But to return to the Petitioners, _They conceive nothing can tend more to the withdrawing the Affections of the_ Five Nations of Indians _from the_ English Interest, _than the Continuance of the said Act, which in its Effects restrains them from a free Commerce with the Inhabitants of_ New-York, _and may too probably, estrange them from the_ English Interest, _whereas by a Freedom of Commerce, and an encouraged Intercourse of Trade with the_ French _and their_ Indians, _the_ English _Interest might in Time, be greatly improved and strengthened_. It seems to us a strange Argument to say, that an Act, the whole Purport of which is to encourage our own People to go among the _Indians_, and to draw the far _Indians_ through our _Indian Country_ to _Albany_ (and which has truly produced these Effects) would on the contrary, restrain them from a free Commerce with the Inhabitants of _New-York_, and may too probably estrange them from the _English Interest_, and therefore that it would be much wiser in us to make use of the _French_, to promote the _English Interest_; and for which End, we ought to encourage a free Intercourse between them and our _Indians_. The reverse of this is exactly true, in the Opinion of our _Five Nations_; who in all their publick Treaties with this Government, have represented against this Trade, as _The Building the_ French _Forts with_ English _Strouds_: That the encouraging a Freedom of Commerce with our _Indians_, and the _Indians_ round them, who must pass through their Country to _Albany_, would certainly increase both the _English Interest_ and theirs, among all the Nations to the Westward of them; and that the carrying the _Indian Market_ to _Monreal_ in _Canada_, draws all the far _Indians_ thither. The last Thing we have to take Notice, is what the Merchants asserted before the Lords of Trade, _viz. That there has not been half the Quantity of_ European _Goods exported since the passing of this Act, that used to be_. We are well assured, that this is no better grounded than the other Facts they assert with the same Positiveness. For it is well known almost to every Person in _New-York_, that there has not been a less, but rather a greater Quantity of _European Goods_ imported into this Place, since the passing of this Act, than was at any Time before it, in the same Space of Time. As this appears by the Manifests in the Custom-house here, the same may likewise be easily proved by the Custom-house Books in _London_. As all the Arguments of the Merchants run upon the ill Effects this Act has had upon the Trade and the Minds of the _Indians_, every one of which we have shown to be asserted without the least Foundation to support them, there nothing now remains, but to show the good Effects this Act has produced, which are so notorious in this Province, that we know not one Person that now opens his Mouth against the Act.