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.
Missionaries at Kaskaskia
to Du Tisn
(January 10, 1725)
Boulanger, Kereben, Jesuits and Thomur, Priest in:
Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVI, pp. 453-456.
1725: OPINIONS OF ILLINOIS
MISSIONARIES REGARDING FOX
WAR.
[Letters to Du Tisn from missionaries at Kaskaskia; dated Jan. 10, 1725. Source, same as that of preceding document, but fol. 267.]
MONSIEUR- I have the honor to Send you Herewith the Reply of the small number of savages Who are here. He who Carries you the message is a chief of the Kaskacias named assakipit, who is highly Esteemed. He accompanies his me sage with a calumet, which he will present to le chat blanc to Thank him for his visit. The Message is Full of Respect and submission to your orders; and when all The other chiefs come, they will not disavow it. You ask us in particular, Monsieur, what are our Opinions. They will not be very different from the message of The illinois. I add to what he will say my private Opinion, which is also that of Monsieur Thomur, the Superior of the Kaskacias Missions. He will sign it with me, as you Deem it advisable, for neither of us fears having it made public, If you consider that expedient for the public weal; for we have no other views, and it Is perfectly in accord with That which we hold respecting The establishment of Religion and the Safety of the Country.
First: We Certify that in our illinois villages there are no renard slaves, except one girl, who is with the Chief of the metchicamias;1 and the latter has promised to surrender her as soon as they give up to him His son Vensa, a prisoner among the Renards, who was given by them to Their allies. As our illinois are absent from their homes, we do not Know whether there are any other slaves among Them.
Secondly: Monsieur Delignery cannot have had The slightest doubt, when he made the peace, that The 5 Frenchmen mentioned in His letter Were Killed last spring, since Their Scalps were carried through the villages of the Renards, and the Poux and other Lake tribes were Informed of the affair. Moreover, even if he had not been aware of It, he, at least, knew certainly that in 1719 one St. hive2 was killed, and de ruisseaux wounded; that in 1721, a Soldier was killed at the Gate of the village of the Kaskacias; that in the Following years Monsieur Nepveu and His family Were massacred; that in 1723, lesueur and La fond were slain while hunting; that in The Following year, Monsieur de St ange was attacked and one of his Soldiers killed; and that last spring Monsieur de Boisbriant's Canoe, manned by 4 Frenchmen and His Slaves,3 Was attacked, and The 4 Frenchmen Killed.
Neither can Monsieur de Lignery have been ignorant of the fact that, since The peace, The illinois have not left Their Lands; that If the Renards went thither, it was because they wished to attack The illinois. The destruction of Le Rocher and of Pimithony Are proofs of this.
Hence we may conclude that the Renards in all their repre- (page 455) sentations have Imposed upon the French chiefs; we have therefore Decided that the peace with the Renards does not suit us. If it is a question of asking for peace, it is not Proper that the French should seek it. If the renard should ask for It, it might be granted to him, by compelling him to pay for the death of the French. It should be Represented to Monsieur Delignery that the peace he has made between the renards and the Lake tribes is hurtful to this province, and will undoubtedly break up its Trade with three or four nations against whom the renards had to defend Themselves. They will have only the illinois to Contend with, and the French, Their allies, will support Them.
Thirdly: If Monsieur Delignery, after Hearing these reasons, does not consider it his duty or that he has the power at once to break the peace that he has made Without awaiting a Response from Monsieur De Vaudreuil or from the Court, it will be necessary, at least pending the arrival of those answers, to compel the renard to Suspend hostilities against the Illinois during the entire spring and the following summer, in order that he may not make an attack On the Lands of the Illinois. And Monsieur Dutisn, on his side, could assure the Renard that The illinois will not Leave His own Territory to go to the other's lands; but will nevertheless be thoroughly on his guard In case the renard should enter Upon the Lands of the Illinois. During this truce there will be time to ascertain the facts, and to speak to all the Illinois chiefs. Some of these may be Sent, with certain Frenchmen, to parley and Agree upon the Terms of a firm and lasting peace- one of whose Principal articles should be, that whichever nation of the two might attempt to take up arms should at once be attacked by all the others who had Been witnesses to the Treaty.
Such, Monsieur, is the Opinion of both of us. We remain with profound respect,
|
BOULANGER and KEREBEN, Jesuits. |
|
THOMUR, priest. |
FROM THE CASKAKIAS, the 10th of January, 1725.4
___________________________________
1 A tribe who were living near the mouth of Arkansas river when Marquette visited them in 1673; by 1700, they had wandered northward to the vicinity of Cahokia, and were living in the same village as the Tamaroas, with whom they probably were later incorporated.- ED.
2 Another transcript gives this name as St. Yves, probably thus modernized by the copyist.- ED.
3 As we have already seen throughout these documents, captives taken in war were held as slaves, among all tribes. When the French settled among the savages, they too adopted the custom of slaveholding; and in both Illinois and Louisiana slavery prevailed at first of Indians, and afterward of negroes who were first brought to Louis iana in 1719). See Jes. Relations, index, art. Slavery.- ED.
4 (1, p. 455) Jean le Boullenger (who evidently wrote this letter) labored in the Illinois mission (most of the time at Kaskaskia), from 1703 until at least 1729. Joseph Franois de Kereben came to Canada in 1716, and labored among the Illinois until his death in 1728; he was superior of the Louisiana missions from 1723 to 1725. Thaumur de la Source was one of the priests sent to Illinois by the Missions Etrangres.- ED.
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