Papers Relating to an Act of the Assembly of the Province of New-York For encouragement of the Indian trade, &c. and for prohibiting the selling of Indian goods to the — Reading Companion

Legal Diction and the Shape of Complaint

The London merchants' petition is a model of strategic wording. They describe the act as having been 'suffered to lie by probationary,' implying that the Crown's silence was not approval but a test. This careful choice of verbs—'suffered,' 'lie'—suggests passivity and neglect, shifting blame onto the colonial assembly. The merchants also emphasize the act's temporary three-year term, hinting that its renewal would be unjust. Their language is deferential yet pointed, addressing the King with 'humbly conceive' while subtly questioning the act's legitimacy. Colden's inclusion of this petition verbatim preserves the exact legal diction used to challenge colonial policy.

Council Reports and the Voice of Authority

The report of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantation adopts a different register: measured, analytical, and impersonal. Phrases like 'the said Lords, concerning some Allegations' create a bureaucratic distance. The committee's findings are presented as neutral fact, but the selection of evidence—extracts from minutes—reveals a deliberate framing. Colden's own memorial on the fur trade, included later, shifts to a more expository style, using economic reasoning to argue that New York's trade restrictions were counterproductive. The contrast between the merchants' emotional appeal and the council's cool assessment shows how genre dictated tone in colonial governance.

Treaty Speeches and the Performance of Alliance

The treaty between Governor George Clinton and the Six Nations in 1746 is recorded as a series of formal speeches. An Onondaga leader declares that 'his Heart could bear it no longer' before presenting French scalps—a vivid, embodied rhetoric that contrasts with the written documents. The governor's reply is equally ceremonial: 'he took this special Mark of his Fidelity.' These exchanges are not spontaneous but follow diplomatic protocols, with each side using stock phrases to reaffirm bonds. Colden's transcription captures the performative nature of Iroquois-British relations, where words like 'Path' and 'Brethren' carry specific political weight.

Recurring Motifs: Wavering Affections and Dangerous Consequences

Across the excerpts, certain phrases recur with notable frequency. The petition warns that the French have 'withdrawn the Affections of the Five Nations' and rendered them 'wavering in their Faith and Allegiance.' The treaty report echoes this, noting the Six Nations had 'appear'd dissatisfied and wavering in their Fidelity.' This repetition suggests a shared anxiety among British officials about Indian loyalty, expressed through a consistent vocabulary of instability. Colden's own analysis attributes this to 'Neglects or Misconduct' by New York authorities, using the same language of suspicion. The documents thus form a lexical network where key terms—'wavering,' 'affections,' 'dangerous Consequence'—signal persistent colonial fears.

Readers approaching this collection should attend to the interplay between document type and diction. The petitions, reports, and treaty speeches each employ distinct rhetorical conventions that reveal the priorities of their authors. Colden's editorial hand is light, allowing the original language to speak. By tracing how words like 'faith,' 'trade,' and 'allegiance' shift across contexts, one can discern the competing interests that shaped imperial policy in early New York.

Reading Colden’s documents made me feel the weight of those old treaty speeches, and I found myself thinking of the ships that carried the goods those words bartered over. There’s something quieting about History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 3 (of 4) — Story, Setting & Ideas—it gives the ocean its own patient voice, a strange comfort beside all that colonial formality.