The Chief Justice and Attorney General being obliged to go upon the Circuit at the Closure of the Sessions, I have not yet received a Copy of the Acts of the Legislature sufficiently authenticated to be transmitted by this Opportunity. I shall take the earliest method of sending them, Sir, for your inspection, together with such remarks on the temper of the Houses as may be necessary and which having the last year been principally drawn up by the Chief Justice, I wish to avail myself of his more immediate acquaintance with the Gentlemen of the Legislature to form the Judgment proper to be laid before you on this subject. I shall inform Mr. Holland of your inclination to acquiesce in his proposal of exploring the North West parts of America. The Survey of the Communication between Lakes Ontario and Sinclair by the river Thames is compleated-and I am just informed that the Surveyor whom I have employed on Lake Erie has discovered an admirable Harbour near the very place that I wished at Long Point opposite to Presqu'Isle. I purpose on the 1st of September to cross from this place to Lake Huron, and hope by October to transmit to you such plans as may enable you to form a judgment on the propriety of altering the present military arrangements in this Colony, which having been formed on different principles and those in a great degree temporary ones, do not appear to me to be calculated for the present Government, Strength, or growing Importance of this Colony. I have determined to Hut the Queen's Rangers and probably to remain with them this winter at this place; It possesses many eminent advantages, which I shall do myself the honor of expatiating on by the first opportunity, and of transmitting such Plans as appear necessary to me for permanent Barracks and Fortifications to be erected adapted to present circumstances but which may be encreased, if it shall become necessary, and at a less expence be rendered more easily impregnable than any place I have seen in North America-Niagara and Detroit being each of them absolutely untenable against five thousand Men even from Assault, tho' the whole Force in Upper Canada could be concentrated for their defence. Lieutenant Crawford, the Bearer of this dispatch, being on his return to Europe through New York, I have availed myself of the opportunity and desired that he would be the Bearer of my Dispatches to Mr. Hammond on the subject of Indian Affairs in compliance with your intimation. I have the honor to be with great respect, Sir, Your most Obedient and most humble Servant. The Rt. Honble Henry Dundas One of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. &c., &c., &c. J. G. SIMCOE. Endorsed:-York, Upper Canada. 23d Augt. 1793. Lt. Govr Simcoe. R. 21st Decr. No. 16. (Two Inclosures). Sir, FROM J. G. SIMCOE TO GEORGE HAMMOND. YORK (LATE TORONTO) UPPER Canada, Having lately done myself the honor of stating to Your Excellency my serious apprehensions, that from the Indisposition of the parties, the present unhappy War between the American Indians and the United States would not be terminated by amicable treaty at the present meeting, held for that purpose at Sandusky -I can only lament that my apprehensions by late circumstances have been corroborated, and that the Deputation of the Indian Nations which met the Commissioners at Niagara have been arraigned by their Constituents as not having fully and explicitly demanded of the Commissioners of the United States whether they were impowered to establish the Ohio as the Frontier line, or not? Your Excellency will see by the enclosed Papers, that the Indian Meeting have sent another Deputation to the Commissioners, now at the mouth of the Detroit River, to demand from them an explanation on this Point. It is unnecessary for me to point out to Your Excellency, who are so well acquainted with the dispassionate and dignified Conduct that has Originated from the Wisdom of His Majesty's Councils towards the United States ever since the Peace of 1783, that the same tenor has been uniformly preserved by his Majesty's Government in this Country, and that in the midst of difficulties, they have hitherto been able to maintain inviolably a neutrality between the native Indians and the American States-but, Sir, It appears to me to be proper to state to you a detail of those difficulties, which seem to encrease upon this Government, and which may ultimately force it into the most serious and alarming situation. I scarcely think it necessary to represent to Your Excellency, that of the three Branches into which the fur trade of this Province is divided, The Detroit, Michillimackinac, and North West That the former is totally ruined by the subsisting hostilities, and that in their progress the Indians of Michillimackinac having acceded to the Confederacy, that trade also is sensibly on the decline, because, however important it may be to the commercial welfare of this Province that the Indian Nations should carry on their Hunts, and make their returns in peace and quietness, the continuation of hostilities threaten much more unfavourable occurrences than the loss or suspension of these branches of trade, and the Jealousy of the Indians may ripen into an open attack on the Inhabitants under my Government. It may be necessary to recapitulate to Your Excellency such circumstances as have happened since the Peace of 1783 that evince the temper and disposition with which the Indian Nations received that event, and the construction which they themselves placed upon its articles, together with such inflammatory and unjustifiable attempts as have been made by the Servants of the United States to confirm their jealousy of the Conduct of the British Nation into resentment for its supposed perfidy, and contempt of its imbecility. The instant that General Haldimand received the information of the Peace, he stated to his Majesty's Ministers his fears that the Indians would misapprehend it, and consider themselves as abandoned. In May, 1783, General