Clarence Edwin Carter

“ It is therefore evident that the close of hostilities between France and England in 1763 and the formal transfer of Canada and the West to Great Britain by no means closed the intense rivalry between the fur trading elements of the two nations for predominance in the western trade: it rather accentuated it. As has already been suggested, France, until cession of the West, had naturally possessed the sphere of influence among the savages of the Mississippi Valley and Canada, and consequently the monopoly of the fur trade accrued to her subjects. ”

“ In the Indian trade, in which all the merchants were interested, they not only had to compete with each other and with [Pg 44] independent English traders, but with the French and Spanish who had not ceased to ply their trade among their old friends the Indians. This continuance of foreign traders in British territory was probably the most serious problem in the trade situation. Not only did it affect English traders but the interests of the empire itself were seriously threatened by the presence within its limits of unlicensed foreign traders. ”

“ So long as France and Great Britain were able to hold each other in check in America, the Indian nations formed a balance of power, so to speak, between them. England and France vied with each other to conciliate the savages and to retain their good will. As soon, however, as English dominion was assured, this attitude was somewhat changed. The fur trade under the French had been well regulated, but its condition under the English from 1760 to 1763 was deplorable. ”

“ But what of the trade in the Illinois country? This region had been one of the great centers of the Indian trade under the French regime; and, in addition, the French inhabitants had been one of the main supports of New Orleans since its foundation early in the century. The commercial connection between the Illinois villages and New Orleans had never been broken, and at the time of the occupation of Illinois in 1765 French fur traders and merchants still plied their traffic up and down the Mississippi River. ”

“ In contrast to this vast area of French territory and the sparseness of its population were the British colonies, with more than a million people confined to the narrow strip between the Alleghany mountains and the Atlantic ocean. These provinces were becoming comparatively crowded and many enterprising families of English, Scotch Irish, and German extraction were pushing westward towards the mountains. Each year saw the pressure on the western border increased; the great unoccupied valley of the Ohio invited homeseekers and adventurers westward in spite of hostile French and Indians. ”

“ Conditions grew no better as the years went by. In 1767 we find General Gage complaining that "as for the Trade of the Ilinois, and in general of the Mississippi, we may dispose of some manufactures there, but whilst Skins and Furrs bear a high price at New Orleans, no Peltry gained by our manufactures, will ever reach Great Britain, and if our Traders do not return with the Produce of their Trade to the Northern Provinces, by way of the Ohio or Lakes, it will not answer to England to be at much expence about the Mississippi." ”

“ It became apparent to those in a position to understand the situation that those solid advantages which the Government had expected would accrue in return for the expense of maintaining establishments in the West would not be forthcoming, unless some effective [Pg 53] though expensive measures be taken. The rivalry of the French who monopolized the larger part of the trade and who naturally followed their old road to New Orleans, and the action of the English traders in turning the channel of their trade down the stream effectually deprived the empire of any benefits. ”

“ Fortunately there were a few men in authority during that period who had some interest in the interior settlements, and who, from their official positions realized the difficulties of the problem. Such men have left expressions of opinion and stray bits of information which leave us in little doubt as to the governmental status of the Illinois country. General Thomas Gage, Sir William Johnson, and Lord Hillsborough are perhaps the most representative examples. ”

“ On the other hand it was expected by the government that the traders who carried English manufactured goods down the Ohio River would return by the same route with their cargoes of peltry for the purpose of transporting them to England. In this the aim of the ministry miscarried. English traders and merchants followed the line of least resistance: the route down the Mississippi to New Orleans was easier and quicker than up the Ohio and across the country to the sea-coast. ”

“ New Orleans and Mobile gave France command of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi [Pg 4] River; Louisburg, Niagara, and Frontenac afforded protection for Canada. The weak point for France was the Ohio valley, in the upper part of which Virginia and Pennsylvania settlers had already located. Celoron, who went down the Ohio in 1749, burying plates of lead to signify French dominion, warning English settlers and traders, and persuading the Indians to drive out the invaders of their hunting grounds, saw the inevitableness of the conflict. ”

“ They adopted various expedients to draw trade from each other, one of which was to sell articles below first cost, thus ruining a large number of traders. [132] Fabrications dangerous to the public were frequently created to explain the price and condition of goods. [133] But probably more injurious still to imperial interests, was the fact that whole cargoes of goods were sometimes sold by English firms to French traders thus enabling the latter to engross a great part of the trade, [134] depriving the empire of the benefit of the revenue accruing from the importation of furs into England. ”

“ As I am very sensible of the immense expence this Country is to the Crown & the little advantage the Public has hitherto reaped by the trade with the savages, & the reason is that the inhabitants have continued to send their Peltry to New Orleans which is shipped from thence to Old France & all the money that is laid out for the Troops and Savages is immediately sent to New Orleans, for which our Subjects get French Manufactures. I hope, Sir, you will excuse me when I observe to Your Excellency, that the Crown of Great Britain is at all the expence & that France reaps the advantages. ”

“ The treaty of cession of 1763 gave a new impulse to the colonizing spirit which had lain dormant during the early years of the war. The English now believed that they were free to occupy at [Pg 59] will the unsettled lands as far westward as the Mississippi River. Early in the summer of 1763, before the British ministry had had time to consider and determine its policy toward the new acquisitions, there was formed an organization known as the Mississippi Land Company, [172] for the purpose of planting a colony in the Illinois and Wabash regions. ”

