records of the supreme council, which is contrary to my edict concerning that council; and I am the more surprised at this demand, since I am very sure that you are the only man in my kingdom who, being honored with the title of governor and lieutenant-general, would care to be styled chief and president of such a council as that of Quebec.” So the King refused the title of president to either, and commanded that Duchesneau should perform the duties of presiding officer. He also said that Frontenac had abused his authority in exiling two councillors and the attorney-general for so trivial a cause, and warned him to be careful in future, lest he be recalled from office. Several other disputes in the council followed. They were mostly about matters of small moment, but they created great storms while they lasted. The imprisonment of Councillor Amours by order of the Count for an alleged infringement of the passport law, and the presence of his wife with a petition to the council for redress and a speedy trial, caused much discussion and provoked very strong feeling.

Duchesneau was the object of Frontenac’s constant displeasure. On him was visited his fiercest wrath; but the Intendant bore it all with varying moods,—sometimes disputing with Frontenac, at others abusing him, and occasionally treating the diatribe of vituperation which flowed from the Count’s lips with lofty disdain and scorn. He wrote letters to the Court, and lodged complaint after complaint against the Governor, who, in his turn, pursued the same course. Out of the council quarrels others involving more important issues sprang up, and nearly all the people in the colony were in time driven to one side or the other. With Frontenac, as Parkman points out, were ranged La Salle and his lieutenant, La Forêt; Du Lhut, the leader of the _coureurs de bois_; Boisseau, agent of the farmers of the revenue; Barrois, the Governor’s secretary; Bizard, lieutenant of his guard; and others. Against him were the members of the council, Aubert de la Chesnaye, Le Moyne and his sons, Louis Joliet, Jacques Le Ber, Sorel, Boucher, Varennes, and many of the ecclesiastics. Duchesneau received replies from the Court, and they must have been galling to his pride and self-respect. He was plainly assured that though Frontenac was not blameless, his own conduct was far more open to censure. In this strain Colbert’s letter continued, and he said: “As to what you say concerning his violence, his trade with the Indians,[699] and in general all that you allege against him, the King has written to him his intentions; but since, in the midst of all your complaints, you say many things which are without foundation, or which are no concern of yours, it is difficult to believe that you act in the spirit which the service of the King demands,—that is to say, without interest and without passion. If a change does not appear in your conduct before next year, his Majesty will not keep you in your office.” The King returned his usual advice to Frontenac, told him to live on good terms with the Intendant, and prohibited him from trading with the Indians. But neither the letters of the King nor the minister had much effect apparently, for the Governor and Intendant continued to war against each other. At last the King wrote thus sharply to the Count:—

“What has passed in regard to the _coureurs de bois_ is entirely contrary to my orders, and I cannot receive in excuse for it your allegation that it is the Intendant who countenances them by the trade he carries on, for I perceive clearly that the fault is your own. As I see that you often turn the orders I give you against the very object for which they are given, beware not to do so on this occasion. I shall hold you answerable for bringing the disorder of the _coureurs de bois_ to an end throughout Canada; and this you will easily succeed in doing if you make a proper use of my authority. Take care not to persuade yourself that what I write to you comes from the ill-offices of the Intendant. It results from what I fully know from everything which reaches me from Canada, proving but too well what you are doing there. The Bishop, the ecclesiastics, the Jesuit Fathers, the supreme council, and, in a word, everybody, complain of you; but I am willing to believe that you will change your conduct, and act with the moderation necessary for the good of the colony.”

Frontenac felt the ground slipping under him, but he continued his suicidal policy, while he wrote to some friends in France to recount his woes, and to solicit their good offices with the Court.

Seignelay came to power in 1681. He was the son of Colbert, and a man of very good abilities, matured under the eye of the great minister. He soon received long letters from Frontenac and the Intendant, filled with accusations and countercharges. Affairs had gone badly during the spring and summer of 1681. Some blows were struck, and a resort to sharper weapons was hinted at. The Intendant, Frontenac said, had barricaded his house and armed his servants. Duchesneau declared that his son had been beaten by the Governor for a slight offence, and afterward imprisoned in the château for a month, despite the pleadings of the Bishop in his behalf. These matters, and much more, were regularly reported to the new minister. Both officials stated that furs had been carried to the English settlements, and each blamed the other for it. The Intendant maintained that the faction led by Frontenac had spread among the Indians a rumor of a pestilence at Montreal, for the purpose of keeping them away from the fair, and in order that the bushrangers might purchase the beaver-skins at a low price. The allegation was groundless, but it had its effect at court. The King, tired at last of the constant strife, recalled both Frontenac and Duchesneau in the following year.

Frontenac’s successor was Le Fèbvre de la Barre, a soldier of repute who had already rendered his country good service in the West Indian war, where he had gained some notable successes against the English. For reducing Antigua and Montserrat and recapturing Cayenne from the enemy, he had been promoted to a lieutenant-generalship. He arrived at Quebec with Meules, his intendant, at a most inopportune time. The great fire of August 4, 1682, had laid waste fifty-five houses, and destroyed vast quantities of goods.