McLean, who then commanded at Niagara, held a Conference with the Indians to Offer his good Offices, and to assure them of the King's regard and friendship. The Indians expressly told him that they were free people, Allies not Subjects to the King of England, that He had no right to grant their lands, nor would they submit to it: in particular they insisted that the King had no right to give away Forts built in the Heart of their Country without Consulting them. No admission of Principles so just in themselves, and which are expressly provided for in the treaty of Peace, which intimates only that Great Britain should withdraw her garrisons from the Posts could erase that jealousy which the Public offers of the Baron Steuben to purchase the Military Stores and Provisions of the Posts and the votes of some of the States and ultimately of Congress, to levy Troops for the purpose of taking Possession of them, had raised to its utmost Pitch-a general Confederacy was set on foot by the Six Nations and Western Indians for the purpose of their own security, and Brant did not hesitate to avow that the intent was to attack either the British or the Subjects of the United States whichever should infringe upon their Rights. This Confederacy of the Indian Nations which had been so strongly inculcated by Sir William Johnson after the Indian War that succeeded to the Peace of 1763, as the true means of embracing all the claims of the several Nations whether as seperate or joint Proprietors of the Indian Country, and of laying thereby a solid foundation for just and permanent peace has acted upon similar principles and uniformly denied the validity of any treaties that should dispose of their Lands without the Consent of the General Council. The United States having failed in performing the Articles of the Treaty of Peace, the Western Posts have not been surrendered to them; This Circumstance has operated so far favorably for the Interests of the King's Subjects, that they have been left unmolested in the possession of their farms and settlements, which if the Posts had been evacuated it is most probable that the Indian Nations would not have allowed them to have established or extended and the British North West trade, it should seem, must have failed as it could not have supported the expence of drawing Provisions from the existing British Settlements. The Government of the United States upon the Peace, seem to have thrown off all appearance of moderation and justice in respect to the Indian Nations, the division of the Country into Provinces was among their first public Acts, The extirpation of the Indians was their Philosophical language: and the sale of their lands was held forth as the avowed foundation of their National Wealth.Among the Indian Nations there were several Natives, and more of adopted White Men, who could fully deduce the consequences resulting from these positions, and forcibly explain them at their Councils; but there seems to have been but little necessity for both Mediums; or the pretended influence of Great Britain; a general War has been the consequence of the claims of the Congress, and of the self defence of the Indian Confederacy. The Language of the Government of the United States to the Nations, as held by Governor St. Clair at Fort Harmar in January, 1789, was "That after a long struggle between the United States and Great Britain in which the Indians joined the latter the United States got the better and that Great Britain asked for Peace, and gave up the Indian lands as part of the price." This language was ably refuted by the Indians. Your Excellency is in possession of the Arguments of both sides. The Successes of the Indians against Generals Harmar and Sinclair seemed to prepare a way for Peace, and Joseph Brant in hopes of finding means to accomplish upon just terms what He has always considered as a most desirable end, and avowed as his Opinion, went to Philadelphia in 1792 for this very purpose. I enclose to you his letter to Colonel McKee on the Subject, in which it appears that He continues under that impression which the Peace of 1783 had made on the minds of the Indians "that the Conduct of Great Britain in respect to them had been unjustifiable." The recent victory over Sinclair has occasioned a considerable alteration in the language of the United States: the Ground of Conquest as held forth by Govr. Sinclair, and that of any right of his Majesty having ceded the Indian Territory is totally abandoned-but the mutual Treaties under the auspices of Mr. Sinclair are referred to as the just foundations of the present claims of the United States. The Indian Nations have always looked up to the King for Protection, they have uniformly affirmed that the language of the United States to them has been "that the King has ceded the Country," they have from time to time brought in pictures and emblems at once scurrilous and disrespectful, representing the superiority which the United States has obtained over the King; and tho' in the answer of Lord Dorchester to the Indians, it may have been prudently said "these must have originated from ill informed Individuals," yet as the Indians are fully acquainted from whom they have received such presents, they cannot be persuaded to attribute it to others than the Governmental Officers of the United States;and from hence they deduce fresh sources of Jealousy against Great Britain in regard to the reality of her Cession of their Country, and are the more inclined to believe the exaggerated accounts of her Imbecillity. Your Excellency is Master of the strong and expressive language in which they have called upon me to attend their Treaty, and you are fully acquainted with every step that has been taken to give them that assistance, to which they have a just claim, and which we have a right to bestow, without violating that strict neutrality, which is due to our present situation with the United States, and involving the dignity of his Majesty's Government. But