subject, nor he to me. My commission* was brought to me by Hon. William Jones, Secretary of the Navy.

The plan of a United States government trade with the Indians dates as far back as the year 1796. The system was one of pure humanity, embracing a supply of the wants of the Indians without reference to profit; and receiving, in exchange from them, their furs and peltries, at fair prices; the law governing this trade contemplating nothing more than the preservation of the capital employed in it. The convenience of the Indians was consulted in the establishment of factories along the border, and at such distances from each other, as to approximate upon the one hand, as near to the hunting grounds of the Indians as was convenient; upon the other, with the readiest access to them by water, or otherwise, for the transportation of the annual supplies. Suitable and competent persons, as factors, clerks, and interpreters, were appointed to carry on this trade.

There were in operation, at the same time, two other systems of trade with this people. One of these was conducted by individuals, the other by companies. The contrast between these and the government trade, will not

* (COPY.)

THE PRESIDEnt of the United States OF AMERICA

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

KNOW YE, That reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, ability, and diligence of Thomas L. McKenney, of the District of Columbia, I do appoint him superintendent of Indian trade, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfil the duties of that office, according to law; and to have and to hold the said office, with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, unto him the said Thomas L. McKenney, during the pleasure of the President of the United States, for the time being.

Given under my hand at Washington, this second day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, and in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States.

By command of the President of the United States of America.

JAMES MADISON.

WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War.

fail to strike the most casual reader. The leading features of the government trade were protection and justice, based in humanity. Its tendencies were kind and merciful. The bane of the Indian was wholly excluded from the United States trade; not a drop of brandy, rum, or whiskey, being permitted to pass through the factories. Not a cent of profit was contemplated, as has been stated. With no other system but this, or others in harmony with it, the Indians would have been protected, and blessed, and preserved. Many of the bloody strifes with one another, and of wars between tribes and bands, and the probability is, the greater portion of these border difficulties between the Indians and our people, would never have been heard of; whilst the Indians, preserved from the double action upon them of these wars, and the consuming effects of the "firewater," would have retained their native strength and dignity, and not wasted away and perished, as they have done. I can conceive of no contrast more decided than that which marked the United States' treatment of these exposed people, and that which characterized the traffic carried on with them by private individuals, and companies. To sum it up in few words, the first was a shield to protect, and a fountain to sustain, and refresh, and bless the Indians; the last two operated to place them amidst the unobstructed, full, and unmitigated blaze of a consuming avarice! No profits were sought by the government— nothing but gains were contemplated by the traders. No consuming, and strife, and war-kindling agencies, were employed by the first, to attract and lure the unhappy victim; no laws could be enacted by Congress, and no regulations framed, of adequate force or vigilance, to prevent the employment, by the traders, of these lures, and of this bane. No one who has not witnessed it, can conceive the sacrifices an Indian will make for whiskey; how far he will travel, laden with the returns of his winter's hunts; how little he foresees, or regards the consequences to himself, or any

body else, of his indulgence in this fatal poison. The awaking from his delirious dream, and finding his furs and peltries gone, and in their places a few worthless articles, unsuited in quality or quantity to screen himself and his family from the winter's cold, may distress him, and kindle his revenge, for the time being, but it is forgotten whenever a new occasion happens in which he can indulge in the same excess! Of all men, an Indian is the most improvident, and furnishes the most painful example of a reckless disregard to the impoverishing and life-consuming effects of intemperance.

Many fortunes have been made in the trade with the Indians. The company that has flourished most, and become most enriched by it, is the "American Fur Company," at the head of which, for many years, as owner and manager, was JOHN JACOB ASTOR. This sagacious and wonderful man pushed this trade wherever the beaver, the otter, or the muskrat, could be found in sufficient quantity to authorize the adventure, until the range east of the Rocky Mountains becoming too limited for his enterprise, he doubled the Cape, and felt his way up the Columbia river, opening a trade with the natives of that far-off region. Next in enterprise and success, was the "Missouri Fur Company," whose operations were, and are yet, conducted by the sagacious CHOUTOU'S. It was to make the range of this company's operations wider, and secure to it, mainly, the unobstructed way to a monopoly of the trade within the limits of its range, that the United States system was, by act of Congress, broken down.

In the discharge of my trust, I found it necessary, almost from year to year, in my annual reports, to refer to the manner in which these companies carried on their operations; protesting against the use of whiskey, and urging the adoption of more rigid regulations to prevent its being carried into the Indian country. For this was the charm, and the trading house at which the poor

Indian was most certain of meeting with this beverage, was sure of his custom. It was not so much a competition in blankets, and strouds, and calicoes, and beavertraps, and other articles that were necessary for the trade, or their prices, as in whiskey. My reports were not regarded in the light of very friendly interpositions, and from these it was quite natural for the feelings they occasioned to glance off, and become personal. The consequence was, I was not in favor either with the private trade, or with the more formidable power concentred in the companies.

I shall take occasion, in the sequel, to refer again to the breaking down of the United States trade; and to a part, at least, of the means employed to accomplish it.

My immediate predecessor, General John Mason, a man of talents and integrity, had found it difficult during the war to procure suitable supplies, except in part, for the trade. Mackinac blankets, and strouding, two indispensable articles, were wholly beyond his reach; made so by the war with Great Britain, on the one hand, and the infant state of our manufactures, on the other. For blankets, resort was had to a sort of cloth made of wool, united, without weaving, after the manner in which hats are made. It was these or none. These, with numerous other articles, as little adapted to the comfort of the Indians, were purchased and forwarded, and as little in accordance with their wants and tastes. But nothing better in the then condition of the country, could be done.

I found, on entering upon the duties of this trust, a large portion of the capital absorbed in these unsuitable supplies, and the factories laboring under their weight. On the return of peace, the markets resumed their former ability to supply the demand, and were prepared, when I took charge of the department, to respond to my calls. But to make way for the new and appropriate supplies, it was necessary for me to get rid of the old and unsuitable;

when I ordered the old stock to be got rid of, regardless of loss. It was customary to pack the supplies in waterproof tierces. In making up the outfit the first year of my superintendency, the quantity of goods required for it was so large, that the tierces required for their transportation were found, on being measured, to extend in length over one mile and a quarter.

The loss on the old stock was very great, and made, of course, a corresponding inroad upon the capital, and this required the adoption of a new scale of advances upon the articles sent, as also another for the regulation of the prices allowed the Indians for their furs and peltries. This scale was so graduated as to run through more than one season—thus making the annual advance to bear easy upon the Indians. The prices of furs, &c., owing to the re-opening of our commercial relations after the war, having increased, enabled the government to allow an increase upon them-so that the Indians felt very little of the advance which had been put upon the goods.

Great satisfaction was expressed by these poor fellows, in being able once more to provide for themselves and families the substantial woven and almost weather-proof Mackinac blanket, and the almost water-proof and enduring strouding. I received letters from Governor Cass, whose office of governor of Michigan made him ex-officio superintendent of the Indians of that Territory, as also from General William Clark, who was superintendent of Indian affairs for Missouri, conveying their high satisfaction at this new influx of the right sort of articles-and assuring me that no such supplies, either in fitness or cheapness, had ever before found their way into their superintendencies.

I owed this success mainly to others. I was assisted by clerks whose integrity and experience made them of great value, as well to the public as to myself; and I can never forget the obligations I was placed under, for zeal