Letter from Mr. Gallatin to Mr. Astor
New York, August 5, 1835.
DEAR SIR,--In compliance with your request, I will state such facts as I
recollect touching the subjects mentioned in your letter of 28th ult.
I may be mistaken respecting dates and details, and will only relate
general facts, which I well remember.
In conformity with the treaty of 1794 with Great Britain, the citizens
and subjects of each country were permitted to trade with the Indians
residing in the territories of the other party. The reciprocity was
altogether nominal. Since the conquest of Canada, the British had
inherited from the French the whole fur trade, through the great lakes
and their communications, with all the western Indians, whether residing
in the British dominions or the United States. They kept the important
western posts on those lakes till about the year 1797. And the defensive
Indian war, which the United States had to sustain from 1776 to 1795,
had still more alienated the Indians, and secured to the British their
exclusive trade, carried through the lakes, wherever the Indians in that
quarter lived. No American could, without imminent danger of property
and life, carry on that trade, even within the United States, by the way
of either Michilimackinac or St.
Pages:
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682