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.
Report of Detroit in 1703
(August 31, 1703)
Cadillac, M. de la Mothe in: Michigan Historical
Collections, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 161-181.
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consequence of the arrangement which had been made, that the Company of the Colony should pay to each missionary of Detroit the sum of eight hundred livres a year; that it would have the things they would want for their food, and the clothing necessary for their use, brought for them at its cost and expense; and that it would get dwellings for them in the villages of the savages until there was time to build them more conveniently.
I have carried out, for, my part, the arrangements which have been made; the Company has carried them out on its side, having this spring (in accordance with the agreement) sent a boat on purpose for Father Maret, Superior of Missilimakinak, who feigned [to have] important reasons for not coming here. So the Company has incurred that expense in vain, as it had already done regarding Father Vaillant.
You wish me to be friendly with the Jesuits, and not to pain them. Having thought it well over, I have only found three ways of succeeding in that. The first is to let them do as they like; the 2nd, to do everything they wish; the 3rd to say nothing about what they do. By letting them do as they like, the savages would not settle at Detroit and would not be settled there; to do what they wish, it is necessary to cause the downfall of this post; and to say nothing about what they do, it is necessary to do what I am doing; and [yet], in spite of this last essential point, I still cannot induce them to be my friends.
It is for you, My Lord, to consider whether you wish me to continue to get the savages to settle here, and for this post to be preserved and maintained in a flourishing state. If those are your opinions as I believe, I am perhaps fitted to have them carried out; but I venture to tell you that the intentions of the Jesuits of this country are entirely opposed to yours, at least on that point.
All that has not prevented the Sauteurs and Mississaguez from coming this year and forming another village on this river. These two tribes have united and incorporated [themselves] with one another, having followed my advice in that, and done my will. I thought this advisable, considering that their union will be an advantage to them, and to us if any rupture occurred with the enemies of the State and of the Colony.
Thirty Hurons from Missilimakinak arrived here on the 28th of June to incorporate themselves with those who have settled here. Thus only about twenty-five of them remain at that place, where Father de Carheil, their missionary remains ever resolute. This autumn I hope finally to tear this last feather from his wing; and I am convinced that this obstinate vicar will die in his parish without having a parishioner to bury him.
Several households* and families of the Miamis have also settled here, as well as some Nepissirinens; the first have incorporated themselves (page 163) with the Hurons and the others with the Outavois, and the Oppenago or Wolves.
The rest of the Sinago Outavois, who are still at Missilimakinak, have secretly sent me a belt to tell me they will come and join their brothers of Detroit after they have gathered their harvest. Six large households* of the Kiskakouns have sent to me to say the same thing. I replied to them by a belt that I was going to mark out the lands where they may make their fields.
This procedure on the part of the savages shows how they are restrained and that they are much intimidated by the fear which is insinuated into their minds that an ill turn will be done them here.
I take the liberty of sending you a copy of the letters which the Jesuits of this country have written to me since I have been at Detroit and, in part, the counsels which have been held within this fort. You will see my observations thereon in the margin. I also send you those I wrote in reply to them, or on business; and after you have considered them all you will know their design as to this post, and especially their good will towards me, from which you may judge whether it is easy for me to make them friends of mine.
When it pleases you that I should complete the mustering [of the savages] at this place, it will be a very easy matter for you. But, to succeed properly in it, a fund must be formed or an assignment out of the special war fund of Canada, of six thousand livres with orders to remit these sums to me to use in matters I think necessary to the success of this undertaking, but I will give an exact account of them to the Chev. de Calliere and M. de Beauharnois, the Intendant.
I have already had the honor to write to you that the presents and belts which are given to the savages, especially when it is a question of any migration, are pledges of the sincerity of the promises made to them, and a title which gives them the right of possessing or leaving, as contracts are among civilized nations.
