the true letter was sewn into the saddle of his messenger; a false letter was carried openly, so that if taken by the Indians they would believe peace still prevailed. The false letter was to the effect, that as many of the prisoners to be delivered up at Sandusky were natives of Pennsylvania, he would send captain McKee to receive them and to execute any order Bradstreet might give. After delivering his message McKee was to return, as owing to his knowledge of the Shawanees he was very useful to Bouquet.

Bradstreet followed lake Erie to Sandusky, the point at which he was ordered to commence his operations by attacking the villages of the tribes in the neighbourhood, the Wyandots, Ottawas, and Miamis. From the strength of his force he must virtually have been unopposed, and it was in his power to have summarily chastised these tribes and have exacted the most humble behaviour. Again he acted with a misconception of his duty. A deputation waited upon him with protestations of submission, and undertook to follow him to Detroit and there conclude a treaty. Bradstreet seems entirely to have lost sight of the circumstance that, had these tribes really desired peace, and were acting in good faith, it had been in their power a few weeks back to obtain it by attending at Niagara. He however considered that he had achieved all that was necessary by the appearance of himself and his column, and that by his presence he had perfectly pacified the west. From Sandusky he sent off captain Morris to ascend the Miami to the portage, thence to cross to the Wabash, descend that tributary to the Ohio, and so reach the Mississippi and the Illinois country. Morris was accompanied by a small detachment of Canadians and Indians.

Bradstreet's reports to Gage shew his sanguine hopes of the success of Morris' mission. The latter was furnished with a belt to one Saint Vincent which had been given by Pontiac, and Bradstreet conceived that by these means the Illinois would be reached in safety. Pontiac, he wrote, still retained great influence, and was now tractable; Bradstreet expected to meet him at Detroit to carry out the peace. Morris

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ascended the river to the rapids, where he was met by Pontiac. The letter of the Ottawa chief of the previous autumn to Gladwin, praying for peace, was of but a few months' date. He had since met the French officials, and received from them fresh inspiration touching the engagements he had enterd into. When Morris told him of the peace with the Shawanees, he received the news by exclaiming, "all the English are liars," producing a letter of a Frenchman setting forth that the French king was on his way with sixty ships to drive the English out of America.

The party, however, continued their journey, and on the 7th of September arrived at fort Miami, the post which had been under the command of Holmes, so treacherously murdered on the 27th of May. It was soon made plain that it had been resolved to prevent any further advance. Morris was ill-treated, his life threatened, and he was ordered not to leave the fort. The French settlers were forbidden to receive him. This treatment was explained by the presence of a deputation of the Shawanees and Delawares with fourteen belts and six strings of wampum, who on their own part and that of the Senecas, declared no peace had been made. For two days Morris was exposed to great danger. There was an appearance of the desire to put him to death. It was possible that this design was only simulated, in order to lead him to believe that it was impossible for him to continue his route, and consequently that he would turn back.

Had Morrris been killed, Bradstreet was in the neighbourhood to inflict a terrible retribution, and even his fatuity would scarcely have patiently submitted to the outrage. On all sides Morris was warned not to persevere in his journey: it is questionable if he could have induced his Indians and Canadian escort to have accompanied him, owing to the impression made upon them by the French and Indians around the fort. On the 9th, one of his attendants, Saint Vincent, subsequently much compromised in the Illinois intrigues, told him that the Shawanees had determined to murder him. On the 10th, Morris and his party resolved on

turning back. They made their way to Detroit, where he expected to meet Bradstreet; on his arrival he found the latter had left for Sandusky. Morris was too ill to join his commander, and had to content himself with sending a copy of his journal; in doing so, he gave as strong expression to his own feeling of indignation as circumstances permitted.

From Sandusky Bradstreet had crossed lake Erie and ascended the Detroit river, having arrived at the fort on the 26th of August. The old garrison was relieved, and Bradstreet called a council, which met on the 7th of September: Pontiac was not present; and several of the Indians who had been engaged in the attack of the fort had thought it prudent to leave, and were absent. Those of the Canadian settlers who had actively assisted Pontiac had also wisely taken their departure. The tribes which remained really desired peace. They consisted of the Ottawas, Ojibeways, Pottawatamies, Miamis, Sakis, and Wyandots. The Wyandots of Sandusky alone by attending had kept their engagement. The conditions accepted by the tribes were however of such a character, that hereafter, they could be ignored by those subscribing to them, when they were in a condition to act hostilely. Bradstreet seems to have thought that he had obtained an important political concession, when the tribes agreed that they would call the king of Great Britain father, and not brother. An unwarrantable irregularity on his part was, to conduct his negotiations through a French interpreter, so that his own officers did not know what was taking place, and the friendly Indians were affronted at being kept in ignorance of what was going on.

