extensive confederacies were in arms, wars in which entire clans were exterminated. Council fires were lighted, at which envoys from tribes a thousand miles distant appeared to negotiate peace or war. And, very soon after the planting of the first colonies on the St. Lawrence and the Hudson, the palefaces came along those footpaths, stretching out one hand for the peltries, and offering the fire-water with the other. Stealthily and treacherously the astute diplomacy of Versailles came creeping along those forest-trails. In shrewd foresight the statesmen of France far surpassed those of Holland and England. Farseeing, far-reaching, were the plans skillfully woven in the gilded cabinets of Versailles or St. Germain, for the ultimate mastery of the Continent of North America, at least so far south as Mexico. And thoroughly were those

plans carried out by subordinate legions- selfish traders, daring adventurers, gallant soldiers, and devout missionaries, whether consciously or unconsciously, tens of thousands of these were working for the extension of French power in North America.

One touch of the finger

And what has it all availed? of Providence and the proud fabric so cunningly raised has vanished like the bubble blown by a child. The flag of France is an alien flag to-day throughout North America.

The possession of the southern shore of Lake Ontario was early deemed of great importance by the Canadian government. But here they met a foe who not only faced them bravely, but who at one period even threatened utterly to uproot the French Colonies on the St. Lawrence. The Konoshioni, the United People, or the Iroquois tribes as they were called by their French neighbors, held the whole country to the southward of the lake. They were brave and fierce in war. They were astute in policy. During nearly a century, the French made little impres

sion on them. At length the Jesuit Missionaries penetrated into the heart of the Iroquois country, about the middle of the seventeenth century. And they came by the river, which now bears the name of the Oswego. These good men were early employed by the Canadian authorities in a semi-diplomatic character, and it was the intention to obtain a permanent foothold in the country, through their influence, and to establish colonies on the shores of Lake Onondaga. This effort failed. But still for many years the Canadian government kept their eyes fixed upon that southern shore, eagerly watching for an opportunity to seize some one favorable point as a nucleus for future operations. The mouth of the Oswego River was the site they most coveted as the key to the whole Iroquois country. Choueguen, as they named the spot, held a prominent place in their plans and is constantly mentioned in their older records. Scarce a meeting between the sachems of the upper tribes, and the agents of the French, whether at Onondaga or at Montreal, in which Choueguen is not named. But the rude diplomatists at the Council fire of Onondaga were very unwilling to yield this ground to the French. A wild Indian village, insignificant in size, and chiefly occupied by fishing parties, was found there by the first French missionary explorers, and continued for nearly a century, the only human habitations at the mouth of the river. Fort Frontenac was built on the northern shore of the lake in 1672, but still the Konoshioni warned off the palefaces from the coveted ground at Choueguen. In 1687 the French built a small fort at Niagara, but it was demolished a year later to satisfy the jealousy of the Indians. Thirty-three years afterwards, in 1720, the French again took possession of the same ground. "We come to you howling," said the Indian sachems to the Governor of New York, "and this is