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.
Duquesne to Rouille
(October 26, 1753)
Duquesne in: Archives Nationales,
Ministere des Colonies, C11A
99:101-109 and in Pease and
Jenison, French Series,
III, pp. 832-838.
MONSEIGNEUR:
Before coming to a definite decision on the different arrangements by which the posts may be exploited, I wished to wait and see the Indians who are settled in them to know if they had anything to complain of in the administration of the farmers or the officers who command there.
As they have brought me no complaint and on the contrary have said that they were satisfied with the prices of goods, I have (page 833) decided to leave things as they are, but I am going to announce that henceforth all certificates from the posts shall be void because I have perceived that this is an abuse which costs the king hugely and on which private persons count as on a fixed revenue.
It is not possible, Monseigneur, to have full proofs of this fraud because the commandants always set forth the urgent need of holding the Indians whether to prevent them from going to war with tribes which are allied to us or to keep them in their villages. It is true that they often make threats of this sort in order to get presents because they have discovered that this ruse has succeeded since they have been much wheedled and even spoiled; but when this expense falls on the farmer I am sure that it will amount to but little.
I am too much attached to the service not to make you perceive, Monseigneur, that it would not be at all to the interest of the king and of commerce to leave the Indians at large as His (page 834) Majesty desired. The inconveniences which would result would be too dangerous inasmuch as the Indians, who wold not be under the eyes of the commandant, would soon be seduced by the English who give to them in abundance. From this it would follow that with the restless spirit which is natural to them they will inevitably be stirred up continually to strike us ill blows which would put the king to considerable expense.
I have found no surer means of reconciling these two important objects than abolishing all the certificates for these sorts of expenses, and having them borne by the farmers of the posts whose interest it is to give, in order to keep the Indians there.
Freedom of trade in all the posts would have been infinitely to my taste, but having considered what it is necessary to give the Indians I could not have suppressed the certificates which it is very important to end forever, and which since the war have mounted to outrageous sums.
Another consideration which has made me desist from my (page 835) desire for this freedom of trade is that it is evident that the Indians are content with the way in which they are provided with their needs and have brought no complaint of high prices for goods.
The most considerable posts of this colony are Detroit, Mackinac, Green Bay, the Sea of the West, and the Illinois in which I plan establishing a free trade because their extent can take many voyageurs, and in the last three, one can more easily make new discoveries by giving these same voyageurs the freedom of going wherever their cupidity takes them. The first, which has always been free, was not so last year for want of voyageurs, but it will be so and always, as well as the second. The Illinois will be free in 1755, and the two others cannot be until 1756 without ruining those to whom the exclusive trade has been given because the third year serves to get back the prodigious advances and credits to the Indians that one is obliged to make in the first two.
This, Monseigneur, is the situation in which M. de Rigaud finds himself, and the others are the same. It is to be desired if they are to profit from their posts that the Indians should not go to war.
As for the other posts which are only capable of four or five canoe loads of goods a year, I think that they must be left as I found them, the more so as they cost the king nothing, and as I propose to get from them as much as I can, concerning which I cannot inform you until next year on account of some bits of information which I still have to get. But I repeat to you, Monseigneur, that you can count on the extinction of the certificates as well as on the most searching economy on my part.
The Ohio River will in the end become a great trading scene since I am assured that two thousand packets could be drawn from it, and this year I am giving licenses free to test it and to stir up the voyageurs to go into this new region.
I have found so great disorder in the trade of the posts that to regulate it, to fix each in its limits, and to prevent debauching the Indians, I have sent a circular of regulations which enjoins all the commandants to confiscate goods which are being traded secretly in their posts and to send to me the traders under good and sure guard. This regulation has produced a very good effect, and it is now a question of reducing to order the officers commanding the posts because I have lately perceived that they have been accustomed to a sort of liberty which tends much to insubordination and leads even to hindering trade and to debasing their characters. It is not from want of having warned them, but since there are some who will not listen to me I see myself obliged to recall them before the end of their term in order that those who are disposed to act in the same way may be restrained by this example.
I know nothing, Monseigneur, so hard as the profession which I have followed since I have been in this country. It is necessary that I have my sword always lifted to maintain sub- (page 838) ordination and good order among all men. However opposite to my character such a painful profession may be, I am too much attached to this course which is too essential to allow myself to relax on anything which can give it the least hindrance. and I hope that soon I may be at my ease on this side.
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I am with a profound respect, Monseigneur, |
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Your very humble and very obedient servant, |
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DUQUESNE |
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