ld
be the ruin of Michilimackinac, and those whose interests centred at the
latter post angrily opposed the scheme of Cadillac.

He laid his plans before Count de Maurepas by a characteristic memorial,
apparently written in 1699. In this he proposed to gather all the tribes
of the lakes at Detroit, civilize them and teach them French, "insomuch
that from pagans they would become children of the Church, and therefore
good subjects of the King." They will form, he continues, a considerable
settlement, "strong enough to bring the English and the Iroquois to
reason, or, with help from Montreal, to destroy both of them." Detroit,
he adds, should be the seat of trade, which should not be permitted in
the countries beyond it. By this regulation the intolerable glut of
beaver-skins, which spoils the market, may be prevented. This proposed
restriction of the beaver-trade to Detroit was enough in itself to raise
a tempest against the whole scheme. "Cadillac well knows that he has
enemies," pursues the memorial, "but he keeps on his way without turning
or stopping for the noise of the puppies who bark after him."[24]

Among the essential features of his plan was a well-garrisoned fort, and
a church, served not by Jesuits alone, but also by Recollet friars and
priests of the Missions Etrangeres. The idea of this ecclesiastical
partnership was odious to the Jesuits, who felt that the west was their
proper field, and that only they had a right there. Another part of
Cadillac's proposal pleased them no better. This was his plan of
civilizing the Indians and teaching them to speak French; for it was the
reproach of the Jesuit missions that they left the savage a savage
still, and asked little of him but the practice of certain rites and the
passive acceptance of dogmas to him incomprehensible.

"It is essential," says the memorial, "that in this matter of teaching
the Indians our language the missionaries should act in good faith, and
that his Majesty should have the goodness to impose his strictest orders
upon them; for which there are several good reasons. The first and most
stringent is that when members of religious orders or other
ecclesiastics undertake anything, they never let it go. The second is
that by not teaching French to the Indians they make themselves
necessary [as interpreters] to the King and the governor. The third is
that if all Indians spoke French, all kinds of ecclesiastics would be
able to instruct them. This