MY LORD,

LIEUT. GOV. J. G. SIMCOE TO LORD DORCHESTER.

UPPER CANADA, NAVY HALL, Augt. 10 1794.

I am to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Dispatch (No 14 July 11th 1794) which arrived here by the vessel that brought the Bishop of Quebec on the 9th of August.

I should not again have requested Your Lordship's opinion and direction on the State of the Affairs in this Country, had not the occupation of the Post at the Miamis, Your Lordship's Speech to the Indians, Deputies from the several Nations, and the manner in which the Secretary of State for the United States commented on these Transactions materially altered the condition of affairs in this Country from what they were at the period in which Your Lordship did me the honor of sending to me your letter No 1.

At present, I hope the People of the States will not occupy, Presque Isle, nor build naval Armaments; but should they, and by such means attempt either to victual Wayne's army, or to occupy a Post at Buffaloe Creek, or its vicinity, If it be practicable, I shall do my best for the destruction of such an Armament, under my Interpretation of Your Lordship's General orders to "repel force by force" should I not receive from your Lordship an express direction to the contrary; and find that I am mistaken in my idea of Your Lordship's Orders and Actions.

be acquainted with "the Canada and what force

In respect to Your Lordship's wish to extent of the combined Powers in Upper I may be able to assemble for my own preservation and defence, and also how far I may have it in my power not only to repel but to retaliate any hostile attempts,"I beg leave to observe, that I have endeavoured from time to time to communicate to Your Lordship every view, in which I contemplate the military advantages or disadvantages of this Province, its means of defence, or power of offence, upon the principle, that at such a distance as I am from Your Lordship, I must of necessity be left to a greater latitude of action, and with more discretion, than I can by any manner of means personally desire, or execute in my station with private satisfaction; I therefore by the freest communication not only

of intelligence, which is my public duty, but by my comments, and observations, a duty I owe to myself and Your Lordship in this very peculiar and unpleasant situation, have endeavoured to lay before Your Lordship such materials as may enable you to form an opinion on the Powers of this Country with a certain degree of accuracy, and to give me orders for the execution of the King's service.

Several of these communications and opinions have been transmitted to Your Lordship since the date of the dispatch which is now before me.

The number of the Troops, the miserable state of the Fortresses, the want of military stores and magazines and a proper naval arsenal I need not explain.

The militia, unless exercised and in part called out, cannot be reckoned upon as an efficient strength; There is an universal appearance of Loyalty, among the British Inhabitants, but it does not become me to place any Military Reliance in such assistance, unless it shall actually be proved; nor would it be wise to make this Probation, but under the Assemblage of a competent Body of Troops. The most prudent attention must be paid that the first movement made by the King's Forces should be attended with success, whether to repel the Enemy to retaliate any hostile attempts, or if other considerations render it practicable, not only as a general Military Rule, but as peculiarly applicable to the best situation of this Country, to prevent all Inroads into the Province.

In the combined Powers, I presume that Your Lordship includes the Indian Nations, although I am to observe that you never have expressed those people by name as a means of defence in your communications to me.

The most important Possession in this Country is Niagara, considered with its most important dependency of York, and Lake Erie; Long Pointe or Presqu' Isle-This Post I consider as the main object of attack, and it must be secured by preventing all access to Lake Erie; This must be done by stopping, the progress of Wayne's army, now actually in its Road to the Miamis River & by preventing any occupation on the Coast of the Lake from Buffaloe Creek to the Miamis Bay.

The Troops of the States must at the least be driven from Fort Recovery leading to the Miamis and Fort Franklin on the Allegany. If their advance can be prevented or suspended; I conceive that no time should be lost in the collection of every species of force that

can be spared from both Provinces and that the Three River Point, and its communications with the Oswego should be occupied; Fort Brewerton, the Onondaga Salt Works and the whole Genesee settlement destroyed.-The approaches of the Oneida Lake and even the Wood Creek ruined and the Seneca, Cayuga and other lesser Lakes occupied with Gun Boats, &c, and the Roads to the Susquehanna ruined or possessed. The Incursions of the Indians or Light Troops, should the Province be reinforced, may then be pushed forward on all sides and with safety to the great object, the covering by the Three River Point or Oswego position, Niagara and all access for the present to the Upper St. Laurence. This, my Lord, is the outline of what I think absolutely necessary, and possibly, not impracticable; such an Enterprize may be combined with great secrecy.

I stated to the Duke of Richmond the necessity of heavy Cannon & a light Train before I left Europe. I stated other military precautions, I shall be most happy if the non compliance with them. become not fatal to the King's interests.