The new Governor took up his residence in the château, while Meules went to live in a house in the woods. La Barre was a very different man from Frontenac. He had nothing of that soldier’s peculiar energy or determination. He was a temporizer, cold and insincere, and no match for Indian diplomacy or duplicity. The Indians gauged his capacity before he had been in Canada many weeks, and as compared with Frontenac they felt that they had a child to deal with. The King had given him pretty plain instructions. He was ordered not only to apply himself to prevent the violence of the Iroquois against the French, but also to endeavor to keep the savages at peace among themselves, and by all means to prevent the Iroquois from making war on the Illinois and other tribes. He was further told that his Majesty did not attach much importance to the discoveries which had lately been made in the countries of the Nadoussioux, the River Mississippi, and other parts of North America, deeming them of but slight utility; but he enjoined that the Sieur de la Salle be permitted to complete the exploration he had commenced, as far as the mouth of the Mississippi, “in case he consider, after having examined into it with the Intendant, that such discovery can be of any utility.”

It was not long before La Barre exhibited his total incapacity for governing Canada. He lowered the French prestige in the eyes of the Indians of the Confederacy, and left his red allies to their fate. He was jealous of La Salle, and hated him cordially. Charlevoix accounts for his incapacity by saying that “his advanced age made him credulous when he ought to be distrustful, timid when he ought to be bold, dark and cautious towards those who deserved his confidence, and deprived him of the energy necessary to act as the critical condition of the colony demanded when he administered its affairs.” He was not very old, being little more than sixty years of age at the time. He found the Iroquois flushed with victory over their enemies, and displaying an arrogant bearing towards the French. He wrote a braggart letter to the King; said that with twelve hundred men he would attack twenty-six hundred Iroquois, and then begged for more troops. To the minister he wrote that war was imminent, and unless those “haughty conquerors” were opposed, “half our trade and all our reputation” would be lost. He was always talking about fighting; but those about him knew that he rarely meant all he said. He developed a remarkable predilection for trade, and soon after his arrival allied himself to several of the Quebec merchants, with that object in view. This gave grave offence to all those who could not participate. The tables were turned, and the old enemies of Frontenac now reigned, while La Salle and La Forêt were deposed. Du Lhut, the leader of the _coureurs de bois_, and a quondam friend of the Ex-Governor, transferred his allegiance to the new authority. La Barre soon showed his feeling towards La Salle. Jacques Le Ber and Aubert de la Chesnaye were early despatched to Fort Frontenac, which La Forêt commanded, with orders to seize it and all it contained, on the flimsy pretext that La Salle had failed to fulfil the conditions of his contract. La Forêt was offered his former position as commander of the fort; but he refused to be false to his chief, and sailed for France in high dudgeon.

On the 10th of October a conference on the state of affairs with the Iroquois was held. There were present the Governor, Intendant, Bishop of Quebec, M. Dollier, Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice of Montreal, Father Dablon, the Governor of Three Rivers, and others. The meeting was harmonious, and the importance and danger of the situation seemed to be understood. A most uninviting prospect lay before the little colony. The Iroquois, well armed and equipped, could strike first the Illinois, and in turn all the tribes in alliance with the French, and so divert the peltry trade into other channels, and finally fall upon the French themselves. It was stated at the conference that the English were responsible for this, and that they had been urging the Iroquois on for four years, in order to ruin Canada, and to secure for themselves and the Dutch the entire peltry trade of the continent. It was determined to make an effort to prevent the Iroquois from bringing upon the friendly Indians the fate they had previously dealt upon the Algonquins, the Andastes, the Abenaquis, and others. It was finally thought that the war might be averted for a time, and meanwhile the King was urgently importuned for troops and two hundred hired men, besides arms and ammunition.

The attack came sooner than had been expected. In the early spring the Seneca Indians were reported to be moving in considerable force on the Illinois, the Hurons, and the Ottawas of the lakes. La Barre, greatly excited, hastened his preparations. He wrote to France, explaining the posture of affairs, and demanding more troops. Du Lhut was sent with thirty men, with powder and lead, to Michillimackinac, to strengthen the defences there, and to guard the stores, of which there was a great quantity. Charles Le Moyne was despatched to Onondaga with a mission, which so far succeeded that forty-three Iroquois chiefs went to Montreal to meet the Governor. They arrived on the 14th of August. A council was held, and over two thousand crowns’ worth of presents were distributed among the Indians. La Barre demanded friendship for the Ottawas, the Algonquins, and the Hurons; but there was no firmness in his demands. He was timid, and when the fierce Senecas declared that the Iroquois made war on the Illinois because they deserved to die, he said nothing, and his silence sealed their doom. The delegates were asked to agree not to plunder French traders who were provided with passports. They agreed to this. It was a suggestion of La Chesnaye, and evidently aimed at La Salle, though La Barre denied that he gave the Iroquois liberty to plunder and kill the explorer. By a sort of poetic justice, the first captures the Iroquois made under their agreement were two boats belonging to La Chesnaye, which had gone up the lakes during Frontenac’s reign, and had no passports. On the 30th of August the deputies left Montreal.

