had been withdrawn at their request. Having made three assaults and been vigorously repulsed, they withdrew from before the said Fort the 29th of said month of March.

That Sieur de la Barre having seen these acts of hostility committed in time of established peace and which Teganeout their Ambassador was coming to him to confirm, he might have adopted two courses, one to detain the said ambassador, and the other to wage war against them, not being able to endure a treachery of that description against the Christian name and French Nation.

That, things being in this condition, he could not believe that Colonel Dongan would interfere therein in any way, if it were not to unite with him in destroying these traitors and Infidels.

That the Mohawks and Oneidas, neighbours of Albany, have no part in all this war, and that he has envoys at Onontague to see if they will take a part.

That his troops being assembled and on the march, he cannot postpone attacking the Senecas unless by losing the campaign.

That in despatches dated the 5th of August last, the King his master was pleased to communicate to him the information which he had received from the King of England, of the appointment of Colonel Dongan as Governor of New York, with express or ders to maintain good understanding and correspondence with said Sieur de la Barre, who, on that account, could have no idea that he had any intention to protect a treachery and injustice similar to that committed by villains on Frenchmen.

Done at the Camp of Lachine the 24th July 1684.

Signed,

And lower down by

LE FEBURE DE LA BARRE,

M. REGNAUT.

GOV. DONGAN TO M. DE LA BARRE.

[Lond. Doc. V.]

1. It is not intended that I will justify the wrong the Indians have done to the French so farr to the southwest as 400 leagues from Mont Royall or in any other place whatsoever, though in all

probability if we were to dispute these countreys so farr to the south west are more likely to be ours then the French haveing English Colonies much nearer them.

2. The pretences you make to that countrey by your 25 years possession, and sending Jesuits amongst them are very slender, and it may bee, you may have the same to other countries as for Jesuites living amongst them, how charitable soever it may bee it gives no right or title, and it is a great wonder that the English who so well know America should neither hear nor see in a long time the treaty you speak of

3. But if the matter in debate bee not concerning the land on the side of the lake of Canida, it is desired to know what it is concerning since the Indians offer to give satisfaction for what injuries can be prooved to bee cômitted by them as they say they have formerly done in such cases, and if they do not I never promised them any countenance from this government.

I wonder that Mons de la Barr should send for any Indians who ouned themselves under this Government to know whether they were friends or ennemies, since this Government at that time and at this present hath enjoyed for aught I know a full and perfect peace with the Government of Canida; as for the case of La Salle I am not concerned in it but wonder you should send him to France upon the bare complaint of the Indians

As for the injuries, affronts, insolencyes and robberyes comitted by the Indians upon the French, I have earnestly pressed them to make a submission and satisfaction, and that out of a true consideration of the misseryes that may happen by having a warr with such Savages.

I could heartily wish that the Sieur de la Barre had sooner given me notice of the act of hostility before he had detained Taganeout there Ambassadour, or made warr against them, that I might have used all just methods to prevent a warr that may be destructive to either party

That the Governor of Canida does very well in believing what truly he ought that I will not interest myselfe in any manner to countenance such villanyes and if I did not think there was a middle way to compose that difference myselfe, I would be willing to joyne against them

I am glad you asured me that the neighbourghing Indians to Albany have no share in that warr, but I am sorry the troops are in soe great forwardness, that if my former advice had bin taken, there had been no absolute necessity to attaque the Indians or loose the campaigne.

That it is very true, I ought to have a good correspondence with the Sieur de la Barr, and it is not nor ever shall be my fault if I have not, and I againe must tell you that I have no thought or inclination to protect any villany whatsoever.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER ADDRESSED BY LOUIS XIV. TO MONSIEUR DE LA BARRE, THE 21st JULY, 1684.

Monsieur De la barre

[Paris Doc. II.]

