1687-88.] MARTIAL PREPARATION. 161 



based on geographical divisions : " Your reason is 

 that some rivers or rivoletts of this country run 

 out into the great river of Canada. just 

 God ! what new, farr-f etched, and unheard-of pre- 

 tence is this for a title to a country. The French 

 King may have as good a pretence to all those 

 Countrys that drink clarett and Brandy." * In 

 spite of his sarcasms, it is clear that the claim of 

 prior discovery and occupation was on the side of 

 the French. 



The dispute now assumed a new phase. James 

 II. at length consented to own the Iroquois as his 

 subjects, ordering Dongan to protect them, and 

 repel the French by force of arms, should they 

 attack them again. 2 At the same time, conferences 

 were opened at London between the French am- 

 bassador and the English commissioners appointed 

 to settle the questions at issue. Both disputants 

 claimed the Iroquois as subjects, and the contest 

 wore an aspect more serious than before. 



The royal declaration was a great relief to Don- 

 gan. Thus far he had acted at his own risk ; now 

 he was sustained by the orders of his king. He 

 instantly assumed a warlike attitude ; and, in the 

 next spring, wrote to the Earl of Sunderland 

 that he had been at Albany all winter, with four 

 hundred infantry, fifty horsemen, and eight hun- 

 dred Indians. This was not without cause, for a 

 report had come from Canada that the French 



1 Dongan's Fourth Paper to the French Agents, N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 528. 



2 Warrant, authorizing Governor Dongan to protect the Five Nations, 10 

 Nov., 1687, N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 503. 



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