of Kenté than they are to be met with at Niagara. The Rivers and Bays abound with Salmon, & the descent from the Height of Land which seperates the Lakes being gradual, there are but few Swamps, & the Climate appears to be remarkably fine. The Town of York has been directed to be laid out on the Personal Inspection of the Council as appeared to them, in the most proper manner & situation, & the whole shore from the River Humber (St. John's Creek)1 has been reserved for the Crown, including every spot that may be proper for Batteries, not only with that View, but that such Persons whose occupations & employments ought to render them the Inhabitants of a Town might of necessity be confined to the most eligible situation, & by their Condensation facilitate the growth of the Commerce, & of the Power of the Province-but I must observe that no reserves for military purposes have been marked on any Plan I have ever received from Mr. Collins. Mr. Aitkin, the Deputy Surveyor, will have the honor of conveying to Your Lordship a Survey of this place. He is well qualified to give you any Information which you may require. I am truly sorry that your Lordship does not approve of any fortifications being at present erected at this most defensible & important Spot. In my view of the existing State of this Province, Your Lordship may be assured that Its peculiar circumstances, Its Posts, Its extensive Frontier, & Force (as at present disposed), totally inadequate for its defence, has not escaped my most serious attention, and above all in the taking possession of this Post, I have not lost sight that it may eventually be necessary to withdraw part of the Forces from this Province should Hostilities commence; for the especial purpose of carrying into execution such a measure should It be thought necessary, I have explored with great difficulty, the Communications between this Harbour and Matchadash, now Gloucester Bay, a sketch of which will be transmitted by Mr. Aitkin, who accompanied me, to your Lordship. It is obvious that in case of emergency, means might be found to pass the Troops by this rout to Montreal, should it be impracticable by the St. Lawrence. This event I alluded to in my Letter to Major General Clarke of the 31st of May, where I intimate that "this communication in the present situation of Affairs may possibly become of Military Importance." I have also with this general view, paid every attention to the Militia, & by a late Act formed upon the British model as nearly as circumstances will admit, I have endeavoured to prepare the Way that the Militia may always be under the Command of persons whose Property & situation shall necessarily interest them in the Protection of the Colony-but it will not escape your Lordship that unless the Militia are armed, they can in no shape be trained to the shadow of discipline, & It would be much for the King's Service should Arms be occasionally put into their hands & at other periods left as in Great Britain in the custody of their respective Officers; whose consequence would naturally be increased by such an important trust; should Hostilities unhappily commence the system as approved by Your Lordship of selecting a Company for Actual Service, appears to be the only mode in which they could possibly be drawn out to public Advantage. I purpose every year either in person or by the Adjutant General to review the Militia of the Province. And I mean to select such Places as appear to me to be of the greatest military advantage for the Points of Assembly of the Militia, & their Camps in case of Hostilities & to reserve them for this especial purpose in the Hands of the Crown-It being my Idea that the proposed Capital should by no 1 So called from being the site of the trading post established by Jean Baptiste Rousseau. means be fortified on European System, but Its approach protected by the Sea Posts & intermediate Positions; but My Lord, in adverting to this case of extreme and hazardous necessity, the withdrawing the greatest part of the forces from this Province, I have most certainly conceived it to be my indispensible Duty to preOccupy such situation as might enable me to defend the Province entrusted to my command (should not your Lordship find a more desirable employment for me) in such a manner as Circumstances might admit of & might best conduce by the Union of Naval and Military Force to the protection of the general Interests of his Majesty's Subjects, & in this Spirit I have upon mature deliberation suspended what I am convinced nothing but want of power ought to procrastinate for a single moment, the occupying a situation upon the River Thames that might connect & govern the Indian Nations & which I should not hesitate to state as more immediately & more permanently necessary to the safety of this Province in all respects, & more conducive to the British Interests than the garrisoning the Post of Detroit, with greater numbers than a single Company, did not the War at present raging on the Frontiers, render it prudent to preserve that specious ascendancy which in the Estimation of the Indians, but by no means of the United States, is built upon our possession with nominal force of that nominal fortress. Were not such the existing circumstances of the Country & should they speedily subside in an equitable Peace, It is in my apprehension incontrovertible that the Regiment now stationed there, ought to be removed, a Company excepted, to the Places I have designated, Chatham and London. I am also persuaded the garrison at Niagara should be as soon as possible equally reduced, & the Troops placed in the