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.
Lewis Evans: A Letter
With an Answer
(December 1, 1755)
(Due to length divided here into three parts)
In: Gipson, Lawrence Henry, Lewis
Evans, Philadelphia: The
Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, 1939,
pp. 177-212+.
The Connection of the Confederates with the English.
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had been taken on either Side since the Commencement of the War, should be restored to the former Lord and Proprietor." NEW-YORK was restored to the English in Pursuance of this Treaty, October 31, 1674. |
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Charles II. still in French Measures. |
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THOUGH a Peace was concluded with Holland, Charles II. still remained devoted to France, and encouraged their Enterprizes. During the Remainder of this Reign, the English were extremely serviceable to the Confederates, as they had got again insensibly engaged in a War with the French by intercepting their Enemies, as they came to Trade at Frontenac. |
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The Independency of the Confederates in Regard to Subjection. |
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THOUGH they have in Europe disputed about the Dependency of the Confederates on the Crown of England, and whether they are Subjects or not; the same will not bear disputing in this City: Where we know, That they are not subject to our Laws; That they have no Magistrates appointed over them by our King; That they have no Representatives in our Assemblies; That their own Consent is necessary to engage them in a War on our Side: But that they have the Power of Life and Death, Peace and War, in their own Councils, without being accountable to us. Subjection is what they are unacquainted with, even in their own State; there being no such Thing as coercive Power among them; Their Chiefs, are such only in Virtue of their Credit and not their Power. They may indeed, with as much or greater Propriety, be said to be Subjects to the King of Great Britain as to their own Chiefs, because of their Dependance upon Him for Protection, especially against the French. |
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They are under the Guardianship of the English. Skaniadarade in 1701, and the Countries of the Senecas &c. in 1726, surrender'd to the English, and for what Use. |
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THEIR Connection with us arises from the French and most of their Allies, being their and our common Enemy, and meditating their Destruction. After the French had, by Insinuation and Conquest, made great Incroachments upon them, they surrendered Skaniadarde, and the Habitations of the Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas, from Cayahoga to Oswego, to the English: Not, I assure you, for our own Use, but to defend for the said Confederates, their Heirs and Successors for ever. Therefore the English may be justly esteemed their GUARDIANS, by no Means their Masters. Skaniaderade was surrender'd to the English the 30th of July 1701, two Years after they had submitted Frontenac to remain in the Possession of the French; lest the French should encroach beyond the little Lake at Cataraqui, lying between Frontenac and Kente. This was confirm'd Sept. 15, 1726, when they surrendered the Habitations of the three Western Nations of the Confederates above-mentioned. But to return to our Narrative. |
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THE French being involved in a War, kept Frontenac, as a very important Place in an active War with the Confederates, being properly situate to rendesvouz their Forces at, when design'd against them; and to intercept their Hunters, as they return'd from Skaniaderade by the East End of Lake Ontario; but no Way fitted for the Defence of their Frontiers of Canada. |
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Frontenac of Importance in an active War with the Confederates. |
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THIS War was at the highest in the Reign of James II. both Sides equally bent upon extirpating the other. This King to abandon the Confederates to their Destiny, entered, at White Hall, the 16th of November 1686, into a Treaty of good Correspondence and Neutrality, with the French, for America. By the 1st Article it is agreed "That a firm Peace, Union and Amity shall be between the British and French Nations in America." By the IId "That the Soldiers, or others, of either Side shall not molest the other, nor shall give Assistance or Supplies of Men or Victuals to the barbarous or wild Indians, with whom the most Christian King or the King of Great Britain shall have a War." And by the IV. "That both Kings shall have and retain to themselves, all the Dominions, Rights and Preminences in the American Seas, Roads, and other Waters whatsoever, in as full and ample Manner, as of Right belongs to them, and in such Manner as they now possess the same." |
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The War of the
French and Confederates. The French Navigation confirmed. |
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IT is to be observed, That the French had, at this Time, two Barques on Lake Ontario1, and that they have not given up this Right by any Treaty since. But this is no exclusive Right, for the Confederates remained Masters of all the other Parts of the Lake. |
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French Right tho' not an exclusive one to the Navigation of L. Ontario. |
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In the Year 1679 Mr. la Salle, in the Service of France, built a Barque above the Falls of Niagra; and navigated with her the Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan 2. The Confederates burnt her in her Return, and killed all the Men. By that Means, the French Navigation was prevented there, and from being included in this Article for those Lakes. |
