]
While Massachusetts was making ready to conquer Quebec by sea, the
militia of the land expedition against Montreal had mustered at
Albany. Their strength was even less than was at first proposed; for,
after the disaster at Casco, Massachusetts and Plymouth had recalled
their contingents to defend their frontiers. The rest, decimated by
dysentery and small-pox, began their march to Lake Champlain, with
bands of Mohawk, Oneida, and Mohegan allies. The western Iroquois were
to join them at the lake, and the combined force was then to attack
the head of the colony, while Phips struck at its heart.
Frontenac was at Quebec during most of the winter and the early
spring. When he had despatched the three war-parties, whose hardy but
murderous exploits were to bring this double storm upon him, he had an
interval of leisure, of which he made a characteristic use. The
English and the Iroquois were not his only enemies. He had opponents
within as well as without, and he counted as among them most of the
members of the supreme council. Here was the bishop, representing that
clerical power which had clashed so often with the civil rule; here
was that ally of the Jesuits, the intendant Champigny, who, when
Frontenac arrived, had written mournfully to Versailles that he would
do his best to live at peace with him; here were Villeray and Auteuil,
whom the governor had once banished, Damours, whom he had imprisoned,
and others scarcely more agreeable to him.
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