1689.] CONQUEST OF NEW YORK. 187 



one of them, and sailed for the New World. An 

 heroic remedy had been prepared for the sickness 

 of Canada, and Frontenac was to be the surgeon. 

 The cure, however, was not of his contriving. 

 Denonville had sent Callieres, his second in com- 

 mand, to represent the state of the colony to the 

 court, and beg for help. Callieres saw that there 

 w r as little hope of more troops or any considerable 

 supply of money ; and he laid before the king a 

 plan, which had at least the recommendations of 

 boldness and cheapness. This was to conquer 

 New York with the forces already in Canada, aided 

 only by two ships of war. The blow, he argued, 

 should be struck at once, and the English taken by 

 surprise. A thousand regulars and six hundred 

 Canadian militia should pass Lake Champlain and 

 Lake George in canoes and bateaux, cross to the 

 Hudson and capture Albany, where they would seize 

 all the river craft and descend the Hudson to the 

 town of New York, which, as Callieres stated, had 

 then about two hundred houses and four hundred 

 lighting men. The two ships were to cruise at 

 the mouth of the harbor, and wait the arrival of 

 the troops, which was to be made known to them 

 by concerted signals, whereupon they were to 

 enter and aid in the attack. The whole expedition, 

 he thought, might be accomplished in a month ; 

 so that by the end of October the king would be 

 master of all the country. The advantages were 

 manifold. The Iroquois, deprived of English 

 arms and ammunition, would be at the mercy of 

 the French ; the question of English rivalry in the 



