THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Vaudreuil to Celoron
(April 25, 1752)
Vaudreuil in: Huntington Library
Mss., Loudoun Coll., 361 and
in Pease and Jenison,
French Series, III,
pp. 606-611.
I have been not less flattered by the details you have given me concerning the affairs of the upcountry, which seem to me in great disorder, if one can judge from the disposition toward us of the rebels on Great Miami River and that of the Wabash tribes, who last fall undertook an enterprise against the Illinois country which might have had more annoying consequences if their measures, which seemed to me well concerted, had not been frustrated; this you have doubtless learned. There is even every appearance that the domiciled Indians were in the plot the motive force for which surely came from the party of La Demoiselle.
It is annoying that M. de la Jonquiere should have abandoned the plan he had formed of reducing these rebels by force, in order to take the course of having them harried by tuning against them the tribes that have remained faithful to us. Supposing they might be willing to take part in it, they will do it so feebly that we shall succeed only in alarming them without any prospect of seeing them return to their duty for a long time to come. And supposing on the contrary that they should act sincerely in their movements without paying attention to the bonds of blood and marriage which they have with the greater part of these rebels, what would come of it save differences among the tribes which will not quickly be ended and from which trade will suffer in all the posts, especially those of the Illinois country, which will become the theater of war, and of the resentment of our enemies? It will increase our troubles faster than appease them and will induce the rebels to try everything against us, to maintain themselves on their lands, and to assure the English the possession of them.
That, Monsieur, is my way of thinking on these occurences, which are the fruit of the inaction in which we have remained up to now toward these rebels, which has served only to increase their number and to make them more insolent and more difficult to suppress.
Although the course M. de la Jonquiere has taken in that respect entails all these inconveniences, I do not neglect instructing M. de Macarty to follow to that end the orders you and he have received, while we await his deciding to try against these rebels the course that will have to be taken sooner or later to appease these disorders and check the advance of the English on our lands, and their influence over the tribes. These last we should easily dominate, if they had as a lesson, the decisive attacks it behooves us to make on the rebels, and on which solely depend the peace of the upcountry.
I desire, Monsieur, that he take his course as is to be desired. Meanwhile I spare nothing to induce him to it. I am also decidedly of the opinion that nothing should be undertaken against the rebels but with forces capable and sufficient to assure (page 609) us of success. For this reason I should have thought it more proper to temporize with them rather than take steps which can only turn out to our disadvantage.
By pursuing the proper course, therefore, we shall not merely attain the end of making the rebels return to their duty, but we shall also succeed in taking away forever the taste of the English for trading with our tribes, which we shall fix in our interests; thus we shall remain tranquil in our possession of our lands. This we can still further assure by a fort on the lower Great Miami River and another on the lower Wabash twelve or fifteen leagues from the Mississippi. These forts will halt the English and deprive them of all means of annoying us on that side in the future. Moreover these forts will shelter the Illinois country and protect our flanks from the raids of the Cherokee, Flatheads, and other enemies.
I hope that all these considerations may induce M. de la Jonquiere to take the course which is the sole means of reestab- (page 610) lishing quiet in the upcountry and of preserving it to us.
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