1684.] HIS ANGER AND HIS FEARS. 87 



the governor's canoes, seized all the goods, and 

 captured the men. 1 Then they attacked Baugis 

 at Fort St. Louis. The place, perched on a rock, 

 was strong, and they were beaten oft: ; but the act 

 was one of open war. 



When La Barre heard the news, he was furious. 2 

 He trembled for the vast amount of goods which 

 he and his fellow-speculators had sent to Michilli- 

 mackinac and the lakes. There was but one re- 

 source : to call out the militia, muster the Indian 

 allies, advance to Lake Ontario, and dictate peace 

 to the Senecas, at the head of an imposing force ; 

 or, failing in this, to attack and crush them. A 

 small vessel lying at Quebec was clesjmtched to 

 France, with urgent appeals for immediate aid, 

 though there was little hope that it could arrive 

 in time. She bore a long letter, half piteous, half 

 bombastic, from La Barre to the king. He de- 

 clared that extreme necessity and the despair of 

 the people had forced him into war, and protested 

 that he should always think it a privilege to lay 

 down life for his Majesty. " I cannot refuse to 

 your country of Canada, and your faithful sub- 

 jects, to throw myself, with unequal forces, against 



1 There appears no doubt that La Barre brought this upon himself. 

 His successor, Denonville, writes that the Iroquois declared that, in 

 plundering the canoes, they thought they were executing the orders they 

 had received to plunder La Salle's people. Denonville, Me'moire adresst 

 au Ministre sur les Affaires de la Nouvelle France, 10 Aout, 1688. The 

 Iroquois told Dongan, in 1684, "that they had not don any thing to 

 the French but what Monsr. delaBarr Ordered them, which was that 

 if they mett with any French hunting without his passe to take what 

 they had from them." Dongan to Denonville, 9 Sept., 1687. 



2 " Ce qui mit M. de la Barre en fureur." Belmont, Histoire du 

 Canada. 



