Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 59 



of idleness attracted them strongly. This was per- 

 haps one among the reasons why they got on so 

 much better with the Indians than did the Ameri- 

 cans, who, wherever they went, made clearings and 

 settlements, cut down the trees, and drove off the 

 game. 



But even these pursuits were followed under the 

 ancient customs and usages of the country, leave 

 to travel and trade being first obtained from the 

 commandant 23 ; for the rule of the commandant 

 was almost patriarchal. The inhabitants were ut- 

 terly unacquainted with what the Americans called 

 liberty. When they passed under our rule, it was 

 soon found that it was impossible to make them 

 understand such an institution as trial by jury; they 

 throve best under the form of government to which 

 they had been immemorially accustomed a com- 

 mandant to give them orders, with a few troops 

 to back him up. 24 They often sought to escape 

 from these orders, but rarely to defy them; their 

 lawlessness was like the lawlessness of children and 

 savages; any disobedience was always to a partic- 

 ular ordinance, not to the system. 



The trader having obtained his permit, built his 

 boats, whether light, roomy, bateaux made of 

 boards, or birch-bark canoes, or pirogues, which 

 were simply hollowed out logs. He loaded them 

 with paint, powder, bullets, blankets, beads, and 



23 State Department MSS., No. 150, Vol. III., p. 519. Let- 

 ter of Joseph St. Marin, Aug. 23, 1788. 



24 Do., p. 89, Harmar's letter. 



