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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 283
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some necessary Cloaths made for the Men who were in great
want thereof & a little Field Equipage he would obey General
Shirley's Orders by proceed ing to N York & making the best
of his way to Oswego. As that place is not much less than
400 Miles distant from N York I am afraid he will not be able
to reach it & reinforce General Shirley time enough to enable
him to make a successful Attempt on Niagara this year
& I beleive that without his Assistance that Enterprize will not
be undertaken; indeed I think that if the General can secure
himself, construct a strong place of Defence on the shore & by
the Vessels that are building secure the Lake Ontario this year
he will do good Service & be in a fair way of making a Con-
quest early in the Spring; The Fort & pass of Niagara is in
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Letter Bk. II.
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my Opinion the most desirable place in N America as I have
before hinted to you & as I intimated to General Braddock
upon his Arrival on this Continent in a Letter that beginning
with an Apology for my Tardiness in waiting upon him in
Person was thus continued What Intelligence we have lately
received concerning the French who have been sent to take
possession of the Country adjacent to the River Ohio & their
present strength in these parts you will know from Sr Iohn St
Clair & I entertain the most sanguine hopes that their Numbers
there will not be found very formidable, but I am apprehensive
that unless the Communication between Canada & the Forts &
Settlements that the French have made to the Southward of
Lake Erie can be cut off it will not be an easy Matter to
secure our possession of them after the Success of your Arms
has recovered his Majestys Dominions on wch the French
Troops have presumed to incroach the permission or Lycence
that that nation obtained some years ago to build a Fort in the
Country of the 6 Indian Nations at Niagara (the pass or
Streight between the Lakes Erie & Ontario) has now given
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p. 140
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them the Command over those people, an Opportunity of
monopolizing the Trade with the distant Nations & has
secured to them a short & easy Communication between their
Northern & Southern Colonies —
As they are Masters of Ontario Lake by means of their
strong & well garrisoned Fort thereon named Cataracui, & the
nature of the Adjacent Country renders a Road to Niagara by
Land impracticable, they have not hitherto given themselves
much trouble to render that place more defensible than Nature
has made it imagining for the two Reasons just mentioned that
the English would never attempt the Conquest of it however
strongly its vast importance might invite them thereto. At
present we have only a Trading House destinguished some-
times by the Appellation of Oswego-Fort on Ontario Lake
where perhaps 50 or 60 Men from the New York Independant
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p. 141
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