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 Vaudreuil Regarding
the Condition of the Colony
(November 4, 1706)
Vaudreuil, Marquis de in: Michigan Historical
Collections, XXXIII, pp. 301-314.
REPORT OF MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL,
GOVERNOR-GENERAL,
REGARDING THE CONDITION OF THE COLONY.
1Endorsed- The Marquis de Vaudreuil, 4th
Nov. 1706. Colonies.
My Lord,
I have received the two letters you did me the honor of writing to me on the ninth and twenty-third of June last, and also the one about the Sieur de Montigny; and, after thanking you for all your kindness to me and begging that you will continue it, I hope you will permit me, My Lord, to express my joy that you appear satisfied with the assurance I gave you last year, that I held MM. Raudot, senior and junior, in all possible esteem and regard. I hope, My Lord, that you will be no less content concerning us this year; and, for my part, I cannot be other than well pleased with the obliging behavior of these gentlemen.
* * * *
The portion not here translated is printed in
Vol. IX, New York Colonial Documents, page 779.- C. M. B.
You can see, My Lord, from what Miscouaky says to me, that they neither desire peace nor fear war, but that they do not wish for war with us. I am temporizing until next year, not only for all the reasons I have had the honor of giving you above, but also because I have declared to them that I wish to have all the French people back who are up there, and I am very glad therefore to wait until this autumn when they are to come down, either to have a proof, from that, of the obedience of the Outtavois, if they do not retain my people, or if they do keep them, to have a fresh complain of it. For you may see, My Lord, from the words of Miscouaky, that we have not only the Outtavois to deal with but also eight or ten tribes of their allies.
I had the honor, My Lord, in 1704, to give you an account of the reasons I had for sending the Sieur de Vinseine to the Miamis in preference to anyone else, because they were very fond of him. In a letter I wrote you at that time, I set forth all the grounds of complaint I had against him, and you were good enough to send us word in the common letter of 1705, that His Majesty had pardoned him on account of what he had done at Detroit where he wrested six Iroquois prisoners by force, from the hands (page 302) of Campanisé, Chief of the Outtavois, who had had the audacity to parade them, bound, in front of the French fort. But since His Majesty wishes him to be punished this year, I see no course open but to suspend him from his ensigncy until you are good enough to send us orders regarding him.
As regards the man Neven, My Lord, it is true that when he arrived here, some time before the other party, I had him put in prison, acting on a declaration sent to me from Detroit by the Sr. de Tonty signed by five or six Frenchmen, in which the said Neven was accused of having taken the Sieur de Vinseine by the cravat and threatened to strike him after having repeatedly insulted him; but as far from having kept him in prison for six months because he gave information of the said Sieur de Vinseine's trading, I released him after a fortnight or three weeks, on being assured that their quarrel was only on a money matter. If, My Lord, the meddlesome people who write about these matters would tell them straightforwardly, as I do, I should not be obliged to defend myself now; but that is not their disposition. Beginning with ingratitude, it is but natural that they should end with double dealing and lying.
Allow me, My Lord, to reply to you concerning the Sieur de Louvigny that he has accomplished his journey with such care and exactitude as might discredit the prohibitions I had laid upon him. In conjunction with M. de Ramezay I took steps before his departure to prevent any infraction of the orders about trading by careful examinations both by the Sieur d'Aigremond at La Chine and by the Sieur de Beaubasin twenty leagues above the town of Montreal, where the latter was to escort the Sieur de Louvigny. These two gentlemen are both relatives of M. de Ramezay, and were chosen and nominated by him. I can assure you, My Lord, that at the present delicate juncture of affairs I had need of a man with as much influence over the savages as the Sieur de Louvigny, and knowing how to influence the minds of the Outtavois as he does, in order to make them give up the Iroquois prisoners and give satisfaction for those they have killed. They have told me they will do so, My Lord, and if any other critical matter arose, I believe I could not do better than to make use of him in it. But I protest that if I had known him to be guilty of any fault I should never have ventured to ask Your Highness to include him in the list of officers whom you proposed to His Majesty to be made Knights of Saint Louis. I feel bound, My Lord, to do him justice, and to tell you not only that he was wrongfully accused as to the journey he made to Michilimakina, but also that he discharges his duties with all the zeal and diligence that can be [expected] from him; and this induces me, My Lord, to take the liberty of recommending him to you again this year, and assuring Your Highness that he is an officer who does his duty thoroughly well.
