The outcry against Frontenac’s tendency
toward despotism set off alarm bells at home,
for no less than Jean Baptiste Colbert, the
French secretary of state, repeatedly warned
the governor-general to relent. Moreover, to
curb Frontenac’s excesses, Colbert carefully
enumerated and defined his powers—with
strict instructions to observe them. None of
this meant very much to Frontenac, who con-
tinued running New France as his personal
fiefdom. When he failed to heed even the
warnings of King Louis XIV, the volatile gover-
nor-general was recalled to France in 1682
and dismissed. Completely broke, he spent
several years wrangling with creditors over
past debts. His wife’s family considered him
an outcast and an embarrassment, offering no
succor whatsoever.
In was not until April 1689 that Frontenac
received an opportunity to salvage what little
reputation he retained. In his absence the
Marquis of Dentonville, a new governor-gen-
eral, had enraged the Iroquois Indians (nomi-
nal allies of English colonies to the south),
and they conducted ruinous raids throughout
New France. In desperation, the king sent
Frontenac back to Canada to retrieve the
colony from impending destruction. His reap-
pointment coincided with the onset of King
William’s War (1689–1697) against England.
Soldier that he was, Frontenac immediately
seized the initiative upon arrival. He canceled
an advance against Albany, the Iroquois capi-
tal, deeming it as too risky. Instead, he or-
dered three different raids against Schenec-
tady, New York, Fort Loyal, Maine, and
Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, in the dead of
winter. All three operations succeeded, re-
sulted in the deaths and capture of several
English colonists, and raised French morale.
However, they also raised the ire of the
colonists, who then embarked upon their first
concerted effort to remove the French from
Canada. In August 1690 an expedition of more
than 30 ships left Boston under the command
of Sir William Phips. Having captured Port
Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Newfoundland),
they pressed ahead down the St. Lawrence
River toward Quebec. Considering the wafer-
thin defenses of that province, surrender
seemed inevitable.
Frontenac had been inspecting the de-
fenses of Montreal when word reached him of
Phips’s impending approach. Despite his ad-
vanced age he returned speedily to that town,
arrived three days ahead of the British, and
commenced defensive preparations. For all
his bluster, Frontenac was anything if not a
soldier, and his steely resolve proved infec-
tious. Above all he inspired the Canadians to
resist. Phips’s fleet anchored off Quebec on
October 16, 1690, and an English emissary
was landed, blindfolded, and hauled before a
defiant Frontenac. When ordered to surren-
der, the governor-general unflinchingly shot
back, “I have no reply to make to your general
other than the one from the mouths of my
muskets and cannon!” The English fleet, badly
outgunned by the city’s defenses, made a few
feeble attempts at bombardment but was
beaten off. Attempts at landing troops also
came to naught, so within days Phips took his
fleet back to Boston in disgrace. Had it not
been for the timely appearance of Frontenac,
Quebec might very well have been cowed into
surrendering. Now he was hailed as the savior
of New France.
There remained the problem of the Iro-
quois, or Six Nations, who occupied what
today is most of New York State. In 1696,
Frontenac, at the age of 74, rounded up men
and several hundred friendly Indians and con-
ducted an expedition against the Iroquois. Lit-
tle fighting occurred, but several Onondaga
and Oneida villages and crops were burned,
and the Iroquois sued for peace. New France
had thus weathered the strongest challenge to
its existence yet mounted, owing to the un-
yielding obstinacy of this strutting, arrogant
aristocrat.
Frontenac did not enjoy the fruits of peace
long, however, for he died at Quebec on No-
vember 22, 1698. His greatest legacy was in
revitalizing the military establishment of New
France, thereby rendering that thinly peopled
province better able to cope with the moreFRONTENAC, COMTEDE, LOUISDEBUADE