Meanwhile, a plan for the forcible expulsion of the English traders from among the Chickasaw had proved impossible of execution. Early in 1700 Tonti had been instructed to lure the Charles Town emissaries to the Tunica town on a pretext of trade, to arrest them, and to send them down to Biloxi. But the Taensas reported the Englishmen more numerous than had been supposed, and this strategem was abandoned. 72 [Note 72: It was reported, however, in a letter from Rochefort of March 30, 1700, printed in the Present State of Europe, XI, no. 8 (August, 1700), p. 291, that Iberville had arrested 'an Englishman who treated with the Savages our Confederates. He came into that Country through the Rive Oye.'] Henceforth the central object of Iberville's frontier policy was the promotion of a general peace among the Indians, based on friendship and trade with the French.