The accusation, My Lord, that has been brought against the man Ar-
down from Montreal were confronted with them, it was never possible, whatever application I made, for any one of them to be punished, or to find any charge strong enough to justify exemplary punishment. We are giving you an account of it in our joint letter; all that I can have the honor of telling you, My Lord, is that neither in the first nor in the second affair did I show any lack of firmness in my action; and that in all I have done, I have acted only as I believed to be demanded by the interests of the King's service. Finally, My Lord, if I made no severe example in the first affair at Montreal, it was because I did not think I ought to make one, and because I believed it to be the pat of a Governor, as I am, to sympathise with the wretchedness of the people, rather than to reduce them to the last stage of necessity and despair. Moreover, at the same time, two reasons compelled me to put an end to that trouble; first, that I had news from the savages- as I have already had the honor of telling you- that the English were coming to attack us, by Lake Champlain; secondly, that M. de Beauharnois, and the Sr. de Louvigny who was then in command at Quebec, wrote to me that notes were being circulated, written in a disguised hand and without any signature, to stir up the people, and that some movement was also threatened on the coasts, and the Sieur de Louvigny begged me to send him three companies. This I did not think I ought to do, but when I was sure that the news about the English was false I made the declaration of which you do me the honor to speak; I had justice done to the inhabitants who were aggrieved; I suppressed the tariff, and went down to Quebec where, on my arrival, I found everything calm. And as, My Lord, I never wish to make any statement to you which I cannot prove, I am sending to Mme. de Marsan,1 my mother-in-law, the originals of two letters from M. de Beauharnois, which she will have the honor of showing you, if you wish.
I had the honor, My Lord, to send you an account last year of the position in which I had placed the affairs of the savages, and of the difficulty there was to keep so many different tribes at peace. As the Sieur de la Mothe was unable to go up to Detroit last autumn, for several reasons which he gave us, of which I had the honor to send you an account, I permitted the Sieur de Bourmont, an ensign, to go there, for whose services he applied to me, until either he or the Sr. de la Forest could proceed there in the early spring; and I ordered the Sieur de Tonty to hand over the command of the post to the said Sieur de Bourmont as soon as he arrived there. While the Sieur de Tonty was at Detroit, My Lord, although he interfered with nothing, all was very quiet there; but when the Sieur de (page 306) Bourmont was left alone, whether because the savages had no confidence in him, or because, being still a young man he could not foresee what would happen, the Outtavois attacked the Miamis near the palisade of his fort. I will not tell you the motives of both parties, My Lord, you were able to see those of the Outtavois from what Miscouaky said to me. But whatever their motives were, they could never be sufficient for attacking the Miamis at the gate of our fort and killing some of our people. All I can say is that, as the Sieur de Bourmont had the Recollet Father and a soldier out of his fort, he might, while giving shelter to the Miamis, have temporised a little before taking either side, so as to give these two men time to withdraw either to his fort or that of the Hurons. For it does not appear to be stated that the Outtavois had any intention, at first, of firing on the French and taking the fort; it was only the course affairs took which made them resolve on this, which is none the less criminal for that, as regards the offence they have committed against us, but yet admits of explanation. One proof, My Lord, that the Outtavois had no intention of attacking the French, is that Miscouaky speaks plainly of it; but a better one is that, even by the confession of the Sieur Bormond and the report of the soldiers themselves who came down to bring me news of this. Two days before this affair happened the Outtavois, to the number of more than a hundred, with their arms passed in front of the fort when half of the garrison were outside the fort looking at them as they passed, and they did not offer the slightest insult thought nothing would have been easier than for them to take the fort. I