k, and broke into
open war.

On the 11th of July, 1658, the Viscompte d'Argenson landed at Quebec as
governor. The next morning the cry "to arms" echoed through the town.
The Iroquois had made a sudden onslaught upon some Algonquins under the
very guns of the fortress, and massacred them without mercy. Two hundred
men were instantly dispatched to avenge this insult, but they could not
overtake the wily marauders. In the same year, however, a party of the
Agniers met with a severe check in a treacherous attempt to surprise
Three Rivers. The lesson was not lost, and the colony for some time
enjoyed a much-needed repose. The missionaries seized this interval of
tranquillity to recommence their sacred labors: they penetrated into
many remote districts where Europeans had never before reached, and
discovered several routes to the dreary shores of Hudson's Bay. In the
year 1659, the exemplary Francois de Laval, abbe de Montigny, arrived at
Quebec to preside over the Canadian Church as the first American
bishop.[378]

The temporal affairs of the colony were falling into a lamentable
condition; no supplies arrived from France, and the local production was
far from sufficient. Terror of the Indians kept the settlers almost
blockaded in the forts, and cultivation was necessarily neglected. It
was proposed by many that all the settlements should be abandoned, and
that they should again seek the peaceful shores of their native country.
Many individuals were massacred by the savages, and two armed parties,
one of thirty and the other of twenty-six men, were totally destroyed.
But some of the Indians, too, began to weary of this murderous war, and
to long again for Christian instruction and peaceful commerce. The new
governor was at first little inclined to negotiate with his fierce and
capricious enemies; but, influenced by the miserable state of the
colony, which even a brief truce might improve, he at length agreed to
an exchange of prisoners and a peace.

In 1662 the King of France was at last induced to hearken to the prayers
of his Canadian subjects. M. de Monts[379] was sent out to inquire into
the condition of the country, and 400 troops added to the strength of
the garrison. But these encouraging circumstances were more than
neutralized on account of the permission then granted by the new
governor, Baron d'Avaugour, for the sale of ardent spirits.[380] The
disorder soon rose to a lamentable height, and the clergy in vain