It is well known, that the _Indians_ are generally addicted to Drunkenness, and that when they have tasted a little Liquor, they have a strong Thirst for more, and will part with any Thing they have, for a sufficient Quantity to make them drunk.----And is it not as well known, that we have taken the Advantage of this their vicious Appetite, and for a few Quarts of Rum have purchased valuable Effects of them? Have not private Persons thus made their Gains of them, notwithstanding the good Laws that have been in Force to prevent it? And is not this the Manner of all private Traders, who go among their several Tribes for Gain? In our publick Dealings with them at our Truck-Houses, where Rum has been freely sold them, Care has been taken that they should not be cheated, but that they should have the full Value of what they had to sell: An Indian therefore, who was Owner of a Pack of Beaver, Deerskins, or any other valuable Goods, could buy a large Quantity of Rum, and might get drunk perhaps ten times, or more; whereas, if he had fallen into private Hands, he must have contented himself with being drunk but once or twice. Which of these proves most injurious to _Indians_ in the End, I shall not pretend to determine. When they are thus intoxicated, they fall out among themselves, fight, and sometimes kill, one another, and some have drunk themselves dead on the Spot. An Instance of each of these there has been, if I am rightly informed, at _Fort Dummer_, since that has been improved as a Truck-House. And whether the Guilt of that Blood does not lie upon us, I leave others to judge. Now, if we treat the _Natives_ in this Form, will they, can they, live with us? Will not the Law of Self-Preservation oblige them to leave us, and to go where they may be better used? Some of the _Five Nations_ plainly speak it out, and say, “We cannot live with the _English_ and _Dutch_; they bring us so much Rum, that it destroys us; we must go to the _French_, who will let us have but little strong Drink.” Thus we alienate the _Indians_ from us, and as it were oblige them to go over to the _French_, who are often our Enemies, and fail not to employ them against us in Time of War. And if we proceed to deal thus injuriously with them, what can we expect but that they will leave us, and be a severe Scourge to us? Tho’ the _Indians_ are sunk below the Dignity of human Nature, and their Lust after Drink exposes them to be cheated out of what little they have; yet this gives us no Right to deal unjustly by them. They have a natural Right to Justice, and may, with great Propriety, challenge it at our Hands, seeing we profess to be subject to the Laws of _Christ_, which teach us to do _that which is altogether just_. And we should be so far from taking the Advantage of their Ignorance, Vice and Poverty, to defraud them of what is their just Right, that we should rather be moved to Pity, and compassionate their deplorable State, and be _Eyes to the Blind_, &c.