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By the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, English possession of the entire Hudson Bay territory was confirmed. Nova Scotia, or Acadia, with its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal and all the islands, lands, and places dependent on these, together with the fisheries in the seas and bays adjoining, and all the inhabitants of these regions, were ceded to Britain. The Island of Newfoundland and the adjacent islands were to belong, of right, wholly to Britain. The French, however, kept the right to catch fish and dry them on the coast from Cape Bonavista to Point Riche. Cape Breton and the other islands in the Gulf and the River of St Lawrence were to be retained by France. The sovereignty of Great Britain over the Iroquois, or Five Nations, was recognized and the French were not to interfere with them, or with the other Indians who were friends of Britain; nor were the British to interfere with those Indians who were subjects and friends of France. On both sides, the subjects of France and England were to have freedom to trade with all the Indian tribes, and the Indians were to be free to trade with the colonies of either power.

PHILIPPE DE RIGAUD, MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL

From a painting in the Château de Ramezay

The conditions of this treaty were a severe blow to French power in America. And it left unsettled many questions material to the strength, development, and even the existence of Canada. Such were the limits of Acadia, the boundary between New France and England’s colonies, and between those colonies and the regions bordering on the Mississippi and its tributaries. Immediately after the treaty, therefore, we find the French minister writing to the governor, Vaudreuil, and to the intendant, Bégon, for any documents or information which they may have regarding the limits of Acadia, showing ground for restricting the territory which has been granted to the English. He is particularly anxious that they shall find evidence for restricting the territory of Acadia to the peninsula alone. As to the Hudson Bay territory, they are to interpret the treaty so as to preserve to the French the Mistassiñi Indians on account of their trade with Tadoussac. He desires them to send a map giving the limits which they think can be maintained.

Vaudreuil, in the following year, urged upon the home government the necessity for retaining the Indians, particularly the Iroquois and the Abnakis, on the side of the French, because if the English once win them over, the French are lost. The Abnakis in particular are terribly cruel enemies. Writing again in 1716, Vaudreuil states that if the king wishes to retain Canada he has certain suggestions to offer. The English are determined to take Canada. He has to acknowledge the weakness of the colony in population, and consequently in fighting strength, but should the English once obtain the whole of North America, without any check upon them, they will rapidly develop it and make themselves extremely powerful in Europe. It is highly desirable, therefore, even from the European point of view, to keep the English in America in check. For this purpose it is necessary to increase the military strength of Canada. Five hundred men should be sent at once, and five hundred annually, who, after a certain term of service, will be placed upon the land and held as reserves. Further, it is absolutely necessary to find some excuse for keeping the Indian territory out of the hands of the English. This can be accomplished only by stirring up the Indians to maintain that the French have no right to concede their lands to the English, since they belong to themselves alone, and that they propose to hold them and to dispose of their friendship and alliance as they see fit. He then represents that the Indians should be kept in alliance with the French by liberal distributions of presents.

When all this became known the English authorities strongly remonstrated with the French. Governor Burnet, of New York, writing to Vaudreuil in 1721, reminds him that by the Treaty of Utrecht, the Iroquois are declared to be subjects of the English king, and the other western Indians are to be free to frequent the territory of either party for purposes of trade. He is surprised, therefore, to learn of the fort being established at Niagara^[1] and of the other measures being taken to prevent intercourse between the western and northern Indians and the English colonies. To this Vaudreuil makes the evasive reply that Burnet is the first English governor to lay claim to Niagara, where La Salle had a fort. Moreover, the Indians have made no objection.

From all this it is quite obvious that, though there might be peace between the crowns in Europe, there was to be little peace between their dominions in America. The English had made up their minds that the French menace to their colonies, supported as it was by the Indians, must be disposed of. On the other hand, the French in Canada had determined to resist the claims of the English to the very last. To this end it was indispensable that they should retain the alliance of the Indians at all costs. From this time on the French had no serious intention of accepting the English interpretation of the treaty, although it was naturally their object to postpone as long as possible the final rupture of peace.

The French were frankly using their post at Niagara to prevent free intercourse between the English and the Indians. The English undertook to establish a corresponding post on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Oswego River. This was to be a trading depot, to which the Indians from the north and west might come without French interference. The French protested on the ground that the territory to the south of the lakes belonged to France. They also endeavoured to arouse the Iroquois to the point of prohibiting it. The Iroquois, however, knowing the advantage of British trade, favoured the project, and at the time the French could do nothing.

Trusting to the approval of the French government, the local authorities in Canada were preparing in 1725 to take strong measures with the English. They were to be formally warned against constructing the establishment at Oswego, and should they persist, forcible means were to be employed, for, as the authorities said, if the English build at Oswego and the French cannot fortify Niagara,^[2] then the western trade is doomed, and the French control of the Indians will certainly be greatly weakened, if not entirely destroyed.

Already it was recognized that another war with the English was inevitable. The governor called for more men and stores. Longueuil, the governor of Montreal, who had much influence with the Iroquois, on returning from a trip to their territory, reported (1725) that the English had not begun the fort at Oswego and that he had hopes of getting the Iroquois to prohibit it. In this he was, for a time, remarkably successful. By representing the English as having no other design than to rob the Indians of their country and to enslave their people, he managed to persuade the Iroquois whom he met to forbid the English establishment at Oswego, but to permit the French to build two vessels on the lakes and to construct a stone fort at Niagara. On this diplomatic mission, he had found more than one hundred canoes of Indians going to trade with the English, and a number of these were from the French territory to the north. This had convinced him that at all hazards the English must be expelled from the St Lawrence system at once, and by force. Now that he had persuaded the Indians to prohibit the English fort at Oswego, he would endeavour to induce them to assent to the establishment of a French fort there, which would shut out the English for the future. Assuredly, if diplomacy could have afforded a substitute for industrial progress, the French, and not the English, would have dominated the North American continent.

