|
|
MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
In this project for a colony Cadillac was none too early in the field. The English had already cast covetous eyes in this direction. Robert Livingston, Secretary for Indian affairs, reported in 1699 to the Earl of Bellemont, a recommendation that two hundred English and Dutch inhabitants of the country should join with three or four hundred Iroquois in proceeding to the Detroit, there to build a fort. He expressed the opinion that at that point a profitable trade with the northern Indians could be established. In the Yellowing year he renewed his suggestion and urged
prompt action, as he said the French already had some sort of a pretended claim to the country, on the ground that they had once set up their king's arms there. He says that, from all accounts, Detroit is one of the most pleasant and plentiful inland places in America, where there are available lands for thousands of people, and where there are abundant opportunities for traffic in furs. * The establishment of a fort there would preserve for the English all the lands and Indian tribes south of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence. There is no evidence that Cadillac had positive knowledge of this contemplated movement on the part of the English. But he clearly foresaw its possibility and even its probability. So he hastened to carry into effect his own projects.
He visited Versailles in person and laid his plans before Count Pontchartrain, the minister for the colonies. He was able to convince both the minister and the king, Louis XIV, of the soundness of his views. This was evidently no easy task, for there were influences at work hostile to Cadillac and his purposes. He had quarreled violently with the Jesuit missionaries who were a political factor of no small force, and the Company of the Colony of Canada which controlled the fur trade of the country was also to be reckoned with. But he was able to overcome all obstacles and gained the desired end in promises of men and means to carry out his project.
MICHIGAN
Page 62
|
|
|
|
|
|