for the request you have made me. I ask you in return, if the Seneca, Cayuga or any other commit a similar insult against me, that you first give him some sense, and if he will not hear you, that you abandon him as one disaffected.

By the last belt, he exhorted them to listen not to evil sayings, and told them to conduct Tegannehout back to Seneca and to inform these of the above conclusions.

M. DE MEULLES TO THE MINISTER.

[From the same.]

My Lord I thought you would be impatient to learn the suc cess and result of the war the General had undertaken against the Iroquois which rendered it necessary for him to call a part of the people of this country together and make all neces sary preparation, at his Majesty's expense, for this expedition. The troops have been as far as a place called La Famine, thirty leagues beyond Fort Frontenac. The army consisted of nine hundred French and three hundred Savages, and from the Niagara side there was another army of six hundred men, one third of whom were French and the remainder Ottawas and Hurons, amounting in all to eighteen hundred men.

What Indians there were evinced the best disposition to fight the Iroquois to the death. Sieur de la Durantaye who brought the last six hundred men from Missilimakinak, has informed us that he learned from a Miami Chief that more than a thousand Illinois were coming to our aid on learning that we were about to fight the Iroquois, to such a degree are they their irreconcileable enemies. Certainly, never was there remarked a better disposi tion to fight and conquer them and purge the country of that nation which will be eternally our enemy. All the French breathed nothing but war, and though they saw themselves obliged to abandon their families, they consoled themselves with the hope of liberating them by one victory from a nation so odious as the Iroquois, at whose hands they constantly dreaded ambushes and destruction. But the General did not think proper to

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push matters any farther, and without any necessity sent Sieur Le Moyne to the said Iroquois to treat of peace at a time when every one was in good health, and when all necessary provision was made of food, &c. to dare every enterprize; and finally after various comings and goings on one side and the other, the General concluded peace such as you will see by the articles which I take the liberty to send you as written by the hand of his Secretary.

This peace, my Lord, has astonished all the Officers who had the command in that army and all those who composed it, who have testified so deep a displeasure and so sovereign a contempt for the General's person that they could not prevent themselves evincing it to him. I assure you, my Lord, that had I strayed ever so little from my duty and not exhibited exteriorly, since his return, the respect I owe his character, the whole world would have risen against him and would have been guilty of some ex

cess.

The said General excuses himself because of the sick and even says that the troops lacked food; to which I feel obliged to answer, being certain that he seeks every pretext and has recourse to every expedient to exculpate himself and perhaps to put the blame on me.

"Tis certain that there was a great number of sick among the Militia which he took with him to Fort Frontenac, who were în perfect good health on arriving there, but having encamped them for a fortnight in prairies between the woods and a pond, it is not surprizing that some fell sick. Again he made them camp at La Famine in places that were never inhabited, entirely surrounded by swamps, which contributed still considerably to the sickness in his army; and had he remained there longer he would not have saved a man. This has caused every one to say that he did not care, that he had not the least desire to make war; that he made no use of his long sojourns except employing them in his negociations. Had he seriously wished to make war on the said Iroquois he would not have remained ten to twelve days at Montreal, fourteen or fifteen at Fort Frontenac and as many at La Famine, but would have remained merely a day or two, and

would have used the greatest despatch to fight the Iroquois, and not uselessly consumed all his provisions; he would have, indubitably surprised the said Iroquois who did not expect this war, especially as the greater number of their young men had been at war in the beginning of the spring.

That did not prevent such as batteaux, ca

He says he lacked provisions; though that were true, he would be the cause and could not but accuse himself of imprudence, having supplied him, generally, with whatever he required of me, of which the whole country is a witness, and with a little precaution or rather good faith he would have had every thing in abundance. He had determined not to leave until the 15th of August; he departed on the 15th July. me furnishing all that he required of me, noes, arms, ammunition, and all the provision he desired. This is so true that there yet remained at the end of the island of Montreal, at a place called La Chine thirty-five thousand weight of flour and five of biscuit which he found on his return, and which he had requested me to retain for him at Montreal. Had he not halted and had he been disposed to push into the Iroquois Country, the first convoy of provisions which accompanied him had sufficed, the greater number of the militia, unwilling to wait for the King's supplies having laid in their own private stock, the greater part of which they brought back with them, which all the Captains in command will certify. This convoy consisted of eighteen canoes full of biscuit, pork, brandy and apparently other things which I do not precisely know having been loaded at Montreal whilst I was at Quebec where I issued orders for the provisions that the General had demanded of me and for attending to the harvest of those who had gone to the war.

