rt of outright murder.
The American Fur Company overawed and dominated everything; it defied
the Government's representatives and acknowledged no authority superior
to itself and no law other than what its own interests demanded. The
exploitation that ensued was one of the most deliberate, cruel and
appalling that has ever taken place in any country.

THE DEBAUCHING OF INDIANS.

If there was any one serious crime at that time it was the supplying of
the Indians with whisky. The Government fully recognized the baneful
effects of debauching the Indians, and enacted strict laws with harsh
penalties. Astor's company brazenly violated this law, as well as all
other laws conflicting with its profit interests. It smuggled in
prodigious quantities of rum. The trader's ancient trick of getting the
Indians drunk and then swindling them of their furs and land was carried
on by Astor on an unprecedented scale. To say that Astor knew nothing of
what his agents were doing is a palliation not worthy of consideration;
he was a man who knew and attended to even the pettiest details of his
varied business. Moreover, the liquor was despatched by his orders
direct by ship to New Orleans and from thence up the Mississippi to St.
Louis and to other frontier points. The horrible effects of this traffic
and the consequent spoliation were set forth by a number of Government
officers.

Col. J. Snelling, commanding the garrison at Detroit, sent an indignant
protest to James Barbour, Secretary of War, under date of August 23,
1825. "He who has the most whisky, generally carries off the most furs,"
wrote Col. Snelling, and then continued:

The neighborhood of the trading houses where whisky is sold,
presents a disgusting scene of drunkenness, debauchery and
misery; it is the fruitful source of all our difficulties, and of
nearly all the murders committed in the Indian country.... For the
accommodation of my family I have taken a house three miles from
town, and in passing to and from it, I have daily opportunities of
seeing the road strewed with the bodies of men, women and
children, in the last stages of brutal intoxication. It is true
there are laws in this territory to restrain the sale of whisky,
but they are not regarded....[77]

Col. Snelling added that during that year there had been delivered by
contract to an agent of the North American Fur Company, at Mackinac (he
meant the America