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But not to Erie, Huron and Michigan. |
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Upon which I concluded, that the French have a Right by Treaty, though not an exclusive One, to the Navigation of Lake Ontario; none at all to Lake Erie, because entirely surrounded by the Country of the Confederates, which is our exclusive Right, as the far greater Part has been surrender'd to us, for the Uses already mentioned, by the Confederates; and their whole Country, by the XVth Article of the Treaty of Utrecht, the French acquisce to be ours, and is so as far as any Claim of their can extend. The Confederates Land extended a great Way on the Lakes Huron and Michi- |
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The Navigation of Lake Erie belongs to the English. |
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And of Part of
Huron and Michigan. |
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(page 210) gan; the adjacent Navigation must be ours, for the same Reason. But as other Parts of these two latter Lakes, are bordered with Nations, whom Commissioners were to determine, whether belonging to the French or English; which has not been done, the Right to the Navigation of the adjacent Parts of those Lakes remains yet to settle. |
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Col. Dongan's Advice K. James II. renounces Dominion over the Confederates. |
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WHILE the Treaty of White-Hall existed between the two Crowns, the Governor of Canada solicited the Confederates, to enter into Treaty with him, for accommodating their Differences. This Col. Dongan, Governor of New-York, endeavoured to frustrate, by insisting, That it would be more for the Interest of the Confederates, to treat with the French as Dependants upon the Crown of England. |
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The War renew'd, Montreal sackt. |
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But King James ordered the Governor to give up the Point3. Therefore whatever Pretence of Dominion the English might have had over the Confederates, here the King gave it up; for a Time at least. |
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The French abandon Fort Frontenac, 1688. |
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THE Negociation proposed between the French and Confederates being frustrated, the War was renewed with greater Vigour. The Confederates in July 1688, sackt great Part of the Island of Montreal; and in October following, compleated what they had left before unfinished, except the City.4 |
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The Confederates enter it, and also leave it. |
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This obliged the French Garrison at Frontenac, to destroy the two Barques they had on Lake Ontario, and abandon the Fort at Cataraqui, by the Governor's Order5. But in their precipitate Flight, the Match they had left to blow up the Magazine and one of the Bastions, missed its Effect. Fifty of the Confederates entered the Fort, where they found 28 Barrels of Powder and other Stores; which they took away, and left the Fort little damaged and empty6. |
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F. Frontenac empty at the Revolution and W. and M.'s War. |
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THE Fort Frontenac was thus abandoned by the French and the Indians, when the happy Revolution took Place in England, in the Winter 1688, and remained so, when King William and Queen Mary declared War against France, the 17th of May 1689. |
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The French reinstate themselves at Frontenac, 1689. |
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THE Winter following, on the Removal of M. de Nonville from the Government of Canada, and the Renstating the Count Frontenac there; some young Gentlemen and Indian Traders went to Cataraqui, and established themselves in the Fort, repairing some little Damages the Indians had done7. From that Time the French have continued in Possession of it to this Day. |
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The Foundation of an Assertion of the Authors in his Analysis. |
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Upon Account of this Rentry by the French, I said in my Analysis, p. 14, that they attained the Possession of it during their War with the Confederates. As for the (page 211) Possession they first had, by Consent of the Confederates, for a Trading House, I have shewn here, how they had lost it. |
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THE French thus reinstated at Fort Frontenac during their Wars with the English and the Confederates, continued so, when the Treaty of Ryswicke was concluded between the King of Great Britain, and the most Christian King, the 20th of September 1697. The IVth Article runs thus, "And since the most Christian King was never more desirous of any thing, than that the Peace be Firm and Inviolable, the said King Promises and Agrees for Himself and His Successors, That He will on no Account whatsoever disturb the said King of Great Britain in the free Possession of the Kingdoms, Countries, Lands or Dominions which He now Enjoys, and therefore Engages his Honour upon the Faith and Word of a King, that He will not give or Afford any Assistance, directly or indirectly, to any Enemy or Enemies of the said King of Great Britain; And that He will in no manner whatsoever favour the Conspiracies or Plots which any Rebels, or ill disposed Persons, may in any Place Excite or Contrive against the said King; And for that End Promises and Engages, That He will not Assist with Arms, Ships, Ammunition, Provisions, or Money, or in any other way, by Sea or Land, any Person or Persons, who shall hereafter, under any pretence whatsoever, Disturb or Molest the said King of Great Britain in the free and full Possession of His Kingdoms, Countries, Lands and Dominions. The King of Great Britain likewise Promises and Engages for Himself and Successors, Kings of Great Britain, That He will Inviolably Do and Perform the same towards the said most Christian King, His Kingdoms, Countries, Lands and Dominions."8 |
