has liberated very recently Sieur Le Moine, an inhabitant of Montreal, who had been captured three months ago by these Barbarians.

M. de Tracy having notified him by the usual presents that he would give him a friendly audience, he pronounced a harangue full of good sense and an eloquence evincing no trace of the barbarous. It contained nothing but courtesies and offers of friendship and service on the part of all his tribe; wishes for a new Jesuit Mission, and expressions of condolence on the death of the late Father Le Moine, the intelligence of which he had just received.

However as no advantage can be expected from these Nations except in so far as we appear able to injure them, preparations were made for a militany expedition against those with whom no peace could be concluded. Monsieur dé Courcelles, who commanded, used every possible diligence so that he was ready to start on the 9th January of the year 1666, accompanied by M. du Gas, whom he took for his Lieutenant; by M. de Salamper, Gentleman Volunteer; by Father Pierre Raffeix, Jesuit; by 300 men of the Regiment of Carignan Salières and 200 Volunteers, habitans of the French Colonies. This march could not but be tedious, every one having snow shoes on his feet, to the use of which none were accustomed, and all, not excepting the officers nor even M. de Courcelles himself, being loaded, each with from 25 to 30 pounds of biscuit, clothing and other necessary supplies.

A more difficult or longer march than that of this little army, can scarcely be met with in any history, and it required a French courage and the perseverance of M. de Courcelles, to undertake it. In addition to the embarrassment caused by the snow shoes, which is a species of great inconvenience and that of the burthen which each one was obliged to carry, it was necessary to walk three hundred leagues on the snow; cross lakes and rivers continually on the ice in danger of making as many falls as steps: sleep only on the snow in the midst of the forest and endure a cold surpassing by many degrees in severity that of the most rigorous European winters.

Our troops, however, having gone the first day to Sillery to recommend the success of their enterprize to St. Michael the Archangel the patron of that place; many had, as early as the third day, the nose, the ears, the knees and the fingers or other parts entirely frozen and the remainder of the body covered with cicatrixes, and some others wholly overcome and benumbed by the cold would have perished in the snow, had they not been ca ried, though with considerable difficulty, to the place where they were to pass the night.

Sieurs De la Fouille, Maximin and Lobiac, Captains in the the Carignan regiment, having joined this little army on the 24th January, each with 20 soldiers of their companies and some habitans of the place were treated by the cold, on the day following, worse than any had previously been, and many soldiers were obliged to be brought back, of whom some had the legs cut by the ice and others the hands or the arms or other parts of the body altogether frozen. These losses were repaired by Sieurs de Chambly, Petit and Rogemont, Captains of the same regiment, and by the Sieurs Mignardi, Lieutenant of the Colonel's company which was withdrawn from Forts St. Louis and St. Therese, where the troops rendezvoused on the 30th of the same month. So that the army being still 500 men strong finally arrived on the 14th of February, with the same difficulties and the same dangers, as before, in the enemy's country, at 20 leagues distance from their villages. The journey yet to be travelled, was very long in consequence of the prodigious depth of the snow and the delay of the Algonquin guides, in whose absence unknown routes were to be tried and continual mistakes experienced.

Finally information was received from prisoners who were taken in some detached. cabins, and from the Commandant of a hamlet inhabited by the Dutch of New Netherland, that the greater part of the Mohawks and Oneidas having gone to a distance to make war against other tribes called the Wampum Makers, (les faiseurs de porcelaine) had left in their villages only the children and the helpless old men ; and it was considered useless to push farther forward an expedition which had all the

effect intended by the terror it spread among all the tribes, who were haughty and perfidious only because they considered themselves inaccessible to our troops. Before returning however we killed several savages who from time to time made their appearance along the skirts of the forest for the purpose of skirmishing with our people. Sieur Aiguemorte and some of our soldiers were also killed pursuing them.

The effects of the terror produced by his Majesty's arms on the hearts of these savages were apparent at Quebec in the month of May following, by the arrival of ambassadors from the Senecas, (Sonnontouaeronnons) who demanded the King's protection for their nation and the continuation of peace, which they pretended they never violated by any hostile act. M. de Tracy had already refused 24 presents that they had tendered him, but perceiving that it affected them sensibly and that they considered it the greatest insult that could be offered, he finally accepted. their wampum belts, repeating to them that it was neither their presents nor their goods that the King desired, but their true happiness and salvation; that they would derive all sorts of advantages from their confidence in his goodness which should be extended to the other Nations also, that they might experience its most favorable effects, if they took the same care in imploring it by sending their ambassadors forthwith.

