Such were the devout habits of Champlain's life in his later years. We are not, therefore, surprised that the historian of Canada, twenty-five years after his death, should place upon record the following concise but comprehensive eulogy:-- "His surpassing love of justice, piety, fidelity to God, his king, and the Society of New France, had always been conspicuous. But in his death he gave such illustrious proofs of his goodness as to fill every one with admiration." [117] The reader of these memoirs has doubtless observed with surprise and perhaps with disappointment, the readiness with which Champlain took part in the wars of the savages. On his first visit to the valley of the St Lawrence, he found the Indians dwelling on the northern shores of the river and the lakes engaged in a deadly warfare with those on the southern, the Iroquois tribes occupying the northern limits of the present State of New York, generally known as the Five Nations. The hostile relations between these savages were not of recent date. They reached back to a very early but indefinite period. They may have existed for several centuries. When Champlain planted his colony at Quebec, in 1608, he at once entered into friendly relations with all the tribes which were his immediate neighbors. This was eminently a suitable thing to do, and was, moreover, necessary for his safety and protection. But a permanent and effective alliance with these tribes carried with it of necessity a solemn assurance of aid against their enemies. This Champlain promptly promised without hesitation, and the next year he fulfilled his promise by leading them to battle on the shores of Lake Champlain. At all subsequent periods he regarded himself as committed to aid his allies in their hostile expeditions against the Iroquois. In his printed journal, he offers no apology for his conduct in this respect, nor does he intimate that his views could be questioned either in morals or sound policy. He rarely assigns any reason whatever for engaging in these wars. In one or two instances he states that it seemed to him necessary to do so in order to facilitate the discoveries which he wished to make, and that he hoped it might in the end be the means of leading the savages to embrace Christianity. But he nowhere enters upon a full discussion of this point. It is enough to say, in explanation of this silence, that a private journal like that published by Champlain, was not the place in which to foreshadow a policy, especially as it might in the future be subject to change, and its success might depend upon its being known only to those who had the power to shape and direct it. But nevertheless the silence of Champlain has doubtless led some historians to infer that he had no good reasons to give, and unfavorable criticisms have been bestowed upon his conduct by those, who did not understand the circumstances which influenced him, or the motives which controlled his action.