I am sorry to observe that although such conduct may have been most proper in its objects, and that the means to accomplish it have been such as without doubt, must have done away from the minds of the people of the United States any impression whatsoever of an unfavorable disposition in this Government to the expected Peace, I am sorry to observe that neither personal explanation or an intermediate one through their Agents, has been able to satisfy the minds of the Indian Nations that such Conduct has been sufficiently friendly and attentive to their Interests, and they have said "that although the United States have not agreed that the Representative of the King their Father should attend the Treaty, they do not see why He should refuse to be present to assist The King's faithful Allies with his advice at their General Council." These serious Inconveniences in the Commercial View of this Unfortunate War, (the loss or material Injury of the Detroit and Michillimackinac branches of Commerce), and the suspicions which have been uniformly entertained by the Indian Nations of the neglect of the King's Government, tho' every exertion has been made use of to allay it, (and circumstances have hitherto proved favourable to such an endeavour), tend to one point, our interest in an immediate Pacification, as they prove the great evils and distress which his Majesty's Province at present suffers by the continuation of Hostilities; but it is easily demonstrated that their prolongation may be eventually productive of such open enmity from the Indians as involve it in difficulties beyond the power of remedy or calculation.-In case that Victory shall declare for the Indian Confederacy, & that it shall be confirmed in that strength which its present extension throughout the Continent seems to promise, whatever offence may have been taken against the strict neutrality of Great Britain as we term it, or, as it is asserted by the Indians, our abandoning our Indian Allies at the treaty of Peace, and leaving them to struggle by themselves, in a contest brought upon them as Governor Sinclair's speech declares by their attachment to Great Britain, and terminated by her Cession of their Lands as part of the price of Peace, such an Offence will be heightened and improved in the minds of the Indian Nations by the consciousness of recent superiority, and every effort to conciliate their alienated minds will bear with it the appearance of Pusillanimity, which invites attack; the usual presents will be received without kindness, and new and trivial demands will be made upon every occasion, till the first refusal of any extravagant request, will be interpreted as injury, will be avenged by predatory excursions, that must terminate in open War. On the other side, should Fortune side with the Armies of the United States, the Indian Tribes have been advised and probably have determined to fly to the British Fortresses for Protection, or passing over to the British Territory within its Treaty line, will from thence continue a perpetual Warfare, that in either case sooner or later must involve this Government with the United States. But should it be thought politick or prudent in case of this, the uttermost distress of the Indian Nations, to refuse them shelter in his Majesty's dominions, or the Protection of his Fortresses, what will be the consequences? The Nation, The Tribe, I had almost said the Individuals, that could not withstand the powerful and well arranged Army of the United States, can in an instant destroy the settlements and massacre the unfortunate Inhabitants of Upper Canada; and the untutored savage in the first impulse of his resentment, and the last deliberation of his Council would reconcile such an attempt to his general mode of reasoning, and to which opportunity and necessity would powerfully urge him, without it being prompted by the Indian or White Emissaries of the United States, who in any case, are a ready and formidable Engine, fully prepared to turn the views of the Indians to their own purposes, and gradually to alienate their minds from the King their Father and to dispose them to Hostility against his Subjects. The contemplation of the papers herewith transmitted, in which neither Captain Brant nor Col. McKee seem to have hopes of an amicable conclusion of the present Treaty have naturally disposed my mind to reflect on the baneful consequences should Hostilities recommence on the Frontiers of his Majesty's Dominions; there are so many objects and Interests of great moment that I could detail to Your Excellency, which are involved in such a Calamity, but which are also inferior in magnitude to what is to be apprehended from an Indian War on the one hand; and from giving any just cause of Offence on the other to the United States, that I desist from dwelling upon them. I cannot however conclude without saying, that I should have been most happy had the Government of the United States coincided with the Indian request, and that you could have obtained his Majesty's gracious permission to have been the Mediator in his name at the present treaty. The Weight and Authority of Your Excellency would have pointed out to the Indian, that Justice which He may not be disposed to recognize when introduced by the Representative of his Enemies; and at the same time the purity of our National Character in Your Excellency's hands would have been a pledge to the United States of our zealous anxiety to establish a Peace upon permanent principles of Equity. It must also at this Juncture, I am persuaded, have been a personal gratification to Your Excellency, to have rendered such service as might have been in your power to the Government of the United States, whose recent manly and impartial Conduct cannot but have afforded you a considerable degree of satisfaction. I have the honor to be with great Respect, Sir, His Excellency George Hammond, &c. J. GRAVES SIMCOE. Endorsed:-In Lt. Govr. Simcoe's No. 18 of the 20th Sept. 1793. (6) |