hope that he will remain faithful to the King of England [James II.] and we must expect that he will not only urge the Iroquois to continue the war against us but that he will even add Englishmen to them to lead them and seize the posts of Niagara, Michilimakinak and others proper to render him master of all the Indians our allies, according to the project they have long since formed, and which they began to execute when we declared war against the Iroquois and when we captured 70 Englishmen who were going to take possession of Michilimakinak, one of the most important posts of Canada our entrepot for the Fur Trade and the residence of the Superior of the Rev Jesuit ;

:

Fathers, Missionaries among our Savages, and which belongs, incontestably to us. It is to be expected, then, that

they are about to endeavour to invest all Canada and raise all the

Savages against us, in order to deprive us wholly of every sort of Trade and draw it all to themselves

by means of the cheap bargains of merchandize they can give them, nearly a half less than our Frenchmen can afford theirs, for reasons which will be, elsewhere, explained, and thus become masters of all the peltries ; a trade which sustains Canada and constitutes one of the chief benefits that France derives from that Colony.

No sooner will the English have ruined our Trade with the Savages than uniting with them they on us, burn and sack our settlements, scattered along the River St. Lawrence to Quebec, without our being able to prevent them, having no fortress capable of arresting will be in a position to fall