1686.] DIPLOMATIC DUEL. 129 



in the spring with fifty men, take command of the 

 united parties, and advance to Lake Huron, ac- 

 companied by a band of Iroquois, to form a general 

 treaty of trade and alliance with the tribes claimed 

 by France as her subjects. 1 



Denonville was beside himself at the news. He 

 had already urged upon Louis XIV. the policy of 

 buying the colony of New York, which he thought 

 might easily be done, and which, as he said, " would 

 make us masters of the Iroquois without a war." 

 This time he wrote in a less pacific mood : " I 

 have a mind to go straight to Albany, storm their 

 fort, and burn every thing." 2 And he begged for 

 soldiers more earnestly than ever. " Things grow 

 worse and worse. The English stir up the Iro- 

 quois against us, and send parties to Michilli- 

 maekinac to rob us of our trade. It would be 

 better to declare war against them than to perish 

 by their intrigues." 3 



He complained bitterly to Dongan, and Dongan 

 replied : " I beleeve it is as lawf ull for the English 

 as the French to trade amongst the remotest In- 

 dians. I desire you to send me word who it was 

 that pretended to have my orders for the Indians 

 to plunder and fight you. That is as false as 'tis 

 true that God is in heaven. I have desired you 

 to send for the deserters. I know not who they 

 are but had rather such Eascalls and Bankrouts, 



1 Brodhead, Hist, of New York, II. 443 ; Commission of Me Gregory, in 

 N. Y. Col. Does., IX. 318. 



2 Denonville an Ministre, 16 Nov., 1686. 



3 Ibid., 15 Oct., 1686. 



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