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 From Marquis de Vaudreuil
(November 8, 1707)
Vaudreuil, Marquis de in: Michigan Historical
Collections, XXXIII, pp. 368-370.
REPORT FROM MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL.
The Marquis de Vaudreuil, 8th of November.1
He takes all possible care to maintain the good understanding that has existed up to the present time between M. Raudot and him, being convinced that it is for the advantage of the Colony of Canada.
As the chief concern of this country is to maintain also a firm union among the savage tribes allied to the French, he has always devoted himself to that as far as he possibly could.
It appeared to him of great importance not to allow the act which the Outaouack savages committed at Detroit de Pontchartrain to go unpunished, so as to keep all the other savage tribes in awe; but, as it was not advisable to make use of the Iroquois, nor of the Huron and Miami Indians to destroy that tribe, he has sought for a means of compelling the Outaouacks to make reparation for this act, and he has succeeded.
These savages came to him at Montreal while he was there, to apologize and ask for pardon, and he thought it advisable to be hard with them and to send them back to the Sr. de La Motte to seek means for adjusting the affair, and making their peace with the Huron and Miami Indians, who were concerned in the fight at Detroit.
Two chief reasons induced him to deal with it in this way; the first to inform the Iroquois of all the proceedings of these savages; and the second, to show the said Sr. de La Motte that, far from being in any way opposed to the settlement of Detroit, he sought only to make him influential among all the tribes in the neighborhood of that post.
He succeeded in his first object; for the Ouctaouacks, impressed by what he had told them at Montreal,- that he could not pardon them if they did not find means, with the said Sr. la Motte, to make peace all round at Detroit,- not only promised the said Sr. de La Motte all that he wished of them, but have even sent him the Ouctaouack chief who committed the action at Detroit.
It appears from the conferences which the said Sr. de La Motte had at Detroit with the representatives of the Ouctaouacks, a copy of which he has sent to him, that they showed great submission to everything that was required of them.
As the said Sr. de La Motte skilfully hints that it is to him alone that these savages have conceded the point of sending him the chief who committed the act at Detroit, he thought he ought to state that it was the demand which he made on this point at Montreal, in the presence of M. Raudot and several officers that decided the savages to send this chief to the said Sr. de La Motte.
He was expecting that the said Sr. de La Motte would reflect upon the reasons which had induced him to refer that matter to him, to settle it himself, and that that would induce him to return to the path of duty; yet he continues to say things about him which injure his dignity; he ill-treats all who are devoted to him, threatening every day to ruin them; he has the impudence to make false statements in his letters, and to make the savages say things which are not at all probable; and lastly he considers himself independent of him, hinting to all the savages in the vicinity of his post that they have no ruler but him and should know no one else.
The said Sr. de La Motte was malicious enough to tell the Ouctaouacks of Missilimakinac, in the councils which he held at Detroit, that the Jesuit Father Maret, who is with them, dissuaded them from settling at Detroit, which is certainly quite unfounded.
As the said Sr. de La Motte said unpleasant things in these councils to the prejudice of this priest, because he cannot tolerate Jesuits, it would be advisable to order him to speak more guardedly about missionaries, because that course destroys all the confidence in the minds of the savages which they may have in the missionaries, and consequently does harm to religion.
He also begs that this officer may be ordered to show more respect in speaking of him.
As he wishes nothing but good to the settlement at the post of Detroit, apart from all the reasons he has to complain of the said Sr. de La Motte, he has ordered all the savages in the neighborhood of his post to obey him in everything he tells them from him, and he has written to Father Maret to leave all the savages of his mission at liberty to go and settle at Detroit, and to follow them there rather than give the said Sr. de La Motte occasion to say that any of them have been dissuaded from doing so.
The said Sr. de La Motte has taken away the
mission to the Miamis from the Jesuits and has given it to the Recollets,
claiming that he has the power to do so. He would not give any decision as to
that, leaving it to what His Majesty may order; he is, however, bound to say that
the Jesuits are much better fitted for carrying on missions to the savages than
the Recollets are.
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