Influenced by the advice of an English officer, Colonel Dogan, in whom they confided, the Five Nations, so far as they could, formed treaties with the Western Indians. At this period, war between the English and the French again broke out, and Count Frontenac, the new governor of Canada, sent a message to the tribes by a sachem who had been a prisoner and had been carried to France, but who had just returned with the Count. The object of this mission was to invite the Five Nations to a conference, for the purpose of making peace. After holding a general council, consisting of eighty sachems, at Onondaga, on the 27th of December, 1689, at which they requested the mayor of Albany to be present, in order to advise them, they sent to Count Frontenac their answer. This was quite characteristic. Its conclusion ran thus:-- “Yonondio,” (the name they always gave the French governor,) “you desire to speak with us at Cadarackui. Don’t you know that your fire there is extinguished? It is extinguished with blood. You must send home the prisoners in the first place. “We let you know that we have made peace with the Wagunhas [probably the Ottawas]. You are not to think that we have laid down the axe because we return no answer; we intend no such thing. Our far-fighters shall continue the war till our countrymen return. When our brother is returned, then we will speak to you of peace.” The Five Nations were now engaged in frequent skirmishes with the French, whom they annoyed greatly by their war-parties, killing some, and carrying off others as prisoners, sometimes even from the vicinity of Montreal. The Mohawks, however, not finding the English earnest in furnishing them aid, as they had promised, began to incline to make peace with the French. They accordingly despatched some of their sachems to Count Frontenac for this purpose, and entered into a treaty with him. The English, being made aware of this, renewed their covenant with the other nations, and gave them presents. The Mohawks also renewed their alliance with the English colonies, saying, “Though an angry dog has endeavoured to bite the chain in pieces, we are resolved to keep it firm, both in peace and in war. We now renew the old chain, that so the tree of peace and prosperity may flourish and spread its roots through all the country.” During the whole of this war, the Five Nations remained faithful to the English colonies, notwithstanding the intrigues of the French to lure them over to their side. They contributed essentially to the protection of our frontiers, and greatly harassed the enemy along the whole Canadian border. The contest drew forth many acts of extraordinary skill and bravery, on both sides, as well as others of shocking atrocity. The French seemed often to forget their civilization in their fury against their savage foe. At last, the treaty of Ryswick, between England and France, which terminated the war in other quarters, brought peace also to the Indian tribes.