o send Frontenac back. During his second term, which
lasted for nearly ten years, there was now and then some friction
between himself and the intendant, on matters of internal government,
and between himself and the bishop and the Jesuits with respect to
amusements which the clergy always discountenanced; but he displayed on
the whole more tact and judgment in his administration of public
affairs. Undoubtedly the responsibilities now resting upon him tasked
the energies of a man of seventy-two years of age to the utmost. In
Acadia, whose interests were now immediately connected with those of
Canada, he had to guard against the aggressive movements of New
England. The English of New York and the adjacent colonies were
intriguing with the Iroquois and the Foxes, always jealous of French
encroachments in the northwest, and encouraging them to harass the
French settlers. The efforts of the English to establish themselves in
Hudson's Bay and Newfoundland, had to be met by vigorous action on the
part of Canadians. In fact, we see on all sides the increasing
difficulties of France in America, on account of the rapid growth of
the English colonies.

When Frontenac arrived in Canada, war had been, declared between France
and England. James II. had been deposed and William of Orange was on
the English throne. Before the governor left France a plan had been
devised at the suggestion of Callieres, the governor of Montreal, for
the conquest {198} of New York. An expedition of regular troops and
Canadian volunteers were to descend from Canada and assault New York by
land, simultaneously with an attack by a French squadron from the sea.
Unforeseen delays prevented the enterprise from being carried out, when
success was possible. Had New York and Albany been captured, Callieres
was to have been the new governor. Catholics alone would be allowed to
remain in the province, and all the other inhabitants would be
exiled--an atrocious design which was to be successfully executed sixty
years later, by the English authorities, in the Acadian settlements of
Nova Scotia.

Count de Frontenac organised three expeditions in 1690 against the
English colonies, with the view of raising the depressed spirits of the
Canadians and showing their Indian allies how far Onontio's arm would
reach. The first party, led by Mantet and Sainte-Helene, and
comprising among the volunteers Iberville, marched in the depth of
winter on Corlaer (Schenect