May. Dongan again warns Castin. CH. VIII. Council asked Dongan to aid them with Mohawk warriors. To further this request, Governor Cranfield, with 1684. Dudley and Shrimpton, of Massachusetts, visited New York. 11 April. Dongan, however, would not irritate the Iroquois, especially as the Kennebec savages were "stout fellows, and feared not the Mohawks;" although he promised assistance if the Eastern Indians began hostilities. As Saint Castin was supposed to have instigated them, the governor again warned him and the French under his authority either to quit Pemaquid, or else swear allegiance to the King of England; promising not to interfere with their religion. Dongan's offer was considered by the French to be "the more dangerous," because of his "being a Catholic, and having a Jesuit and Priests along with him." Intending to visit Pemaquid, Dongan left its local government for the present in the hands of Captain Nicholas Manning, Sheriff John Allen, and Giles Goddard, its representative in the New York Assembly. Some of its inhabitants complained that Pemaquid. the regulations of the previous November were "altogether arbitrary," and asked that the laws and tribunals of New York, although "over great distant," should be extended to them; but as the governor was now occupied with the Iroquois at Albany, the affairs of Pemaquid were postponed until he could himself go thither, "and in the mean time, the former orders to be observed."* 21 April. 23 April. 9 July. Orders for New York and Canada. Up to this time the relations between New York and Canada had been, upon the whole, friendly. The sympathy between Charles the Second and Louis the Fourteenth was not to be disturbed by any questions about their colonies in North America. But the Duke of York was anxious to gain all the territory he could; and his deputy, Andros, had claimed, in 1677, that New York included all the country south of the Saint Lawrence and Lake Ontario. This bold claim could not, however, be admitted by Canada. French missionaries had planted Christianity in that region long before any other Europeans had seen it; and the governors of New France had maintained the sovereignty of their king by warlike expeditions, and by treaties with the * Council Min., v., 66–69, 72, 91; Col. MSS., xxxi., 166, 181; xxxii., 11, 37; xxxiv., 17, 18 (ii.), 2; Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., v., 70-72, 81-104, 263, 264; Mass. H. S. Coll., xxxv., 121, 122; Mass. Rec., v., 490; Col. Doc., iii., 364, 365, 406, 450; ix., 263, 265, 266, 800, 918; Belknap, i., 171, 172, 322; Williamson, i., 581; ante, 379. savages, whom they overawed. But the appointments of C. VIII. De la Barre and of Dongan, to govern Canada and New York, brought to a crisis the question between those colonies, which could no longer be left undecided. 1684. Dongan's policy. De la conduct. Dongan's Indian policy was simply to execute and extend that of his predecessor, Andros. In his earliest letters the duke's governor told De la Barre that "nobody February. hath a greater desire to have a strict union with you, and Indian good correspondence, than myself, who served long time in France, and was much obliged by the king and gentry of that country." At the same time, Dongan claimed that all the territory "south and southwest of the Lake of Canada," belonged to the King of England. De la Barre, however, would not recognize the Iroquois as British subjects. Some Senecas and Cayugas having plundered French canoes on their way to the Sioux, assaulted Fort Saint Louis, 28 March. but were repulsed by De Baugy, the successor of Tonty. Barre's De la Barre therefore resolved to attack the Senecas. He detained their ambassador, Tegancourt, who came to Quebec to ratify the agreement made the autumn before; and directed the Jesuit missionaries, Millet at Oneida, and the two Lambervilles at Onondaga, to intrigue so as to divide. the Iroquois confederates. The savage allies of the French in the West were also ordered to be brought down, and Fort Frontenac was re-enforced. Some Caghnawaga converts were sent with friendly messages to the Mohawks, 10 June. Oneidas, and Onondagas. The King of France was so- 5 June. licited to obtain an order from the King of England, prohibiting Dongan from assisting the Iroquois. De la Barre also sent the Sieur Bourdon to New York with a letter, ad- 15 June. vising Dongan of his intention to attack the Senecas and Cayugas, but not the Mohawks and Oneidas, "neighbors of Albany;" the people of which, he asked, might be forbidden to sell arms and ammunition to the Iroquois, which proceeding "can alone intimidate them, and when they see the Christians united on this subject, they will show them more respect than they have done hitherto." But Dongan answered that all the Iroquois nations were under the government of New York, as appeared by its records; that the duke's territories reached "as far as the River of Canada; and that if the French did not come 1684. 