has been summed up in these words:--

"Ten moons ago Champlain had declared that he desired to assist them
against their enemies, with whom they had been for a long time at
warfare, on account of many cruel acts committed by them against their
tribe, under colour of friendship. Having ever since longed for
vengeance, they had solicited all the savages whom they had seen on the
banks of the river to come and make an alliance. They had no children
with them but men versed in war and full of courage, and well acquainted
with the country and the rivers of the land of the Iroquois. They wanted
to go to Quebec in order that they might see the French houses, but
after three days they would return to engage in the war. As a token of
firm friendship and joy, Champlain should have muskets and arquebuses
fired."

Champlain replied that he was glad to be able to fulfil his promise to
them; he had no other purpose than to assist them in their wars; he had
not come as a trader, but only with arms to fight. His word was given,
and it was his desire that it should be kept. Thus was the alliance
ratified which had been made in 1603 between the French and the Hurons,
Algonquins and Montagnais, and the alliance was never broken.

Some historians have reproached Champlain for his intervention in the
wars between the Indians of Canada, and have suggested that it would
have been wiser to have preserved a strict neutrality, instead of taking
up arms against the redoubtable and valiant Iroquois. In order to
explain Champlain's actions, it is necessary to consider the relations
of the French towards the other tribes. Many years before the period of
which we are writing, certain French captains traded with the Montagnais
Indians of Tadousac. These Indians were on friendly terms with the
Hurons, the Algonquins Superieurs of the Ottawa river, and the
Souriquois of Acadia, and were united in their desire to subdue the
terrible Iroquois. As the Iroquois did not trade, Champlain had no
relations with them of a business character, and therefore he was not
bound towards them in the same manner as he was towards the Hurons and
others.

The Iroquois at first resided at Montreal and Three Rivers, while their
neighbours, the Algonquins, were scattered along the shores of the
Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing and French River. The Algonquins, who were
brave and very numerous, succeeded in driving the Iroquois back to Lake
Erie, and afterwards to Lake Ontari