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MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
The question is, then, what reason can there be for this prohibition of intoxicating drinks in regard to the French who are here now. Are they not subjects of the king, even as others? In what country, then, or in what land, until now, have they taken from the French the right to use brandy, provided they did not become disorderly. "*
It appears that the traders had brought into the country great quantities of brandy which they sold indiscriminately to the natives who were rendered disorderly and miserable by its use. The Jesuit missionaries had made energetic remonstrances against thus debauching their converts, and demoralizing the red men generally. They had brought the subject so effectively to the attention of the home government that the traffic in brandy had been absolutely prohibited. As it appears, Cadillac did not approve this measure. The real ground of his objection seems to have been that it was driving away trade.
In the same letter he says the chiefs and a large number of the inhabitants assembled and addressed him as follows: "O Chief, what evil have thy children done to thee that thou shouldst treat them so badily? Those
that came before thee were not so severe upon us. It is not to quarrel with thee that we come here; it is only to know for what reason thou wishest to prevent us from drinking brandy. Thou shouldst look upon us as thy friends and the brothers of the French, or else as thy enemies. If we are thy friends, leave us the liberty of drinking; our beaver is worth thy brandy, and the Master of Life gave us both, to make us happy. If thou wish to treat us as thy enemies, do not be angry if we carry our beaver to Orange (Albany) or to Cortland, where they will give us brandy as much as we want. " Cadillac says he told his chiefs that the cause of the shortage of brandy was the failure of the fruit crop, as their own grain crop had failed the previous year, and that this state of things would not likely happen again.
MICHIGAN
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