6« [ 2 ] 
Extract of a letter from the Secretary of War to Gen. William Clarke 
Superintendent of Indian Jiffairs^ St. Louis, dated July Ist, 1822. 
I have received a letter from Major O'Fallon, in which he states 
that he understands a licence has been granted to General Ashley an*'^ 
Major Henry, to trade, trap, and hunt, on the Upper Missouri, and 
expresses a hope that limits have been prescribed to their trapping 
and hunting on Itidian lands, as, he says, nothing is better calcu- 
lated to alarm and disturb the harmony so happily existing between 
us and the Indians in the vicinity of the Council Bluffs. 
The licence which has been granted by this depas-tment, by order 
of the President, to General Ashley and Major Henry, confers the 
privilege of trading with the Indians only, as the laws regulating 
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes do not contain any au- 
thority to issue licenses for any other purpose. The piivilege thus 
granted to them they are to exercise conformbly to the laws and re- 
gulations that are or shall be made for the government of trade and 
intercourse with the Indians, for the true and faithful observance of 
•which they have given bonds with sufficient security; consequently,^ 
it is presumed they will do no act not authorized by such laws and 
regulations, which would disturb the peace and harmony existing 
between the government and the Indians on the Missouri, but rather 
endeavor, by their regular and conciliatory conduct, to strengthen and 
confirm them. 
