3330. FUR TRADE, Aid to Astor.—
I
learn with great satisfaction the disposition of
our merchants to form into companies for undertaking
the Indian trade within our own
territories. I have been taught to believe it
an advantageous one for the individual adventurers,
and I consider it as highly desirable to
have that trade centered in the hands of our
own citizens. * * * All beyond the Mississippi
is ours exclusively, and it will be in our
own power to give our own traders great advantages
over their foreign competitors on this
side the Mississippi. You may be assured that
in order to get the whole of this business
passed into the hands of our own citizens, and
to oust foreign traders, who so much abuse
their privilege by endeavoring to excite the Indians
to war on us, every reasonable patronage
and facility in the power of the Executive will
be afforded.—
To John Jacob Astor. Washington ed. v, 269.
(W.
1808)
