218 The Winning of the West 



tivate and conciliate the French and Indians." 1 

 With this end in view, he was bidden to pay special 

 heed to the customs of the Creoles, to avoid shock- 

 ing their prejudices, and to continually consult with 

 their most intelligent and upright men. He was to 

 co-operate in every way with Clark and his troops, 

 while at the same time the militia were to be ex- 

 clusively under his own control. The inhabitants 

 were to have strict justice done them if wronged 

 by the troops ; and Clark was to put down rigorously 

 any licentiousness on the part of his soldiers. The 

 wife and children of the former British command- 

 ant the Creole Rocheblave were to be treated with 

 particular respect, and not suffered to want for any- 

 thing. He was exhorted to use all his diligence 

 and ability to accomplish the difficult task set him. 

 Finally Henry advised him to lose no opportunity 

 of inculcating in the minds of the French the value 

 of the liberty the Americans brought them, as con- 

 trasted with "the slavery to which the Illinois was 

 destined" by the British. 



This last sentence was proved by subsequent 

 events to be a touch of wholly unconscious but very 

 grim humor. The French were utterly unsuited for 

 liberty, as the Americans understood the term, and 



1 See Col. John Todd's "Record Book," while County Lieu- 

 tenant of Illinois. There is a MS. copy in Col. Durrett's 

 library at Louisville. lt*is our best authority for these years 

 in Illinois. The substance of it is given on pp. 49-68 of Mr. 

 Edward G. Mason's interesting and valuable pamphlet on 

 "Illinois in the i8th Century" (Chicago, Fergus Printing 

 Co., 1881). 