“ From the point of view of both trade and defense, the company proposed "that by conducting a trade useful to the Indians on the borders of the Mississippi they will effectually prevent the success of that cruel policy, which has ever directed the French in time of peace, to prevail with the Indians their neighbors to lay waste the frontiers of your Majestie's Colonies thereby to prevent their increase." ”

“ During the summers of 1763 and 1764 Colonel Bouquet raised the siege of Fort Pitt, penetrated into the enemy's country in the upper Ohio valley region and completely subdued the Shawnee and Delaware tribes upon whom Pontiac had placed every dependence. Previous to Bouquet's second campaign, Colonel Bradstreet had advanced with a detachment along the southern shore of Lake Erie, penetrating as far west as Detroit, whence companies were sent to occupy the posts in the upper lake region. In the campaign as a whole the Bouquet expedition was the most effective. ”

“ During the first years of the British occupation there was considerable friction in the contact between the two alien peoples in the Illinois villages. In spite of the fact that the French who remained became subjects of Great Britain there was for several years sharp competition between the English and French residents in the vicinity of the villages. [145] The latter were on terms of friendship with the savages and could go into any part of the country without difficulty and those Indians who came to Fort Chartres to trade generally preferred to deal with their trusted friends. ”

“ In that section of the Indian country where the influence of Great Britain was such that her traders could go among the Indians, there was always considerable dissatisfaction on account of the methods employed by the large number of independent and irresponsible traders. ”

“ A considerable portion of the French traders of the villages were secretly, and sometimes openly, supporting the Indian cause, which added greatly to the increasing embarrasment of the commandant. So distressing became the situation that Neyon de Villiers, St. Ange's predecessor, called the latter from Vincennes on the Wabash, and left the country in disgust, taking with him to New Orleans [Pg 16] sixty soldiers and eighty of the French inhabitants. ”

“ The correspondence of D' Abadie, Gage, and others indicates that official aid was given the English in making their preparations for the journey, [32] and letters were issued to the commandants of the French posts on the Mississippi to render the English convoys all the assistance in their power [33] . There may have [Pg 14] been some justification for the suspicion of Loftus that the intriguers were at work, for the French as a whole were not in sympathy with the attempt; the success of the English meant the cessation of the lucrative trade between New Orleans and Illinois. ”

“ Fraser felt himself to be in a dangerous situation; unable to hear from Croghan, whom he was expecting every day, and daily insulted and maltreated by the drunken savages, he took advantage of his discretionary orders and descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. [65] Although the French traders continued to supply the Indians with arms and ammunition, and buoy up their spirits by stories of aid from the [Pg 21] king of France, Pontiac himself was being rapidly disillusioned. He had given Fraser the assurance that if the Indians on the Ohio had made a permanent peace, he would do likewise. ”

“ There is probably some justification for the current belief that the government placed the inhabitants under a military rule, inasmuch as the actual government proved in the last analysis to be military. But that the British ministry consciously attached the interior settlements to the military department is far from the truth. ”

“ Great Britain otherwise than as it furnishes a material for her Manufactures, but it will on the contrary be prejudicial to her in proportion as other Countries obtain that material from us without its coming here first; & whilst New Orleans is the only Post for Exportation of what goes down the Mississippi, no one will believe that that town will not be the market for Peltry or that those restrictions, which are intended to secure the exportation of that Commodity directly to G. Britain, can have any effect under such circumstances. ”

“ While Croghan, Johnson, and Gage were thus advocating the purchase of the French claims and some additional Indian lands with the view of forming a buffer colony, Governor William Franklin of New Jersey and some Philadelphia merchants, all friends of the Indian agent Croghan, were promoting the same scheme, and on March 29th, 1766, Governor Franklin drew up [200] a formal sketch. [201] "A few of us, from his (Croghan's) encouragement, have formed a Company, to purchase of the French, settled at the Illinois, such lands as they have a good title to, and are inclined to dispose of. ”

“ Lord Shelburne, President of the Board of Trade and a member of the Grenville ministry, and his colleagues were of the opinion that the annexation of the West to Canada might lend color to the idea that England's title to the West came from the French cession, when in fact her claim was derived from other sources; that the inhabitants of the province to which it might be annexed would [Pg 28] have too great an advantage in the Indian trade ”

“ Many of the French inhabitance had since 1760 emigrated beyond the Mississippi, because, as the Indians thought, they feared to live under English rule. [18] This doubtless contributed something toward the rising discontent of the savages. Finally the policy of economy in expenses, which General Amherst entered upon, by cutting off a large part of the Indian presents, always so indispensable in dealing with that race, augured poorly for the Indians's future. ”

“ The more intelligent of the western and northern Indians perceived that their hunting grounds would soon be overrun by white settlers with a fixed purpose of permanent settlement. [16] This was probably the chief cause of the Indian uprising. There remained in the forests many French and renegade traders and hunters who constantly concocted insidious reports as to English designs and filled the savage minds with hope of succor from the [Pg 9] King of France. ”

“ To what extent Pontiac was assisted by French intriguers in the development of his plans may never be positively known. As has already been pointed out, French traders were constantly among the Indians, filling their minds with hopes and fears. That the plot included French officials may be doubted; although Sir William Johnson and General Gage seemed convinced that such was the case. ”

“ The Indians had nothing but expressions of hatred and defiance for the English; even the Missouri and Osages from beyond the Mississippi had fallen under the influence of Pontiac. [48] Ross and his companion remained with St. Ange nearly two months; but about the middle of April [Pg 18] they were obliged to go down the river to New Orleans. [49]
During the winter of 1764-1765 preparations were made to send a detachment of troops down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to relieve Fort Chartres. To pave the way for the troops Gage dispatched two agents in advance. ”