[286] _Dubuisson à Vaudreuil, 15 Juin, 1712._ This is Dubuisson's report to the governor, which soon after the event he sent to Montreal by the hands of Vincennes. He says that the great fatigue through which he has just passed prevents him from giving every detail, and he refers Vaudreuil to the bearer for further information. The report is, however, long and circumstantial.

_État de ce que M. Dubuisson a dépensé pour le service du Roy pour s'attirer les Nations et les mettre dans ses intérêts afin de résister aux Outagamis et aux Mascoutins qui étaient payés des Anglais pour détruire le poste du Fort de Ponchartrain du Détroit, 14 Octobre, 1712._ Dubuisson reckons his outlay at 2,901 livres.

France and England in North America, Part VII: A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol 1 — Part 167

These documents, with the narrative ascribed to the engineer Léry, are the contemporary authorities on which the foregoing account is based.

France and England in North America, Part VII: A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol 1 — Part 167

The Mississippi to be occupied.--English Rivalry.--Iberville.--Bienville.--Huguenots.--Views of Louis XIV.--Wives for the Colony.--Slaves.--La Mothe-Cadillac.--Paternal Government.--Crozat's Monopoly.--Factions.--The Mississippi Company.--New Orleans.--The Bubble bursts.--Indian Wars.--The Colony firmly established.--The two Heads of New France.

France and England in North America, Part VII: A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol 1 — Part 167

At the beginning of the eighteenth century an event took place that was to have a great influence on the future of French America. This was the occupation by France of the mouth of the Mississippi, and the vindication of her claim to the vast and undefined regions which La Salle had called Louisiana. La Salle's schemes had come to nought, but they were revived, seven years after his death, by his lieutenant, the gallant and faithful Henri de Tonty, who urged the seizure of Louisiana for three reasons,--first, as a base of attack upon Mexico; secondly, as a dépôt for the furs and lead ore of the interior; and thirdly, as the only means of preventing the English from becoming masters of the West.[287]

Three years later, the Sieur de Rémonville, a friend of La Salle, proposed the formation of a company for the settlement of Louisiana, and called for immediate action as indispensable to anticipate the English.[288] The English were, in fact, on the point of taking possession of the mouth of the Mississippi, and were prevented only by the prompt intervention of the rival nation.