It is well known, that the Indians are generally addicted to Drunkenness, and that when they have tasted a little Liquor, they have a strong Thirst for more, and will part with any Thing they have, for a sufficient Quantity to make them drunk.——And is it not as well known, that we have taken the Advantage of this their vicious Appetite, and for a few Quarts of Rum have purchased valuable Effects of them? Have not private Persons thus made their Gains of them, notwithstanding the good Laws that have been in Force to prevent it? And is not this the Manner of all private Traders, who go among their several Tribes for Gain?
In our publick Dealings with them at our Truck-Houses, where Rum has been freely sold them, Care has been taken that they should not be cheated, but that they should have the full Value of what they had to sell: An Indian therefore, who was Owner of a Pack of Beaver, Deerskins, or any other valuable Goods, could buy a large Quantity of Rum, and might get drunk perhaps ten times, or more; whereas, if he had fallen into private Hands, he must have contented himself with being drunk but once or twice. Which of these proves most injurious to Indians in the End, I shall not pretend to determine.
When they are thus intoxicated, they fall out among themselves, fight, and sometimes kill, one another, and some have drunk themselves dead on the Spot. An Instance of each of these there has been, if I am rightly informed, at Fort Dummer, since that has been improved as a Truck-House. And whether the Guilt of that Blood does not lie upon us, I leave others to judge.
Now, if we treat the Natives in this Form, will they, can they, live with us? Will not the Law of Self-Preservation oblige them to leave us, and to go where they may be better used? Some of the Five Nations plainly speak it out, and say, “We cannot live with the English and Dutch; they bring us so much Rum, that it destroys us; we must go to the French, who will let us have but little strong Drink.” Thus we alienate the Indians from us, and as it were oblige them to go over to the French, who are often our Enemies, and fail not to employ them against us in Time of War. And if we proceed to deal thus injuriously with them, what can we expect but that they will leave us, and be a severe Scourge to us?
Tho’ the Indians are sunk below the Dignity of human Nature, and their Lust after Drink exposes them to be cheated out of what little they have; yet this gives us no Right to deal unjustly by them. They have a natural Right to Justice, and may, with great Propriety, challenge it at our Hands, seeing we profess to be subject to the Laws of Christ, which teach us to do that which is altogether just. And we should be so far from taking the Advantage of their Ignorance, Vice and Poverty, to defraud them of what is their just Right, that we should rather be moved to Pity, and compassionate their deplorable State, and be Eyes to the Blind, &c.
I am fully persuaded, that if we were upright and just in all our Transactions with them; if our Trade with them was put into the Hands of faithful Men, who would deal justly by them; and if they were supplied with all Necessaries for themselves and Families at a moderate Price, it would not be in the Power of all the French at Canada (subtle as they are) to alienate them from us. The French are not upon equal Ground with us in this Affair. For their Northern Climate is much more inhospitable and severe than ours is: Their Country is not so productive of those Fruits, which the Indians very much live upon, as ours: Nor can they afford Goods which are proper and necessary for the Indians at so cheap a Lay as we can: Therefore we can give them those Advantages which Canada cannot. We can, without Damage to ourselves, make it their Interest to adhere to us: And when Experience has once taught them, that their Interest lies with us, they will want no other Inducement to engage them to us: Yea, it will not only attach those of them to us, who are not yet gone to Canada, but it will induce those who are, to return to their Brethren, for the Sake of the Profit they might reap by it; especially if we give them all the Advantage we can, consistent with our own.
As unjust and abusive Treatment of the Indians tends naturally to alienate them from us, and to turn them off to the French; so a Series of just and faithful Dealing with them would be likely to attach them to us, and to make them our fast Friends. This again appears from the Temper and Conduct of that Part of the Tribe of the River Indians who live at Stockbridge. For tho’ they were, for a considerable Time, extremely jealous, that we had some ill Design upon them, even in the Favours they received at our Hands (a Jealousy founded, I suppose, upon the ill Usage the Natives have too often been the Subjects of) yet by the just Treatment they, for a Course of Years, have met with from the Government, from Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Woodbridge, and others, they are become our hearty Friends; willing to live or die with us, whether in Peace or War.
It is very true, that in order to obtain the End proposed, our Trade with the Indians must not be in private Hands. It must not be in the Power of every private Person to treat them as he pleases. We may upon good Grounds despair of their being treated with Equity and Justice, if every one may gratify his avaricious Temper in dealing with them. Our Trade therefore must be of a publick Nature, and must be committed to the Care and Management of faithful Men: Not to such as will seek the Service, and make Friends to procure the Post for them; (certain Indications of a Self-seeker) but Men of Uprightness and Integrity must be sought out; such, and such only, must be trusted with Business of such Importance: Good Instructions must be given them, which must be carefully adhered to.
If the Indian Trade at Canada was in private Hands; if every private Person there might deal with the Indians at Pleasure, we might then hope that those who are gone from us would soon return; for, in that Case, it is supposable enough that they would not meet with much better Usage there than they do here; tho’ it is scarcely supposable that they would meet with much worse. The French Trade with the Indians is wholly in the Hands of publick Officers, (it I am rightly informed) and a private Man, if he wants a Dear-skin, a Beaver-skin, &c. is not allowed to purchase of an Indian, but must go to the publick Stores. Upon the Supposition that those Officers are faithful, and deal justly by the Indians, it is surely a wise and politick Method to engage them in their Favour. And so long as every private Person in the English Government is at Liberty to trade with them, when, and where, he pleases, and to cheat them out of what they have, what can we expect but that they will repair to Canada, where they may be better used? Is it not owing to the ill Treatment they have met with from the English and Dutch, that so many of them are gone already? And if no proper Measures are taken to prevent their being ill used, will not those who are yet behind soon follow their Brethren? Yea, if we furnish them with large Quantities of Rum, make them drunk, and then defraud them of what they have, do we not reduce them to a Necessity, either of living low and miserable with us, or of going from us, that they may fare better? How low, how dispirited, how miserable and brutish these few are, who live within our Borders, is too manifest. And whether we, by our ill treating of them, have not contributed to their Misery, is worthy of our serious Enquiry. Yea, would it not be proper for us to enquire, Whether we have not, by our Neglect and Abuse of them, provoked Heaven to let loose the Natives upon us, who have been one of the sorest Scourges that we were ever chastised with? What Multitudes have they, in a most cruel Manner, murdered in our Borders? How many of our Neighbours have they led into Captivity? Some of whom have been redeemed at a very great Expence, and others are become either Pagans or Papists, and continue still in a foreign Land. And who can count the Cost we have been at, to defend ourselves against their Incursions?
If the British Government should be disposed, in Time to come, to set up and maintain a publick, honest and just Trade with the Five Nations, or any other Tribes, thereby to attach them to us, to promote their true Interest, with other valuable Ends, that might thereby be answered; this Objection perhaps would arise, viz. That such a Proceeding will be a very great Expence to the Publick, for our Trade cannot be safe, unless it be protected by a considerable Force. A Fort must be built, and a Garrison of 50, 60, or perhaps 100 Men, with their proper Officers, must be maintained at each Place where the Trade is set up; therefore the Advantage would not countervail the Cost. To this I reply,