of debts; when he had thus given up everything which might be supposed
to be of a doubtful nature, it might have been hoped that our last
claim--a claim on which there was not and there never had been any
dispute--the western posts should have been restored according to the
terms of the treaty of peace. Upon what ground the British insisted, and
our negotiator conceded, that this late restitution should be saddled
with new conditions, which made no part of the original contract, I am
at a loss to know. British traders are allowed by the new treaty to
remain within the posts without becoming citizens of the United States;
and to carry on trade and commerce with the Indians living within our
boundaries without being subject to any control from our government. In
vain is it said that if that clause had not been inserted we would have
found it to our interest to effect it by our own laws. Of this we are
alone competent judges; if that condition is harmless at present it is
not possible to foresee whether, under future circumstances, it will not
prove highly injurious; and whether harmless or not, it is not less a
permanent and new condition imposed upon us. But the fact is, that by
the introduction of that clause, by obliging us to keep within our
jurisdiction, as British subjects, the very men who have been the
instruments used by Great Britain to promote Indian wars on our
frontiers; by obliging us to suffer those men to continue their commerce
with the Indians living in our territory, uncontrolled by those
regulations which we have thought necessary in order to restrain our own
citizens in their intercourse with these tribes, Great Britain has
preserved her full influence with the Indian nations. By a restoration
of the posts under that condition we have lost the greatest advantage
that was expected from their possession, viz.: future security against
the Indians. In the same manner have the British preserved the
commercial advantages which result from the occupancy of those posts, by
stipulating as a permanent condition, a free passage for their goods