.MTA2Mg.NzIwNTY

157 1795 supplying the inhabitants of the country, as well as the Indians, with European commodities; which puts into the hands of the English the whole of the peltry trade, even in the parts which border on Augusta. They deal more honourably in their barter than the Georgians, are better supplied with commodities, and, on that account, the Indians readily trade with them. This privelege does not extend to New Orleans. Every year some ships, which supply the Havannah, come to New Orleans, but they bring very inadequate cargoes, so that the Spanish settlements on the Illinois get all their European goods from Montreal. There is a fact still more recent, which points out the bad policy, whereby the Spaniards give up all power into the hands of the English. The Governor of New Orleans has given to the English house of Tode & Co. [who carry on the peltry trade on the other side of the Mississippi below the lakes] the exclusive privilege of trading for skins with the Indians, along the left bank of the Missouri; by which means the English are in possession of the most important part of this river, and they have opened a trade with several nations. This privelege has been purchased from the Governor of New Orleans for the sum of twenty thousand pounds sterling. From this circumstance an idea may be formed of the sluggishness & avarice of the Spanish government