[91] They could not have been ignorant of the existence of such colonies in the ceded territory, for Sir William Johnson, who was familiar with western conditions, was in constant correspondence with the ministry, and such works as the _Histoire de Louisiana_ by Du Pratz, published in 1758, were doubtless familiar to English statesmen.
[93] Dartmouth to Cramahé, Can. Arch. Ser. Q., Vol. IX, p 157.
[95] It is very curious that no reference occurs in Art. XV of the Plan, which dealt with civil matters. "That for the maintaining peace and good Order in the Indian Country, and bringing Offenders in criminal Cases to due Punishment, the said Agents or Superintendents, as also the Commissaries at each Post, and in the Country belonging to each Tribe, be empowered to act as Justices of the Peace in their respective Districts and Departments, with all powers and privileges vested in such Officers in any of the Colonies; and also full power of Committing Offenders in Capital Cases, in order that such Offenders may be prosecuted for the same; And that, for deciding all civil actions, the Commissaries be empowered to try and determine in a Summary way all such Actions, as well between the Indians and Traders, as between one Trader and another, to the amount of Ten Pound Sterling, with the Liberty of Appeal to the Chief Agent or Superintendant, or his Deputy, who shall be empowered upon such appeal to give Judgement thereon; which Judgement shall be final, and process issued upon it, in like manner as on the Judgement of any Court of Common Pleas established in any of the Colonies."
[96] Brown, _Hist. of Ill._, 212-213. See post Ch. VII.
[97] Gage to Sec. Conway, March 28, 1766. B. T. Papers, Vol. XX, Pa. Hist. Soc. Lib.
[98] Gage to Johnson, Jan. 24, 1767, Johnson MSS, XIV, No. 28.
[100] Review of the Trade and Affairs of the Indians in the Northern District of America, _ N. Y. Col. Docs._, Vol. VII, 964.
[101] Gage to Hillsborough, Aug. 6, 1771, Pub. Rec. Office, A. & W. I., Vol. 128. Two years before he had written: "Two persons are confined in Fort Chartres for murther, and the Colonel (Wilkins) proposes to send them to Philadelphia, about fifteen hundred miles, to take their Tryall." Gage to Hillsborough, Oct. 7, 1769, Pub. Rec. Office, A. W. I., Vol. 125.