La Barre continued his trading operations. He and La Chesnaye anticipated the annual market at Montreal, by sending up a large fleet of vessels, and securing enormous quantities of furs, a great part of which was clandestinely sent to Albany and New York. The Governor’s persecutions of La Salle went on, and in the spring he sent the Chevalier de Baugis, with canoes and soldiers, to seize his fort of St. Louis; but his scheme suffered defeat. La Barre now prepared in earnest for war, and was resolved to attack the Senecas in the following August (1684). On the 31st of July the King wrote that he had sent him three hundred soldiers.

It has been said that the English colonists of New York had instigated the Iroquois to make war on the French. Colonel Thomas Dongan, Lord Tyrconnel’s nephew, and a Roman Catholic, was governor of New York. Though he had respect for the King of France, he nevertheless thought himself entitled to a share of the fur-trade, which had so long remained a monopoly of the Canadians, and he decided to make some effort to obtain it. The Duke of York warned him against offending the French governor; but while Dongan publicly professed to observe his Grace’s injunction, he was really in frequent intrigue with the enemies of the French, and did all he could to provoke the Iroquois into making war on La Barre and his allies. The English had secured the allegiance of the five tribes of the Confederacy; the hatchet had been buried, and the song of peace had been sung. Dongan was wily, and got the Iroquois to recognize his king as their lawful sovereign. This would give him the command of the country south of the great lakes. The Indians readily promised, but without any intention of keeping their word. Their motive evidently was to make the most out of either party, and yield nothing. La Barre complained of the Senecas and Cayugas, and wrote to Dongan, telling him not to sell the offenders any arms or ammunition, and saying that he meant to attack the tribes for plundering French canoes and attempting a French fort. Dongan wrote in reply that the Iroquois were British subjects, and if they had done wrong, reparation should be made. Meanwhile he urged La Barre not to make his threatened attack, and begged him to keep the peace between the two colonies. Next he laid the complaints of the French governor before the chiefs, who on their part declared that the French had carried arms to their foes, the Illinois and the Miamis. Dongan handled the question with tact, and played upon the fears of the Indians so well that he got them to consent to his placing the arms of the Duke of York in their villages, which he said would save them from the French. They further agreed that they would not make peace with Onontio without consent of the English. In return for this, Dongan promised aid in case their country should be invaded.

The English Governor was a believer in prompt action, and he hastened to have the Iroquois’ subjection to King Charles confirmed. To that end he despatched a Dutch interpreter, Arnold Viele by name, to Onondaga. But Charles Le Moyne and the crafty Jesuit Jean de Lamberville, who knew the Indian character well, were there before the envoy of the English arrived. Le Moyne had been sent to invite the tribes to a conference with La Barre. The chief of the Onondagas was Otréouati, or Big Mouth, a famous orator and influential warrior, and ranking as one of the ablest Indians of the Confederacy. He was unscrupulous as regards keeping promises, but his valor and astuteness were beyond question. The two Frenchmen had spent some days in trying to induce the Onondagas to get their Seneca confederates to make peace with the French. The Senecas at first would not hear of it; but finally they succumbed to Big Mouth’s eloquence, and gave the Onondagas power to complete a treaty for them. Viele appeared on the scene; but he was no diplomat, and he shocked the pride of the Onondagas when he told them, with more arrogance than policy, that the English were masters of their territory, and that they had no right to hold council with the French without permission. It was natural that Big Mouth should become indignant: he asserted the independence of his tribe, and told his warriors and chiefs not to listen to the proposals of a man who seemed to be drunk, so opposed to all reason was what he uttered. The end of it was that Big Mouth and his sachems consented to accompany Le Moyne to meet La Barre.

The French Governor was ready for the campaign, having seven hundred Canadians, a hundred and thirty regulars, and two hundred mission Indians under his command. He was to be reinforced by a band of Indians on the way, and a company of _coureurs de bois_ led by Du Lhut and La Durantaye. More warriors were to join him at Niagara. He declared that he intended to exterminate the Senecas; but his Intendant, Meules, had no faith in his promises, and kept urging him on, as if he feared that he would make peace without striking a blow,—a fatal course in his eyes. He wrote to the Governor two letters on the subject, concluding the second one thus: “If we do not destroy them, they will destroy us. I think you see but too well that your honor and the safety of the country are involved in the results of this war.” He also sent a despatch to Seignelay, which contained the customary complaints against La Barre, and some vigorous comments on his conduct in trading against the orders of the King, and his warlike pretensions which meant nothing. “I will take the liberty to tell you, Monseigneur,” he wrote, “though I am no prophet, that I discover no disposition on the part of Monsieur the General to make war against the aforesaid savages. In my belief, he will content himself by going in a canoe as far as Fort Frontenac, and then send for the Senecas to treat of peace with them, and deceive the people, the Intendant, and, if I may be allowed with all possible respect to say so, his Majesty himself.” La Barre proceeded on his way with his army, and after encountering a few adventures _en route_, finally reached Fort Frontenac, where the whole party encamped. A malarial fever broke out among the French, and many died. La Barre himself was greatly reduced and wasted by the disease, and so disheartened that he abandoned his plans, and sought to secure peace on the most favorable terms that he could get. He no longer thought of punishing the Senecas, nor had he the courage to invite them to council. He crossed over to La Famine with a few men, and sent Le Moyne to beg the tribes to meet him on their side of the lake. Here provisions grew scarce, and hunger and discontent prevailed among his followers. Several soldiers languished through disease; others died.

