nded to postpone the day of reckoning between the English
and French in America. England and France were not only at peace but
in alliance. The Treaty of Dover had been signed in 1670, and two
years later, just as Frontenac had set out for Quebec, Charles II had
sent a force of six thousand English to aid Louis XIV against the
Dutch. It was in this war that John Churchill, afterwards Duke of
Marlborough, won his spurs--fighting on the French side!

None the less, there were premonitions of trouble in America,
especially after Thomas Dongan became governor of New York in 1683.
Andros had shown good judgment in his dealings with the Iroquois, and
his successor, inheriting a sound policy, went even further on the same
course. Dongan, an {91} Irishman of high birth and a Catholic,
strenuously opposed the pretensions of the French to sovereignty over
the Iroquois. When it was urged that religion required the presence of
the Jesuits among them, he denied the allegation, stating that he would
provide English priests to take their place. A New England Calvinist
could not have shown more firmness in upholding the English position.
Indeed, no governor of Puritan New England had ever equalled Dongan in
hostility to Catholic New France.

Frontenac's successor, Lefebvre de la Barre, who had served with
distinction in the West Indies, arrived at Quebec in September 1682.
By the same ship came the new intendant, Meulles. They found the Lower
Town of Quebec in ruins, for a devastating fire had just swept through
it. Hardly anything remained standing save the buildings on the cliff.

La Barre and Meulles were soon at loggerheads. It appears that,
instead of striving to repair the effects of the fire, the new governor
busied himself to accumulate a fortune. He had indeed promised the
king that, unlike his predecessors, he would seek no profit from
private trading, and had on this ground requested an increase of
salary. {92} Meulles presently reported that, far from keeping this
promise, La Barre and his agents had shared ten or twelve thousand
crowns of profit, and that unless checked the governor's revenues would
soon exceed those of the king. Meulles also accuses La Barre of
sending home deceitful reports regarding the success of his Indian
policy. We need not dwell longer on these reports. They disclose with
great clearness the opinion of the intendant as to the governor's
fitness for his office.

La Barre stands con