24 June. 4 July. Dongan C. VIII. south of the Saint Lawrence and Lake Ontario," the peo"I am so ple" of New York would not go north of them. heartily bent," he added, "to promote the quiet and tranquillity of this country and yours, that I intend forthwith to go myself to Albany, on purpose, and there send for the New York. Indians, and require of them to do what is just, in order to a satisfaction to your pretences; if they will not, I shall not unjustly protect them."* firm for Dongan's promised visit to Albany had become more important, because some Iroquois war parties, said to have been instigated by the French missionaries, had gone down the Susquehanna, and committed outrages on the northern settlements of Maryland and Virginia. These hostilities violated the compact made at Albany in August, 1682. 28 Feb'y. So Francis, Lord Howard of Effingham, who had succeeded Lord Culpepper as governor of Virginia, thought it nec Lord How essary to instigate Dongan to join him in a war against the Five Nations. Accompanied by two members of his coun29 June. cil, Effingham accordingly came to New York, where he ard of Ef was entertained, and was admitted by the city corporation visits New to be a freeman of the metropolis. Lord Effingham apis made a pears to have been the first British peer upon whom this freeman. distinction was conferred. At Dongan's invitation he sail fingham York, and 30 July. Dongan ed with him in midsummer up the glorious Hudson to Albany, where the five Iroquois cantons of New York had been summoned to meet their "Corlaer."+ Deputies from the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas soon assembled there. Those from the far-off Senecas had not yet come. Lord Effingham opened the and Effing- conference in presence of Dongan and two of his counselors, and the magistrates of Albany, by recapitulating the broken promises and recent outrages of the Iroquois, and proposed to make "a new chain" between them and Virginia and Maryland, "to endure even to the world's end."+ ham at Albany. * Col. Doc., iii., 233, 237, 247, 393, 394, 395, 447, 448, 449, 451, 467; v., 531, 731; ix., 200, 207, 226-228, 239, 240, 246, 247, 305; Doc. Hist., i., 67, 68, 73, 74, 262; Quebec MSS., iv. (ii.), 246, 248, 251; Council Min., iii. (ii.), 135; v., 40, 89, 90; Colden, i., 44, 53, 60, 61, 62, 249, 250; Charlevoix, ii., 290, 307–313; La Hontan's Voyages, i., 2-28; Pinkerton, xiii., 254–270; N. Y. II. S. Coll., ii., 286, 287; Shea's Missions, 312, 313; ante, 306, 307, 377. + Council Min., v., 40, 93; Col. MSS., xxxi., 157, 174; Col. Doc., iii., 394, 406, 449; ix., 208, 228, 253; Colden, i., 44; ii., 80; Smith, i., 69; Chalmers, i., 346, 587; Burk, ii., 277, 281, 282; Beverley, 77; Oldmixon, i., 393; Campbell, 338; Collins's Peerage, v., 25; ante, 366, 377. In the first edition of Colden, p. 49, the date of this meeting is correctly given as "the The Iro mally sub King of Dongan now accomplished an important purpose. Tak- C. VIII. ing advantage of the presence of his brother governor from 1684. Virginia, he obtained from the Iroquois their written sub- 30 July. mission to "the Great Sachem Charles, that lives on the quois forother side of the great lake." This was recorded upon mit to the "two white dressed deer-skins," which were "to be sent to England. the great Sachem in England, that he may write on them, and put a great red seal to them." All the Susquehanna susqueRiver above the "Washuta," or Wyalusing Falls, and all lands. the rest of the land of the Iroquois, was thus confirmed to the Duke of York, and "fastened" to his government.* hanna Massachu At the same time, Counselor Van Cortlandt, whom the 30 July, Massachusetts government appointed to be its agent, had setts and an interview with the Mohawk sachems, and ratified “their quois. former and happy friendship" by some small presents.