410 Frank Carney 



Competition injur trade. In 1664 an English ship entered New 

 York bay, representing the Duke of York; it anchored off New 

 Amsterdam. A force was landed, and shortly the British had 

 conquered the Dutch, New Amsterdam becoming New York. 

 Not long after that this English colony was governed by an Irish- 

 man named Dongan. Dongan had learned that there was great 

 profit to be had in exchanging flashy articles with the Indians for 

 furs. With his sanction, English traders made a trip by way of 

 the Mohawk lowland up the Great Lakes as far as Mackinac, in 

 the summer of 1686. Durantaye, the commandant in charge of 

 the garrison at Mackinac, was absent. The British furnished the 

 Chippewas with flashy goods and rum, obtaining all the furs they 

 had. When the Frenchmen returned, they discovered the loss 

 of a season's profit. The trip was so successful from the English 

 traders' point of Adew that they decided to repeat it the following 

 year; the governor himself became a patron of this second expedi- 

 tion, and sent a guard of soldiers to accompany them, under 

 command of Major Patrick McGregor. This semi-military pro- 

 ceeding was a confession on the part of the governor that the 

 method of the pi-eceding year was not entirely commendable. 

 The French, in the meantime, suspected that the trip might be 

 repeated, and laid their plans accordingly. They did not even 

 wait for the English to reach Mackinac, but met and captured 

 each of the two flotillas into which the English party was divided. 

 Major McGregor and his soldiers were well cared for as prisoners; 

 the traders and their cargoes were turned over absolutely to the 

 Indians. 



The French took steps at once to see to it that a repetition of 

 such trade exploits as this should be hazardous for the English. 

 Other points south of Mackinac were fortified, and trading posts 

 were more widely distributed. Cadillac, in 1701, was ordered to 

 establish a fort where Detroit now is, and properly fortify it. 

 These trading posts in Indiana and Ohio were subject to the fort 

 at Detroit; such posts were established at Sandusky, along the 

 Cuyahoga, and the Maumee, and wherever else in Ohio the Indians 

 were in the habit of congregating. 



Equity of claim. A sense of fairness will grant that, so far as 

 discovery bears with it equity, this region, including Ohio, was 

 rightly claimed by the French. If peaceful association with the 

 primitive inhal^itants is itself evidence of rightful ownership. 