But, my Lord, in the present juncture if we are only to repel Hostilities, which will consist in the Enemies occupying favorable Positions with Blockhouses, and it be, as I conceive, most necessary, that we should not fail in our first enterprize from which the whole war may derive its colouring, It will be of the utmost consequence to our operations that the Artillery should be of that weight and nature as to ensure the capture of the Blockhouses, now erecting at Fort Brewerton, Three Rivers Point &c. &c. &c. It is manifest we shall be able to transport them with a certain degree of facility, and it may be possible, that we may destroy or occupy, if an object, Fort Schuyler or Stanwix, tho' I should rather prefer this place to become in the first Campaign a Point of assembly for the Enemy; we filling up the Wood Creek.

The next requisite, my Lord, for this expedition is its officers. In this Province the captains Shank, Smith and Shaw of the Queen's Rangers, Captain Seward of the Royal Artillery, and Captain Bunbury of the 5th Regiment are probably second to no men in their respective Ranks and Situations. An able field officer, is, without doubt, necessary to command either as my second, or as chief, if, as probably may be the case, the King's Interests should require my presence elsewhere. Could your Lordship under existing circumstances spare Lieutenant Colonel Beckwith for such an attempt my satisfaction would be compleat - I know him to be perfectly

calculated for this kind of service, and that he possesses the good opinion of the officers of the Queen's Rangers, who in the late war were personally acquainted with him. I have also the highest opinion of the spirit of resource and Experience of Captain Glasgow of the Artillery for an enterprize that requires so much combination on the supposition, that such an attempt should be entirely successful and that we should preserve Posts of communication completely fortified with Stockades of Trees &c. &c. (as were practised by the Loyalists &c on Bergen Point in the late War) and retain Three River Point, Oswego and the Great Sodus our naval station for Gun Boats &c. &c. during the Winter. It is probable that the Levies of Troops in the Province and from the United States would be successfully carried on; and should by any circumstances Lower Canada be secure, and Your Lordship by a competent Reinforcement from Europe (and the accumulation of these Levies secretly raised, and disciplined in silence) be enabled to move early in the Spring into this Province, the power of retaliating hostile attempts might be of infinite extent, acting on the Mohawk, Susquehanna or Ohio; The United States would Hazard all their Colonies or Settlements beyond the Mountains, and perhaps ultimately, by a successful co-operation on the Sea Coast, be effectually dismembered, and disabled from prosecuting those malignant & ambitious views, which self defence must of necessity in some period or other compel Great Britain to consider as the main object of her policy.

I have thus offered to your Lordship a summary of my Ideas on the existing state of this Country and its present powers, not only to repel but to retaliate any hostile attempts. I need not represent, to Your Lordship's experience that it is almost impracticable to form any kind of satisfactory system in war, but it is peculiarly so where the Powers to be combined are a scanty and divided army, indifensible Fortresses, unprovided Arsenals, an untried Militia and Indian Allies; in such difficulties, all that a zealous servant of his King has to offer, is the exertion of his best abilities.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM MAJ. GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE TO CHRISTOPHER

MILLER.

MR. MILLER,

HEAD QUARTERS, GRAND GLAIZE, 13th August 1794.

You are to proceed to Roche de bout, or to the General Rendevouz of the Indians, in that vicinity, & deliver & explain, to them or their chiefs the speech now delivered to you, in the character of a Flag from the United States of America, & from the Army now on its march to the foot of the Rapids.

The lives of eight Indian Prisoners now in my possession will depend upon your personal safety on this occasion, & upon your appearance with this Army, on or before the sixteenth Instant.

Endorsed:

ANTY. WAYNE.

Copy of Major General Wayne's Instructions to Christopher Miller, an Indian Flag. Dated. Head Quarters Glaize August 18th 1794.

In Lt. Govr. Simcoe's No. 33 of the 23d August 1794. (2)

[ Q 280-2, p 299 ]

MAJ. GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE'S SPEECH TO WESTERN INDIANS.

To the Delawares, Shawenoes, Mineamis & Wyandots, & to each and every of them; and to all other Nations of Indians, North West of the Ohio; whom it may concern.

I, Anthony Wayne, Major General & Commander in Chief of the Federal army now at Grand Glaize, and Commissioner Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, for settling the Terms, upon which a permanent and lasting Peace shall be made between each & every of the Hostile Tribes or Nations of Indians (Northwest of the Ohio) and the said United States.

Actuated by the purest principles of humanity and urged by pity, for the errors into which bad and designing men have led you; from the head of my army, now in possession of Your abandoned villages & Settlements, do hereby, once more, extend the friendly hand of peace towards you & invite each & every of the hostile Tribes of Indians, to appoint deputies to meet me & my army without delay, between this place and Roche de bout, in order to settle the preliminaries of a lasting peace, which may eventually