In 1744, a war broke out in Europe and in America between the Great Powers. In 1748, a peace was concluded, albeit an uneasy one. During the 1750s, the English became increasingly suspicious of the French, particularly of their carefully directed effort to establish forts and settlements from the Great Lakes southward to the headwaters of the Ohio, near present-day Pittsburgh, and down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River in order to link the anchor of Canada with that of Louisiana.
The French view was quite different: The English were the aggressors and the French were merely acting to protect their rights and territory. In this memoir, a translation of a document from the Paris archives whose authorship is uncertain, the French made their case.