be readily overcome. This is illustrated by an event which occurred about this time. Their chief Taxous died, and it was necessary to elect his successor.

A council was called at Norridgewock, and thither the wild people, tricked out in barbaric paint and feathers, flocked in large numbers. Should they have war or not, was the uppermost question with the fickle and restless crowds, gathered under the spreading trees, and thronging the open glades about Norridgewock. There were two parties; one, composed of the older and wiser men, was for peace, the other for war. The election of a chief from one or the other of these parties would determine the question. When the council assembled, the acts of the English, which had been placed in the worst light by the French, were made the pretext for immediate hostilities by the younger and more violent men, but wiser counsels prevailed, and Wissememet, a champion of peace, was elected. A short time after, a friendly conference was held at Georgetown, at which was present not only the chief, whom Ralé calls "Ketermogus, a cipher in the Village," because of his love of peace; but, also, Ouaourene, whom he praises for his hostility to the English, and both not only declared themselves to be friends of peace, but moreover delivered hostages to confirm this declaration.

One who studies carefully the history of the transactions between the English and savages, cannot fail to be impressed with the apparent desire of both for friendly relations; but a treaty was no sooner concluded between them, than the active agents of the French began to make the savages dissatisfied with it.

Ralé, in evident chagrin, wrote Vaudreuil the result of the election. The reply to this letter reveals the odious character of Vaudreuil. He was indignant at the faintheartedness of the savages in making pledges to the English, and thought that active efforts should be made to obtain the aid of the Canadian tribes to awaken their zeal. The new chief was made to feel the displeasure of the French at his pacific attitude; and Ouaourene was flattered and rewarded for displaying his opposition to them. A number of "degraded" savages, friendly to the English, were sent to Quebec by Ralé, and their reception by the governor may be imagined from this passage from his letter to the priest, "You may depend I will make the degraded, sensible how much I am discontent with their conduct."1

1 Vide Begon's letter to Ralé, Quebec, the 14th June, 1721; Board of Trade Papers, New England, bundle T, vol. 17, and Vaudreuil to Ralé, Quebec,

The reception by Gov. Shute of a letter from the savages, in the summer of 1721, increased the public indignation against Ralé. It was in French, signed by the head of the Norridgewocks and eight other chiefs, his allies, so called, and was a threatening protest against English settlement, along the Kennebec. It was certainly, on the face of it, an alarming document, for it represented not only the tribes of Maine, but the Micmacs, Iroquois, Algonkins, Hurons and other more remote tribes, the signatures of whose chiefs had been obtained by the French, and it so plainly revealed the hand of Ralé, that he was believed not only to have instigated, but to have been the author of it. De la Chasse was, however, quite as prominent in its production as his confrère.

We now know, from the correspondence of the chief actors in the affair, the secret history of this document, much of which was concealed from the knowledge of our forefathers. The formation of a peace party among the Norridgewock savages, already spoken of, aroused Ralé to action, and a conference with the English having been determined upon, he planned to prevent the peace party from having a too

the 25th September, 1721. Ibid., bundle 10, vol. 16, Office of the Public Records, London, printed by the author in Me. Hist. Quarterly for 1890, pp. 373-377.

prominent part in the conference. As he wrote Vaudreuil, he deemed it necessary to have the peace delegates to the conference outnumbered by the "well intentioned" or in the words of the practical politician of our day, to pack the meeting. Fearing defection even among those who were for war, he dispatched six savages to Canada, to invite their countrymen residing there, and the Hurons of Lorette, "to find❞ themselves at the proposed conference. Ralé's runners were received by Vaudreuil, who brought them to the villages of St. Francis and Becancourt, to impress upon the savages how injurious to them was English settlement on the frontier. This mission was successful, and they all agreed to join in the conference.

To strengthen affairs at Norridgewock Vaudreuil dispatched thither Father de la Chasse, Superior of the Jesuits, who had served among the Abnakis for a score of years, in order to bring the people there "to one mind," a task which was rendered easier by the vigorous measures which Ralé had adopted at the outset. Having accomplished this task, De la

Chasse then returned to Canada, where he assembled his savage neophytes and again set out for Norridgewock, gathering on his way a wild band from the Penobscot and other savage villages; in fact, to the

surprise of the English, he succeeded in getting recruits from their dangerous neighbors on the Piscataqua. Having gathered these savages of different tribes to the number of two hundred and fifty; on the 28th of July, 1721; when, be it remembered, France and England were at peace, the two priests, with Castin and Croisel, the latter a French officer, appeared with them opposite Arrowsic, and for mally presented the letter in question, which was as follows:

1 La Père Râlé, missionaire à Narantsouak, a informé les Sieurs de Vaudreuil et Begon, le printemps dernier, que sur les représentations qu'il avoit faites aux Sauvages de sa mission de ne pas souffrir que les Anglois continuassent de s'établer au bas de leur revière, ils avoient tué il y a deux ans un grand nombre de bestiaux appartenant aux Anglois et depuis les avoient menacé que s'ils ne se retiraient ils augmenteraient les actes d'hostilité pour les y forcer; que l'automne dernier it s'est formé deux partés dans ce village dont la moitié a été d'avis de continuer de s'opposer aux établissements des Anglois, et l'autre gagné par eux dans la volanté de souffrir qu'ils s'y établissent. Le sentiment de ces derniers a prévalee; et quatre ôtages ont été envoyés à Baston.

Il leur a aussi donné avis que les Anglois leur ayant indiqué un pourparler pour engager le reste du village à souffrir leur etablissement, il etait nécessaire que dans ce pourparler le parti des Sauvages bien intentionné fut la plus numbreux afin de faire revenir à leur sentiment ceux qui avoient été gagnés