La Barre awaited the return of his envoy with fear and suspense. When at last he came on the third of the month, with Big Mouth and thirteen deputies, the Governor received the party with what grace he could. He had sent his sick men away, and told the Indians that his army was at Fort Frontenac; but the keen-witted savages were not deceived, and one of their number, understanding French, gathered during the evening from the conversation of the soldiers the true condition of affairs. The council was held on the 4th of September; and Baron La Hontan, who was present, gives a long account of what took place. The Governor related the offences of the Iroquois; charged them with maltreating and robbing the French traders in the country of the Illinois, with introducing the “English into the lakes which belong to the King, my master, and among the tribes who are his children, in order to destroy the trade of his subjects,” and with having made “several barbarous inroads into the country of the Illinois and Miamis, seizing, binding, and leading into captivity an infinite number of those savages in time of peace.... They are the children of my king,” he said, “and are not to remain your slaves. They must at once be set free and sent home.” Should such things occur again, he was ordered, he said, to declare war against the offending tribes. He agreed to grant them terms of peace, provided they made atonement for the past, and promised good conduct for the future; otherwise he would burn their villages and destroy them. Big Mouth rose and replied. He very soon convinced La Barre of the hopelessness of his task. “Listen, Onontio,” he said. “I am not asleep, my eyes are open; and by the sun that gives me light I see a great captain at the head of a band of soldiers who talks like a man in a dream. He says that he has come to smoke the pipe of peace with the Onondagas; but I see that he came to knock them in the head if so many of his Frenchmen were not too weak to fight. I see Onontio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the Great Spirit has saved by smiting them with disease. Our women had snatched war-clubs, and our children and old men seized bows and arrows, to attack your camp, if our warriors had not restrained them, when your messenger, Akouessan, appeared in our village.” The savage refused reparation; said that his tribe had been born free, and that they depended on neither Onontio nor on Corlaer, the governor of New York. “We have knocked the Illinois in the head,” he continued, “because they cut down the tree of peace and hunted the beaver on our lands. We have done less than the English and the French, who have seized upon the lands of many tribes, driven them away, and built towns, villages, and forts in the country.” La Barre, greatly disgusted, retired to his tent, and the council closed. In the afternoon another session was held, and in the evening a treaty was patched up. Big Mouth agreed to some reparation, which, however, he never made; but he would not consent to make peace with La Barre’s allies, the Illinois, whom he declared he would fight to the death. He also demanded that the council fire should be removed from Fort Frontenac to La Famine,—a concession yielded by La Barre without hesitation, but which Frontenac would never have granted.

The Governor returned home the next day, broken and dispirited; his men followed, wasted by fever and hunger, as best they could. This disgraceful truce was treated with contempt by all, the allies of the French included; and for a while it was thought that the friendly tribes would go over to the enemy in a body, make peace with their old rivals, and divert the channel of trade from Montreal to Albany. Lamberville only indorsed the Governor’s conduct, and styled him the “savior of the country” for having made peace at so critical a time. Meules and the others viewed the matter differently, and the former wrote to the minister that the Governor’s excuses were a mere pretence; that he had lost his wits, had gone off in a fright, and since his return his officers could not abstain from showing him the contempt in which they held him. The King, much annoyed, recalled La Barre, and the Marquis de Denonville, a colonel in the Queen’s regiment of Dragoons, full of piety and a devoted friend of the Jesuits, was sent to succeed him.

