een the two
claimants and settle the dispute, but all in vain. La Tour made an
attempt in 1640 to surprise D'Aunay at Port Royal, but the result was
that he as well as his bride, who had just come from France, were
themselves taken prisoners. The Capuchin friars induced D'Aunay to set
them all at liberty on condition that La Tour should keep the peace in
future. The only result was an aggravation of the difficulty and the
reference of the disputes to France, where D'Aunay won the day both in
the courts and with the royal authorities. La Tour's commission was
revoked and D'Aunay eventually received an order to seize the property
and person of his rival, when he proved contumacious and refused to
obey the royal command, on the ground that it had been obtained by
false representations. He retired to his fort on the St. John, where,
with his resolute wife and a number of faithful Frenchmen and Indians,
he set D'Aunay at defiance. In this crisis La Tour resolved to appeal
to the government of Massachusetts for assistance. In 1630, the town
of Boston was commenced on the peninsula of Shawmut, and was already a
place of considerable commercial importance. Harvard College was
already open, schools were established, town meetings were frequent,
and a system of representative government was in existence. Not only
so, the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth
had formed themselves into {101} a confederacy "for preserving and
propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, and for their own
mutual safety and welfare."

Much sympathy was felt in Boston for La Tour, who was a man of very
pleasing manners, and was believed to be a Huguenot at heart. He
explained the affair at Machias and his relations with the French
Government to the satisfaction of the Boston people, though apparently
with little regard to truth. The desire to encourage a man, who
promised to be a good customer of their own, finally prevailed over
their caution, and the cunning Puritans considered they got out of
their quandary by the decision that, though the colony could not
directly contribute assistance, yet it was lawful for private citizens
to charter their vessels, and offer their services as volunteers to
help La Tour. The New Englanders had not forgotten D'Aunay's action at
Penobscot some years before, and evidently thought he was a more
dangerous man than his rival.

Some Massachusetts merchants, under these circu