Such a pacification as this would secure two objects; objects eminently important, appealing strongly to all who desired the aggrandizement of France and the progress and supremacy of the Catholic faith. It would secure for ever to the French the fur-trade of the Indians, a commerce then important and capable of vast expansion. The chief strength and resources of the savages allied with the French, the Montagnais, Algonquins, and Hurons, were at that period expended in their wars. On the cessation of hostilities, their whole force would naturally and inevitably be given to the chase. A grand field lay open to them for this exciting occupation. The fur-bearing country embraced not only the region of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, but the vast and unlimited expanse of territory stretching out indefinitely in every direction. The whole northern half of the continent of North America, filled with the most valuable fur-producing mammalia, would be open to the enterprise of the French, and could not fail to pour into their treasury an incredible amount of wealth. This Champlain was far-sighted enough to see, and his patriotic zeal lead him to desire that France should avail herself of this opportunity. [118] But the conquest of the Iroquois would not only open to France the prospect of exhaustless wealth, but it would render accessible a broad, extensive, and inviting field of missionary labor. It would remove all external and physical obstacles to the speedy transmission and offer of the Christian faith to the numberless tribes that would thus be brought within their reach. The desire to bring about these two great ulterior purposes, the augmentation of the commerce of France in the full development of the fur-trade, and the gathering into the Catholic church the savage tribes of the wilderness, explains the readiness with which, from the beginning, Champlain encouraged his Indian allies and took part with them in their wars against the Five Nations. In the very last year of his life, he demanded of Richelieu the requisite military force to carry on this war, reminding him that the cost would be trifling to his Majesty, while the enterprise would be the most noble that could be imagined.