This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

ACQUISITIONS
Related Holdings
so ft rMfiPWG.
Quebec, Fur Trapping
between i860 and 1899; wood engraving by Alfred Rudolph Waud, draftsman 1977.137.7S.470 /',//
Pierre Clement de Laussat Papers
1693-1835; manuscript collection MSS 725
Carte Du Canada et de la Louisiane Qui Forment la Nouvelle France et des Colonies Angloises
1756; engraving with watercolor by Jean Baptiste Nolin Jr., publisher 1982.18
Villars Family Papers
1668-1934; manuscript collection 95'3'L
\
LETTRES PATENTES
EN FORME D'E D I T.
Portinr lublifTemenc <Funt Compjgnic <lr Com-mcKe faille nom de Compagnie d'Occidcnt.
Acts of the Royal French Administration concerning Louisiana
1717-1771; manuscript collection MSS 268
ACQUISITION SPOTLIGH'
When France Was Down, a Scheme to Move Quebec South
Essai sur les moyens de transporter a la Louisiane la Peuplade du Canada ....
2014.0^52
In 1758, things were not going well for France’s colonial enterprise in Canada: halfway through the French and Indian War, she had already lost Acadia (Nova Scotia) to the British and, in spite of recording an important military victory that year at Ticonderoga, had good reason to fear further territorial losses. This 40-page manuscript essay documents the little-known historical fact that the French, guarding against the possibility that they might lose their Canadian colony altogether, had a contingency plan for moving the entire French Canadian population south into both the upper (Illinois Country) and lower (Mississippi Delta) provinces of Louisiana. The two known variants of this manuscript are both in the French National Archives: one 10-page version and one similar in length to The Collection’s. The unsigned author, likely
a minister or ocner stresses in hi> argu——1-size of the French Carit* in r 1739 census had coumcu '	>
a number that he estimated ’ ~ to well over 53,000 by !~^8. r. the population of Louisknz 48,000 until P95.J
The author notes with pride feow the relatively small French Canadian pcpih-tion had held out so long against (he British, with their standing army of 10,000 men and North American population of at least one million—these were colonists worth saving! Nevertheless, the document provides clear evidence that the French feared the loss of their stake in Canada. These fears and more were realized in 1763 when France, having already ceded Louisiana to Spain, was forced to cede all of Canada to Great Britain.
The author viewed the migration of the Quebecois as necessary to prevent British expansion westward; provide needed agricultural products; and expand commerce and preserve the beaver-pelt trade. The author
18 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly