REASONS FOR ESTABLISHING A COLONY      251
If we have not a Colony on the Spot, to support the Posts we are now possessed of in that Country, the French who have a Fort & an increasing settlement on the opposite Shore of the Mississippi, will have it in their Power, by means of their Influence with the Indians, to intercept our Supplies, interrupt our Trade, & ultimately cut off all Communication between the Illinois & the present English Colonies.
It is said that many of the French in Canada, & Numbers of those settled on the East Side of the Mississippi, near our Posts, intend to remove to the Settlement belonging to the French on the opposite Shore.
Should the French succeed in establishing a Colony there (which they probably will, as it is in so fine a Country) and we have not another to Balance it, in that Part of the World, the Consequences may be very prejudicial to the British Interest.
It may not be amiss to quote here the Sentiments of a late Writer very conversant with this Subject. In speaking of the Fineness of the Soil & Climate of the Country, on each side the Mississippi near the Illinois, He says, " It is this that has made the French undergo so many long & perilous Voyages in North America, upwards of Two Thousand Miles against Currents, Cataracts & boisterous Winds on the Lakes, in order to get to this Settlement of the Illinois; which is nigh to the Forks of the Mississippi, the most important Place in all the inland Parts of North America, to which the French will sooner or later remove from Canada; and there erect another Montreal, that will be much more dangerous & prejudicial to us, than ever the one in Canada was; They will here be in the midst of all their old Friends and Allies, & much more convenient to carry on a Trade with Them, to spirit them up against the English &°» than ever they were at Montreal. To this Settlement, where they likewise are not without good Hopes of finding Mines, the French will for ever be removing, as long as any of them are left in Canada."1
The most likely Way to prevent these Mischiefs, & to enable the English to dispossess the French of the remaining Part of Louisiana, should a future War make it expedient, will be, it is thought, to establish a Colony there, agreeable to the following Proposals viz*.
1 We have not been able to identify the author of this. The paragraph was evidently written some time after the conquest of Canada and before the definitive treaty of peace.