170 THE IROQUOIS INVASION. [1688. 



for they are the only tribe who refuse to recognize 

 his grandeur and his might. They hold the French 

 in the deepest contempt ; and, unless they are com- 

 pletely humbled within two years, his Majesty will 

 have no colony left in Canada." * And the prelate 

 proceeds to tell the minister how, in his opinion, 

 the war ought to be conducted. The appeal 

 was vain. " His Majesty agrees with you," wrote 

 Seignelay, " that three or four thousand men 

 would be the best means of making peace, but 

 he cannot spare them now. If the enemy breaks 

 out again, raise the inhabitants, and fight as well 



as you can till his Majesty is prepared to send you 



i "5 



troops. z 



A hope had dawned on the governor. He had 

 been more active of late in negotiating than in 

 fighting, and his diplomacy had prospered more 

 than his arms. It may be remembered that some 

 of the Iroquois entrapped at Fort Frontenac 

 had been given to their Christian relatives in the 

 mission villages. Here they had since remained. 

 Denonville thought that he might use them as 

 messengers to their heathen countrymen, and he 

 sent one or more of them to Onondaga with gifts 

 and overtures of peace. That shrewd old politi- 

 cian, Big Mouth, was still strong in influence at 

 the Iroquois capital, and his name was great to the 

 farthest bounds of the confederacy. He knew by 

 personal experience the advantages of a neutral 



1 Saint-Vallier, Jfe'moire sur les Affaires du Canada pour Monseigneur 

 le Marquis de Seignelay. 



2 Me'moire du Ministre adressea Denonville, 1 Mai, 1689. 



