name of Norridgewock. Rasle was a capable and accomplished man, and resolute and selfsacrificing in his bigotry. At the age of 1689.

thirty-two he had established a mission for

1694.

the Abenaquis in the neighborhood of Quebec. Thence, after two or three years, he followed the steps of Marquette and other explorers to the upper lakes and the river Illinois. From this experience, which lasted about as much. longer, he was recalled by his superiors to be stationed at Norridgewock, on the extreme western border of the country claimed by the French under their interpretation of the name Acadie. There, before and during the war in Queen Anne's reign, he confirmed and extended his authority over the Indians, under instructions from the governors and ecclesiastics at Quebec. The nature of his labors was not misunderstood in Boston; and, in his absence, Colonel Hilton, sent by Dudley on a winter's expedition against the hostile tribes, burned his chapel and other buildings to the ground. In no wise discouraged, he hastened, after the Treaty of Utrecht, to restore the chapel, and returned with new vigor to his troublesome operations.

1705.

Shute, in the next summer after his arrival at Boston, invited the eastern tribes to a conference at Arrowsick Island on the Kennebec. Rasle was understood to have accompanied the chiefs, but he kept himself out of sight. Shute, 1717. giving the sachems an English flag, and a Aug. 9.

Bible in the English with another in the native language, reminded them that they were subjects of the King of England, and offered them the services of one of his companions, the Reverend Mr. Baxter, to teach them the English religion, and the services of a schoolmaster to instruct their children. He assured them of just treatment from the English, and of favorable attention to any complaints they might from time to time have to make. They desired to defer their answer to the next day, and then replied, that they had no objection to being King George's subjects if they were not molested in the occupation of their lands, but that they were "not capable to make any judgment about religion," and were attached to their present teachers. As to their lands, they said that they claimed none on the west side of the Kennebec, but "were sure they had sold none on the east side"; and they produced a letter from Rasle, in which he affirmed that he had it from Vaudreuil that the King of France had assured him that he had not ceded any country east of the Kennebec to the English, but, on the contrary, would maintain the Indian right to it. At this Governor Shute took offence, and was about to break up the conference, when the Indians, alarmed, begged for another interview. The result was that the

Aug. 11.

1713. treaty made four years before with Dudley July. at Portsmouth was renewed, with its stipulations that the natives should demean themselves

as faithful subjects of the crown of Great Britain, and that the English might without molestation reoccupy their former settlements.

March 12.

May 28.

1720.

A year and a half had passed, when 1719. some threatening demonstrations on the March 11. part of the eastern savages caused the governor to convene the General Court. The Court immediately ordered the raising of a company for service against the tribes, and the governor was able to report that the movement was quelled without bloodshed. The next year there was another alarm. The Indians surprised some English at Canso, in Nova Aug. 7. Scotia, killing three or four and robbing the rest. Further disorders followed in the same quarter, occasioning a destruction of property to the amount, as was said, of not less than twenty thousand pounds; and the French governor at Louisburg, to whom application was made, declined to interfere. Shute, hoping that a general war might be avoided, instructed the commander of the troops in Maine to propose a conference. The Indians agreed. But the Representatives in the General Court preferred a different way of proceeding. They passed a resolve for sending a force of a hundred and fifty men to Norridgewock, to demand of the Indians there and thereabouts "full satisfaction for the damage they had done the English," and if they should refuse to give up Father Rasle to be brought to Boston, then to bring thither a sufficient number

Nov. 2.

of them to be pledges for his surrender. The governor disapproved this measure, both because he was averse to a new war, especially in the existing state of the finances, and because he considered the military administration, as belonging to his own prerogative. The dissension thus originated between him and the Representatives proved to be the most irreconcilable of all.

The old chief of the Norridgewock Indians died, and a person less unfriendly to the English became his successor. Under his auspices, hostages for the quiet behavior of the tribe were sent to Boston. Rasle, and his friends at Quebec, were disturbed and displeased at this proceeding.

1721.

The governor, Vaudreuil, wrote to Rasle June 15. in terms of extreme dissatisfaction. He said that he had prevailed upon the natives in the vicinity of Quebec to send messengers to inform the English that if they continued their encroachments they would not have to deal with the Norridgewocks alone, and that another Jesuit father was despatched to encourage that tribe to behave with firmness, and to engage the Penobscot Indians in an alliance with them. the Intendant-General of Canada (Bygon) wrote that the authorities there were waiting orders from the King as to whether they should give open assistance to the savages, or only continue to supply them with ammunition, as already they were freely doing. Your Indians, wrote Vaudreuil to Rasle, "if they have

June 14.

Sept. 25.

And

taken a sincere resolution not to suffer the English on their land, ought not to defer chasing them out as soon as possible. Your people ought not to fear the want of ammunition, since I send them a sufficiency."

August.

But the English had not the information contained in these letters, which fell into their hands at a later time. Whether other trustworthy intelligence came to Massachusetts of the French intrigues and the Indian ill-temper, or whether only an indefinite suspicion was entertained, the General Court considered energetic measures to be necessary. They renewed a vote that a force, now to consist of "three hundred men, should be sent to the head-quarters of the Indians," to require the surrender of "the Jesuits and the other heads and promoters of their rebellion," and "satisfaction for the damage they had done"; in default of which some of their principal men, "together with Rasle or any other Jesuit," were to be seized and sent to Boston. The governor, though he gave his consent to this measure, which was taken just before the Court adjourned, delayed to carry it into effect. This was new cause of offence. At the next session the House again pressed the subject, and the governor despatched a party to Norridgewock under the command of Colonel Westbrooke. The advance of these troops was watched by two of Rasle's Indians, who gave notice in season for him to escape. Among his

Nov. 3.