as they were ask'd are united with those Articles which Col. S. wish'd me to expatiate upon & if they prove useful they will answer the wishes of your Obliged Humble Servant ORCHD STREET, June 17th, 1794. Endorsed:-Col. Stevenson. June 17 1794. R. same day. My Lord: CHAS. STEVENSON. FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO LORD DORCHESTER. NAVY HALL, 17th June, 1794. I take the earliest opportunity of informing Your Lordship that Mr. Williamson, with about twenty heads of families are forming a settlement at the SodusHe has sent an Agent here to procure flour, which, of course, I have not permitted, and have ordered his messengers out of the Province. The party who plundered boats about Three Rivers Point, are said to be dispersed. Bertzie with the Germans from the Genessees are daily expected, and I understand met with no molestation. I have the honor to be, &c. J. G. SIMCOE. Rt. Honble. Lord Dorchester. My Dear Sir: FROM R. G. ENGLAND TO J. G. SIMCOE. DETROIT, June 19, 1794. The Chippawa did not arrive here till late yesterday evening and I hurry to send away the Dunmore who sails this evening. I report to the Assistant Quartermaster General some particulars relative to the naval department for your information as I am unwilling to give you at this time more trouble than is necessary. Since my last I have heard twice from Colonel McKee, the substance of his first letter with the intelligence I herewith enclose. His last letter was dated the 13th inst., but does not contain anything very particular. Several Bands of Indians were daily coming to the Foot of the Rapids that were not expected and several Ottawas and Chippawas from Mackinac passed by here last week on their way to the Glaize. From the reports sent to me by those not accustomed to exaggerate, the Indians now assembled amount to sixteen hundred, a more formidable force considerably than ever collected since the contest commenced. The Block House and Store House on Turtle Island are finished and a Sergeant, Corporal and twelve men placed there as you directed. The Fort at the Miamis' is 1 The earthworks of this Fort Miamis still exist within the limits of the village of Maumee, Ohio, a few miles southwest of the city of Toledo. Lieut. Pilkington's plan of the territory is reproduced at p. 285, and an illustration of the ramparts as they appeared in 1910 may be seen in "Diary of Mrs. Simcoe" (p. 218), from the J. Ross Robertson Collection. Dr. Chas. E. Slocum, writing in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly of April, 1902 (Vol. X, p. 483), says: "Fort Miami was the best built fort of its time in the northwest country. It was the last British stronghold influencing the Aborigines against American settlers in the Maumee Valley. Its location was the favorite one at that time." Dr. Slocum assumes that the British were the instigators of the Indian hostilities against the United States, which is the view universally held by writers of the early history of Ohio; and he apparently considers that to extinguish Indian tribal tenure forever, it was only necessary to cow a few members of a tribe, and bribe others with presents to sign away their lands at so-called treaties, as if legally done by the whole tribe. not in great forwardness but by this time in a state to prevent surprise. The Brazen and Spitfire Gun Boats under the command of a commissioned officer have made three trips there with provisions and stores required by Lieutenant Pilkington. They carried out on the 14th inst. the six pounders directed by you which Captain Stiell will either detain or send back as circumstances may direct him. I would willingly detain the Dunmore till the return of the Gun Boats to give you the latest intelligence at this critical time from that Post but am willing that you should have always a King's vessel at Fort Erie, which I will contrive to manage. Some news of consequence may be hourly expected from Colonel McKee and whenever it arrives it shall be immediately forwarded to you. I sent you an express by land which I hope reached you safely. I send on board the Dunmore Doctor Freeman with a letter to Captain Pratt at Fort Erie to forward him to you. Many applications have been made to me to detain him here by his creditors who are numerous. They represent that he has debts due to him and a considerable property in cattle, &c. which could enable him to pay them, but as you were anxious to have him sent down to you, I did not feel myself at liberty to delay it any longer. I also send two prisoners taken by the Indians which I have also directed Captain Pratt to forward. They are both Americans, and one of them a settler at Fort Washington who served the last war but was not a soldier when taken. There are a few more in the settlement who by degrees I will discover and send away. I am sorry to find from you that you consider war inevitable. This country is not in a state to provoke it, naked and accessible as it is. We must however do our best-what