le, D'Aulnay
came back from France with fresh orders from the king for the arrest
of De la Tour, and in October, 1644, sent to Boston an envoy with the
new credentials. The Massachusetts authorities were reluctant to
abandon De la Tour, but seeing no alternative they made a treaty for
free-trade, subject to confirmation by the federal commissioners.[17]

Still the ties that bound the Boston merchants to De la Tour were not
wholly dissolved even now. They gave an asylum to De la Tour's wife at
Boston, and sent her with supplies to his fort at Port Royal; and when
the fort succumbed under D'Aulnay's attack they fitted her husband out
with a ship and truck for trading. At last De la Tour's dealings
thoroughly opened their eyes. When the ship came to Cape Sable, De la
Tour and his Frenchmen suddenly arose against the English crew, put
them out in the woods, and seized and appropriated the vessel and
cargo. Prominent among those who had lent money and influence to De la
Tour was Major Edward Gibbons, who lost upward of L2500.

D'Aulnay retaliated and took a ship belonging to Massachusetts, and in
September, 1646, a new treaty was made with him by envoys representing
the confederacy. The English made a formal acknowledgment of error,
and the French accepted in full satisfaction a present to D'Aulnay of
a sedan-chair, which had been sent as a present by the viceroy of
Mexico to his sister, but was captured in the West Indies by Cromwell
and given by him to Governor Winthrop.[18]

In 1648 the colony of Massachusetts applied to the French officials at
Quebec for a reciprocity of trade. As the Iroquois had proved very
destructive to the French and their Algonquin and Huron allies, the
French governor caught at the plan of granting the desired privileges
in return for military aid. Accordingly, in 1650, the French governor,
D'Aillebout, sent the Jesuit father Druillettes, who had acted as
missionary among the Algonquins of Maine, as envoy to Boston to
negotiate a treaty.[19] But Massachusetts did not repeat the error of
former times, and would do nothing without consent of the federal
commissioners. To them, therefore, the matter was referred, with the
result that the commissioners declined to involve the confederacy in a
war with the Iroquois by authorizing any assistance to be given the
French privately or officially.[20]

In the relations with the Dutch the temperate and conservative force
in the confederacy was Massachuset