82 LE FEBVRE DE LA BARRE. [1682. 



La Chesnaye and Le Ber, armed with an order 

 from the governor, came up from Montreal, and 

 seized upon the place with all that it contained. 

 The pretext for this outrage was the false one that 

 La Salle had not fulfilled the conditions under 

 which the fort had been granted to him. La Foret 

 was told that he might retain his command, if he 

 would join the faction of La Barre ; but he refused, 

 stood true to his chief, and soon after sailed for 

 France. 



La Barre summoned the most able and experi- 

 enced persons in the colony to discuss the state of 

 affairs. Their conclusion was that the Iroquois 

 would attack and destroy the Illinois, and, this 

 accomplished, turn upon the tribes of the lakes, 

 conquer or destroy them also, and ruin the trade 

 of Canada. 1 Dark as was the prospect, La Barre 

 and his fellow-speculators flattered themselves that 

 the war could be averted for a year at least. 

 The Iroquois owed their triumphs as much to 

 their sagacity and craft as to their extraordinary 

 boldness and ferocity. It had always been their 

 policy to attack their enemies in detail, and while 

 destroying one to cajole the rest. There seemed 

 little doubt that they would leave the tribes of the 

 lakes in peace till they had finished the ruin of the 

 Illinois ; so that if these, the allies of the colony, 

 were abandoned to their fate, there would be time 

 for a profitable trade in the direction of Michilli- 

 mackinac. 



1 Conference on the State of Affairs with the Iroquois, Oct., 1682, in 

 N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 194. 