You know also that, to this day, not a farthing has been sent to me to help in inducing the savages to move. It is quite true that a considerable fund, in goods, has been put in my hands in order to form this post, without it having cost the King anything whatever for it. I believe they have had reason to be satisfied with my action in that matter, by the good order I have kept in this business; for it is certain that the Company has gained rather than lost, and that is a thing I am better informed about than anyone. However, if they come to complain of the expenses which it has been necessary, or is necessary to incur in order to keep up this post, I willingly pledge myself to indemnify them and to carry it on as far as Your Highness wishes; and if you are in doubt, I will give you, when you please, so good an outline of it that I venture to flatter myself that you . . .
de Calliere and Beauharnois, and whether you also wish them to marry when they are able to keep their wives; it will, I think, be advisable to fix a certain number of them per year. Be kind enough also, if you please, to let me know whether you wish me to grant dwelling places to the Canadians, there are several of them who importune me to obtain them; it is for you to say positively as to that, for I cannot conceal from you that they do not wish me to do so at all. I believe they maintain that this migration would reduce the strength of Quebec and Montreal. For my part I do not think that forty or fifty men, more or less, would seem much in those places, nor prevent them from carrying out anything they wished to do, while it would be a great help to this post, without which nothing will ever be done here; and it is to be supposed that our allies already settled there, and those who are about to come, will draw a bad augury and unfortunate inferences from the non-fulfilment of our promises; for they were told that an important settlement would be established here.
You may be aware that there is not a post in this country, especially where there are French people, even as far as the dwelling of M. Juchereau, where there are no Jesuits; there is none but Detroit alone which is without them, although they are so eager to conduct missions. This shows the good will they bear me; and, if people are very solicitous in this country about what they do, for my part I am no longer at all eager to see them there, for I am well aware that the living there is not so good as elsewhere. Nevertheless they ought to make their choice and speak their minds, because we could [then] take means to bring other missionaries there. Can they stretch their authority more than by not only dispensing with conducting this mission themselves, as the King wishes, but even preventing others from coming there.
It is right that you should be informed that, more than fifty years ago, the Iroquois drove most of the tribes by force of arms to the end of Lake Superior, that is, five hundred leagues to the north of this post, which is a barren and fearful country; and that about thirty-two years ago we brought them together again in the district of Missilimakinak which is also unfruitful, where they have been reduced to the necessity of living on fish only as I explained to you in a short description when I was in France, with which you were good enough to tell me you were well pleased. It appears, therefore, that God has raised me up like another Moses, to go and deliver this people from its captivity, or like another Caleb to bring it back to the land of its fathers and its former dwelling place, of which only feeble recollections still remained to it.
But Montreal plays the part of Pharaoh here; it cannot witness this migration without a shudder, and arms itself to confound it. But I hope that the Court, observing that the people is [as] a wild animal without a guide and without light, will smooth my path and will not burst its dykes (page 171) except to deluge and engulf those who have the temerity to wish to overthrow so lawful a design. The people has never known what it asked for; it broke the sceptre of its first king, who was God himself, and would have rejected and even stoned him who made it rain delicious meats for them on the most barren lands, and opened the rocks to quench their thirst. What does Montreal complain of concerning the post of Detroit since it was an abandoned country, the possession of which had remained with the Iroquois and the Loups. It was they who hunted there and in all the neighboring district, and brought its hides, beaverskins, and small furs to the English. This is an unanswerable fact, and anyone must be filled with obstinacy and injustice to deny it. Then I have chosen my time well for beginning this settlement; the Iroquois have entirely withdrawn or, if any remain, they are incorporated with our allies. All the hunting is done by our savages, and all the trade falls to us. It is therefore an advantage to the kingdom, and a possession which we have withdrawn and snatched from England. Private individuals complain that the Company of the Colony profits by it; I do not deny it, I leave them free to complain. Only I wish they had eyes, to be able to see that that is not the fault of the post nor of him who originated the plan for it.
