ments which may be made hereafter on the lands in those parts belonging to the Crown. The danger on the Westward is greater because of our exposed State to the Eastward upon giving up Cape Breton to the French. The whole of Nova Scotia is in the French interest, except a small part of the Garrison of Annapolis. They wish a strong fort to be also built at Chibucto, or somewhere near Louisbourg. The two Houses have considered the Application of the Eastern Indians for peace, and are glad the Treaty is proposed to be at Boston. They do not like the Treaty to be at the Eastward, when it has been so, it has always cost them much expense. On this occasion however it is too late for the two Houses to be more particular. SIR, WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE MARQUIS LA Boston, May 9, 1749. Two days ago I receiv'd from Mr Mascarene a Copy of your Letter to him, dated at Quebec 15th January, wherein (among other Demands) you call upon him to acquaint you, whether he intends to comprehend the Abenaqui Indians in the Peace, without requiring any kind of submission from 'em; and desire that in such case he would engage me to let 'em resettle in their Village, and their Missionaries remain there with 'em unmolested, as they did before the War: observing to him that those Indians enter'd into the War only as your Allies and therefore when the War was finished with you, it ought to be so with regard to them; and you proceed to say, Sir, that if they thought otherwise in New England, you shall be Obliged to Assist those Indians, intimating that it is of importance to the safety and Tranquillity of the Frontiers of the Massachusetts Bay that you should have a speedy and Positive Answer, and that you shall 1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 13, p. 273. Another copy is in C. O. 5, 886, and a transcript is in the Library of Congress. not be surpriz'd if the Indians should proceed to Acts of Violence. To this, Sir, which is the fourth Demand in your letter, Mr Mascarene having referr'd you to me upon it, I shall comply with your request in giving as speedy and Positive an Answer as may be. The Village of the Abenaqui Indians, by which I at present understand only those who are seated on St Johns River, has been ever deem'd by the English to be situated within the heart of Nova Scotia, and consequently that Tribe of Indians, together with the French Inhabitants upon the same River to be resident within His Majesty's Territories; and accordingly, Sir, the latter have acknowledged themselves, ever since the Treaty of Utrecht, to be Subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, by taking the Oaths of Fidelity and Allegiance to it and have had the protection of His Majesty's Government in common with his other Subjects in that Province. This being the case, these Indians, when the advice of a rupture between His Majesty and the King your master was hourly expected, under the pretext of sending a Deputation to Mr Mascarene to desire that they might remain in Peace and Amity with the English, notwithstanding war should happen between the two Crowns, gain'd admission into Annapolis Royal for some of their Tribe, who were in reality (as it afterwards prov'd) spies; and having obtain❜d Mr Mascarene's agreement to what they pretended to propose in behalf of their Tribe, and being honourably treated and dismiss'd by him, return'd in three Weeks after among others of their Tribe, with their Missionary De Loutre at their head, surpriz'd and killed as many of the English at Annapolis Royal as they caught without the fort, destroyed their cattle, burn'd their houses, and continued their Acts of Hostility against the Garrison, 'till the arrival of two of the four first Companies I sent from New England for the Reinforcement of it. Such was the entrance of these Indians, Sir, into the War with us and their Alliance with you. For this perfidious behaviour I caus'd War to be Declar'd in His Majesty's name against these Indians, at Boston, in November 1744, and, so far as it depends on me, they shall not be admitted, Sir, to Terms of Peace, till they have made a proper submission for their Treachery, unless they should be already comprehended in the Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship lately concluded at Aix la Chapelle; which I shall on my part strictly observe in every Point. As to what you have thought fit, Sir, to declare in your letter concerning your intentions to support the Indians in Acts of Hostility against us, unless we give 'em Peace upon the Terms there prescribed by you, and the danger the Frontiers of the Massachusetts bay in particular may be in, unless you have a speedy and positive answer upon this head: what I have to say in Answer is, that I shall be sorry for a new Rupture between us, and am very desirous to have perfect tranquillity restored to the province