162 THE IROQUOIS INVASION. [1687-88. 



were about to nvirch on Albany to destroy it. 

 "And now, my Lord/' continues Dongan, "we 

 must build forts in y e countrey upon y e great 

 Lakes, as y e French doe, otherwise we lose y e 

 Countrey, y e Bever trade, and our Indians." 1 

 Denonville, meanwhile, had begun to yield, and 

 promised to send back McGregory and the men 

 captured with him. 2 Dongan, not satisfied, in- 

 sisted on payment for all the captured merchandise, 

 and on the immediate demolition of Fort Niagara. 

 He added another demand, which must have been 

 singularly galling to his rival. It was to the effect 

 that the Iroquois prisoners seized at Fort Frontenac, 

 and sent to the galleys in France, should be sur- 

 rendered as British subjects to the English ambas- 

 sador at Paris or the secretary of state in London. 3 

 Denonville was sorely jierplexecl. He was hard 

 pressed, and eager for peace with the Iroquois at 

 any price ; but Dongan was using every means to 

 prevent their treating of peace with the French 

 governor until he had complied with all the Eng- 

 lish demands. In this extremity, Denonville sent 

 Father Vaillant to Albany, in the hope of bringing 

 his intractable rival to conditions less humiliating. 

 The Jesuit played his part with ability, and proved 

 more than a match for his adversary in dialectics ; 

 but Dongan held fast to all his demands. Vaillant 



1 Dongan to Sunderland, Feb., 1688, N. Y. Col Docs., III. 510. 



2 Denonville a Dongan, 2 Oct., 1G87. McGregory soon arrived, and 

 Dongan sent him back to Canada as an emissary with a civil message to 

 Denonville. Dongan to Denonville, 10 Nov., 1687. 



3 Dongan to Denonville, 31 Oct., 1687 ; Dongan s First Demand of the 

 French Agents, N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 515, 520. 



