Studies in American History 
93 
the English colonies, whereby the royal governors were sup- 
posed to regulate the trade. 
The first attempt of the British to regulate the trade of 
this region was made in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.^ 
This reserved to the Indians all their lands in the West and 
forbade the whites to purchase them. The trade with the 
Indians 
. . . . shall be free and open to all our Subjects, whatever, provid- 
ing that every Person who may incline to Trade with the said Indians do 
take out a License for carrying on such Trade from the Governor or 
Commander-in-Chief of any of our Colonies respectively where such Per- 
son shall reside, and also give Security to observe such Regulations as 
We shall at any Time think fit .... to direct and appoint for the 
Benefit of the said Trade. 
The “Governors and Commanders-in-ChieP’ were “to grant 
such Licenses without Fee or Reward”. 
The Proclamation of 1763, however, did not regulate the 
Indian trade. The colonial governors, who were intrusted 
with the general oversight of this trade, were too busy to give 
it any attention. Many traders saw no necessity for taking 
out licenses. Apparently none of them paid any attention 
to the regulations fixing a fair price of goods, and prohibiting 
the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians. No improve- 
ment was brought about by the royal proclamation, and old 
abuses continued. 
The Maumee- Wabash country had its share of unlicensed 
traders. There were many from New York and Pennsylvania, 
but the majority bore French names. Among them we find 
names such as Capasin, Lorrain, and La Motte, and for a 
long time it appears that Richardville, the Indian chief, who 
was a successful trader, operated without license.® George 
Croghan, who was deputy superintendent of Indian affairs 
in this region, called these traders “an idle, lazy set, a parcel 
of renegades from Canada much worse than Indians”.® Sir 
A copy of this proclamation is in the Canadian Archives Commission Report, 1906. 
See Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada (Sessional Papers, 
VII, No. 18, Ottawa, 1907), 119-123; Clarence W. Alvord, “Genesis of the Proclamation 
of 1763”, in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections (Lansing, 1908), XXXVI, 
20-52, describes the origin and political ideas back of this proclamation. 
s Sir William Johnson to General Gage, January 2, 1767, in O’Callaghan (ed.). The 
Documentary History of the State of New York, II, 484. 
® Croghan, Journal, op. cit., 141. Croghan was deputy superintendent under Sir 
William Johnson. In 1765 he was sent to the Wabash country. The record of this trip 
is printed in his Journal. He was placed in charge of the western district comprising 
Fort Pitt, Detroit, and the Illinois country in 1766. Clarence W. Alvord, The Missis- 
sippi Valley in British Politics (2 vols., Cleveland, 1917), I, note 510. 