I also acknowledge that there was some hardihood in coming and setting up trading by a Company among uncivilized peoples, who are [just] beginning to have some glimmering of subordination; this might well extinguish it, seeing that they are all at once reduced to the necessity of taking what it is desired to give them, and of bearing the rough manners of the clerks of the Company, who treat them according to their caprice, or rather, according to the brutal disposition with which men of this sort are generally filled. I am willing to believe that the affairs of the Kingdom determined the Court to take that course for a time, with the intention of uniting this post, after its lease was up, to His Majesty's domain. It is in this same spirit that I have devoted myself to serving the King there by humoring out allies, making them understand that this second captivity, or rather this barbarity veneered* [with civilization], will very soon end. I do not know whether all my promises will be able to preserve their patience until that time; I am afraid that sort of servitude will make them determine to ally themselves, and trade with the English. I must not be blamed if that happens. Moses, when murmurings arose, went up the mountain, there to consult Him who had sent him, with his rod or his stick only; and He replied to him in his oracles. I walk in his footsteps; I write to the Court, I give it an account of my conduct, [and] of the wranglings and the murmuring of a foolish people, but I receive no answer. The Clamorers are allowed to clamor, they are even listened to; and I am left to pick this bone, no one being willing, as it seems, to concern himself about it although it would require only one
amongst these barbarians, where I have passed my good youthful days, being now forty-seven years of age.
If you would consent to decide yourself the matters which concern this post, without referring them to Canada, everything would go better; for, as I am not on the spot, that is, near the Governor General and Intendant, they have always some particular reason for not granting me the aid I ask from them; and all that is done to humor those who thwart me, and it is not in my power to prevent it whatever steps I may take. You may trust to what I tell you about it; so be good enough to express yourself decidedly about it. You should fear nothing as regards me; I will answer for the issue in the matters of which I write to you.
People are still sent to trade with all our allies under specious pretexts, and this is a continuation of the Congé [=license] system which causes endless irregularities by the bad conduct of the Frenchmen, who, finding themselves even more unrestrained than of old, give rise to all the scandals that debauchery is capable of devising; consequences even supervene which are shameful to the French nation; and enormities go on there which deserve correction. All that causes also such unusual disagreements with our allies that it will be difficult to manage to set them right.
Last year M. Boudor, merchant of Montreal, was sent into the country of the Sioux there to join Le Seur. He took advantage of this journey to such an extent that he brought goods there to the value of twenty-five or thirty thousand livres with the intention of trading with them in all the lands of the Outavois, which he did, though to no purpose, for he was plundered, partly by the Oütagaries. I think it necessary that you should be informed of that matter, so that you may yourself apply the proper remedy. I shall speak of it to you with a knowledge of the cause, for what I am about to tell you happened at the time I was at Missilimakinak. Here are the facts-
All our allies in general have at all times been at war with the Sioux. When I arrived at Missilimakinak in accordance with the instructions of the late M. de Frontenac, who was the most able man that ever came to Canada, I negotiated a truce between the Sioux and all our allies. I succeeded in that negotiation and made use of that opportunity, making them turn their arms against the Iroquois, on whom we had declared war, perhaps unjustly, on false statements which had been made to the Court. After that truce, I got peace concluded between our tribes and those of the Sioux. It lasted for two years; at the end of that time, the Sioux in large numbers, under the pretence of coming to confirm this peace and to ratify it properly with the Miamis, were thoroughly well received by them; and, after having passed some days in their villages, they left apparently well pleased, and they had in face reason to be so from the good welcome which had been given them. The Miamis, thinking them already very far off, slept in peace; but the Sioux who had (page 174) premeditated their attack, re-entered their village the same night, and, having surprised the Miamis, slaughtered three thousand souls, and put the rest to flight.