The British minister, Newcastle, wrote to Horace Walpole, then the English minister at Paris, asking him to remonstrate with the French court on the conduct of their representatives in Canada. The French court no doubt listened politely to Walpole, and may even have promised to have matters investigated, as this would enable them to gain further time; but, since the court had expressly instructed the Canadian authorities to do just what was being complained of, and to employ force if necessary in accomplishing their object, it was hardly likely that any steps would be taken to put a check upon the conduct of the colonial officials. In the spring of 1725 the intendant, Bégon, began the construction of the two vessels proposed for the control of Lake Ontario. He was able to report that, notwithstanding the claims of the English to the country occupied by the Abnakis Indians as being part of Acadia, the French had managed to obtain control of these Indians and had induced them to maintain irregular attacks upon the English settlers, some forty of whom had lately been killed. He reported, however, that the English were at last bestirring themselves and were about to send armed bands to subdue the Indians. This was afterwards accomplished, and in taking vengeance upon these barbarous tribes they included the French resident priest, Père Rasle, who had been the central influence in keeping the Abnakis under French control and direction.

The French ministry approved of the policy adopted by the governor and the intendant, stating that the English must be prevented, by force if necessary, from making the establishment at Oswego. Action in the matter was to be determined upon by a small council of war, composed of the governor, the intendant, and the local governors of Montreal and Three Rivers. At the same time, they were urged to avoid actual war as long as possible, because it was both expensive and injurious to the beaver trade.

The Marquis de Vaudreuil died at Quebec on October 10, 1725. He was one of the most successful of the Canadian governors and he left a memory much venerated by the people. His successor was the Marquis de Beauharnois.

In the royal instructions to the new governor, it is impressed upon him that the chief points to be observed are: first, the necessity for maintaining the colony against the designs of the English, and, secondly, to prevent the French colonists from leaving their natural occupations and betaking themselves to the woods.

Later, the governor had to report to the minister that, as the Indians were disposed to favour the English and to permit them to establish a fort at Oswego, he did not consider it good policy to incur the enmity or suspicion of the Indians, hence he had not attacked the establishment at Oswego. Though policy forbade the use of force, it seemed to encourage the employment of diplomacy. Accordingly, Beauharnois wrote to Burnet, the governor of New York. Without alluding to the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, he adverted to the earlier period when the French claimed jurisdiction over the Iroquois, and, taking the claim for granted, he sought to base a justification for their actions upon these rights. The English governor pointed out, in reply, that, whatever were the merits of the case in earlier times, yet, since 1713, the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht alone governed the situation. These and similar sparrings for time, on the part of the French authorities, were entirely in accordance with the repeated instructions from France that the Canadian officials were to hedge and fence concerning the chief articles of the treaty as much as possible, in order to avoid coming to an open rupture.

Gradually, however, the Indians were tiring of fighting for the French and living on fair promises. The Iroquois in their own interest did not wish to see the English gain too great an ascendancy over the French, but they would not long forgo the advantages of cheap English goods coupled with high prices for furs. Hence, in the end, they decided to permit the opening of the special establishment at Oswego. This concession being recognized as a great misfortune for the French, they proposed as an offset to establish a fort at La Galette, at the head of the St Lawrence rapids, where all boats from the lakes might tranship goods passing up and down the river. The governor and the intendant also proposed the establishment of a fort at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. This was approved by the home government and was rapidly accomplished, notwithstanding the protests of the English that they, or their allies, the Iroquois, were the owners of the territory.

There was little or no immigration from France during the whole of the period of peace. The old enthusiasm for the colonies and their development had gradually died out, and the possible greatness of their American dominions received very little attention and no practical assistance at the hands of the people at large. The colonies were simply regarded as posts of strategical advantage in the ever-widening conflicts between the European powers. The importance of Canada, apart from the fur trade, was due to the importance of the English colonies on which it was to be a drag or check. The lack of real interest in the local affairs of Canada or of its political and social future will account for the general laxity of administration which was gradually developing in the colony, and concerning which there seemed to be at once a profound ignorance and a callous indifference which afforded no encouragement to unselfish and public-spirited officials, but gave excellent opportunities for mercenary selfishness and a cynical disregard of public interest.

It was found difficult to maintain regular troops in Canada owing to the temptations to become settlers or to desert and join the coureurs de bois. In fact, it was only through the troops sent to Canada that any new settlers from France were received, apart from a few religious persons sent over from time to time. The governor, Beauharnois, gave it as his opinion that the Canadian troops were not as good as formerly.

The Iroquois, finding that in the rivalry between the English and French their territory was being gradually covered with hostile forts which disregarded the rights of the Indians, protested to both powers against the building of any further forts within their territory. They professed friendship for both nations and desired to live in peace with both. They also desired that trade should be free, so that they might take their furs to the best market and procure their supplies on the most favourable terms.

[1]	A post was set up here in 1720 by the Canadian authorities to prevent intercourse between the English and the western Indians.

[2]	The Iroquois objected to a regular fortification at Niagara. The French diplomatically agreed, while at the same time they established a trading-post that would answer the same purpose.