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.
English Translation of Margry
Vol. 2, VIII, pp. 287-301.
pp. 295, 299, 300, 301.
(page 295)
I have taken to bring together and retain the Indians living around my fort,
who have never seen Montreal nor even used canoes, whom the Iroquois have
already driven in flight to the ends of the earth, and the success of my
exploration, would appear to have deserved this privilege, at least for a few
years.
For the rest, it is very desirable that this war between the Iroquois and the Illinois should come to an end. If we had opposed it from the outset, the former tribe would not have become so presumptuous from the victory they have obtained. Now it is rumoured that the Iroquois want to make war upon us; and it seems that those who should prevent it are bringing it about, by inciting the Indians who are our allies, among whom they are living, to begin the war, in the hope, either that the war would ruin me by putting an end to the trade of Fort Frontenac, or that it would enable them to have a constant pretext for complaints against me. For I should not then be able to go to the Ilinois country except by way of Lakes Huron and Illinois, because the other routes which I have discovered by the end of Lake Erie and the southern shore of that lake would become too dangerous, on account of frequent encounters with the Iroquois, who are always about those parts. Thus they would always be able to accuse my men of trading in some way at prohibited places; but in case war occurs I shall have the route by sea open to me, and thus I shall care nothing for these designs. They have perhaps yet another, which I have suspected in consequence of the reports in circulation that the Iroquois had a special grudge against me, being angry at my establishing
false. I had no inclination to attempt anything so far beyond my authority, and so unseemly. Only a madman would attribute to me a thing which I knew to be forbidden even to the Governor of Canada. It is quite true that, in 1680, on my return from the Ilinois country, from which I came back overland, seeing that I could not pay the people to whom I was indebted, on account of the heavy losses I had sustained, I consented, by a writing I gave to several persons, to their trading during my absence on their own behalf within the appurtenances of Fort Frontenac, as I have always been permitted to do, I foregoing all share in the profit. This I did in order to indemnify them for the delay in paying what was due to them by the profit they would thus be able to make, and to prevent the Iroquois by this means from taking their furs to the English by keeping the Fort supplied with goods, caring little whether the trading was done for my benefit or for that of other Frenchmen, so long as I could deprive foreigners of it and keep the Fort supplied with a good number of men. Afterwards, in 1681, other persons offered to equip men to follow me at their expense on condition that, if there was any profit to be made, they should take the whole of it, but only in the places covered by my explorations. I consented to that, and, as I was not able to wait until they left, I gave them letters in which I declared that they were men who were coming to assist me in my exploration, in order that they might not be arrested as Coureurs de Bois. I added that any profit they might make from tribes which I named not one of which ever goes to Montreal, should belong (page 300) entirely to them, in order to provide them with security for my debts. I believed that I had authority to grant this, since I am only prohibited from trading with those tribes which go and take their furs to Montreal, to which place those specified in these letters have never been; and I always expressly stated that in case the persons holding these letters contravened the decrees against Coureurs de Bois, they should suffer the penalty for doing so; and, in fact, not one of them has contravened them. I cannot help giving those who go to and fro for me and for the requirements of my-enterprise certificates that they belong to me and are not Coureurs de Bois. His Majesty has given me authority in my commission to do everything that may be necessary for carrying out my undertaking; and the permission to send my men to and fro as required, and to have things brought which are needed to support it, appears to me to be most necessary, for without that it would be impossible for me to make the enterprise succeed, But, in order to remove all pretext for such charges, provided I have that permission on causing notice to be given to the Governor on the departure of the persons I employ, with their names, I will always make them go by Lake Erie, without touching Lake Huron or the Lake of the Ilinois, if war with the Iroquois is prevented; or in case it cannot be prevented, I will make them obtain at Missilimakinak, the only Indian village through which they will have to pass,- a certificate from the Jesuits there, that they have not contravened the decrees, until the route by sea is opened up, by the arrival of the ships. If it is asked why I have not built a fort at the sea, the reply is a simple one,- that the great distance prevented me. Reinforcements would (page 301) have been too far off until barques (which it would have cost too much to build so far away) had been built on these rivers to assist in bringing them, and until we had obtained provisions independently of the Indians. Both these things will be done at the fort at the portage on the Ilinois River, where we shall be constantly preparing what is necessary for loading the first ships which come from France, in order to avoid unnecessary expenses on the first voyage, and the provisions necessary for the maintenance of the colony to be established on the Great River, near the sea, for the first year. If I had had a sufficient number of men to construct forts at regular intervals, which could assist one another, the settlement would be accomplished; but there is no need of any other expenditure or advances than sufficient for the passages of sixty men and twenty or thirty negroes together with two or three thousand crowns' worth of goods. Next year I will send a verified statement of the sums I have spent for that purpose which, together with my losses, amount to more than 200,000 livres, and also any maps and memoranda you may desire, if I do not bring them myself. All that can be done this year is to wait and gain time until next year, when I will give so satisfactory an account of my proceedings that people will be satisfied, and you especially, for there is no one to whom I am more grateful than to you.
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I am, Sir, |
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Your most humble and most |
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de La Salle. |
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