Lord Bellomont demands of Frontenac all the Indians of the five Nations, who were made Prisoners in New France during the then Late War; Monsr. Frontenac in his Answer to this demand, [refuses ?] to deliver them up, Insisting that the Indians of the Six Nations were Subjects of the French King, as having had Sovereignty over them before the English were Masters of New York, and says in Effect, that the Treaty of Reswick had no Relation to the point in Dispute. Lord Bellomont in his Reply to Monsr. Frontenac insisting upon the Indians ought to be Releas'd, as being Subjects of the King of England, and compriz'd as such, within the said Treaty. In answer to this Monsr. Frontenac acquaints Lord Bellomont "that the Kings their Masters had determined to Name Commissaries on the part of each Crown to Settle the Limits of the Countries, which belong'd to each of them, and that he must wait the decision of those Commissaries."

It does not Appear that any Decision of this Affair was made untill the Treaty of Utrecht concluded in 1713 by the 15th Article of which the Indians of the five Nations are declar'd to be Subjects to the Dominion of Great Britain; consequently their Lands to be under the Protection of that Crown.

This being the highest Decision of the point that could be made, Settles it to the Year 1713, and seems to put the Immediate possession, which the French had of Fort Frontenac, and the Country in dispute from the time of the Treaty of Reswick to that of Utrecht out of the Question.

The French still continued in possession of the aforesaid Fort from the time of the last mention'd Treaty [to that?] of Aix la Chapelle in the Year [1748]. By that the Treaty of Utrecht is renewed and confirmed, and it is stipulated that the Dominions of the contracting parties shall be put in the same condition with regard to the Possession of them by the severall Princes and States concern'd, which they ought of right to have been in before the Late War immediately preceding that Treaty; and for this purpose Commissaries were Appointed by his Majesty and the French King to meet at 1 The date of the treaty is omitted in the text of the original.

Paris in order to settle and adjust, on the part of each, the Limits of the Controverted Countries in North America. Those Commissaries accordingly met and Enter'd upon their Negotiation, which Continued until it was broke off by the French Kings Seizing upon Several parts of Nova Scotia or Accadie, the Limits of which were referr'd to the Decision of the Commissaries.

It seems plain that his Majesty's Right to the Possession of the North side of the Lake so far as the Limits of the Country of the five Nations extend is not precluded by the Continued possession of the French ever since the Treaty of Utrecht, at which it was first formerly settled for if that is a good plea for the French in this case they might plead their possession of the Several Incroachments they have made in Nova Scotia, at Crown point, and Niagara, which have all of them been of a Considerable Continuance, some ever since the Treaty of Utrecht and others before the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle.

Upon the whole his Majesty's right to remove the French from the North side of Lake Ontario and take the Lands there under his protection seems full as Clear and Indubitable as his right to remove them from their Incroachments at Niagara etca. and to take possession of that Country; his right both to the one and the other standing upon the same foundation, Vizt: the Treaty of Utrecht, and Especially as the Indians of the five Nations have a right to the Country about Niagara by Conquest only, but an aboriginal one to the Country on the North side of the Lake Ontario.

Endorsed:

Claim of the English and

French to the Possession

of Fort Frontenac stated

and examined.

in Govr. Shirley's of the 19th. Decr. 1755.

WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO SIR THOMAS ROBINSON 1

SIR,

[Duplicate]

New York, Decembr. 20th, 1755.

I am now to lay before you an Account of what I have done in obedience to his Majestys 8th Instruction Relative to the Indians, a Copy of which is Inclos'd.2

Upon my Arrival at Albany I engag'd the Chief Men of a Tribe of Indians call'd the Stockbridge or River Indians and about 30 of their Warriors to proceed with me to Oswego upon the Expedition against Niagara.

In my passage thro' the Mohawks Country I visited their two Castles, at both which I had a Conferrence with their Chief Sachems, particularly Hendrick and all their Warriors and Young Men, who were not then gone to join Major General Johnson in his Majesty's Service against Crown point, and Engag'd about 18 of those in both the Castles,

1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 46. A transcript is in the Library of Congress.

The following "copy of his Majesty's Eighth Instruction to the Late Major General Braddock" was inclosed by Shirley in this letter to Sir Thomas Robinson. It is attested by William Alexander.

