In 1772, Sir William Johnson, in charge of Indian affairs in America, pointed out to the British government the advisability of reoccupying and strengthening the Miami post, as it was “a place of some importance”.[68] Since the Indians were pacified, the home government for the sake of economy, did not see fit to carry out his suggestion at the time. A memorandum of the same year speaks of the “fort being inhabited by Eight or Ten French families”.[69] A census, apparently taken in 1769 by the English, lists the names of nine French families living at Fort Miami.[70] These French residents were nearly all traders, though some of them had been located here for many years. By 1772, most of them were willing to accept the friendship of their former foes, the English—primarily for mercenary reasons. British policy kept the colonists from occupying the land north of the Ohio, which meant the preservation of the Indian fur trade. Moreover practically all their furs were sold through the London market. Thus, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, the French traders at Fort Miami felt they had more to lose by being friendly with the American cause than their neighbors, the French inhabitants of Vincennes and the Illinois settlements who were primarily interested in farming.[71] With the outbreak of the Revolution, British troops could not be spared for the post at Miamitown, but it was placed under strict supervision by Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit. Hamilton appointed Jacques Lasselle, an officer in the Canadian militia, to the super-intendency of this post as an agent of Indian affairs. Lasselle arrived with his family in 1776 from Montreal.[72] His duties were to see that the Indians maintained their active friendship for the British cause and to check the passports of all persons going from Detroit to the Wabash and lower Ohio.[73] None but those holding a license issued by the British authorities were permitted to engage in trade.