more useful Stations of Long Point & York. As the Settlements of the United States approach to our present Posts, there is every appearance that Desertion will be so very prevalent, as of itself to be a good reason for the withdrawing from them all but a few Men sufficient to prevent Indian robbery & to certify the Commission of Hostilities should the United States venture upon so serious an Undertaking. The Position of these Troops, in the arrangement I have submitted, then unconfined by any Garrison Duty, but that of a single Block house, which would be sufficiently protected by the Invalids & worn out Soldiers of the different Regiments, or of those settled in the Province, might take due advantage of the facilities which the Command of the Water gives to these Provinces & might act with an efficacy more than adequate to their insufficient Numbers. Having this Idea fully in View, My Lord, I have by no means interfered with the established & direct Communication which is secured in the exact manner in which It was arranged on my arrival in the Province; but in withdrawing the Queen's Rangers to this important Station, I hold myself in reserve to move to whatever Point it may be necessary & to which your Lordship shall be pleased to direct, or if sudden exigencies should arise that I could not avail myself of your Orders in sufficient time for his Majesty's Service, wherever in my Judgment I shall be able to act in the best manner to promote it. At the same time, should I have the Pleasure of seeing your Lordship at this place, I make no doubt but the arrangement of the Log Huts for the Queen's Rangers, & the Public Store that I shall build the ensuing Spring on Point Gibraltar will be such as in your Lordship's Estimation with a due proportion of Artillery & an equal Garrison, will appear to be more defensible than Detroit, & scarcely less so than Niagara. To attend in the most particular manner to the discipline of this Corps, & to render it suited to any Service, is one of the Reasons which has determined me to reside here during this Winter. It is my Duty to observe to your Lordship that in case of the King's Troops being totally withdrawn & that Hostilities should commence by the Indians or United States against this Province, It does not appear to me possible that It can exist as a Member of the British Empire. I have the honor to be with great Respect, My Lord, The Rt. Honble Lord Dorchester. Endorsed:-In Lt. Govr. Simcoe's No. 20. of the 15th Decr. 1793. My Lord, (2) FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO LORD DORCHESTER. YORK, Decr. 3rd, 1793. I have the honor of acknowledging Your Lordship's letter of the 7th of October. So soon as I shall have received the return of the Officers employed of the Marine, &c. &c. I will embrace the earliest opportunity of complying with Your Lordship's directions, and submit to you such Ideas as I entertain for the advancement of His Majesty's Service in the Naval Department on the Lakes in Upper Canada. I enclose to Your Lordship an extract from Major of Brigade, Capn. Littlehales' letter to me on the Subject of Indian Affairs, and on the promise of Col. Butler to exert himself in executing his duty as Col. of Militia. The Major of Brigade is left at Niagara at this Juncture for various Public Services, and in particular to attend any Indian Meetings that may take place between the Six Nations and the United States. I have the honor to be, &c. J. G. SIMCOE. Rt. Honble. Lord Dorchester. My Lord, FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO LORD DORCHESTER. YORK, Decr. 3, 1793. I am to acknowledge Your Lordship's letter of the 17th of October. I will take the earliest opportunity the ensuing Spring of fully investigating in person the extortion complained of frequently by the Seamen, and by one of the Captains on this Lake as the natural consequence of the present mode of payment, and transmit to Your Lordship such Observations as may be necessary to elucidate the Enquiry. The close of the Navigation prevents me from all possibility of effecting such an Investigation in a satisfactory manner this Season. I do not recollect, My Lord, in any of my communications with His Excellency Major General Clarke, stating any doubts relative to the Military Authority of the Civil Lieutenant Governor of the Province, or the Counsellor, who, in his Absence, might be selected for its Command, and I have no wish that any of the King's Regulations, without evident necessity, should in any case be altered. I am, My Lord, with great Respect, &c. J. GRAVES SIMCOE. The Rt. Honble. Lord Dorchester. Circular. Sir, CIRCULAR LETTER TO LIEUTENANTS OF COUNTIES. NAVY HALL, Dec. 5, 1793. The indisposition of the printer has prevented the publication of the several Acts passed in the Second Session of the Legislature of this Province, but I am happy to inform you that his recovery will enable him forthwith to commit the whole of them to the press. In the meantime, I transmit to you some printed Copies of the Bill for the better regulation of the Militia of Upper Canada, and I hope by the return of the Winter Express, all the Acts will be in circulation in every District. I need not observe, Sir, how very consonant to His Excellency's wishes, the organization of the Militia will be, as he so strongly recommended this measure to the attention of the Legislature. In obedience to His Commands, I avail myself of the earliest opportunity of forwarding to you the enclosed Act. I do myself the honor of enclosing to Your Lordship Speeches and Papers that have passed between me and Joseph Brant since my arrival in