These were soon succeeded by those of other tribes; among the rest by those from the Oneida and even by those from the Mohawk, so that the deputies from the Five Iroquois Nations were almost at the same time at Quebec as if to confirm by one common accord a durable peace with France.

In order the better to accomplish this it was deemed proper to send some Frenchmen with the Oneida Ambassadors, who were also responsible for the conduct of the Mohawks, and even gave hostages for them. The Dutch of New Netherland had likewise written in their behalf and went security for the faithful observance by all those Barbarians of the articles of peace entered into with them. These French delegates had orders to inform themselves of every thing carefully on the spot, and to learn if it were safe to confide again on the

Savages, so that His Majesty's arms should not be retarded by an illusive hope of peace.

But scarcely were the Ambassadors two or or three days journey from Quebec, when news came of the surprisal by the Mohawks of some Frenchmen belonging to Fort St. Anne who had 、 gone to the chase, and of the murder of Sieur de Traversy, Captain in the Carignan Regiment and Sieur de Chusy, and that some volunteers had been taken prisoners. The French delegates were at once recalled, and the Oneida savages who remained as hostages whose heads could have been at once split by axes according to the laws of war in this country, were imprisoned. But without having recourse to these barbarous laws, means were adopted to derive greater advantage from this treachery; and M. de Sorel, Captain in the Carignan Regiment, immediately collected a party of three hundred men, whom he led by forced marches into the enemy's country, resolved to put all, every where, to the sword. But when only 20 leagues distant from their villages he encountered new Ambassadors bringing back the Frenchmen taken near Fort St. Anne, and who were coming to offer every satisfaction for the murder of those who were slain and new guarantees for peace, so that this Captain having returned with This troops, there was no more talk but of peace, which they pretended to conclude by a general council of all the Tribes who had at the time delegates at Quebec.

These treaties had not, however, all the success which was expected from them, and M. de Tracy concluded that, to ensure their success, it was necessary to render the Mohawks by force of arms more tractable, for they always opposed new obstacles to the publick tranquillity. He wished, despite his advanced age, to lead in person against these Barbarians, an army composed of 600 soldiers drafted from all the companies, of six hundred habitans of the country and one hundred Huron and Algonquin savages. Through the exertions of M. Talon, all the preparations for this war were completed by the 14th Septr, the day fixed on for departure, being that of the exaltation and triumph of the Cross, for whose glory this expedition was determined on. The general rendezvous was fixed for the 28th of Sept., at Fort

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St. Anne recently constructed by Sieur La Mothe, Captain in the Carignan Regiment, on an Island in Lake Champlain. Some of the troops not being able to come up in sufficient time, M. de Tracy would not proceed before the 3d of October, with the main body of the army. But M. de Courcelles impelled by his characteristic impatience for the fight, started some days ahead with 400 men, and Sieurs De Chambly and Berthier, commandants of the Forts St. Louis and Assumption were left to follow M. de Tracy, four days afterwards, with the rear guard. As it was necessary to march one hundred and twenty leagues into the interior to find the enemy's villages, and as several large lakes and many considerable rivers were to be crossed before arriving there, it was necessary to be provided with conveniences for land and water. Vessels requisite for this expedition had been prepared. Three hundred were ready; consisting partly of very light batteaux, and partly of bark canoes, each of which" carried at most five or six hundred persons. On crossing a river or lake, each was obliged to take charge of his own canoe and to carry the batteaux by main strength. This caused less labor than" two small pieces of artillery which were conveyed even to the farthest Iroquois villages, to force more easily all the fortifi-"

cations.

Notwithstanding the care taken to accomplish this march with little noise, we could not prevent some Iroquois, despatched from 30 to 40 leagues to discover our troops, seeing from the mountain tops this little naval expedition, and running to warn the first village of it; so that the alarm spreading afterwards from village to village, our troops found them abandoned, and these barbarians were only seen on the mountains at a distance uttering great cries and firing some random shots at our soldiers."

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Our army halting only for refreshment at all these villages, which were found void of men but full of grain and provisions, expected to meet with a vigorous resistance at the last which we prepared to attack in regular form, because the barbarians evinced by the great firing they made there, and the fortifications they had erected, every disposition for a despe rate defence. But our people were again disappointed in their

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