EXTRACT OF THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY THE KING

TO M. DE LA BARRE.

[Paris Doc. Vol. II.]

Versailles, 10th May, 1682. He is equally informed that the Savages nearest adjoining to the French Settlements are the Algonquins and the Iroquois, that the latter had repeatedly troubled the peace and tranquillity of the Colonies of New France until His Majesty having waged a severe war against them, they were finally constrained to submit and to live in peace and quietness without making any incursions on the lands inhabited by the French. But as these restless and warlike tribes cannot be kept down except by terror, and as His Majesty has even been informed by the last despatches, that the Onnontagués and Senecas-Iroquois tribes-have killed a Recollet and committed many other violences and that it is to be feared that they will push their audacity even further; It is very important that the said Sieur de la Barre put himself in a condition to proceed as early as possible, with 5 or 600 of the militia most favorably situated for this expedition along the shores of Lake Frontenac at the mouth of Lake Conty, to exhibit himself to these Iroquois Settlements in a condition to restrain them within their duty and even to attack them should they do any thing against the French, wherein he must observe that he is not to break with them without a very pressing necessity and an entire certitude to promptly and advantageously finish a war that he will have undertaken against them.

He must not only apply himself to prevent the violences of the Iroquois against the French. He must also endeavour to keep the Savages at peace among themselves, and prevent the Iroquois

by all means making war on the Illinois and other tribes, neighbours to them, being very certain that if these Nations whose furs, the principal trade of Canada, are destroyed, should see themselves secure against the violence of the Iroquois by the protection they would receive from the French, they might be so much the more excited to wear their merchandizes and will thereby increase trade.

At the meeting held the tenth October 1682, composed of M. the Governor, M. the Intendant, M. the Bishop of Quebec, M. Dollier Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, the Rev. Fathers Beschefer Superior, D'Ablon and Fremin, Jesuits, M. the Major of the City, Messrs. de Varenne Governor of Three Rivers, de Brussy, Dalibout, Duguet, Lemoine, Ladurantais, Bizard, Chailly, Vieuxpont, Duluth, de Sorel, Derepentigny, Berthier and Boucher.

It is proposed by M. the Governor, that from the records which M. the Count de Frontenac was pleased to deposit in his hands of what had passed at Montreal on the 12 Sept. last, between him and the Deputy of the Onontagué Iroquois, it is easy to infer that these people are inclined to follow the object of their enterprize, which is to destroy all the Nations in alliance with us, the one after the other, whilst they keep us in uncertainty and with folded arms; so that, after having deprived us of the entire fur trade which they wish alone to carry on with the English and Dutch established at Manate and Orange, they may attack us isolated, and ruin the Colony in obliging it to contract itself and abandon all the separate settlements, and thus arrest the cultivation of the soil which cannot bear grain nor be cultivated as meadow except in quarters where it is of good quality.

As he is not informed in the short time since his arrival from France, of the state of these tribes and of the Colony, he requests them to acquaint him with all they know of these things in order

that he may inform his Majesty thereof, and represent to him the necessities of this Colony, for the purpose as well of averting this war as for terminating and finishing it advantageously should it be necessary to wage it; Whereupon the Meeting after being informed by the Revd Jesuit fathers of what had passed during five years among the Iroquois Nations, whence they had recently arrived, and by M. Dollier of what occurred for some years at Montreal, remained unanimously and all of one accord, that the English have omitted nothing for four years to induce the Iroquois, either by the great number of presents which they made them or by the cheapness with which they gave them provisions and especially guns, powder and lead, to declare war against us, and which the Iroquois have been two or three times ready to undertake; But having reflected that, should they attack us before they had ruined in fact the allied nations, their neighbours, these would rally and, uniting together, would fall on them and destroy their villages whilst occupied against us, they judged it wiser to defer and amuse us whilst they were attacking those Nations, and having commenced, with that view, to attack the Illinois last year, they had so great an advantage over them that besides three or four hundred killed, they took nine hundred of them prisoners, so that marching this year with a corps of twelve hundred men, well armed and good warriors, there was no doubt but they would exterminate them altogether and attack, on their return, the Miamis and the Kiskakous and by their defeat render themselves masters of Missilimackina and the lakes Hérié and Huron, the Bay des Puans and thereby deprive us of all the trade drawn from that country by destroying, at the same time, all the Christian Missions established among those nations; and therefore it became necessary to make a last effort to prevent them ruining those Nations as they had formerly the Algonquins, the Andastez, the Loups (Mohegans), the Abenaquis and others, the remains of whom we have at the settlements of Sillery, Laurette, Lake Champlain and others scattered among us. That to accomplish that object, the state of the Colony was to be considered, and the means to be most usefully adopted against the enemy; that as to the Colony we could bring together a thousand good