If it had been the General's design to make war, he should not have caused the cargoes of the eighteen canoes I have mentioned to be put into barks thirty leagues from Montreal above the Rapids, instead of letting the voyage be continued by the canoemen who were paid to go to Fort Frontenac and who had already accomplished the roughest half of the road, and who, without a doubt, would have arrived in three days at the Fort, which was represented to him by all the officers who stated to

him that the barks required wind which being contrary would keep them more than three weeks from arriving. This turned out to be true. Notwithstanding all these reasons he absolutely insisted that all the said provisions should be put in the barks. Some have assured me that the canoes of said convoy were partly laden with merchandize, and not being very desirous to let the circumstance be known, he had caused the said barks to precede the canoes to put the goods secretly into them and keep the knowledge of it from every body. By these means he made use of these canoes to convey these merchandizes to the Fort at the King's expense, which he has always practised for two years, ever pretending certain necessity to transport munitions of war, and to make use, by this means, of the conveyances for which the King is made to pay, under pretext to keep the Fort in good order. It is impossible to conceive the quantity of Brandy that he has caused to be conveyed thither during eighteen months, of which I have had most positive information, and of which I had the honour to advise you in my last. Others supposed that he had the said provisions put on board those barks in order to obtain time and by this address, to negotiate a peace with the Iroquois, as he had sent Sieur Le Moyne to them who is a very brave man and who despaired of all these negotiations, stating openly that they ought to be whipt. All the delays at Montreal, the Fort, and at La Famine caused the useless consumption of a portion of the supplies which, however, did not fail; other convoys having been received from time to time, but these were always wasted without any thing having been done.

After the said General had determined in his own mind on this war, he sent the man named Bourbon, an inhabitant of this country to Colonel Dongan to advise him that he was obliged to wage war against the Iroquois, requesting him not to afford them any aid; which he confided to me eight days after the departure of the said Bourbon. This obliged me to tell him that I was astonished that he should have thus proceeded; that the Iroquois having insulted us and intending to fight with and destroy them, I should not have deemed it proper to inform neighbours who have an interest in our destruction; and that he afforded thereby an op

portunity to Col. Dongan, who is an Englishman, and consequently our born enemy, to give underhand information of our designs to the Iroquois, and convey secretly to them all that may be necessary for their defence against us.. I asked him if he did not perceive that the English would never desire our advantage, and that they would contribute all in their power to destroy us, though at peace as regards France; that they would always be jealous of the Fur trade prosecuted by us in this Country, which would make them protect the Iroquois always against us.

This Bourbon negotiation gave Colonel Dongan occasion to use some rhodomontade as the General has informed me ; and this assuredly it was that obliged him, having this information, to send an Englishman, who is in the habit of trading among the said Indians, to plant the Duke of York's arms among the Onnontagués, which is an Iroquois village, wishing by that act to take the first possession of the Country. We have not heard talk of any other movement on the English side, and it is even certain that they will never cause us any dread from that quarter and that they could not prevent us to achieve that conquest this year, had the General been willing to fight.

You can hardly believe, my Lord, that the General has, alone, undertaken the war without having consulted any person, neither officers of the army nor gentlemen, nor the people of the country who are the most interested, nor any individual whosoever he might be, except Sier de la Chesnayne, with whom he acts in concert for the entire destruction and ruin of the country. He has again made peace in this manner without any communication with any of the officers or others of those who were near his person. What seems a wonder in the country is that one individual, subject of his Majesty like others, should, of his own will, make war and peace without having consulted or demanded the opinion of any person. His Majesty never acted thus. He has his Council of War, and when he is about to wage it, he demands advice of those of his council, in communicating to them the reasons which he may have to do so, and even causes the publication of manifests throughout the Kingdom, wishing to communicate to his people the justice of his undertakings. But the