m to Albany; but this did not suit
the purpose of the Five Nations, who, being sharp politicians and keen
traders, as well as bold and enterprising warriors, wished to act as
middle-men between the beaver-hunting tribes and the Albany merchants,
well knowing that good profit might thus accrue. In this state of
affairs the converted Iroquois settled at Caughnawaga played a peculiar
part. In the province of New York, goods for the Indian trade were of
excellent quality and comparatively abundant and cheap; while among the
French, especially in time of war, they were often scarce and dear. The
Caughnawagas accordingly, whom neither the English nor the French dared
offend, used their position to carry on a contraband trade between New
York and Canada. By way of Lake Champlain and the Hudson they brought to
Albany furs from the country of the "Far Indians," and exchanged them
for guns, blankets, cloths, knives, beads, and the like. These they
carried to Canada and sold to the French traders, who in this way, and
often in this alone, supplied themselves with the goods necessary for
bartering furs from the "Far Indians." This lawless trade of the
Caughnawagas went on even in time of war; and opposed as it was to every
principle of Canadian policy, it was generally connived at by the French
authorities as the only means of obtaining the goods necessary for
keeping their Indian allies in good humor.

It was injurious to English interests; but the fur-traders of Albany and
also the commissioners charged with Indian affairs, being Dutchmen
converted by force into British subjects, were, with a few eminent
exceptions, cool in their devotion to the British Crown; while the
merchants of the port of New York, from whom the fur-traders drew their
supplies, thought more of their own profits than of the public good. The
trade with Canada through the Caughnawagas not only gave aid and comfort
to the enemy, but continually admitted spies into the colony, from whom
the governor of Canada gained information touching English movements and
designs.

The Dutch traders of Albany and the importing merchants who supplied
them with Indian goods had a strong interest in preventing active
hostilities with Canada, which would have spoiled their trade. So, too,
and for similar reasons, had influential persons in Canada. The French
authorities, moreover, thought it impolitic to harass the frontiers of
New York by war parties, since the Five Nations mig