The presence of the Dutch and English had stimulated the Five Nations to enlarge their operations in the fur trade and multiply their profits.  The French, from being earliest in the field, had established friendly relations with all the tribes to the north of the Great Lakes, including those who dwelt in the valley of the Ottawa; and La Salle and Tonty had recently penetrated to the Mississippi and extended French trade to the country of the Illinois Indians.  The furs from this region were being carried up the Mississippi and forwarded to Quebec by the Lakes and the St Lawrence.  This brought the Illinois within the circle of tribes commercially dependent on Quebec.  At the same time the Iroquois, through the English on the Hudson, now possessed facilities greater than ever for disposing of all the furs they could acquire; and they wanted this trade for themselves.

The wholesome respect which the Iroquois entertained for Frontenac kept them from attacking the tribes under the protection of the French on the Great Lakes; but the remote Illinois were thought to be a safe prey.  During the autumn of 1680 a war-party of more than six hundred Iroquois invaded the country of the Illinois.  La Salle was then in Montreal, but Tonty met the invaders and did all he could to save the Illinois from their clutches.  His efforts were in vain.  The Illinois suffered all that had befallen the Hurons in 1649. [Footnote:  See The Jesuit Missions in this Series, chap. vi.] The Iroquois, however, were careful not to harm the French, and to demand from Tonty a letter to show Frontenac as proof that he and his companions had been respected.

Obviously this raid was a symptom of danger, and in 1681 Frontenac asked the king to send him five or six hundred troops.  A further disturbing incident occurred at the Jesuit mission of Sault Ste Marie, where an Illinois Indian murdered a Seneca chieftain.  That Frontenac intended to act with firmness towards the Iroquois, while giving them satisfaction for the murder of their chief, is clear from his acts in 1681 no less than from his general record.  But his forces were small and he had received particular instructions to reduce expenditure.  And, with Duchesneau at hand to place a sinister interpretation upon his every act, the conditions were not favourable for immediate action.  Then in 1682 he was recalled.

Such, in general, were the conditions which confronted La Barre, and in fairness it must be admitted that they were the most serious thus far in the history of Canada.  From the first the Iroquois had been a pest and a menace, but now, with the English to flatter and encourage them, they became a grave peril.  The total population of the colony was now about ten thousand, of whom many were women and children.  The regular troops were very few; and, though the disbanded Carignan soldiers furnished the groundwork of a valiant militia, the habitants and their seigneurs alone could not be expected to defend such a territory against such a foe.