On the Eve of Conquest: The Chevalier de Raymond's Critique of New France in 1754

A. Charles de Raymond

I. INTRODUCTION CHARLES DE RAYMOND In 1754 the French and English in North America stood at the brink of a major conflict, the French and Indian War, that would forever alter the cultural and political landscape of the continent. Charles de Raymond, a captain in the Troupes de fa Marine, the French colonial regular troops, had served in New France for 32 years. Frustrated in his efforts to win promotion or a choice frontier post where he could engage in the profitable fur trade, Raymond wrote a critical account of the state of affairs in New France just as France and England were about to escalate their recent armed clashes in North America to full-scale warfare. In this account, which he called his denombrement de taus fes pastes du Canada (Enumeration if all the Canadian posts), Raymond chronicled bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption, discussed diplomatic relations between the French and the Indians, analyzed military and trade strategies, and put forth his own solutions to the problems he identified. In short, he provides his readers with a comprehensive, although strongly biased, overview of New France as it entered its final years as a colony of France. A complete translation of Raymond's Enumeration if all the Canadian posts begins on page 49. Raymond arrived in Canada as a second ensign in 1722 and was promoted to full ensign in 1731. In 1738 he was promoted to lieutenant and to the command of Fort Niagara, a command he held until 1746. In that year he was promoted to captain and fought against the English in New York and Massachusetts during King George's War (1744-48, the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession, 1740-48). In 1748 Commandant General Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissoniere reassigned Raymond to the Niagara command, but in 1749, before the arrival 1 2 On The Eve cifthe Conquest The Cross of Saint Louis (La Croix de Saint-Lauis) was awarded to Charles de Raymond upon his being received in 1754 as a chevalier in the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis. This, the highest royal distinction to which a Canadian officer could aspire, was awarded by the king but rarely to officers of the Troupes de la Marine in New France. Courtesy ofMackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan. Introduction 3 in Quebec of the new governor general, Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de La Jonquiere, La Galissoniere appointed this seasoned officer to command the Miami post (now Fort Wayne, Indiana). Although this post was located among the turbulent Miamis, Raymond nonetheless rejoiced over finally being granted a post with trading rights. La Jonquiere, however, dissatisfied with Raymond's failure to win back the defecting Miamis, recalled him from the post in 1750, after only one year. Mter a short assignment in Louisbourg in 1752-53, the disgruntled Raymond briefly returned to France in 1754, where he was admitted as a chevalier (knight) by Louis XV to the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis.1 As the spring of 1754 approached, the new chevalier saw his prospects in New France brightening. On 18 April the minister of Marine (colonial affairs) wrote the new governor general, Ange de Menneville Duquesne, the following letter in support ofRaymond: To M. Ie Marquis Duquesne Versailles 18 April 1754 Sieur de Raymond, a captain in the Canadian troops who came to France in charge of the dispatches from lIe Royale [Cape Breton Island] gave me a description of his services. He has in fact performed some that deserve attention, and at all times salutary reports have come back about his zeal and diligence. It is up to you to propose the rewards that he deserves, according to the opportunities that occur for his promotion. But while waiting you should be able to find an opportunity to assign him to some special command that can be of some advantage to him. I am asking you to do it as long as that can be reconciled with the arrangements you have to make for the good of the service. The experience that he has acquired in these kinds of missions has put him in a position to be successfully employed in them. And I shall be most pleased furthermore for you to be able to do something for him, in respect to several esteemed individuals under whose protection he is and who have recommended him to me very...