Denonville had been thirty years a soldier, and was much esteemed at court for his valor. It was agreed on all hands that the King’s selection of him for governor of the troubled colony was a very good one. But results proved it otherwise; and Denonville’s administration was even more unfortunate than that of La Barre, whose disastrous reign had brought Canada almost to the brink of ruin. When he arrived at Quebec in the autumn of 1685, with his wife and a portion of his family, he found little to cheer him. One hundred and fifty of the five hundred soldiers who had been sent out to Canada by King Louis had perished of scurvy while crossing the sea. The colony was in great disorder; the Iroquois roamed at their pleasure, destroyed when and whom they pleased, and vented their anger with all the cruelty and ferocity of their savage nature on such tribes as favored the French. The Indian allies of the French who had been abandoned by La Barre had little respect left for the nation whose chief representative had so badly served them. But now all this would be changed. Denonville was ordered to ratify the peace with the Iroquois or to declare war, the alternative being left to his own discretion. The King, who felt acutely the disgrace of La Barre’s abandonment of the Illinois, enjoined the new governor to repair that mischief as speedily as possible, to sustain the friendly tribes, and to humble the Iroquois at all hazards. A vigorous policy was determined on, and the King had great faith in the instrument which was to effect it. Denonville was given especial instructions regarding the English of New York, who at this time were constantly intriguing with the enemies of New France. Dongan understood the country well, and was striving with all his energy to secure control of the valuable fur districts south of the Great Lakes. To that end he was always in treaty with the Iroquois, who promised and disregarded their promises as exigency or humor suited them. The King was fully aware of this, and his instructions of March 10, 1685, are especially clear on this point. First, the French ambassador at London, M. Barillon, was desired to demand from the King of England “precise orders obliging that Governor [Dongan] to confine himself within the limits of his government, and to observe a different line of conduct toward Sieur de Denonville, whom his Majesty has chosen to succeed said Sieur de la Barre.” And Denonville was himself told that “everything must be done to maintain good understanding between the French and English; but if the latter, contrary to all appearances, excite and aid the Indians, they must be treated as enemies when found on Indian territory, without, at the same time, attempting anything on territory under the obedience of the King of England.” Meanwhile, the English were seizing posts in Acadia[700] which had always been occupied by the French. Denonville was ordered to send to the governor at Boston to explain the points of boundary, and to request him to confine himself to his own limits in future. Perrot, the former governor of Montreal, was now governor of Acadia, and he was instructed to keep up a correspondence with Denonville, and to take his orders from him.[701]

The struggle for the supremacy was between Denonville and Dongan. The latter dared not act as openly as he wished, for his King, being often at the mercy of Louis, kept saddling him with mandates which he could not disobey, though they sorely touched his pride. He could, however, intrigue; and the convenient Iroquois, who found their gain in the dissensions of the English and French, and who soon learned to encourage the rivalry between the two white powers encroaching on their domain, turned listening ears to his words. Louis favored the schemes of Denonville, which had been formed on a very extensive scale, and involved the mastery of the most fruitful part of the entire continent. New York had at this time about 18,000 inhabitants; Canada’s population was 12,263; but while the latter people were united in furthering French aims, the inhabitants of New York, save the active traders of the colony who were concerned in the purchase of peltries, took very little interest in Dongan’s plans. The English colonies were all deeply interested in checking French advancement, but they declined to help the government of New York, and Dongan was forced to fight his battles single-handed. His king furnished him neither money nor troops; but the assistance rendered, though sometimes in a negative sense, by the Iroquois league, was often formidable enough, and served his purpose on occasion. On the part of Denonville there were, of course, counter-intrigues. Through Lamberville he distributed presents to the Iroquois, and Engelran spent many days at Michillimackinac trying to stay the Hurons, Ottawas, and other lake tribes from allying themselves with the English, as they threatened to do. It was clear that a bold stroke must be made to keep these hitherto friendly tribes on the side of the French, and the only means which seemed to be open was war with the Iroquois. The latter were also intriguing with their old enemies, and trying to make treaties independently of the French. The _coureurs de bois_, too, were a source of danger and annoyance. La Barre had not kept them in check, and Denonville speedily discovered that they acted as though they regarded the edicts of the King as so much waste paper. It was impossible to prevent their selling brandy to the Indians, and demoralizing and debauching the tribes. Denonville wrote for more troops, and seemed anxious to deal a decisive blow at the Iroquois. Affairs were in a deplorable state, and nothing short of a stalwart exhibition of French power would save the country. “Nothing can save us,” wrote the Governor, “but the sending out of troops and the building of forts and blockhouses. Yet I dare not begin to build them; for if I do, it will bring down all the Iroquois upon us before we are in a condition to fight them.”

A brisk correspondence sprang up between the Governor of New York and Denonville. At first it was polite and complimentary, but ere long it assumed a sterner character, and strong language was employed on both sides. A good deal of fencing was indulged in. There were charges and countercharges. Each blamed the other for keeping bad faith, and each side made every effort to out-manœuvre the other. Denonville saw with military prescience that forts would be of service at several important points. One of these sites was situate on the straits of Detroit, and he hastened to send Du Lhut with fifty men to occupy it. The active woodsman promptly built a stockade at the outlet of Lake Huron, on the western side of the strait, and paused there for a while. News reached Denonville that Dongan contemplated sending, early in the spring of 1687, an armed expedition in the direction of Michillimackinac to forestall the trade there. He complained to the Governor of New York, and advised the King about it. To Du Lhut he issued orders to shoot down the intruders so soon as they presented themselves. Dongan dissembled until he heard from England, when he altered his tone, and wrote a letter much subdued in temper to Denonville. The French Governor replied, and counselled harmony.