† the Iro fingham "Assari the Iro The next day the Mohawk sachem Odianne, who spoke 31 July. for the four nations then represented, answered Lord Effingham that the Mohawks were free from blame, but that the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas had been “ stupid, brutish, and void of understanding." In their name, however, he promised "Assarigoa," or "the big knife," that Lord Ef the covenant chain should thenceforth be kept "bright as named silver" between Virginia and Maryland, and the Five Na- goa" by tions of New York, whose covenant house at Albany "must be kept clean." And then he offered to plant a tree of peace, "whose tops will reach the sun and its branches spread far abroad," so as to cover not only Virginia and Maryland, but Massachusetts, which Van Cortlandt represented. The Oneidas then gave beaver-skins to satisfy what they had promised Lord Baltimore two years before. An Onondaga followed for his own nation:-the Oneidas and Cayugas, asking to "lay hold of the chain," and that thirtieth of July;" but the London editions of 1747, p. 47, and 1755, i., p. 45, erroneously print thirteenth. This error is followed by Burk, ii., 282; Bancroft, ii., 419; Dunlap, i., 136; and others. * Col. Doc., iii., 347, 363, 394, 406, 417, 418, 508, 509, 515, 516; Colden (first ed.), 64, 65; ed. 1755, i., 55, 56; Doc. Hist., i., 261, 264, 266; Penn. Arch., i., 121-123; ante, 376. † Mass. Rec., v., 461, 462; Colden (first ed.), 62; ed. 1755, i., 54; Col. Doc., iii., 394; ante, 309. The Mohawks, and Odianne their orator-misled, perhaps, by Arnout Cornelissen Viele, the Dutch interpreter-mistook Lord Howard's name for "Houwer," a Dutch word, which in English means a hanger or cutlass. This phonetic error made them call the Virginian governor "Assarigoa," which, in the Iroquois tongue, signifies "big knife." This term, "Assarigoa" (like that of "Corlaer"" in New York), was long used by the New York savages to designate the governors of Virginia: Col. Doc., iii., 454; v., 670; viii., 119; ix., 706; Mass. Rec., v., 461; Colden, i., 50; ii., 48; Shea's ed., 57, 133. quois. 1684. Axes buri bany. Cп. VIII. an axe might be buried for each of them. But the Mohawks said that no axe need be buried for them, because they had never broken the first chain. Then the five axes -two for Maryland and Virginia, and three for the Oneied at Al- das, Onondagas, and Cayugas-" were buried in the southeast end of the court-yard, and the Indians threw the earth upon them. After which my Lord told them them that since now a firm peace was concluded, we shall hereafter remain firm friends, and Virginia and Maryland will send once in two or three years to renew it, and some of our Indian Sachems shall come according to your desire to confirm it." After this the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas "jointly sang the Peace Song, with demonstrations of much joy, and thanked the Governor of New York for his effectual mediation with the Governor of Virginia in their favour."* August. The Duke of York's arms on the Iroquois castles. The four nations then asked to have "the Duke of York's arms put upon their castles," which they supposed "would save them from the French." So Dongan ordered Viele, the interpreter, to place them on "each castle, as amput far as Oneigra," which was accordingly done. Viele was instructed to forbid the Five Nations, "as subjects of the Duke of York," from holding any conference with the French without the governor's permission; and the Senecas were offered four hundred cavalry and as many infantry if they should be attacked by the French. Dongan likewise asked the savages to call home those of their nations who had settled at Caghnawaga, near Montreal. The sachems adroitly replied, "Corlaer keeps a correspondence with Canada, and therefore he can prevail more than we can. Let Corlaer use his endeavours to draw our Indians home to their own country."+ 2 August. Speech of dagas and The Onondagas and Cayugas now made "a remarkable the Onon- speech" to the two English governors, whom they addressed Cayugas to as "Brethren," at the Town Hall of Albany-"Your Saand Effing- chem," they said, "is a great Sachem, and we are but a small people. But when the English first came to Manhattan, Vir Dongan ham. * Colden (first ed.), 55-61; ed. 1755, i., 49–53; ii., S0; Burk, i., 284–287; ante, 365, 366. + Colden (first ed.), 61, 62, 63, 78 (ed. 1755), i., 53, 54, 65; Col. Doc., iii., 363, 396, 449, 473; v., 75, 76; ix., 242, 247, 251, 253, 257, 259, 261; Doc. Hist., i., 69, 76, 81, 87; Charlevoix, iii., 315. Viele's Journal of his expedition is in Col. MSS., xxxi., 159, and Albany Records, xviii., 461-464. |