that will be time will shew. I congratulate you on the capture of Martinico. I think our only good accounts are from the West Indies, and yet I apprehend Sir Charles Grey will be too much weakened to attempt more Islands as those already taken must be well garrisoned. The American News Papers mention that the Marquis of Cornwallis has arrived in England, but they mention it so oddly that I do not perfectly credit them. Pray has any account of the kind reached you. I find Mollendorff has succeeded the Duke of Brunswick in command of the Prussian Troops. I suppose His Serene Highness found his situation unpleasant and saw no prospect of that success that at first we were all taught to expect. The Sans Culottes and Carmagnoles fight like devils. You may be assured of my forwarding every information of consequence that reaches me. I beg leave to enclose to you & submit most earnestly to your favorable recommendation to Lord Amherst, the Copy of a Memorial I have transmitted to His Lordship in favor of Captain Shank. This Officer from his earliest Entrance into the King's Service, has in long course of painful duties had opportunities of distinguishing himself which rarely fall to the share of Military Men, & he has ardently seized the opportunity; in particular as a subaltern in the daring charge of a superior body of the enemy at Brandywine, & in the remarkable defence of a Post at Germantown. As a Captain of Cavalry, I owe my preservation & that of my Corps & Convoy in Virginia to his defeating in one action, a Superior Body of Cavalry & afterwards breaking through their Infantry; the Queens Rangers whose raising He superintended are now as well disciplined as circumstances have admitted owing to his attention, & I must add that at the Commencement of the American War, this Gentleman quitting the Mercantile profession in Virginia, in which a similar Industry which he has used in his military duty would long ago have placed him in an honorable Competence, if not in affluence, & immediately joining the Royal Standard, will I hope be an additional reason to my warmest recommendation in interesting you in the behalf of so able an Officer. The Establishment of the Queens Rangers, Sir, I need not intimate to you was adapted to a particular purpose, the Obtaining an efficient Number of private Soldiers. I by no means conceive it to be proper for a War Establishment. It has not an adequate Number of Subaltern or possibly field Officers; perhaps, Sir, existing circumstances may induce you to Supervise it, & to recommend its augmentation, in such a Case, Captain Shank would naturally become its Major. The Captain Lieutenants, and possibly the Lieutenants, Brooking a very old & good Officer, & Lt. Givings an Officer from whom I have drawn the greatest advantage on his knowledge of the Indian Nations, Captains-Such an arrangement, Sir, I hope you will think just, not only in respect to the present numbers of the Corps, but as the Canadian Regiments now to be raised must frequently upon Service at expensive Posts be under the command of the Captain Lieutenants of the Queens Rangers, whose pay is scarcely adequate to existence in this very dear Country, & will be totally insufficient to preserve the due equality with their Brother officers of similar Rank, or separately over those of inferior Stations a circumstance which I have always experienced to be by no means a trifling consideration in respect to the King's Service. I have the honor to be, Sir, with the utmost Respect, Your most obedient Servant, J. G. SIMCOE. Right Honorable Henry Dundas one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State. Endorsed:-Upper Canada, 20th June, 1794. Lt. Govr. Simcoe. R. 22d Septr. Ansd. (One Inclosure) Copy sent to Ld. Amherst. Sir: FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO JOHN KING. NAVY HALL, UPPER CANADA, 20 June, 1794. I have the honor to acknowledge the Receipt of your Letter, & beg leave to thank you for the Information therein contained, which clears up the mistake made by Mr. Justice Powell. Your Opinion will have the greatest weight with the Council in regulating the Fee Bill. I beg to introduce Capt. Talbot to your Notice, this Young Gentleman has lived with me ever since I have been in the Province, & in whom I have always had the greatest confidence, if you will mention him to my friend, Mr. Nepean, in these Terms, & say how perfectly qualified he is to give him any account He may wish to have of me, you will confer a great obligation on me. I shall feel a most irreparable Loss in Mr. Chief Justice Osgood. I hope to God he will be replaced by an English Lawyer. I have the honor to be Sir With great Respect your humble Servant. John King Esquire. Under Secretary of State. Endorsed:-Upper Canada, 20th June, 1794. Lt. Govr. Simcoe. J. G. SIMCOE. No. 25. FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO HENRY DUNDAS. NAVY HALL, Upper Canada, 20th June, 1794. I do myself the honor of enclosing to you a letter