Intelligence from the north reached Denonville about this time, which gave him considerable satisfaction. The French had resolved in the spring of 1686 to assert their right to the territory of Hudson’s Bay. An English Company had established a post at the mouth of Nelson River, on the west, and on the southern end there were situate forts Albany, Hayes, and Rupert, each garrisoned by a few men. The rival of this Company was the Company of the North, a Canadian institution, which held a grant from Louis XIV. The French had decided to expel the English from their posts, and Denonville approved the plan, and sent Chevalier de Troyes with a band of eighty men to assist the Company. Forts Hayes and Rupert were assaulted at night. In each instance the attack was a surprise, and the posts readily fell into the hands of the invaders. Several of the English were killed, others were wounded, and the rest were made prisoners. Iberville attacked a vessel anchored near the fort; three of its defenders were killed, and others, including Bridger, the governor for the Company, were captured. At Fort Albany, which was garrisoned by thirty men, a stouter resistance was offered, but at the end of an hour it was silenced, and shared the fate of its fellows.

Meanwhile, a treaty of neutrality had been signed at Whitehall, and there was peace between England and France for a time. The document bears date Nov. 16, 1686. On Jan. 22, 1687, instructions were sent to Governor Dongan to maintain friendly relations with Denonville, and to give him no cause for complaint. The King of France delayed despatching his orders to Canada until four months had elapsed.

Denonville was ordered to punish the Iroquois. He had eight hundred regulars, and a further contingent of eight hundred men were promised in the spring. Abundant means, too, had been provided; namely, 168,000 livres in money and supplies. Denonville was in high feather, and everything turned in his favor for a time. He had got rid of his meddling Intendant, Meules, and a pious man like himself had been sent in his place. This was Champigny. The Bishop, St. Vallier, had only words of praise for the administration as it then stood: Church and State were in perfect harmony at last. The attack on the Iroquois towns was well planned, and every precaution was observed to keep the matter secret until the time for action had arrived. Dongan, however, learned the truth from straggling deserters, and he was not slow in informing the Iroquois of the warlike designs of the French.

Denonville’s plan was to proceed to the Senecas, the strongest castle and the nearest to Niagara, his course taking him along the southern shore, which he elected on account of certain advantages which it possessed over the northern side. The little army moved out from Montreal on its career of conquest June 13, 1687. After some difficulty, Fort Frontenac was reached. Champigny and his men had arrived a few days in advance of the main army; and through his exertions thirty men and ninety women and children of a peaceable tribe belonging to the Iroquois and living in the neighborhood, were decoyed into the fort under the pretence of being feasted, and treacherously captured. Other Indians were taken in the same way, many of whom were afterward consigned to the French galleys. The Iroquois were more chivalrous. They had Lamberville, the Jesuit missionary whom Denonville had basely left to his fate, in their power, and could easily have destroyed him, but they allowed him to go free and join his friends. At the fort there were assembled, according to Denonville, about two thousand men, regulars, militia, and Indians. Eight hundred troops, newly arrived from France, had been left at Montreal to protect the settlers and property there. More allies were awaiting his commands at Niagara; they consisted of one hundred and eighty Frenchmen, and four hundred Indians, under Tonty, La Durantaye, and Du Lhut. The journey to Niagara had not been made without hardship and adventure. The Indians of the party had been difficult to manage, and for a while Durantaye was not sure that they would remain with him. Some of the English traders, commanded by Johannes Rooseboom, a Dutchman, on the way to Michillimackinac with goods, were encountered, and Durantaye hastened with one hundred and twenty _coureurs de bois_ to meet them. The party, consisting of twenty-nine whites and five Mohawks and Mohicans, were threatened with death if they resisted. They immediately surrendered, and were despatched to Michillimackinac as prisoners. The merchandise they brought was parcelled out among the Indians. This stroke was the means of saving Durantaye’s life, and the Indians with him became in consequence his sure allies. While making for Niagara, McGregory’s canoes were met, and the same fate overtook them. This capture proved important, for McGregory had with him a number of Ottawa and Huron prisoners whom the Iroquois had taken. It was the Englishman’s intention to restore these captives to their countrymen, to make good the terms of the triple alliance which had been entered into by the English, the Iroquois, and the lake tribes. McGregory’s capture destroyed the whole arrangement, and he and his companions, with those of Rooseboom, were ultimately sent as prisoners to Quebec.

The war-party at Niagara were ordered to repair to the rendezvous at Irondequoit Bay, on the border of the Seneca country, and Denonville went to meet them. His command numbered three thousand men, for a reinforcement of Ottawas of Michillimackinac who had refused to follow Durantaye, having altered their minds, now joined the party. The host was well officered. The leaders were Denonville, the Chevalier de Vaudreuil,—an excellent soldier, fresh from France,—La Durantaye, Callières, Du Lhut, Tonty, Berthier, La Valterie, Granville, Longueil, La Hontan, De Troyes, and others. On the afternoon of the 12th of July, at three o’clock, having already despatched four hundred men to garrison the redoubt, which had been put in a condition of defence for the protection of the provisions and canoes, Denonville began his march across the woods to Gannagaro,—twenty-two miles distant. Each man carried with him food for thirteen days. Three leagues were made the first day, and the party camped for the night. Two defiles were passed the next morning. The heat was intense, and the mosquitoes were very troublesome, but the men moved on in pretty fair order. So far, only a few scouts of the enemy had been encountered. At two o’clock the third defile was entered. It had been the Governor’s intention to rest here, but having been notified by scouts that a considerable party of the Senecas was in the neighborhood, an advance was made by Callières, who was at the head of the three companies commanded by Tonty, Durantaye, and Du Lhut, besides the detachment of Indians. This body, which formed the vanguard of the army, pushed rapidly through the defile, unconscious of the fact that an ambuscade of Senecas, three hundred strong, was posted in the vicinity. When they reached the end they came upon a thicket of alders and rank grass. At a given signal, the air was rent with defiant shouts, and a host of savages leaped from their places of concealment, and sent a volley of lead into the bewildered French, while the three hundred Senecas who lined the sides of the defile sprang upon the van. They had thought to crush their enemy at a blow, but Denonville, hurrying up with his sixteen hundred men, soon spread consternation into their ranks. The firing was heavy on both sides; but the Senecas were defeated with considerable slaughter, and finally fled from the scene in dismay. Denonville wrote that “all our Christian Indians from below performed their duty admirably, and firmly maintained the position assigned to them on the left.” The French did not follow the flying savages, being too much fatigued by their long march. Their loss was five or six men killed and twenty wounded. Among the latter was Father Engelran, who was seriously injured by a bullet.

