Robinson asked on his part the
purpose of the French armament at Brest and Rochefort; and the answer,
like his own, was a protestation that no hostility was meant. At the
same time Mirepoix in the name of the King proposed that orders should
be given to the American governors on both sides to refrain from all
acts of aggression. But while making this proposal the French Court
secretly sent orders to Duquesne to attack and destroy Fort Halifax, one
of the two forts lately built by Shirley on the Kennebec,--a river
which, by the admission of the French themselves, belonged to the
English. But, in making this attack, the French Governor was expressly
enjoined to pretend that he acted without orders.[185] He was also told
that, if necessary, he might make use of the Indians to harass the
English.[186] Thus there was good faith on neither part; but it is clear
through all the correspondence that the English expected to gain by
precipitating an open rupture, and the French by postponing it. Projects
of convention were proposed on both sides, but there was no agreement.
The English insisted as a preliminary condition that the French should
evacuate all the western country as far as the Wabash. Then ensued a
long discussion of their respective claims, as futile as the former
discussion at Paris on Acadian boundaries.[187]
[Footnote 185: _Machault a Duquesne, 17 Fev. 1755_. The letter of
Mirepoix proposing mutual abstinence from aggression, is dated on the
6th of the same month.
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