under my Government; but if the latter is not to be the case and you think fit to make yourself a party in an Indian War against us; I doubt not but his Majesty's Subjects upon this continent will be able to make just Reprizals upon Canada, when it shall be his Majesty's Pleasure to have 'em do it. I can't avoid now, Sir, expressing great surprize at the other parts of your letter whereby you take upon you to call Mr Mascarene to account for expelling the Missionary from Minas, for being guilty of such treasonable practices within his Majesty's government as merited a much severer punishment than that of Expulsion from the Province. The Right you claim, Sir, of sending Missionaries from France to reside among his Majesty's Subjects of Nova Scotia as their Priests, and in consequence of that, your forbidding His Majesty's Governour to make any alteration in the State of Religion and it's Ministers there, is still more extraordinary; and I must not omit upon this occasion to remark to you that I think the letter which the Bishop of Quebec 1 1 1 Right Rev. Henri du Breil de Pont Briand, successor of Bishop de l'Auberivière, and sixth Bishop of Quebec, was born at Vannes in Brittany, France, in 1709. He was consecrated at Paris on the 9th of April, 1741, and arrived at Quebec on the 17th of August following. On the approach of the English to Quebec, lately wrote to Mr Mascarene concerning his intended Visitation of his Majesty's Subjects in that Government, in such terms, as shew'd he looks upon 'em as a part of his care of souls, and within his Jurisdiction, was likewise an extraordinary attempt and can't be admitted. Your interfering, Sir, in His Majesty's punishment of his Subjects in Nova Scotia, inflicted for Rebellious and Treasonable Practices against the Crown, and his requiring others of them to Renew their Oaths of Fidelity, and in one word your treating the Subjects of the Crown of Great Britain in that Province, as if you look'd upon 'em as subjects of his most christian Majesty and being under his Allegiance, is, if possible, still more surprizing; and as these attempts are manifest invasions of the undoubted Right which every Prince has over his Subjects, I can't but look upon 'em as Insults upon his Majesty's government, which require no further Answer. After these attempts, Sir, upon his Majesty's right of Government over his Subjects in Nova Scotia, I am less surpriz'd at your Encroachments upon the limits of his Province, which you are pleas'd to call in your letter Dependencies of the Government of Canada. As to your Demand for the Release of the two Indians carry'd off by Capt. Gorham, I can't allow, Sir, that you have a right to interpose in that Affair, and Mr Gorham has satisfy'd me that he committed no breach of Publick faith in doing it. I can't conclude without making use of this Opportunity to acquaint you, Sir, that we look upon Fort St Frederic at Crown Point as an Encroachment upon his Majesty's Territories, and in case you proceed to settle the Country round it, shall esteem those settlements so too, unless that tract in 1759, he issued a Pastoral Letter, which is preserved in Knox's "Historical Journal," II, 108, and reprinted in Smith's "History of Canada," I, 277; and after the reduction of that city retired to Montreal, where he died on the 8th of June, 1760, aged 51 years. He was the last Bishop of Canada under the French dominion. has been ceded to you by the late Definitive Treaty at Aix la Chapelle. I am sorry, Sir, that the first fruits of Peace, on Your part have so unpromising an Aspect, and beg You will be perswaded that nothing shall be wanting in me to preserve that right understanding, which subsisted between us during the War, having the honour to be with the most perfect regard Sir, Mr Mascarene having transmitted to me a copy of the French Governour of Canada's letter to him dated the 15th January with a copy of his own Answer to it, wherein he refers him to me for an Answer to his fourth demand, I thought it my duty not only to Answer that part of the letter but to remark upon the other parts of it, which I apprehended Mr Mascarene had too slightly touch'd upon in his Answer; and I now inclose your Grace a copy of my Answer; but as Mr Mascarene informs me in his letter to me, that he has sent Your Grace a copy of Mr la Galissonière's letter and his Answer, I thought it needless for me to transmit your Grace copies of them, and beg leave to referr Your Grace to those already sent by Mr Mascarene. It is necessary for me to observe to Your Grace that this is the first Instance of a French Governour's openly avowing the part of any Indian Tribe at War with us, and declaring 1Original, L. S. with auto-postscript, P. R. O., C. O. 5, 13, p. 261. A copy is in C.O. 5, 901, 244, and a transcript is in the Library of Congress. A duplicate to the Lords of Trade is in C. O. 5, 886. |