great Number of Men to the general Rendezvous of the French, and he, with all the English, were made Prisoners. They were used with such Severity as has never been practis'd between Christian Nations in open War, tho' the two Crowns, at that time, were not only at Peace, but under the strictest Ties of mutual Friendship; for the French used these People as Slaves in building Cataraqui Fort, and a poor Frenchman that had conducted them, was publickly shot to Death, as if he had brought an Enemy into their Country. Such was their Apprehensions then of the English getting any Footing among the Indians.

The French Governor surprized a Village. of the Five Nations, who, on the French Faith, liv'd in Great Security, but seven or eight Leagues from the French Fort, and sent these miserable People to the Galleys in France. He afterwards fell upon the Sennekas, and burnt their Villages, but without any Advantage to the French, they having lost more Men than the Indians did. This renew'd the War with greater Fury than ever, between the French and our Indians. For some time afterwards, our Indians, in a great Body, fell upon the Island of Monreal, while Mr. Denonville was in the Town: They burnt and destroy'd all the Villages and Houses round Monreal, and kill'd some hun

dreds of Men, Women, and Children. Afterwards they came into the open Fields before Monreal, and there defy'd the French Governor, who did not think it proper to fight them. And when they had done all the Mischief they could, they retir'd without any Loss.

About this Time the Revolution happen'd in Great-Britain, which was succeeded by a War between Great-Britain and France. In February, 168, a Party of three hundred Men, consisting of equal Numbers of French. and Indians, surprized Schenectady in the Night-time, when the poor People were in their Beds, in the greatest Security, where they barbarously murdered sixty-three Men, Women, and Children, in cold Blood, laid the Village in Ashes, and then retir'd, without reaping any other Advantage besides this cruel Revenge on innocent People, for the Mischief our Indians had done them. This rais'd a cruel War between the two Colonies, in which there was much Mischief done, and Blood shed, without any Advantage to either side.

In Time of this War, the most Christian King's Governor of Canada was so much provoked, that he thought fit to follow the Example of our barbarous Indians, and burn his Indian Prisoners alive, in the most cruel Manner, in sight of all the Inhabitants of

Qubeck, and to deliver up the English Prisoners to the French Indians, who indeed had more Mercy, for they kill'd none of them.

King William's Peace put an End to this War; but the Peace lasted so short a while, that the People of this Province hardly had time to re-settle their Farms on the Frontiers, which they had deserted in the Time of the War, much less to adventure trading in the Indian Countries, so lately the Scene of so much Cruelty. But both Colonies having now an Abhorrence of the Cruelties of the last War, agreed on a kind of Neutrality for the Indians, during Queen Anne's War, in which Time we lost much ground with our own Indians: For the French having learn'd, by dear Experience, that it was not possible for them to conquer our Five Indian Nations, resolv'd to try all Means to gain their Affections, and in this Art the French are always more successful than in that of War; and the English failing in two ill-concerted Expeditions against Canada, the Indians lost much of the Opinion they had of the English Power and Valour.

In Time of this last War, the clandestine Trade to Monreal began to be carried on by Indians, from Albany to Monreal. This gave Rise to the Kahnuaga, or Praying Indians, who are entirely made up of Deserters from the Mohawks and River Indians, and

were either enticed thither by the French Priests, or by our Merchants, in order to carry Goods from Albany to Monreal, or run away for some Mischief done here. These Indians now consist of about eighty fighting Men, and live about four Leagues above Monreal: They neither plant nor hunt, but depend chiefly upon this private Trade for their Subsistence. These Indians, in time of War, gave the French Intelligence of all Designs here against them: By them likewise the French engaged our Five Nations in a War with the Indians Friends of Virginia, and from them we might expect the greatest Mischief in Time of War, seeing every Part of the Province is as well known to them as to any of the Inhabitants. But if this Trade was entirely at an end, we have reason to believe, that these Indians would return to their own Tribes, for they then could not long subsist where they now are.

As soon as the Peace was proclaim'd, an open Trade with Monreal was carried on with such Earnestness, that Monreal was fill'd with Indian Goods, and Albany exhausted; by which means Monreal became the principal, if not the only Indian Market, and the Indians depended entirely on the French for what they wanted.

Our Merchants were fond of the Canada Trade, because they sold large Quantities of

Goods without any Trouble, the French taking them from their Doors; whereas the Trade with the Indians is carried on with a great deal of Toil and Fatigue; and as to the Interest of the Country, they either never thought any thing about it, or if they did, had no regard to it.

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Now I have brought this Account to the Time your Excellency arriv'd; what has happen'd since, your Excellency knows better than I can by any means inform you. the whole, it seems plain, that any Difficulties and Disadvantages this Province has been under, have only proceeded from the Wars, which have continued since the first settling of the Province, to the beginning of the last general Peace. But now, that not only this Province, but likewise our six Nations of Indians are at Peace, and in Amity, both with the French, and all the Indian Nations with whom we can have any Commerce, these Difficulties are all remov'd, and we now enjoy the most favourable Time, that at any time can be hoped for, in order to extend the British Commerce in North-America, while the French not only labour under the Difficulties which I have shown to be inseparable from the Situation of their Colony, but likewise under another Disadvantage, (not before taken notice of) by the Furr-Trade of Canada