Many of the villages were found to be deserted by the natives, who fled
at their approach. At some, however, they found English traders, who
were warned at once to leave the country; and, by some of them, letters
were sent to the governor of Pennsylvania, in which Celoron declared
that he was greatly surprised to find Englishmen trespassing in the
domain of France, and that his orders were precise, to leave no foreign
traders within the limits of the government of Canada.
At Chiningue, called Logstown by the English, a large number of natives
were gathered, most of the inhabitants of the deserted villages having
sought refuge there. The French were received with a volley of balls
from the shore; but they landed without replying to the fire, and
hostilities were avoided. The French kept guard all night, and in the
morning Celoron invited the chiefs to a council, when he told them he
had come, by the order of the governor, to open their eyes to the
designs of the English against their lands, and that they must be
driven away at once. The reply of the chiefs was humble; but they
begged that the English traders, of whom there were, at that moment,
ten in the town, might stay a little longer, since the goods they
brought were necessary to them.
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