this Country relative to the Grants of Lands promised to the Six Nations upon the Grand River, by the late Sir Frederick Haldimand. I felt it my duty to give to the Six Nations thro' Brant, the earliest assurance that the change of Government would make no alteration in the King's benevolence towards them, and that the granting to them thus Title Deeds would be among the first Objects of my attention when I should arrive in Upper Canada. Before I left Quebec, I received from Captain Brant the enclosed Answer to my letter. In consequence at a Council held for the purpose of publicly ratifying the Grant of the Lands conceded such a Deed was offered to the Six Nations, as the Laws of England admitted of, and as fully embraced the benevolent Instructions of Sir Frederick Haldimand and Your Lordship. This Deed was peremptorily refused by Captain Brant, as it did not contain within it a power for the Indians to lease their lands, a power which it appeared to me would be highly injurious to their Interests, and as I was advised illegal in respect to the Customs and Laws of Great Britain. Previous to their Council, in conversation with Brant, he had intimated his expectations of having the Lands granted to the Indians as fully as to the Loyalists, and on my observing that if they had the power of leasing them, the Object of the King's benevolence would be ineffectual, for the Indians would lease them to the Land Jobbers. He said Your Lordship had told him as much, but that the Indians were not always to be fools because they had once been such. The Letter enclosed (No. 2) was also written to me by Brant soon after this conversation, and I was informed that there was a great tumult at the Grand River, and that the Chief Women had met in Council, and given it in charge to their Warriors to defend their Lands. The correspondence between Genl. Člarke and Colonel Gordon in 1791, will have informed Your Lordship that a murder, which was committed at the Grand River, had given occasion to an Altercation between the Magistrates of the District and the Indian Chiefs, in the course of which Colonel Gordon thought it proper to stop their annual presents until the offenders should be delivered up to Justice. Upon Colonel Gordon's report of this matter to General Clarke, it was His Excellency's order the presents should be delivered to the Indians, upon their Chiefs becoming responsible that the suspected Persons should be amenable to Justice, whenever the Situation of the Country should be such that they could be brought to trial. Upon this Council being held for the purpose of delivering to the Chiefs of the Grand River their Title Deeds for the Lands which had been promised to them, Captain Brant made a long Speech, and delivered a Belt, which, upon being interpreted to me by Colonel Butler, to my great surprise, I understood was to cover the grave of the Person who had been murdered, according to the Ancient Indian Custom, but which has for some years been obsolete in all transactions between His Majesty's Subjects and the Mohawks, who in a Treaty, held by Sir William Johnson, as I am informed, had many years ago, agreed to deliver up all their People who should commit any murders, to the Justice of the British Laws. I refused this Belt and left the Council House. The Indians, I apprehend, were in great astonishment, and the Affair began to wear a serious aspect. Upon the Nature of it being fully explained by Colonel Butler, who at the same time added that the murder was really committed in a "Drunken frolic that there were no evidence present, and that his advice to the Indians concerned not to accuse themselves, as being inconsistent with the Administration of Justice by our Laws, however wilfully misinterpreted by Brant, was given from a conviction of the worthlessness of the Person who had fallen the victim of a drunken quarrel." It has since been thought that the supposed murderers were Brant's near relations, and above all, seeing in the whole of Brant's Conduct an Indisposition to Government, probably covering some sinister purpose, It was thought most prudent that I should accept the Belt, which was accordingly done next day. The detail is necessary, My Lord, to the explanation of some parts of the Speech. In conversation with Captain Brant, he had stated the impracticability of the Indians supporting themselves by their hunting, of the Indians themselves they could not provide for their old men and children by their farms, and that he conceived the leasing of them to be the only mode by which they could maintain themselves and their families. Brant, thro' the medium of some of his friends, made an overture to me to sell part of these Lands. In the Council I had promised to refer the Question to His Majesty, providing the whole of the Six Nations united in the request. It appeared to me that this matter should not undergo a discussion while the great matter of Peace transacted by the Indian Confederacy was in agitation, but I took care from time to time, to impress upon the Six Nations, and particularly in conversation to O'Beal, that these Lands were granted to the Six Nations and their Allies generally and by no means to Captain Brant, as seemed to be their prevalent opinion. In a recent conversation which I held with him, I promised to refer the matter to Your Lordship. I stated to him that if it should be thought proper to permit the Indians to sell any part of their Lands, it is obvious to me that it should be a small part of them at present, that the Township on the Banks of the Lake, and one that communicated between the Thames and Burlington |