upon the settlements in New Hampshire, and yet another upon those of Maine.

The inhuman atrocities perpetrated alike on men, women and children, their utter disregard of pledges given to induce surrender by the two first of these parties, we will not relate. Schuyler said, no pen could write, and no tongue express them. Children were thrown alive into the fire, their heads dashed in pieces against the doorposts, while tortures too dreadful to relate, were inflicted upon their parents.1 Who can wonder that such cruelties left an ineffacable impression upon the hearts of the English settlers for generations, and convinced them, that selfpreservation alone rendered it imperative to reduce the savages to complete subjection whatever might be the cost.

The party sent against Maine set out from Quebec in January, led by Portneuf and Courtemanche. Treading their way through the gloom of trackless forests, and facing the blinding snows, or wallowing waist-deep through the drifts as they emerged on the dreary openings, ever alert for game to add to their scanty stores, the party pushed on, and in May

1 Cf. Belknap, Mather, Charlevoix, De La Potherie, Documentary History of New York and Schuyler's Report, Feb. 15, 1690.

reached the vicinity of Falmouth, where they hovered among the islands and along the shores until ready to attack the settlement. Portneuf had been joined by Castin and Hertel, the latter, the leader of the ruthless band, which had been sent against the New Hampshire settlements, and were now on their return from scenes of carnage, which had sharpened their appetite for the carnival of blood and devastation which they had in anticipation. In the band were the Indians whom Andros had magnanimously released from imprisonment at Fort Loyal, and who, being acquainted with its defenses, were valuable guides to those now seeking its destruction.

The attack on Falmouth began on the 15th day of May, with the slaughter of Lieutenant Clark and thirteen men on Munjoy Hill, and was followed by an attack on Fort Loyal, which resulted, after four days' resistance, in the surrender of Capt. Davis and his garrison, with the women and children, who had sought refuge in the fort. Although the French commander bound himself by oath before the surrender, that the English should have safe conduct to the next town, as soon as he had them in his power he abandoned them to the savages, who murdered men, women and children without pity. They were "heretics and traitors," with whom, in those

dismal times, it was not necessary to keep faith.1 That this war against the English settlers had assumed the lurid hue of a religious crusade cannot be doubted, and the feeling with which they were regarded found frequent expression, as in the case of Père Gay, who, seeing his savage neophytes give way before Schuyler, encouraged them by shouting, "You have at your head the Holy Virgin; what do you fear? We have to do with Infidels, who have only the form of man."2

1 Vide Magnalia Christi Americana, Hartford, 1853, vol. 2, p. 603 et seq. Declaration of Sylvanus Davis, Collections Mass. Hist. Society, 3d series, vol. 1, p. 101. Documentary Hist. of N. Y., vol. 2, p. 259. New York Colonial Documents, vol. IX, p 472. Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle France, à Paris, 1744, Tome, 3, p. 78.

2 The words are as follows: "DIEU fut servi pendant toute cette Campaigne, comme si c'avait été une Communanté de Religieux. Il nefaut pas que j'oublie la manière avec laquelle M. Gay, Ecclésiastique de la Montagne s'est signalé. Il a agi en Apôtre et en General d'armée. Dans la seconde sortie que l'on fit, il s'aperçut qu'une partie de nos gens lachaient pied, il courut à eux leur criant: 'Vous ne faites donc pas réflexion, que vous avez à votre tête, la Sainte Vierge que nous avons prise pour notre protectrice; que nous avons déja reçu d'elle tant de marques de son assistance, et qu'elle est votre bouclier? Que craignez-vous? Nous avons affaire à des infidèles, qui n'ont que la figure d'homme; et

Naturally, as Denonville wrote from Quebec a few days before the attack on Falmouth, the English regarded all the French missionaries as their most cruel enemies, whom they would not suffer among the savages who were contiguous to them.1

While Portneuf and his wild band were stealthily approaching Falmouth, Sir William Phips, adopting the well-known military maxim, that by recalling your enemy to the defense of his own possessions, you can best guarantee the security of your own, was making ready to strike the enemy in his own home, and before the embers of the devoted town had ceased smoking, he had captured Port Royal, and making prisoners of Meneval, the French com

ne vous souvenez-vous pas que vous êtes les sujets du Roi de France, dont le nom fait trembler toute l'Europe?'

Vide L'Héroine Chrétienne du Canada, etc., par L'Abbé Etienne Michel Faillon. Villemarie, Cher les soeurs de la Congregation de Notre Dame, 1860, P. 317.

Alluding to the jealousies existing between the English and French, he speaks of the interests of the Catholic religion, which, he says, they will never permit to make any progress among the savages, "regardant tous nos missionnaires come leurs plus cruels ennemies qu'ils ne veulent pas souffrir avec les Sauvages qui sont à portée d'eulx.' Vide Collection de Manuscrits, etc., Quebec, 1884, vol. 2, p.1 et seq.

mander, and the garrison under his command, he triumphantly carried them to Boston.1

This success seemed an especial mark of divine providence, and Governor Bradstreet issued a proclamation appointing a day of fasting, and admonishing the people to repent of their sins. So well were his wishes complied with, that Mather says: "The churches kept the wheel of prayer in continual motion." A naval expedition to strike at Quebec itself, the center of French power in America, was soon organized, and on the 9th of August, the fleet under the command of Phips sailed from Boston, at the same time a land expedition was making its way from Albany to strike a retaliatory blow at Montreal. The English were not to be rooted out of American soil so easily as the French king in his vain pride imagined they might be. Both expeditions were unsuccessful. Frontenac, the governor of New France, was a man of marked ability, and to his military skill and promptitude, as well as the natural difficulties,

6 et seq.

1 Vide Prise du Port Royal par les Anglois de Baston. Collection de Manuscrits, etc., vol. 2, p. Lettre de Monsieur de Meneval au Ministre, Ibid., p. 10 et seq. A Journal of the Expedition from Boston to Port Royal. Chalmers' papers, Harvard College.

2 Vide Magnalia Christi Americana, vol. 1, p. 192.