1764]

THE INDIAN COUNTRY.

ΙΟΙ

Bouquet was now in the heart of that country which the Indians had considered to be impenetrable, from the protection of the intervening forests, whence they had uttered their insolent defiance, when called to account for their murders and depredations. These tribes had suffered no wrong. There was no injustice to complain of in their intercourse with the British. It was they who had been the aggressors, led on by French intrigue, influenced by gifts, the promise of the consideration they would receive in the future, and by the hope they would keep their country as hitherto, a wilderness for their villages and hunting grounds, where the trader could come to supply their wants, and then immediately depart. They had endeavoured to enforce this policy by a treacherous terrorism, striking down the weak and plundering when they could make inroads. Now the day of reckoning had arrived.

Bouquet's presence had the more influence on their minds, because his threats had been fully carried out, and the end he proposed had been attained. He was in their territory, as he said he would be, to accept their submission or chastise them. Astonishment that his force had accomplished the march led to the exaggeration of its strength; and the regularity with which the advance had been made, overcoming the difficulties which they believed made their home impregnable, became the more depressing from its success. They knew likewise that Bradstreet was at Sandusky ready to attack their rear. They had but one of two courses open to them, to submit or to fight. Their heart failed them, and they accepted the conditions offered them. They knew, moreover, that on this occasion the engagement they would accept was not a mere matter of promise. With the Indian, peace was a word which had meaning only in the ratio that its observance could be enforced, and these tribes felt that on this occasion there was the strength to exact the conditions conceded.

Bouquet's duty was exceedingly difficult in these negotiations. The Indians produced the original treaty with Bradstreet; Bouquet's fear was, the possibility that they would abandon the negotiations and retreat to the mountains. The

one object desired by him was the attainment of a safe and honourable peace, and he was greatly in dread that he might fail to accomplish this end without wearisome and exacting warfare.

Anticipating the arrival of the chiefs on the Monday, Bouquet moved his camp two miles down the river to a spot where there was a high bank, a freedom from small bush and plenty of food for cattle. He may not have feared treachery, but he felt it his duty to guard against it, and at this place precaution could be sufficiently taken with little tax on his men. The following day a deputation of six chiefs arrived to inform him that all their chiefs were assembled below, asking him to appoint a place for holding a council. Bouquet named the succeeding day, at a spot a short distance from the camp on an open space. At the appointed hour he proceeded thither, and with his whole force drawn up in array he awaited the arrival of those who had sought the interview. His object was two-fold, to make surprise impossible, and to present such an exhibition of strength as profoundly to impress the chiefs with whom he had to negotiate. It was indeed no light matter for them to behold a force imposing from its numbers and discipline, which it would be madness on their part to attempt to resist, that had penetrated one hundred miles of forest never before traversed but by the native tribes. The troops stood in all the immovability of discipline, having perfect confidence in their leader, knowing well the work they had to do, should any demand upon their valour be made.

The deputies came forward with true Indian stolidity. The military display called forth neither remark nor start of astonishment. They must have conceived the spectacle they came to look upon, and in this point of view it could in no way have been a surprise. There were present the chief of the branch of the Senecas who had established themselves on the Ohio, likewise the Shawanee and Delaware chiefs: the orator of the latter was Turtle Heart, who spoke for the three nations, with every sentence presenting a belt.

He

1764]

THE MEETING WITH THE CHIEFS.

103

asked that his words might be listened to, that the war was the work of the nations to the west, and that for the future he hoped that there would be union. In proof of his sincerity he delivered eighteen prisoners, promising the surrender of the remainder so soon as they could be collected. He was followed by the other chiefs, each giving a belt of wampum, with a bundle of short sticks denoting the number of the prisoners each one pledged himself to deliver.

In accordance with Indian custom, after the acceptance of the belts the assembly was adjourned until the succeeding day. But the weather was stormy, so it was postponed until the following morning, when the meeting again took place.

One of the great marks of wise diplomacy is the capacity of forming a true estimate of the situation, and of judging when it is advisable to be conciliatory and yielding, when to be firm and unbending. This meeting was precisely a crisis in the history of the west, when the relations of the Indians with the white man were to be definitely determined. Bouquet, under the conviction that the hour was one when he had to speak plainly, told the chiefs, that their pretences to palliate their guilt were weak and frivolous. He set forth to them the perfidy of their attacks on the traders and king's troops, their murderings and plunderings, and their violation of their own customs, in killing those sent to them on missions. He charged them with having treacherously broken the peace made on the 10th of September with Bradstreet. At former treaties they had proposed to deliver up prisoners, but they had never complied with their engagement. "I am now to tell you," added Bouquet, "we will no longer be imposed upon by your promises. This army shall not leave your country, till you have fully complied with every condition. that is to precede my treaty with you."