men, bearing arms and accustomed to manage canoes like the Iroquois, but when drawn from their settlements, it must be considered that the cultivation of the soil would be arrested during the whole period of their absence, and that it is necessary, before making them march, to have supplies of provisions necessary în places distant from the settlements, so as to support them in the enemy's country a time sufficiently long to effectually destroy that Nation, and to act no more by them as had been done seventeen years ago, making them partially afraid without weakening them. That we have advantages now which we had not then ; the French accustomed to the Woods, acquainted with all the roads through them, and the road to Fort Frontenac open to fall in forty hours on the Senecas, the strongest of the five Iroquois Nations, since they alone can furnish fifteen hundred warriors, well armed; that there must be provisions at Fort Frontenac, three or four vessels to load them and embark five hundred men on Lake Ontario, whilst five hundred others would go in Canoes and post themselves on the Seneca shore; but this expedition cannot succeed unless by His Majesty's aid with a small body of two or three hundred soldiers to serve as a garrison for Forts Frontenac and La Galette, to escort provisions and keep the head of the country guarded and furnished whilst the interior would be deprived of its good soldiers; a hundred or a hundred and fifty hired men, to be distributed among the settlements to help those who will remain at home to cultivate the ground, in order that famine may not get into the land; and funds necessary to collect supplies and build two or three barks, without which and that of Sieur de Lasalle, it is impossible to undertake any thing of utility: That it is a war which is not to be commenced to be left imperfect, because knowing each other better than seventeen years ago, if it were to be undertaken without finishing it the conservation of the Colony is not be expected, the Iroquois not being apt to return. That the failure of all aid from France had begun to create contempt for us among the said Iroquois, who believed that we were abandoned by the great Onontio, our Master, and if they saw us assisted by him, they would, probably, change their minds and let our allies be in

peace and consent not to hunt on their grounds, or bring all their peltries to the French, which they trade at present with the English at Orange; and thus by a small aid from his Majesty we could prevent war and subject these fierce and hot spirits, which would be the greatest advantage that could be procured for the Country. That notwithstanding, it was important to arm the militia and in this year of abundant harvest to oblige them to furnish guns which they could all advantageously use when occasion required.

Done in the house of the Revd Jesuit Fathers at Quebec, the day and year above stated.

Compared with the original remaining in my hands.

LE FE BURE DE LABARRE.

FATHER LAMBERVILLE TO M. DE LA BARRE.

[Paris Doc. II.]

February 10, 1884.

The Governor of New York is to come, they say, next summer to the Mohawk and speak there to the Iroquois. We'll see what he'll say. He has sent a shabby ship's flag to the Mohawk to be planted there. This is the coat of arms of England. This flag is still in the public chest of the Mohawks. I know not when it will see day.

M. DE LA BARRE TO GOV. DONGAN.

Montreal 15th June 1684.

Sir-The unexpected attack which the Iroquois, Senecas and Cayugas have made on one of my forts whither I had sent a gentleman of my household to withdraw Sieur de la Salle therefrom, whom I sent at their request to France, and the wholesale plunder of seven French canoes laden with merchandize for the Trade, and the detention during ten days of 14 Frenchmen who were conducting them up, and that in a time when I was in a quiet