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—