220 The French in Prince Edward Island

Listen to me, my children, you call me father, and I accept of the name with pleasure. I am the organ of the king my master, your protector, your benefactor and support. Hence it is not only in the quality of father that I summon you together at present; but moreover as interpreter of the greatest monarch upon earth; of a king that has no superior but the true God, the knowledge of whom he has communicated to you for the good of your souls.

A report is spread that your brethren the Abenakis, the Marechites, and perhaps the Mikmacks of the Heve, have concluded a peace with the English, or at least have granted them a four years’ truce.

I shall not tell you how odious it is for those false brethren to have concluded this peace without my knowledge, after the late and spontaneous assurance which you had given me. Neither shall I remind you of the oaths, which each chief took in my presence on this occasion in the behalf of all your tribes, at the time I was amongst you, and when I gave you fresh proofs of the liberality, affection and kind disposition which our unparalleled monarch bareth towards your nation.

Those who have broken their new engagements, I abandon to their own reflections; but as a good father, I must open your eyes to your real and solid interests, and to what concerns your preservation. Neither will it be difficult for me to demonstrate that the step your brethren have taken, is diametrically opposite to both.

Upon my arrival in these colonies, over which the king has been pleased to appoint me governor, my first care was to cast an eye upon those tribes, which are cherished and protected by his majesty. I have been inquisitive to know every thing concerning them, and