ould promise, sometimes in good faith, to
keep the peace and no more offend their father Onontio; but nearly all
the tribes of the Lake country were their hereditary enemies, and some
bloody revenge for ancient wrongs would excite their young warriors to a
fury which the elders could not restrain. Thus, in 1722 the Saginaws, a
fierce Algonquin band on the eastern borders of Michigan, killed
twenty-three Outagamies; the tribesmen of the slain returned the blow,
other tribes joined the fray, and the wilderness was again on fire.[326]

The Canadian authorities were sorely perplexed, for this fierce
inter-tribal war threatened their whole system of western trade.
Meanwhile the English and Dutch of New York were sending wampum belts
to the Indians of the upper lakes, inviting them to bring their furs to
Albany; and Ramesay, governor of Montreal, complains that they were all
disposed to do so. "Twelve of the upper tribes," says Lord Cornbury,
"have come down this year to trade at Albany;" but he adds that as the
Indians have had no presents for above six years, he is afraid "we shall
lose them before next summer."[327] The governor of Canada himself is
said to have been in collusion with the English traders for his own
profit.[328] The Jesuits denied the charge, and Father Marest wrote to
the governor, after the disaster to Walker's fleet on its way to attack
Quebec, "The protection you have given to the missions has drawn on you
and the colony the miraculous protection of God."[329]

Whether his accusers did him wrong or not, Vaudreuil felt the necessity
of keeping the peace among the western Indians and suppressing the
Outagamie incendiaries. In fact, nothing would satisfy him but their
destruction. "They are the common enemies of all the western tribes," he
writes. "They have lately murdered three Frenchmen and five Hurons at
Detroit. The Hurons ask for our help against them, and we must give it,
or all the tribes will despise us."[330]

He put his chief trust in Louvigny, formerly commandant at
Michilimackinac. That officer proposed to muster the friendly tribes and
march on the Outagamies just as their corn was ripening, fight them if
they stood their ground, or if not, destroy their crops, burn their
wigwams, and encamp on the spot till winter; then send out parties to
harass them as they roamed the woods seeking a meagre subsistence by
hunting. In this way he hoped to cripple, if not destroy them.[331]

The Outagami