The next morning the army pressed forward again, but no Seneca warriors were to be seen. The villages were deserted, and ten days were occupied by the soldiers and their allies in reducing the Indian villages and destroying the provisions and stores which the Senecas had left behind them. Denonville withdrew on the 24th with his army, and set out for Montreal. On the way back he ordered a stockade to be built at Niagara, on the site of La Salle’s old fort, between the River Niagara and Lake Ontario. Montreal was reached on the 13th of August.[702]

Denonville thought that he had made a successful stroke; but he was over sanguine. After this his power seemed to wane, and his prestige went down. Dongan was savage when he heard of the imprisonment of McGregory and Rooseboom, and wrote a sharp letter demanding their return. Denonville refused, and upbraided him for having assisted the savages. He thought better of his resolution as his anger cooled, however, and in a few weeks released his prisoners.

Dongan called a conference of the Iroquois, and told them to receive no more Jesuit missionaries into their towns. He called them British subjects, and said that they should make no treaties with the French without asking leave of King James. The humbled Indians promised obedience.

Hitherto, Dongan had not succeeded in getting his king to recognize the Iroquois as his subjects. On the 10th of November, 1687, however, a warrant arrived from England authorizing the Governor to protect the Five Nations, and to repel the French from their territory by force of arms, should they attack the villages again. The commissioners appointed, in accordance with the terms of the neutrality treaty signed at Whitehall, had the boundary question before them. Both French and English claimed the Iroquois, and the matter was assuming a serious aspect. News came in August, 1688, to Denonville, that the subject of dispute would receive prompt and satisfactory settlement.[703]

Meanwhile, the French Governor made several overtures to obtain peace with the Iroquois; but their demands were greater than his pride could grant. Dongan’s hand was seen in every proposition formulated by the savages. Father Vaillant was sent to Albany to try and obtain easier conditions, but the effort was vain; and the Iroquois absolutely refused to make peace or grant a truce until Fort Niagara was razed, and all the prisoners restored. These terms were exasperating; but when Denonville learned that Dongan had been recalled by King James, his spirits rose, and he felt as if a great load were removed. The governments of New York, New Jersey, and New England became one administration, and Sir Edmund Andros was named governor over all. So far as Denonville was concerned, he was no better off than before, for the new Governor insisted on all of Dongan’s old demands being satisfied, and actually forbade peace with the Iroquois on any other basis.

The state of Canada at this time, 1688, was most deplorable. Disease had broken out, and the mortality was fearful. Before spring, ten only, out of a garrison of one hundred men at Niagara, survived the scourge. The provisions had become bad, and prowling Senecas prevented any of the inmates of the fort from venturing out to look for food. Fort Frontenac’s garrison was also sadly diminished, and the distress throughout the country, from famine and disease, was very great. To add to the Governor’s troubles, the fur-trade had languished. Bands of Iroquois menaced the unfortunate settlers. The fields were untilled; danger lurked in every bush, and destitution, gaunt and grim, abounded everywhere. Peace must be had at any price, if the colony would live, and Denonville resolved to make it. He had become unmanned by his trials, and though he still had a force of fourteen hundred regulars, some militia, and three or four hundred Indian converts, he hesitated to venture on war. He wrote to the Court for eight hundred more troops, and the King sent him three hundred. Then he made up his mind to fight. He planned a campaign against the Iroquois which he hoped would break their power. He proposed to divide his army into two sections, with one of which he might crush the Onondagas and Cayugas, and with the other the Mohawks and Oneidas. He asked the King for four thousand troops, and the Bishop backed his demand with an earnest prayer; but France could not spare them, and the Governor was left to his own resources. He fell back on the arts of the diplomat, and invited the wily old chief Big Mouth, to a council at Montreal. The savage consented to come, despite his promises to the English, and presently he appeared before Denonville at the head of twelve hundred warriors. He addressed the Marquis haughtily, and said that he would make peace with the French, but the terms would not include their allies: the Iroquois must be left free to attack them when and how they would. Denonville, like De la Barre on a former occasion, dared not refuse, and the red allies of the Governor were again abandoned to their fate. A declaration of neutrality was drawn up June 15, 1688, and Big Mouth promised that deputies from the whole Confederacy should proceed to Montreal and sign a general peace.