He had brought with him the relatives of those who had been massacred or made prisoners. They were impatient. for revenge. Peace had been made with the other Indians; the Six Nations were their allies. The French of Canada. were subjects of Great Britain. There were none who dare

aid the Ohio Indians, and it was in the power of Great Britain to extirpate them. But the English were merciful and averse to shedding blood even of their most cruel enemies. If they could convince the government that they repented of their past perfidy, and it could depend on their good behaviour for the future, they yet might hope for mercy and

peace.

There was no attempt at a reply. None of the Shawanees chiefs were present. Bouquet appointed a place for the delivery of the prisoners at forty miles distant, in the centre of the towns of the Mingoes, Delawares. and Shawanees. In the meantime he was hoping to be joined by Bradstreet; the latter never moved from Sandusky.

On the 23rd of October, captain de Hertel, a Canadian officer, joined with twenty Caughnawagas. He was the bearer of letters from Bradstreet from Sandusky, dated the 17th of October, in which the latter explained the necessity under which he was placed of returning to Niagara. The fact of his departure was known to the Indians before it reached the ears of Bouquet. Had Bouquet's force been weak, and his character less resolute, he might have been exposed to danger and trouble, arising from the discontinuance of the negotiations, if the Indians had been influenced by Bradstreet's expected advance. Fortunately they felt that the strength of the detachment unaided could not be resisted. +

Bouquet moved his camp to the forks of the Muskingum, where he arrived on the 25th of October. The spot was in the centre of the Delaware towns and near Wakatamake, the

“I give you twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands at Wakatamake all the prisoners in your possession, without any exception, Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and children; whether adopted in your tribes, married, or living amongst you under any denomination and pretence whatsoever, together with all negroes. And you are to furnish the said prisoners with cloathing, provisions and horses, to carry them to Fort Pitt.

"When you have fully complied with these conditions, you shall then know on what terms you may obtain the peace you sue for."

Historical account Bouquet's expedition, p. 56. Clarke, Cincinnati, 1868. + Bouquet speaks of him as Artel. as Bouquet's language was French.

It is curious that such should be the case, Could de Hertel have anglified his name?

1764]

BOUQUET'S CONDITIONS.

105

most considerable of the Shawanee settlements. Bouquet had exacted the release of every prisoner; and here his demands. had terminated. He had seen the impossibility of carrying out one part of his instructions, the enforced surrender of the authors of the war, to be put to death. Had he insisted on this point he would have had to seize them himself, and all hope of negotiation would at once have been destroyed. Indeed, the demand would have rekindled the war. He was therefore highly gratified that the settlement of the terms of peace had been left to his judgment by Gage, so that he could ask only what was attainable, and by moderating his conditions, be enabled with less difficulty to obtain them. The Indian's natural sense of justice would lead him to recognize the fairness of the requirement that all prisoners should be given up. With the exception that it had been extorted by force, and was a confession of weakness, it inflicted no wound on Indian pride. The reverse would have been experienced, if the surrender of prominent chiefs had been extorted, with the avowed object of inflicting the extreme punishment of death. The consequence was that Bouquet's conditions were accepted with little bitterness. Included in the peace were the Shawanees, Delawares, and some broken tribes of Mingoes,* Mohicans, and Wyandots. He obtained the following terms unconditionally to deliver up their prisoners without exception; to give fourteen hostages as security for

Bouquet described the Mingoes [Can. Arch., A., 7, p. 92] as belonging to the Six Nations who had established themselves on the Ohio, and were utterly without control. He recommended that they should be forced to return to the country to which they belonged. In a letter to Johnson [Can. Arch., A., 7, p. 96] he represents them as the most infamous and corrupt of all the savages, living altogether by robberies, and always spreading false reports to embroil matters, with a view to having a more favourable opportunity of plundering friends and foes. They had stolen sixty horses from his camp greatly to distress him. To Gage he writes: [A., 7, p. 97] "The Mingoes have behaved as usual, after stealing upon the march seven or eight of our best horses, they are run off. That vermin is not worth treating with. We shall however, have two hostages of those banditti when the chief returns from the lakes, where I have sent him to give an account of the peace. He is the only good man amongst them, but has little sway."