they could pursue their journey under more auspicious CHAP. signs.

VI.

Scarcely had the rangers fastened their boats securely to 1760. the shore, when they were waited on by a deputation of Ottawas, who informed their leader, that the great Pontiac1 was the king and lord of that country, and that he was even then on his way to meet him. Presently the haughty chieftain made his appearance, and demanded of the ranger "why he had ventured into his country with troops without his permission." When told by Rogers in reply, that his mission was pacific; that he had come only to carry into effect one of the conditions of the capitulation of Montreal; and that the troops were merely to escort back the French garrisons, the chieftain's tone softened, and he agreed to take the subject of their farther advance, into serious consideration. "Meantime," said the chie tain, presenting a belt of wampum, "I stand in your path."

The next day, Pontiac sent in to the camp gifts of parched corn and other necessaries; and at a second meeting the chief informed the ranger, as they together smoked the calumet of peace, that he had now the most friendly feelings toward him and his company, and that they could pass through his country unmolested.

The detachment were again in motion on the twelfth of November; and passing in safety,—through the influenee of Pontiac,-an ambush of four hundred hostile Indians, they appeared before Detroit, on the twenty-ninth of November. The commander of that post had already been informed of the mission of the English, by a letter from De Vaudreuil, which Major Rogers had sent forward in advance of the party. On the appearance of the English, therefore, the garrison marched out in front of the fort, and laid down their arms amid the triumphant yells of seven hundred savages, until then the fast allies of the

1 The name of Pontiac, which is in accordance with the Ottawa dialect, takes a d in the Chippewa.

VI.

CHAP. French. But there was one, who standing aloof from the rest, shared not the general joy; and as the French colors were lowered from the flag-staff, Pontiac saw in that act, the downfall of Indian supremacy in America.1

1760.

1 Rogers's Journal; Rogers's account of North America; Parkman's Life of Pontiac Schoolcraft's Lecture upon Pontiac, 1841. Rogers found at Detroit $500,000 worth of furs-Manuscript letter; Johnson to Wharton, 23 May, 1770.

CHAPTER VII.

1761.

VII.

With the capture of Quebec, the political influence of CHAP. the Indian race began to wane. The reason is obvious. So long as the two great powers of England and France 1771. contended for the mastery among the rocks and solitudes of North America, both nations had striven to win the affections of the red man, that they might convert him into a powerful ally. In this, the French had been vastly more successful than the English. This was owing, as we have seen, partly to the religious element which they introduced into their persuasions, but more, perhaps, to their having treated the Indian as a fellow being. All the tribes of the north and north-west, and some of the nations in the south, had acknowledged their influence, and cheerfully yielded to their sway. The causes which prevented their winning over the Six Nations, both before and during the life of Sir William Johnson, have been fully explained; although indeed even of that people, some few from each nation had wandered off to Oswegatchie, and there settled. Thus until the reduction of Canada, the Indians had always held the balance of power in America. Rapid, however, as their political decline would have been from this time, had no extraneous influences intervened, yet various causes greatly hastened this result.

Although the French had entirely relinquished the idea of ever again possessing Canada, yet with a malicious pleasure they still continued to stir up jealousy and hatred among the Indians, against the English. It is moreover the sad truth, that the conduct of the colonists themselves was directly calculated to aid their efforts. We have

CHAP. already seen, how strenuously Sir William Johnson labored VII. to maintain a good understanding between the English 1761. garrisons and the Confederates; and the animosity on the

part of the soldiers toward the Six Nations, which, so long as it had been necessary for their own safety to humor the Indians, had been curbed, now that the same necessity no longor existed, burst forth with renewed intensity. "We are now left in peace," wrote some Christian Oneidas, in the simplicity of their hearts, to Sir William, "and have nothing to do but to plant our corn, hunt the wild beasts, smoke our pipes, and mind religion. But as these forts, which are built among us, disturb our peace, and are a great hurt to religion, because some of our warriors are foolish, and some of our brother soldiers don't fear God, we therefore desire that these forts may be pulled down, and kicked out of the way." Scenes between the soldiers and the Indians, such as are related in the sachem Abraham's speech, in Appendix No. 1 of this volume, became disgracefully frequent; and although those garrisons that came within the immediate circle of the Baronet's influence, and therefore more under his control, were kept within bounds, yet, in forts more remote, scenes daily occurred, the relation of which causes the honest cheek to mantle with shame for the honor of the English race.

But these were not the only wrongs which the Indian, through the silent watches of the night, brooded over on his bear skin couch. Unscrupulous traders, like a flock of harpies, hovered over their prey until they could safely pounce upon their victims; and now that hostilities had ceased, they poured in from all quarters upon the frontiers of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Many of the traders were men of desperate fortunes-villains of the vilest sort; who, while they cheated-and plundered the Indian, hesitated not to outrage his wife or daughter to gratify their brutal passions:-" offering when compared with the French traders, who were under better regulations, a most unfavorable example of the character of their

VII.

nation." The government officers, also, though forced CHAP. by their position to conduct themselves more decorously, in many instances neglected no opportunity of cheating the 1761. Indians, by selling to them at a high price, those articles that the government had sent to be distributed among them as presents. Guns, ammunition, and clothing, moreover, which the French had always been in the habit of giving to their red allies, were now, through a mistaken policy, suddenly withheld; so that many of those nations, who had thrown away the bow and arrow for the powder horn and rifle, were in an extremely destitute, if not a starving condition.

It was also evident, that the neglect with which the nations of the far west had been treated by the English, since they had occupied the posts on the great lakes, was another source of dissatisfaction. In the spring of this year, Alexander Henry, an English trader, traveled to Michilimackinac, and whenever he came in contact with the western tribes, he found the most inimical feelings against his nation, who, said the Indians, had by no word or deed, done anything to conciliate them. At Michilimackinac, which place he reached at great peril of his life, he was waited upon by Minavavana, a Chippewa chief, who, while he promised protection to the trader, inveighed bitterly against the neglect with which his people were treated by the English, as shown, more especially, in the fact that no treaty had yet been made with his people, nor presents sent to them.1

1 Travels of Alexander Henry.

During this interval, the Chippewa chieftain delivered to Henry the following phillipic:

"Englishmen! Although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us! We are not your slaves! These lakes, these woods, these mountains, were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread, and pork and beef. But you ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us upon these broad lakes and in these mountains."