A chief of the Hurons named Kondiaronk, or the Rat, heard of the treaty about to be made. Should it be ratified, it meant the destruction of his own tribe. He took steps to prevent it, and with a band of trusty savages intercepted the Iroquois deputies on their way to Montreal, at La Famine, and attacked them. One chief was killed, a warrior escaped with a broken arm, and the rest were wounded and taken prisoners. The Rat told his captives that Denonville had informed him that they were to pass that way, and when the captives replied that they were envoys of peace, the crafty Huron assumed an injured air, liberated them all save one, and giving them guns and ammunition, told them to go back to their people, and avenge the treachery of the French. They departed, breathing vengeance against Onontio. The wounded Iroquois who had been in the _mêlée_ escaped, however, learned a different story at Fort Frontenac, where he was well received, and hastened to Onondaga charged with explanations. The Iroquois pretended to be satisfied, and Denonville believed them; but ere long he was terribly undeceived. From one pretext and another, the treaty was not signed.

And now occurred one of the direst and blackest tragedies in the annals of New France. During the night and morning of the 4th and 5th of August, 1689, some fourteen or fifteen hundred Iroquois landed at Lachine. A tempest was raging at the time, and taking advantage of the storm and the darkness, they crept noiselessly up to the houses of the sleeping settlers, and, yelling their piercing war-whoop, fell upon their defenceless and surprised victims. The houses were fired, and the massacre of the inmates which followed was swift and frightful. Few escaped; men, women, and children were indiscriminately slain in cold blood. It is estimated that more than two hundred persons were butchered outright, and one hundred and twenty were carried off as prisoners and reserved for a fate worse than death. Women were impaled, children roasted by slow fires, and other horrors were perpetrated. Three stockade forts, Rémy, Roland, and La Présentation, respectably garrisoned, were situate in the vicinity of this bloody deed. Two hundred regular troops were encamped less than three miles away. Their officer, Subercase, was at the time in Montreal, some six miles from his command. A fugitive from the massacre alarmed the soldiers, and then fled to Montreal with his terrible news. Flying victims of the tragedy were seen at intervals pursued by Iroquois, but the presence of the file of soldiers prevented them from following up their prey. It was far into the day when Subercase returned, breathless, from Montreal. He hastily ordered his troops to push on, and, reinforced by one hundred armed settlers and several men from the forts, marched towards the encampment of the Indians. Most of the latter were helplessly drunk by this time, and Subercase could have killed many of them easily; but just as he was about to strike, Chevalier de Vaudreuil appeared upon the scene, and by orders of Denonville commanded the gallant officer to stand solely on the defensive. In vain Subercase protested; but the orders of his superior could not be gainsaid. The troops were marched back to Fort Roland, a great opportunity for revenge was lost, and the fatal pause cost the French very dearly. The next day the savages were early on the alert. Eighty men hurrying from Fort Rémy to join Vaudreuil were cut to pieces, and only Le Moyne, De Longueil, and a few others succeeded in making their way through the gate of the fort which they had just abandoned. The Indians continued their fiendish work. They burned all the houses and barns within an area of nine miles, and pillaged and scalped, without opposition, within a circle of twenty miles. The miserable policy of Denonville completely paralyzed the troops and inhabitants, and they allowed the Iroquois to remain in the neighborhood until they had surfeited themselves with slaughter, though with a little determined effort they could readily have driven them off. At length the savages withdrew of their own accord, and as they passed the forts they called out loud enough for the inmates to hear, “Onontio, you deceived us, and now we have deceived you.”

Other troubles overtook the colony: the rebellion broke out in England; war was declared between Britain and France, in the midst of which Denonville was recalled, and brave, chivalrous Frontenac, now in his seventieth year, crossed the seas again, his past conduct forgiven by King Louis, to administer for a second time the affairs of Canada.

It was in the autumn of 1689, and by evening, that Frontenac was received at Quebec with fireworks and jubilations. His passage had been long, and the season was too far advanced to render it practicable to organize an attack on New York by sea and land, in accordance with secret instructions which he had received on leaving France;[704] so the condition of affairs in Canada at once engaged his attention. These were far from cheerful. Frontenac hastened to Montreal, only to meet the garrison of Fort Frontenac, which had abandoned and partially destroyed the works, and were withdrawing under Denonville’s orders. In every direction the settlements were in terror of the stealthy Iroquois; and even the tribes of the lakes, having found under Denonville’s policy that little dependence could be placed in the support of the French, were showing signs of revolt. Frontenac had induced a council of the Iroquois; but his proposition for peace was only met by the revelation of their alliance with the tribes of Michillimackinac. The French Governor acted promptly: he despatched a force, accompanied by the astute Nicholas Perrot, to endeavor to prevent any overt act on the part of the Ottawas.