1690-97.] FATHER THURY. 375 



their teaching to political ends. The most promi- 

 nent among the apostles of carnage, at this time, 

 are the Jesuit Bigot on the Kennebec, and the 

 seminary priest Thury on the Penobscot. There 

 is little doubt that the latter instigated attacks on 

 the English frontier before the war, and there is 

 conclusive evidence that he had a hand in repeated 

 forays after it began. Whether acting from fanat- 

 icism, policy, or an odious compound of both, he 

 was found so useful, that the minister Ponchartrain 

 twice wrote him letters of commendation, praising 

 him in the same breath for his care of the souls of 

 the Indians and his zeal in exciting them to war. 

 " There is no better man," says an Acadian official, 

 " to prompt the savages to any enterprise." 1 The 

 king was begged to reward him with money ; and 

 Ponchartrain wrote to the bishop of Quebec to in- 

 crease his pay out of the allowance furnished by 

 the government to the Acadian clergy, because he, 

 Thury, had persuaded the Abenakis to begin the 

 war anew. 2 



1 Tibierge, M&moire sur VAcadie, 1695. 



2 " Les temoignages qu'on a rendu a Sa Majeste de l'affection et du 

 zele du S^ de Thury, missionaire chez les Canibas (Abenakis), pour son 

 service, et particulierement dans l'engagement oil il a mis les Sauvages 

 de recommencer la guerre contre les Anglois, m'oblige de vous prier de luy 

 faire une plus forte part sur les 1,500 livres de gratification que Sa Maj- 

 este accorde pour les ecclesiastiques de l'Acadie." Le Ministre a I'lZvesque 

 de Quebec, 16 Avrit, 1695. 



" Je suis bien aise de me servir de cette occasion pour vous dire que 

 j'ay este informe, non seulement de vostre zele et de vostre application 

 pour vostre mission, et du progres qu'elle fait pour l'avancement de la 

 religion avec les sauvages, mais encore de vos soins pour les maintenir 

 dans le service de Sa Majeste et pour les encourager aux expeditions de 

 guerre." Le Ministre a Thury, 2'SAvril, 1697. The other letter to Thury, 

 written two years before, is of the same tenor. 