This treachery enraged all the tribes. They came to Missilimakinak to lay their complaints before me and to request me to join them in going to destroy the Sioux. But the war we had on our hands with the Iroquois and the English did not permit [me] to listen to that proposal. I had to adopt the course of haranguing them well and playing the orator to attain my ends. Finally the conclusion was to mourn their dead, to wrap them up and let them sleep warm until the day of vengeance should come, telling them that the way must first be cleared towards the Iroquois, the very memory of whom must be wiped out; and after that we could more easily avenge the atrocious deed which the Sioux had just committed against them. Finally I guided their minds so well that the matter was determined on as I had proposed. But, as the 25 Congés [licensed traders] existed at that time, and as avarice and the desire to trade for beaverskins urged the French to go to the Sioux in search of them, our allies complained strongly of it, and pointed out to me that it was unjust that at the very time when they had arms in their hands in our own quarrel against the Iroquois, the French were going to the Sioux taking munitions of war to have them killed. And they begged me to set that right, the more because the French passed over their lands and in front of their villages, which was violating the people's rights. I informed the late Comte de Frontenac and M. de Champigny of it; and they, having considered the reasons which I had put before them, had a decree promulgated at Montreal forbidding anyone to go among the Sioux to trade with them under the penalty of a fine of one thousand livres, of the confiscation of their goods, and other penalty at the judge's discretion, according to the advice I had given about it. This decree was sent to Missilimakinak with orders to have it published there and in all the other distant posts, which was done. I went down to Quebec the same year, having asked to be relieved; and from that time, in spite of this prohibition, Frenchmen have continued to go and trade with the Sioux, but not without having met with affronts and indignities even from our allies, which dishonor the French name.
Now this is how matters stand. All the tribes, remembering the promise I had made to them, which was to join them in going against the Sioux after the war against the Iroquois was finished, summoned me to keep it to them. But as the time supplied [me] with a good pretext, I made use of it saying that I was now fighting against the English and that it was necessary to have patience. Thereupon they replied that since I would not engage in their quarrel, they had a request to make to me, hoping that I would grant it them, which is to prevent, as I had done during the time I was a Missilimakinak, Frenchmen from going any more to the (page 175) Sioux, and taking arms and munitions of war there; and they declared that they were resolved to oppose it, all the more as a fight had just taken place in which were found two Frenchmen who had been killed among the Sioux with whom they had sided.
I have sent M. Calliere and M. de Beauharnois, my opinion on this matter, and I explain clearly to them that it is important not to break our promises in this matter, and that we cannot do so without making ourselves liable to lose the confidence which our allies have in us; and that I therefore think it advisable not to permit anyone to go to trade among the Sioux any more under any pretext whatever; more especially because M. Boudor has just been robbed by the tribe of the Renard and M. Junchereau has given a thousand crowns' worth of goods to get a free passage to go to his dwelling; for they claim that they have the right to do so, as they were carrying aid to their enemies. Altogether, I do not think they are far wrong.
They also represented to me that Le Sueür was going to the Sioux by way of the Mississippi, but that they were determined to oppose it; and, if he put himself in such a position as to force them to resist him, they would not answer for the issue. Hence this is a warning which you may give to Le Sueür through the Governor of the Mississippi.
All these disturbances arise only on account of the distant French dwelling places, which are all very useless, or to speak more correctly very injurious, for they only serve as pretexts for obtaining permits and licenses. And, instead of going about it straight forwardly, they carry on trade in beavers and all kinds of furs by the Grand river, on Lake Huron, on Lake Superior, in the Michigan district and in all the Country of the Oütavois in general. It is thus they were made use of, and that MM. de la Forest and Tonty even now make use of them. And now MM. Junchereau and Pascant, partners, are trading in all this country, even up to the neighborhood of Detroit. It is that which makes the public jealous, and causes all these escapades of licentious Canadians, who say bluntly that it is only the virtuous and the obedient who are victims to it. They are indeed, not altogether wrong in that; for it is grevious to them to see a few individuals skim the milk and take the pick of the wool of the country, through the licenses and permits given to them.
I have very often written about it, but they
keep very silent as to that. You know that the country of the Illinois was
granted to M. de La Salle, with provisos and conditions, none of which he has carried
out, and this post has only served to give rise to many disputes with the
agents of the King on account of the poor quality of the beaver-skins which
come from it. That is why the Court prohibited MM. de la Forest and Tonty from
doing any trade there in them, but at the same time it permitted them to trade
for small furs there, which is clearly a mistake; for it is certain that there
is no species of them in those places, for there are only ox-hides
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* [Literally, "plastered" or "painted."]
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