I have seen by your letters of the 5th June last, the resolution you have taken to attack the Iroquois, and the reasons which moved you to it, and though it is a grave misfortune for the Colony of New France which will interrupt the trade of my subjects and divert them from the cultivation of the land and expose them to frequent insults on the part of the Iroquois Savages, who can frequently surprize them in distant settlements, without your being even in a state to succor them; I do not hesitate to approve your adoption of that resolution since, by the insult they offered the fifteen Frenchmen whom they pillaged, and the attack on Fort St. Louis, you have had reason to believe that they seriously intended declaring war, and as I wish to place you in a position to sustain it, and bring it to a speedy termination, I have given orders for equipping the Ship L'Emerillon, on board which I have caused to be embarked three hundred soldiers quartered inthe ports of Brest and Rochefort with the number of Officers and Marines contained in the lists which you will find annexed, and this reinforcement with that sent to you by the last vessels from Rochelle, and which you have learned from my preceding letters, will furnish you means to fight advantageously, and to destroy utterly those people, or at least to place them in a state, after

.

having punished them for their insolence, to receive peace on the conditions which you will impose on them.

You must observe as regards this war that even though you prosecute it with advantage, if you do not find means to wage it' promptly, it will not the less cause the ruin of the colony, the people of which cannot subsist in the continual disquietude of being attacked by the Savages, and in the impossibility in which they find themselves of applying themselves to trade and the cultivation of their farms. Therefore whatever advantage you may derive for the glory of my arms and the entire destruction of the Savages by the continuation of this war, you ought to prefer peace which restoring quietness to my subjects will place you in a condition to increase the Colony by the means pointed out tol you in my preceding letters.

I write to my ambassador in England to procure orders from the Duke of York to prevent him who commands at Baston as sisting the Savages with troops, arms or ammunition, and I have reason to believe that orders will be despatched as soon as representations on my part will have been made.

I am very glad to tell you that from every thing I learn of what? has occurred in Canada, the fault which you committed in not punctually executing my orders relative to the number of twenty five licenses to be granted to my subjects, and the great number you have sent on all sides, in order to favor persons belonging to yourself, appears to me to have been the principal cause of what has happened on the part of the Iroquois. I hope you will re pair this fault by giving a prompt and glorious termination to this war.

It appears to me also that one of the principal causes of the war arises from one Du Lhut having caused two Iroquois to be! killed who had assassinated two Frenchmen in Lake Superior, and you sufficiently see how much this man's voyage, which cannot produce any advantage to the Colony, and which was permitted only in the interest of some private persons, has contributed to disturb the repose of the Colony.

As it concerns the good of my service to diminish as much -18

possible the number of the Iroquois, and as these Savages who are stout and robust, will, moreover, serve with advantage in my galleys, I wish you to do every thing in your power to make a great number of them prisoners of war, and that you have them shipped by every opportunity which will offer for their removal to France

I desire likewise that you leave Fort Frontenac in the posses sion of Sieur de la Salle or those who are there for him, and that you do nothing in opposition to the interest of that man whom I take under my special protection.

MEMOIR OF M. DE LA BARRE

AS TO WHAT HAD OCCURRED AND HAD BEEN DONE REGARDING THE WAR AGAINST THE SENECAS.

[Paris Doc. II.]

Having been obliged to leave early in June, in conformity to the resolution adopted by the Intendant, the Bishop, the heads of the country and myself, to wage war against the Senecas for having, in cold blood, pillaged seven hundred canoes belonging to Frenchmen; arrested and detained the latter to the number of fourteen, as prisoners for nine days, and finally attacked Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, where the Chevalier de Bangy gallantly defended himself, and having resolved, at the same time, to seize Teganeout, one of their chiefs and his twelve companions who had come to ratify the peace made last year, who left their country before they heard of this attack, which circumstance would oblige me not to treat them ill, but merely to secure their persons, we considered three things necessary: First, to endeavour to divide the Iroquois among themselves, and for this purpose, to send persons expressly to communicate my sentiments to the Revd Jesuit Fathers who are Missionaries there and to request them to act; the second, to send to the Outaouacs to engage our French to come to my assistance by the South, by Lake Erie and to bring as many as they could of the Savages, our allies; and thirdly, to advise Colonel Dongan, Governor of New York of what we