The first settlers at Fort-Orange, (now Alba- 

 ny,) early secured their friendship, and entered into a league 

 of amity with them. The Governors of the Province, sensi- 

 ble of the importance of retaining their good will, severally 

 met in council the principal Sachems of the confederacy, rati- 

 fied the league, and received from them the belt of peace. 

 This friendly intercourse, thus kept alive by the policy of the 

 crown, not only insured to the English a lucrative trade, but 

 protected their settlements from the inroads of the more distant 

 nations. 



The French, who settled in Canada in 1603, deprived of 

 the trade with the Iroquois, and not insensible of its advanta- 

 ges, viewed with jealousy, the growing power and wealth of 

 their neighbors, and determined to seduce the Indians from 

 their alliance. To accomplish their malicious purpose, Jesuiti- 

 cal emissaries were sent into their country, who finding it im- 

 possible to detach them fi-om the interest of the English, en- 

 deavored to sow jealousy among them, and thus break up 

 their confederacy and conquer them in detail. So great was 

 the influence which they soon acquired over the minds of some, 

 that the chain of friendship which had bound the Five Na- 

 tions together from remote antiquity, had weU nigh been bro- 

 ken, and the Colony deprived of its most powerful allies. This 

 undoubtedly would have been the result, had not their designs 

 been discovered and counteracted by Peter Schuyler, whose 

 name is identified with the prosperity of the Colony. He was 

 at this time mayor of the city of Albany, and had by his un- 

 remitting kindness and disinterested friendship toward the Six 

 Nations, gained their confidence, and thus raised a barrier to 

 the aggressions of the French and the far nations. The con- 

 fidence reposed in him was so great, that without the consent 

 of their Quidder, (as they called him,) they would neither de- 

 clare war, make peace, nor enter into any aUiance. 



The French, disappointed and chagrined at their ill success, 

 furnished the Twightwies and Chictaghicks, (then at war with 

 the Iroquois,) arms and ammunition, encouraging them to 

 harass their borders and cut ofi" their hunting parties. This 

 stratagem also proved abortive, and only served to expose the 



