Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1753-1761. 95

Majestys Will and Pleasure, that the next Service he should
proceed upon should be,
7^thly The Reduction of the Fort at Crown Point and Erect-
ing another upon the Lake Champlain, in such place as he
should find most Effectual for Bridling the French Indians
in those parts and for Securing and protecting the Neigh-
bouring Colonies
His Excellency thereupon observed to the Council that
the Reasons Assigned in his Majestys Instructions for Or-
dering General Braddock to begin his operations upon the
Ohio Seems to be principally founded on Some Information
which had been given that the Support of the French Forts
and Settlements upon the Missisippe
His Excellency the General then acquainted the Council
that none of the Attempts made for Effecting the before-
mentioned Services in the last Summer had been Carried

Lib. J. R.

& U. S.

into Execution but these Several before mentioned Parts of
the Expedition Ordered by his Majesty Remained to be Exe-
cuted in the Ensuing Spring.
His Excellency then observed to the Council that the only
Practicable Entrance which his Majestys Subjects have into
the Lake Ontario is at Oswego thro the River Onondago
which is the only Harbour fit to Receive Vessels of any force
that his Majesty hath upon that Lake and that Oswego is
Situated in the Country of the Onondagges, which lies in the
Middle of that Inhabited by the Six Nations and is the only
Trading house the English have for Carrying on a Com-
merce & Corrispondents with the Western Indians: That
the only practicable Enterance the French have into the same
Lake is thro the River by them at first called the River Iro-
quois, but in Some of their late Maps, the River S^t Law-
rence, and near Fort Frontinac, which is Situated on the
North East Edge of that Lake and about 50 Miles distant
from & nearly oposite to Oswego, that whilst the French are
in Possession of that Fort and the Harbour there with a free
Passage into the Lake thro the River Iroquois together with
their Harbour at Fronto, on the Lake, they will have it in
their Power to build & Maintain Vessels of Force upon the
Lake, which, unless his Majesty shall keep up at least an
Equal Naval Force there, may not only Greatly Annoy any
Fort which should be Erected by his Majestys Subjects at
the North East End of the Pass, at Niagara, but endanger
the Loss of Oswego, itself to the French, which would inevit-
ably be Attended with the Defection of the Several Castles
of the Indians of the Six Nations to the French Interest, in
a Short time, and with the Loss of the whole Country as far

p. 77