missionary was celebrating mass in the Catholic Church, and
none but old men, women, and children were present, a terrible and foul
massacre occurred. The Iroquois rushed into the chapel with tomahawk
and scalping knife, murdering all the congregation, nor stayed their
hands until upwards of four hundred families, being every soul in the
village, were slain. About this time our friends south of the line 45 deg.,
first began to dream of the annexation of Canada. An envoy from New
England visited Quebec, and proposed to the French governor the
establishment of a peace between the two colonies of New France and New
England, which was not to be broken even should the parent states go to
war. Governor Montmagny consented, on condition that the Iroquois were
to be put down. He was so willing that he sent an envoy to Boston to
ratify a treaty. But the New Englanders would not quarrel with the
Iroquois, and no treaty was effected. A more hopeful international
commercial alliance, of which the Boston Jubilee of 1851 was
indicative, has lately been entertained. Compared to the Iroquois, or
even the Algonquins, the Huron tribe of Indians were mild in
disposition and peaceably disposed. The French missionaries obtained a
powerful hold over them. Great numbers became christianized, and even,
to some extent, civilized. Descendants of Nimrod though they were,
their wandering habits were partially subdued, and very many began to
cultivate the ground. As if there was something in the climate of
Quebec to produce such an effect, they were naturally inclined to be
supremely tranquil. And notwithstanding the recent horrible massacre
they soon sank back into their ordinary state of lethargy. They were
fearfully aroused from their lethargy, however, by another series of
attacks on the part of the Iroquois. The latter ferocious red men made
a descent upon the village of St. Ignace, killing and capturing all the
Hurons there. They next attacked St. Louis, and though some women and
children managed to escape, both missionaries and Hurons were carried
off for the torture. The Huron nation, terribly damaged, seemed to be
at the mercy of their more savage enemies. They scattered in every
direction. Their settlements were altogether abandoned. Some sought
refuge with the Ottawas, some with the Eries, and not a few attached
themselves to missionaries, who formed them into settlements on the
Island of St. Joseph, in Lake Ontario. Unable, however, to fi