124 DEXOXVILLE AND DOXGAN. [1685-86. 



dissatisfied with M. cle la Barre ; but I know very 

 well that I should reproach myself all my life if I 

 could fail to render to you all the civility and 

 attention due to a person of so great rank and 

 merit. In regard to the affair in which M. de la 

 Barre interfered, as you write me, I presume you 

 refer to his quarrel with the Senecas. As to that, 

 Monsieur, I believe you understand the character 

 of that nation well enough to perceive that it is 

 not easy to live in friendship with a people who 

 have neither religion, nor honor, nor subordina- 

 tion. The king, my master, entertains affection 

 and friendship for this country solely through zeal 

 for the establishment of religion here, and the sup- 

 port and protection of the missionaries whose ardor 

 in preaching the faith leads them to expose them- 

 selves to the brutalities and persecutions of the 

 most ferocious of tribes. You know better than I 

 what fatigues and torments they have suffered for 

 the sake of Jesus Christ. I know your heart is 

 penetrated with the glory of that name which 

 makes Hell tremble, and at the mention of which 

 all the powers of Heaven fall prostrate. Shall we 

 be so unhappy as to refuse them our master's pro- 

 tection ? You are a man of rank and abounding 

 in merit. You love our holy religion. Can we 

 not then come to an understanding to sustain our 

 missionaries by keeping those fierce tribes in re- 

 spect and fear ? " * 



This specious appeal for maintaining French 

 Jesuits on English territory, or what was claimed 



1 DenonviUe to Dongan, 5 Juin, 1686, N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 456. 



