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WraOWlES IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
INDIAN TRACTS. No. II.
250 copies printed. No
Condition of the Indian Trade in North America, 1767, as described in a letter to Sir William Johnson
BY
SIR GUY CARLETON,
Governor of Canada.
t*
BROOKLYN, N. Y.:
Historical rkiNTiNc, Cluu.
1890.
FEB 2 ft 19^3
NOTE.
This letter is printed from the orig- inal manuscript in the possession of Mr. Gordon L. Ford.
Paul Leicester Ford.
qy Clark St., Brooklyn, N. F.
Quebec 27th March 1767. Sir: I received the Favor of your Letter of the 27th of January, and shall allvvays think myself obliged to you for informing me of any irregular- ities committed by Persons from this Province, as by that information I may be enabled to take such Steps here, as may correct them for the future, and assist you in your I'.ndeavors to pre- vent all Cause of Discontent to the Indians from hence : in Return I. will communicate to you the Complaints which I receive here, as I imagine that mutual Information must be of Advantage to His Majesty's Service, whose Intentions are, that His Ser- vants should promote the Good of all his subjects, as well as prevent any just Cause of discontent, to those un- der his Protection —
(7)
8
That the French who must allways be our Rivals in Trade, often our open Enemies, should take every Oppor- tunity of gaining the Affection of the Indians, and of misrepresenting us, I expect as a Thing of Course ; it be- longs to us to defeat their Endeavours, whether fair or fraudulent, and by wise Regulations, honest dealing, and by Kind Treatment to attach them to us, and avail ourselves of those exten- sive Channels of Trade, to enlarge our Commerce to the utmost —
Your Comjilaints of the Canadians, by which Name 1 distinguish the Sub- jects of the King our Master, acquired by the Conciucst of this Province, are so general, thai 1 can only make my iMiquiries, and speak to them in as general a Maimer ; When 1 talk here of that Perfidy, false Stories, or Views of exciting an Indian War, )ou com- plain of, they appeal to C<M<ine1 Glad-
wyn, and all the rest of our officers, who were Spectators of the last, and are confident these will give Testi- mony of different dispositions in them at that Time, when such Views mii;ht have been more excusable, than at present, and that even then some of them were utterly ruined by the In- dians for their Attachment to us ; they very plainly- shew me, that such a War must be very destructive to them, and in Case of such a Misfortune, that thev then did, and would .ii^ain cheerfully take up Arms, to reduce them to Peace, by I'^c^rcc. I-A'er since my i\r- rival, 1 have observed the Canadians with an Attention, bordering,' upon Suspicion, but hithcrtn have not tlis- covered in them either Actions or Sentiments, which do Mot bi'loutj^ to good Subjects. Whether ihey are rii^ht or wroni; in their Opinion of the Indian Trade, I submit to those whom
lO
the King has appointed to direct and superintend the same, but the unani- mous Opinion of all 'lere, Canadians and British, is, that unless the present Restraints are taken off, that Trade must greatly Suffer, This Province be nearly ruined, Great Britain be a con- siderable Looser, and France the sole Gainer, as they must turn the greatest Part of the P^urrs down the Missis- sippi, instead of the St. Lawrence; they compute that a very large Quan- tity of Merchandise, formerly passed through this Province to Nations un- known to Pondiac, and too di. tant to come to any of our Ports, and that so much is lost of the Consumption of British Manufactures Th'::y say that their own Interests will allways be a sufficient Reason and Motive to treat these People well, and to use their ut- most luideavours to keep them in Peace, and the Canadians will engage
II
to take some English with them in every Canoe, to acquire a knowledge of these Countries and the Language, to shew they have no Jealousy at their becoming acquainted with this Trade; Tis imagined here, that the other Pro- vinces, who arc neither acquainted with these Countries, nor so advan- tageously situated for this Trade are the secret Causes of their being so se- verely fettered ; they presume to think each Province should be permitted to avail itself of it's natural Situation, and acquired Advantages, and that it should be as unreasonable in us to expect the Ports to the Southward should be shut up by Regulations, as long as ours are by a se\ere Climate ; that in this Respect all the King's Subjects should be considered as Bro- thers, or one Family, and, that the Rivalship ought not to be between Province and Province, but between
12
the King's Subjects and those of France and Spain ; some have offered to prove, that two Years ago, while they were confined to the Fort, the French or Spaniards from the Missis- sippi came within twenty Leagues of the Detroit, and carried off the very Furs, that were intended to clear off the Credit given the Indians the year before. They even assert tis impossi- ble to prevent them from carrying off by far the greatest Part of that Trade, unless those Restraints are taken off; they maintain that the only possible Means of removing the Discontents of the Indians, for not being supplied with the Necessaries of Life as for- merly, is to permit them to go among them, as was the Practice of this Col- ony, that thereby they will be enabled to undersell the Mississippi Traders, detect their Artificies, and be the Means of bringing them to Punish-
13
ment, as it is their Interest and Duty so to do ; but supposing the worst of them, they hope the King's Subjects of Canada are as much to be trusted, as the French from New Orleans, and ought to have the Preference, consid- ering they carry up the British Man- ufactures only. I have also had many Complaints of the Partiality and Vio- lence of some Comissaries, but as I find by your Letters to Lieutenant Colonel Massey, you are already in- formed of them, I will not trouble you with a Repetition, not doubting but they will be properly punished, if they are found guilty ; the British in par- ticular request, that for the future these may all be obliged to give security for their good Behaviour, while in that Employment, that should they conmiit any Injustice, Partiality, or Violence, they may know how to recover proper Damages in a regular Course of Law ;
H
this they think the more reasonable, as tlicy on their Side p^ive Bond to observe the King's Regulations, which, if they do amiss, subjects them to suf- fer for it in the same Way, and not to be left to the Mercy of a Comissary, or of those Indians he may Hullo after them. They begged of me to let them have a Copy of those Regula- tions, they give Security to obey, and that I would not leave them to the Information of a Comissary in those distant Parts, of whose Partiality they have already seen many Proofs, by suffering many to go out and trade abroad, they suspect for value received, while the rest were confined to the Fort; That whatever was the King's Pleasure, they would submit to, but still it became necessary to be apprised thereof, as they must considerably les- sen the Quantity of Merchandise for these Parts, and not be obliged to
15
have them packed up, and lodged in a Warehouse without, willingly sub- mitting to let all be confiscated, if they sold for one farthing, rather than bring them to a small Market in the Fort, exposed to all Accidents of Fire ; this some of them preferred and practiced at the Detroit. Had I those Regula- tions, I would have given them a Copy, but I am as yet uninformed of them —
General Gage acquainted me you complain to him of seven Persons who are among the Indians without Pass- ports, namely, Capucin, Lorain, La Mottc, Pot de Vi.n, BartJiolomc, Ber- geron, and RicJiarville ; The six last are Canadians and have been settled among the Miamis and Ouias from fifteen to twenty years, except Pot de Vm, who has been settled as long at Detroit, but I can give you no certain Account of Lapucin, who is also
i6
among the Miamis; it is supposed that IS not his real Name, but a fictitious one, to conceal that of his Family—
I have given some Presents to the Indians who came to see me at Mon- treal, as I find it was customary on the like Occasions, and think that Atten- tion to them must have good Conse- quences —
I am with Regard Sir Your most obedient Humble Servant GUY CARLETON. Sir William Johnson, Bart. Supermundane of Indian Affairs in the Northern District—