"
He then, in reply to an application of Denonville, promised to give up
"runawayes." [Footnote: _Dongan to Denonville_, 26 _July_, 1686, in
_N. Y. Col. Docs_., III. 460.]
Promise was not followed by performance; and he still favored to the
utmost the truant Frenchmen who made Albany their resort, and often
brought with them most valuable information. This drew an angry letter
from Denonville. "You were so good, Monsieur, as to tell me that you
would give up all the deserters who have fled to you to escape
chastisement for their knavery. As most of them are bankrupts and
thieves, I hope that they will give you reason to repent having
harbored them, and that your merchants who employ them will be
punished for trusting such rascals." [Footnote: _Denonville a Dongan_,
1 _Oct_., 1686.] To the great wrath of the French governor, Dongan
persisted in warning the Iroquois that he meant to attack them. "You
proposed, Monsieur," writes Denonville, "to submit every thing to the
decision of our masters. Nevertheless, your emissary to the Onondagas
told all the Five Nations in your name to pillage and make war on us."
Next, he berates his rival for furnishing the Indians with rum. "Think
you that religion will make any progress, while your traders supply
the savages in abundance with the liquor which, as you ought to know,
converts them into demons and their lodges into counterparts of Hell?"
"Certainly," retorts Dongan, "our Rum doth as little hurt as your
Brandy, and, in the opinion of Christians, is much more wholesome.
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