You will not only Cultivate the Best Harmony and Friendship possible with the Several Governours of our Colonies and Provinces but likewise with the Chiefs of the Indian Tribes, and for the better improvement of our good Correspondence with the said Indian Tribes you will find out some fit and proper person agreable to the Southern Indians, to be sent to them for this purpose in like Manner as we have Ordered Colonel Johnson to repair to the Northern Indians as the person thought to be the Most Acceptable to them, endeavour to engage them to take part and Act with our Forces in such Operations as you shall think Most Expedient. P. R. O., C. O. 5, 46. A transcript is in the Library of Congress. Compare with Instructions to Braddock, Nov. 25, 1754.

See Information from Daniel Claus to Johnson (Johnson Manuscripts, 3, 17), where Shirley's agents, John Henry Lydius and John Fisher, are represented as working against Johnson, and Hendrick acts to defeat their purpose.

who had not Engag'd to proceed with General Johnson, to go with me in the Service under my Command, and in my passage from thence to Oswego I sent Messages to the Sachems of the Oneida's Cayuga's, Onondago's and Seneca's to meet me there with some of the Warriors of their respective Nations.

Soon after my Arrival at Oswego Several of the Sachems and Warriors of the Oneida's met me, as did, a few days after, almost all the Onondago Sachems, and a Considerable Number of their Warriors; and I had reason to Expect a large Number of the Seneca's, untill two of their Chief Sachems came to me to apologize for their Staying so long and to let me know it was owing to an Albany Trader having brought in among their Young Men a great quantity of Rum, which kept them continually drunk; that part of their Errand was to acquaint me, that the party I had sent after the Albany Trader to take away his Rum pursuant to the Power given by a Province Law of New York to the Commandant at Oswego for the time being, could not Execute their orders, and to assure me it was not the fault of the Sachems, and to Complain of this practice, as what was the ruin of their Young Men; I had however the Satisfaction to hear soon after, that the Seneca's had oblig'd Mr. Jonquiere,' who had been at their Castles two or three Months Endeavouring to Engage their Warriors in the French Service, and he actually Engag'd 15 of them, to take away the French Colours from among them, that the 15 Young Men had refus'd to go with him and that those Castles had promis'd to take up the Hatchet for the English.

A few days after one of the Indians, whom I had sent to gain Intelligence of the State of the French Fort and Garrison at Niagara brought me a Message from the Outowaias

1 Chaubert Joncaire, son of Jean François Joncaire, is probably the person to whom reference is here made. He was a great power among the Seneca Indians, being the son of a French officer and a Seneca squaw. His name is given also as Chabert Jancour and Jan Coeur. See Johnson Manuscripts. Parkman, "Montcalm and Wolfe," appears uncertain whether the father or the son was the influential factor among the Indians at this time.

Indians who had been concern'd in the Action at the Monongahela against General Braddock that if I should come against Niagara and would Inform them of it, they would be out of the way [not use the Hatchet against the English] and I understood by the same Indians, that they had Encourag'd the Seneka's whose Castle is more Inclin'd to the French than any other of the five Nations, to take up the Hatchet with their Brethren against them, which was a great motive for useing Jonquiere as they did.

At my Conferences with the Indians at Oswego, the Onondago's desir'd me to build them a Fort at their said Castle, which I promis'd to do next Spring; the Oneida's have desir'd the same with a Garrison, and some pieces of Artillery; and in return they have given me leave to Fortify the great Carrying Place in their Lands at Oneida, as I should think proper during the Expedition, for Securing our Magazines of Stores and Provisions at each end of it, and for keeping open the Communication between Oswego and Albany. The Cayugas desir'd I could send them two or three Men to Plough their Lands, and all of them Gunsmiths, which I have promis'd.

At other Conferences I acquainted them, that I had sent Messages to the Messasagaes, Chippowees, Outowaias, and other Western Castles, to meet me and the Brethren of the five Nations at Oswego next Spring, there to Consult in a General Council upon the best Measures for Settling a mutual Friendship and alliance, opening a free Trade and Commerce between the Indians and English, at such Trading Houses upon the Lakes as they should Choose and which, I propos'd to build for them, and for Engaging all the Western Indians to lay down the Hatchet against the English, and by that means establish a General Peace among all their Castles and putting an End to the destructive War, which the French were perpetually Engaging them in against the English, and against each other.

For this purpose I propos'd to the five Nations to send some of their Sachems to meet me in the Spring at Oswego, at which place I told them, that as it is the Center of their