With the failure of De Noyelles' expedition the French felt constrained to resort to a policy of conciliation. Grave fears were entertained for a time lest the failure should have a disastrous effect upon their authority throughout the Northwest generally. If the dispatches of the governor and the intendant of Canada are to be credited, however, no such result manifested itself. But scattered here and there throughout the dispatches of this period are intimations that all was not going well with the French, and the truth seems to be that the long contest with the Foxes, with its attendant consequences, had greatly weakened their hold upon the northwestern tribes. It is plain from their own dispatches that the French did not dare to attempt the extermination of the Sacs; nor, even after all the disasters which they had suffered, to prosecute further the policy of exterminating the Foxes. The latter sued for peace, but at the same time succeeded in entering into a new alliance with the Sioux who promised them an asylum in case of need.[157] Beauharnois, the governor, sagely concluding that "there Was danger in driving the Reynards to despair," offered to pardon them on condition that they disperse among the other tribes and that no mention ever be made of the name of the Reynards, "who had so often Disturbed the earth."[158]
[157] Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVII, 258-59.
[158] Ibid., 258, 275-76.
The French found it impossible, however, to carry out even the new policy of mildness toward the obnoxious tribe. Their efforts to compel the Sacs to return to their old home near Green Bay were unsuccessful. Various excuses were given: the land had lost its fertility on account of its being stained with the blood of the French and of themselves. Probably the real reason, however, was the one given by some spokesmen of the Sacs and Foxes who had settled on Rock River, at a conference held in the spring of 1739. They stated that they had determined to return to "LaBaye" as Onontio had desired them, but they had been told by many French and savages that the French desired their return only in order that they might the more easily slaughter them, and that an army of French and their allies was already prepared for this purpose.[159]
[159] Ibid., 320.
Whatever truth there may have been in this at the time, the Foxes could hardly be blamed, in view of what had gone before, for their suspicions. Their alliance with the Sioux was continued and the tribes in common made war upon the Chippewas and the Illinois, both allies of the French.[160] The Foxes took the further precaution of entering into an understanding with the Iroquois, similar to that already entered into with the Sioux, which secured them an asylum in time of need.[161] They were thus prepared, in case of a new French attack, to retreat in either direction to safety.
[160] Hebberd, Wisconsin Under the Dominion of France, 147.
[161] Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVII, 339.
That these precautions, and the suspicions of French treachery toward them, were not without reason, is shown by the dispatches of Beauharnois. In a speech to the representatives of the Sacs and Foxes at Montreal in July, 1743, the Governor assured them he had no hostile disposition toward them, and urged them not to listen to the "evil words" that came to them from the St. Joseph River.[162] He further directed that the bands located at Chicago, Milwaukee, and on Rock River should join those who had returned to their old home near Green Bay.[163] Yet he had secretly planned an expedition for the year 1742 to destroy them, and the project had been approved by his advisers on the ground that for several years the French Court had had "nothing so much at heart" as the destruction of the Foxes.[164]
[162] This refers to the French who came from the St. Joseph to carry on a trade, apparently illicit, with the Foxes at Chicago and Milwaukee.