Condition of the Indian trade in North America, 1767 [microform] : as described in a letter to Sir William Johnson

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—