While the Cherokee were endeavouring to convert the Illinois to the English trade, Hughes and the Carolinians on the Mississippi were intriguing with the French voyageurs to the same end. In Canada the letters of the Illinois missionaries raised an alarm that the Carolinians planned to establish a post on the Ohio and draw to them the Indian trade as far as the Great Lakes. From Ramesay and Begon as well as from Cadillac, Ponchartrain learned that a new crisis had arrived in the West. When Hughes in June, 1714, returned again to Charles Town with a party of Chickasaw chiefs who came down to ratify their alliance and accept presents, it was evident that the grand design was already well in train. 'En un mot,' wrote Cadillac in desperation, 'les anglois n'epargnent rien pour mettre tous nos sauvages dans leur parti, ce qui sera bien difficile d'empescher.'105[Note 105: JCHA, December 16, 1714. Cadillac to the governor of South Carolina, March 20, June 3, July 14, 1714, in Arch. Nat., col. C 13 A 3, ff. 489-92. Cadillac to the minister, September 18, 1714, ibid., pp. 518-22. La Harpe, Journal historique, 1713, April, 1714. Penicaut, in Margry (ed.), Decouvertes, V. 507,519; Richebourg, Memoire, in B. F. French (ed.), Hist. Coll. of La., III. 241; F. Le Maire, Memoire (1717), in Comptes-rendus de l'Athenee Louisianais, September-November, 1889]