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The French continue in the Possession of Frontenac. Peace of Ryswick, 1697. The IV. Article confirms the Dominions the Parties then held to the Parties that held them. |
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IT was upon this Faith and Honour of King William's Promise of not disturbing the French King in the free Possession of the Kingdoms, Countries, Lands or Dominions He then enjoyed, that I said in my Analysis, The French had an undoubted Title to their Acquisition of the North West Side of St. Laurence River from Frontenac to Montreal. The French by the Force of this Fort having obliged the Confederates entirely to relinquish those Parts; whatever their Right was there before. |
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For which Reason, the Author concluded that Frontenac, &c. belong'd to the French who then held it. |
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WHEN Advice arrived in America of the Peace being concluded at Ryswick, the Governors of New-York and Canada immediately ceased Hostilities: But to bring the Confederates, tho' now weary |
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Advice of the Peace. |
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Doubts about the Dependency of the Confederates referred to Commissioners to settle in Europe. |
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(page 212) of the War, to be reconciled to the French and their numerous Allies, was not so easily effected. The French wanted to treat with them separately, and the English, to give Peace to the French, as if the Confederates were Subjects of England. This Point after much Contest, was referred to their Principals at home, and by them to Commissioners to settle9. But the Governor of Canada improving this Pretension of the English to a Dominion over the Confederates; and representing that the English claimed them as Slaves; |
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The French and Confederates conclude a separate Peace, 1699. |
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for they have no other Idea of Subjection than Slavery, they fell in with Count Frontenac in 1699, and concluded a separate Peace with the French10; |
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Frontenac is left to the French. |
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And left Fort Frontenac and the Country thence to Montreal in Possession of the French. The War between them having been begun before, and continued after the English were engaged in it. |
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The English, if they had a Right to Frontenac, they had a Right to confirm it to the French by the Treaty of Ryswick. |
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IF the Confederates had granted the Country in Question, to the English, before the French had settled it, which I have no Reason to believe they had, as they never laid Claim to it or had Possession of it, the English had a Right to acquiesce with the French's keeping it, as the Kingdoms, Countries, Lands or Dominions, which the most Christian King then enjoyed; as mentioned in the IVth Article of the Peace of Ryswick, above quoted. |
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Otherwise the Confederates might confirm it. |
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IF the Confederates had not granted the Country to the English, before the French had settled it, the Confederates had undoubtedly a Right to acquiesce with the French's Keeping it, by the Treaty they concluded in 1699. |
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The Conclusion. |
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I HAVE thus related the Circumstances, which induced me to form the Opinion I published in my Analysis, in Regard to the Right of the Country lying between Fort Frontenac and Montreal, on the North West Side of St. Laurence. I am morally certain of every Circumstance I have related; if my Conclusions are wrong, I should be glad to see the Point set in a better Light. |
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S E C T. II Remarks on the Letter Writer's Reasoning, &c. |
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The Letter Writer's Reasoning. |
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I Have hitherto confined myself to rectifying some of the Letter Writer's Representations of Facts; and the Reader I hope will pardon my spending one or two Paragraphs in disabusing the Public of some of his Reasoning and Insinuations. |
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1 (†, p. 209) Colden p. 62, compared with p. 88.
2 (||, p. 209) Henapin's Travels, Vol. I.
3 (||, p. 210) Colden's History, p. 85.
4 (*, p. 210) Colden's History, p. 88.
5 (, p. 210) Charlevoix, Let. 12.
6 (‡, p. 210) Colden, p. 88.
7 (†, p. 210) Colden's History, p. 97 and 181.
8 (†, p. 211) According to the London Copy published by Authority, 1697.
9 (‡, p. 212) Colden's History, p. 196, 197.
10 (†, p. 212) Colden, p. 129.
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