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.
Memoir of La Galissoniere
(1751)
|
La Galissoniere, Roland Michel, Comte [Marquise] de la, in: [A. E. Mem. et Doc. Amer., 24:110 (in part)], [trans. in N. Y. C. D., 10:220 et. seg.], and in Pease, French Series, vol. II, 1936, pp. 5-22. |
Here the point of right will not be further discussed, but it (page 12) must be observed that this post [Oswego], which has always been regarded as an object of small importance, is capable of causing the complete ruin of Canada and has already dealt the colony some rude blows. It is there that the French often carry on an illicit trade which transfers to English clear profits that Canada should afford to France. It is there that the English lavish brandy on the Indians, the use of which had been forbidden them by the ordinances of our kings, because it makes them madmen. Finally it is thither that the English draw all the Indian tribes, and try by means of presents, not only to win them over, but even to induce them to assassinate the French traders scattered throughout the vast extent of the forests of New France.
So long as the English retain Oswego, we can only be in perpetual distrust of those Indians who till now have been the most faithful to the French; in the most profound peace we shall have to maintain twice the troops the state of the colony requires (page 13) or permits, to build and guard forts in numberless places, and to send nearly every year numerous and expensive detachments to control the various Indian tribes.
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