The Lower House. 409

Sir,
Since Writing the above I Received yours of the 26.^th December
and am mighty glad of the hopes you have that your Assembly will
Enable you to raise men for the Support of his Majesty's Undoubted
Right to the Lands on the Ohio, and at the Same Time to protect
those Colonies from the Insolence of those that want to disturb our
peace, An Answer to this by the Bearer will greatly Oblige
Your ExcelP
most Obed^t hum^ble Serv^t
Rob^t Dinwiddie

L. H. J.

Liber No. 47
February 26

The following is the Letter from the French Commandant as
translated viz.^t

Sir
As I have the Honour to Command here in Chief [here] M^r Wash-
ington delivered me the Letter which you wrote to the Commander of
the French Troops it would have afforded me great Pleasure if you
had given him Orders or that he had himself been inclined to have
proceeded to Canada to See our General to whom it belongs more
properly than to me to put in a clear Light the Evidence and Reality
of the Rights of the King my Master to the Lands Situated on Belle
River and to contest the Pretensions of the King of great Britain
in this Respect.
I am going to address your Letter to Monsieur the Marquis
Duquisne whose Answer shall be a Law to me, And if he Orders
me to communicate it to you, I Can assure you Sir I will not Neglect
to Transmit it to you with all possible Expedition.
As to the Summons you have given me to withdraw I do not
think myself under any Obligation to Submit to it, whatever your
Instructions may be, I am here in Virtue of the Orders of my Gen-
eral, and I beseech you Sir not Entertain the least Doubt of my
Constant Resolution to conform to them with all the Exactness &
firmness becomming a Better officer.
I do not know that in the Course of this Campaign any Thing has
happened Which can be construed an Act of Hostility or Contrary
to the Treaties Which Subsist between the Two Crowns, the Con-
tinuance of which Concerns as much and is as Agreeable to Us as
to the English.
If you had been pleased Sir, upon this Occasion to have entered
into a particular Detail of the Facts which are the Motives to your
Complaint I Should have had the Honour of Answering you in the
most positive manner and I am perswaded that you would have had
Room to have been Satisfyed.
I have made it a particular Duty to receive M^r Washington with
that Distinction that is Suitable to your Dignity and to his own
Rank and great Merit, I flatter myself that he will do me the Justice

p. 382