of mine to Lord Dorchester which sufficiently explains to you the most material Point in which I think, the direction of the Commissariat should be under the Controul of the Executive Government of this Country, subordinate to the Commander in Chief, but not to that of any intervening Power in the Commissary General of Quebec. I beg to observe to you that in the last year when I refused the Agents of the United States permission to purchase flour for the Indian Treaty to be held at Sandusky, It might have been possible & necessary that I could have carried into Execution the intimation of Mr. Hammond & thrown sufficient Obstacles in the way of the Purchasers without in Person, appearing to give any opposition to the measure. Mr. Hamilton,' who is a man of a very good understanding, and great personal liberality, in my Confidential Communications with him on the Subject, had agreed that such a permission given to the United States would totally alienate the Indians from the British Interests; yet upon being applied to by the Agent of the United States, & finding himself intended to be employed by them, He seemed to totally have forgotten his former Sentiments, & I am persuaded was perfectly ready to have furnished the requisite Supplies.-Two instances are this moment furnished, which will lead to the deductions That, I feel it necessary to state to you in support of my Opinion of the Commissariat of this Province being under the direction of the Lieutenant Governor-the one is, the unprincipled Agent of the French Refugees, who was last year received in this Province in the most hospitable manner, Monsieur Des Jardins has written to me from Albany desiring Permission to purchase flour from Kingston in order to establish a Settlement on Hungry Bay & Salmon River near to Oswego, in the most absolute Contravention of the King's Interests and the Boundary line proposed by his Majesty's Servants, & in defiance of the claims of the Six Nations. Another Person of the name of Williamson has established a Settlement at Sodus near to Oswego which threatens those hostilities in fact which this man, lately an Officer in the King's Service has constantly in his mouth-This Mr. Williamson sent in his Agent to purchase flour from the Bay of Kente for the Support of his Settlement. I luckily detected his Agent and drove him from the Province; but Sir, I must observe to you there is no existing law 1 Robert Hamilton. that prevents the Exportation of flour, the staple, & in some places the drug of the Country-nor would it be wise or possible to get it enacted-but it must be obvious to you, Sir, that in both these Instances the Exportation of flour would be detrimental to the King's Interest, & that an intimation to the flour Merchant that he should be deprived of the benefit of the market which his Majesty's Garrisons constantly afforded in case he should profit of this temporary advantage to himself, in opposition to the King's Interests, would be the most effectual method of preventing the Injury. I do not add, Sir, arrangements of lesser Consequence, but of a certain public Benefit such as giving specific Encouragement to produce speedily great public advantage, such for instance as directing purchase to be made from the farmers who reside on the Streams flowing into Lake Erie, in order to effect a supply for Detroit, without the necessary expence of the portage, such as buying up all the Indian Corn at Buffaloe Creek &c. &c., in order to prevent a settlement at Presque Isle, as they are of inferior Considerations-yet neither in these nor in the former Instances can it be possible for the Commissary General residing at Quebec to know or attend to the King's Interests; & yet most certainly in the first case, as my successors will feel the Influence of the Commissariat, if lodged in their hands, will be of the utmost Consequence, in both that it is not so, I have experience, is of detriment to his Majesty's Service. I have the honor to be Sir, With the utmost Respect, Your most Obedient humble Servant, J. G. SIMCOE. Lt. Governor of Upper Canada. Right Honorable Henry Dundas one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State. Endorsed:-Upper Canada 20th June 1794. Lt. Govr. Simcoe. R. 22d Septr. No 25. Ansd. (One Inclosure). FROM JOHN BARNES TO FRANCIS LE MAISTRE. QUEBEC, 21st June, 1794. Sir: From the difficulty there is at present in procuring Seamen for the Provincial Marine I have represented to His Excellency the Commander in Chief that I thought it would facilitate that Service, by allowing a Gratuity of a Dollar Pr. man to Tavernkeepers or others who may look out for, and bring Able Seamen to me to Enter, which His Lordship was pleased to approve of. I am therefore to request you will please to obtain his authority to the Storekeeper General or person His Lordship may wish to make this Disbursement, to pay it on the Certificate of Sir, Your very humble Servt. Fras. Le Maistre. Esq. Military Secty. JNO. BARNES. Dy.Q.M.Genl. |