1693-97.] THE IROQUOIS QUESTION. 397 



As soon could the Ethiopian change his skin as 

 the priest-ridden king change his fatal policy of 

 exclusion. Canada must be bound to the papacy, 

 even if it blasted her. The contest for the west 

 must be waged by the means which Bourbon policy 

 ordained, and which, it must be admitted, had 

 some great advantages of their own, when con- 

 trolled by a man like Frontenac. The result hung, 

 for the present, on the relations of the French with 

 the Iroquois and the tribes of the lakes, the Illi- 

 nois, and the valley of the Ohio, but, above all, on 

 their relations with the Iroquois ; for, could they 

 be conquered or won over, it would be easy to 

 deal with the rest. 



Frontenac was meditating a grand effort to in- 

 flict such castigation as would bring them to reason, 

 when one of their chiefs, named. Tareha, came to 

 Quebec with overtures of peace. The Iroquois 

 had lost many of their best warriors. The arrival 

 of troops from France had discouraged them ; the 

 war had interrupted their hunting ; and, having 

 no furs to barter with the English, they were in 

 want of arms, ammunition, and all the necessaries 

 of life. Moreover, Father Milet, nominally a 

 prisoner among them, but really an adopted chief, 

 had used all his influence to bring about a peace ; 

 and the mission of Tareha was the result. Fron- 

 tenac received him kindly. " My Iroquois children 

 have been drunk ; but I will give them an opportunity 

 to repent. Let each of your five nations send me 

 two deputies, and I will listen to what they have 

 to say." They would not come, but sent him in- 