Johnson stated* that several who joined in these conditions were those who had previously attended at Niagara. In this treaty, "huddled up" as Johnson describes it, not a word was said of subjection and dominion; and Bradstreet pardoned some of the most notorious of the Canadian settlers about Detroit who had been prominent in the attack of the fort. One important matter was accomplished by him, the garri*To Lords of Trade, 26th of December, 1764. [N.Y. Doc., VII., p. 686-8.]

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son at Detroit was relieved, and the troops who had stood the brunt of fifteen months defence and anxiety were replaced by another detachment. The soldiers who had fought by the side of Gladwin, with their commander descended the lake to Niagara, thence to reach the New York western settlements, in the hope of obtaining some months of peace and rest. In October we hear of Gladwin in New York, when he applied for leave to proceed to England.

Bradstreet succeeded in passing a vessel up lake Saint Claire to lake Huron; his surveying party had been fortunate in finding out a channel through the flats. Accordingly he sent up a detachment of the 17th, under captain Howard, to take possession of the fort of Michillimackinac. Shortly afterwards both Sault Saint Mary and Green bay were reoccupied. Bradstreet is also reported as having made several grants of land near Detroit and lake Erie to some of his officers and the French inhabitants; a proceeding both beyond his power and most imprudent. It greatly astonished and troubled the Indians, for they looked upon it as giving away their hunting grounds without their consent or approval.

Having concluded this peace, which in his letters he represented as of the highest moment, but which, throughout the whole extent of the northern provinces, was condemned as impolitic, insufficient, and discreditable, Bradstreet sailed down the Detroit river and crossed lake Erie to Sandusky. He expected to meet the representatives of the Shawanees and Delawares, to conclude the peace he had taken upon himself to accept at Presqu'île. The time had expired for their appearance, but none were present. A small deputation subsequently arrived, and these parties pledged themselves if he did not attack their villages, they would bring in the prisoners held by them. At this place he received Gage's letter severely blaming him for his conduct, repudiating the so-called treaty, with orders to disregard it, and to co-operate with Bouquet in the attack on the Shawanee villages of the Scioto. There were two routes to the Ohio: one to ascend Cayahoga creek and portage to the Muskingum: the second

by following Sandusky creek and taking the portage to the Scioto. To add to his perplexity, he received captain Morris' journal, which contained the unpleasant reading of that officer's failure to reach the Illinois, his narrow escape from death, and the declaration of the Shawanees that they would never make peace. An enterprising officer would not have delayed an hour to perform the duty imposed upon him, but Bradstreet, who five years previously at Cataraqui had obtained some reputation, can only be remembered in this campaign by his reprehensible indecision. A few days would have brought him in junction with Bouquet, but he made no movement. His excuse was that, owing to the dry season, there was a want of water in the river Sandusky, and that there was a long portage by the Cayahoga. He remained idle at Sandusky; the troops became depressed, discontented, and suffered from sickness. A few days activity and danger would have brought out their élan and spirit. The Indians were alienated by the treatment they received. Bradstreet made some shew of sending out parties, but the Indians declined to go alone. They expressed their willingness to march with the army, but they refused to be sent out in parties to meet an enemy, with whom the commander had treated, but would not attack with his own troops.

Bradstreet, affecting to think all movement was impracticable, that he was short of provisions and the season late, determined to return homewards. He broke up the camp and left Sandusky on the 18th of October. On descending lake Erie a violent storm burst over the detachment. Johnson in his report says that Bradstreet halted by an open heath, where within two miles there was a river, in the waters of which he would have been well protected. The consequence was that twenty-five of the boats were lost and damaged, and there was an insufficiency of transport to receive the troops. It therefore became necessary that the Indians and some of the provincials should make their way along the lake shore to Niagara, a distance of two hundred and sixty miles through thick forests, with numberless water courses, and