say again, My Lord, the course of affairs impelled the Outtavois to do what they did. I do not consider them any the less to blame, whether for having killed two of our men or for having attacked the Miamis at the gate of our fort. But what am I to do? Am I to lost the whole of a tribe which was so attached to us and so useful in the last war, because some of them have done wrong? And am I, because I have lost a soldier and a missionary at Detroit, to lose yet another missionary and about fifteen French people who are at Michilimakina, and were only kept there because news came that it was the French who had attacked the Outtavois at Detroit, for they were all on the way with their belongings to come down here when they were stopped. You will see, My Lord, from my speech to Campanissé how I have spoken to the Outtavois on the subject, and also regarding the Sieur de Bourmont. I do not intend to blame his conduct, but it is unfortunate that for want of half-an-hours' neutrality, which he might have maintained, we have lost two men out of the four whom he had outside the fort; for I have just learnt that two out of the three soldiers retired to the fort of the Hurons. I say it is unfortunate, My Lord, that because the Sieur de Bourmont, whom moreover I know to be a very worthy man, did not remain neutral half-an-hour longer, we are now under the stern necessity of avenging ourselves; whereas, if we had not (page 307) lost anyone, we could have constituted ourselves arbiters of the dispute between these two tribes. The Hurons were more politic, for although they have long desired to avenge themselves on the Outtavois, as I have often had the honor to send you word, yet they did not declare themselves until they thought they were able to do so. This you will see, My Lord, from what Miscouaky said to me, and this was also confirmed by a man who came down from Detroit since these late occurrences.
(Index letter B.) The Outtavois of Detroit having joined those of Michilimakina, according to a letter I have received from Father Marest, a copy of which I have the honor of sending you, I find myself in a greater difficulty than ever, for I want to withdraw the people I have at Michilimakina, to obtain satisfaction from the Outtavois of Detroit, and not to lose the whole of that tribe if I can help it. It is that which obliged me, My Lord, to reply to Campanissé as I did, and afterwards to Miscouaky; my intention being, after having got my people away, to sow jealousy first between the chiefs of the Outtavois of Michilimakina and those of the Outtavois who have come from Detroit, and secondly to divide the latter also, as I see a good chance of doing if what Miscouaky told me about his brother Jean le Blanc is true. That is the only means remaining to us, My Lord, of obtaining vengeance on the offender who is the only cause of this war; for, as for saying that by sending a large expedition we should compel the Outtavois to give him up to us, that is a thing they will never do unless we first sow dissension among them. I have written according to the Sieur de la Mothe, and told him to remain on the defensive only until next year and that I will acquaint him with my opinion; for, between now and that time, I hope to obtain reparation from the Outtavois, and that I cannot yet give any decision as to that war, until I am certain whether they will send me back my men, or keep them; and also what course the Iroquois will take, to whom I have now sent the Sr. de Joncaire.
I receive, as I ought, My Lord, the
assurances you are good enough to give me of your support with His Majesty, and
I should never forgive myself if I were to do the least thing which could make
me unworthy of it. When I had the honor last year of informing you that Mme. de
Vaudreuil had no relatives in this country except her uncle the Sr. de
Lotbinier, three cousins, two of whom are in the Church, and three very young
female cousins, I thought that would be enough to prevent anyone from being
impudent enough to try and impose on you. Yet I see, My Lord, from the letter
you do me the honor to write to me, that some one has gone further, for they
have thought to get me into a difficulty by assuring you that Madame de
Vaudreuil had other relations also, of whom I did not speak to you, as for
example her brother's widow, his daughter, and the Sieurs d'Amours, des
Chaufours and Deplaine. As regards the widow of the Sieur de Soulange, you
know, My Lord, that I have never concealed it
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