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.
Extract of a
Letter to the Minister
for the Navy
(November 4, 1745)
Vaudreuil de Cavagnal, Pierre Regaud
de
in: English Translation of Margry,
vol. 6, pp. 661-662.
IV.
The English
will certainly establish themselves on the
Wabash, if the French delay occupying it.
________
(not identified)
Extract of a letter from M. de Vaudreuil, governor of Louisiana, to the Minister for the Navy.
|
4th of November, 1745. |
In the last letters which I have received from the Illinois country, M. Bertel sends me an account of a position suitable for the fort which it is proposed to establish on the Wabash River, 15 leagues from its outfall.
This fort will be the Key of the Colony and a barrier to the ambition of the English, who will certainly form some settlement on that river if we delay any longer in occupying it; and even now they might organize hostile expeditions of a certain kind against the country by way of the river without our being able to obtain information of them. There is not even a doubt that the Englishmen, whom I sent to France by His Majesty's storeship the Elephant, were making fresh efforts towards the execution of the scheme, for which purpose they had apparently come to explore the Mississippi, where they were arrested,- in the same manner as the attempts which M. de Bienville and M. Salmon had the honour of reporting to you in their time.
I quite understand, Monseigneur, that in the present position of affairs in Europe, His Majesty will be slow to decide upon incurring this expense; but it should be borne in mind that it (page 662) is most important that there should be no further delay in curbing the ambition of the English and making the navigation of this river free, by protecting it in that way from the raids which the Tchicachas and Cherakis are disposed to make upon it every year.
There is even a danger that the former might forestall us by building a fort there themselves, in which event we should have to forego all communication between this place and the Illinois and between the Illinois country and Canada; for by that means they would block the way against us and would obtain control of the navigation in all the upper countries.
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