Proposals and War Aims That Didn't Happen Map Thread
- Thread starter Beedok
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In January 1759 (before the fall of quebec), Etienne de Silhouette (in the 1750s, at times, main royal comissioner of the French indies company, minister of finances, and main negociator (with De la Gallissonniere) of the pre-7YW North american boundary comission) Proposed to exchange Canada for Georgia:
"Canada, landlocked between the English colonies, a bone of contention and the object of ambition for the British nation [...] is not such an advantageous settlement for France that she could not be well compensated by an exchange of possession with England, into which the colony of Canada could be transplanted: this is Georgia. [...] The air there is more temperate, and more analogous to that of France than is that of Canada; the country is more susceptible to cultivation and various productions, which would procure a more extensive trade, increase the wealth of the inhabitants [...] by bringing them closer and reuniting them in some way with the colony of Louisiana. [...] An exchange treaty [...] would establish in an invariable manner the limits of the respective possessions, would cut off the root of future claims and could in a few years procure inestimable riches for France; [...] by the new position of the colony of Canada, [...] this nation would become, so to speak, the mistress of navigation of the Gulf of Mexico and the most respectable of all those of Europe established in America."
Mémoire de Silhouette, p.256.
Now this probably was utopian in the context of the war, and well, Silhouette was not known for carrying through his proposals (his name, after all, became a French and English word...); but he was important, and as the main French negociator for the anglo french boundary comission, had the 7YW in america been delayed, it's likely this would have been seriously proposed by the French.
For comparison, in 1760, Canada had 60-70,000 frenchmen, nearly entirely free; Georgia had 10,000 americans , 2/3 free. Both colonies had vast native populations who controled most of the territory.
"Canada, landlocked between the English colonies, a bone of contention and the object of ambition for the British nation [...] is not such an advantageous settlement for France that she could not be well compensated by an exchange of possession with England, into which the colony of Canada could be transplanted: this is Georgia. [...] The air there is more temperate, and more analogous to that of France than is that of Canada; the country is more susceptible to cultivation and various productions, which would procure a more extensive trade, increase the wealth of the inhabitants [...] by bringing them closer and reuniting them in some way with the colony of Louisiana. [...] An exchange treaty [...] would establish in an invariable manner the limits of the respective possessions, would cut off the root of future claims and could in a few years procure inestimable riches for France; [...] by the new position of the colony of Canada, [...] this nation would become, so to speak, the mistress of navigation of the Gulf of Mexico and the most respectable of all those of Europe established in America."
Mémoire de Silhouette, p.256.
Now this probably was utopian in the context of the war, and well, Silhouette was not known for carrying through his proposals (his name, after all, became a French and English word...); but he was important, and as the main French negociator for the anglo french boundary comission, had the 7YW in america been delayed, it's likely this would have been seriously proposed by the French.
For comparison, in 1760, Canada had 60-70,000 frenchmen, nearly entirely free; Georgia had 10,000 americans , 2/3 free. Both colonies had vast native populations who controled most of the territory.
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