For this mistaken policy the British
colonies were to pay a heavy price.
The French and the Indians, save for one exception, had
been on terms of amity from the beginning. The reason
for this was that the French had treated the Indians with
studied kindness. The one exception was the Iroquois
League or Six Nations. Champlain, in the first years of
his residence at Quebec, had joined the Algonquins and
Hurons in an attack on them, which they never forgot;
and, in spite of the noble efforts of French missionaries
and a lavish bestowal of gifts, the Iroquois thorn remained
in the side of New France. But with the other Indian
tribes the French worked hand in hand, with the Cross
and the priest ever in advance of the trader's pack.
French missionaries were the first white men to settle
in the populous Huron country near Lake Simcoe. A missionary
was the first European to catch a glimpse of Georgian
Bay, and a missionary was probably the first of the French
race to launch his canoe on the lordly Mississippi. As
a father the priest watched over his wilderness flock;
while the French traders fraternized with the red men,
and often mated with dusky beauties. Many French traders,
according to Sir William Johnson--a good authority, of
whom we shall learn more later-were 'gentlemen in manners,
character, and dress,' and they treated the natives
kindly.
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