'n NATURAL AND CIVIL 



taken at the Cedars, and that four American 

 capvtains should re;nain as hostages, till the pri- 

 soners were exchanged. The ihre^tnings of 

 Foster, his avowal of an universal massacre of 

 the Americans, and the actual murder of several 

 of them after their surrender, were deeply re- 

 sented by Congress. They resolved that Ar- 

 nold's agreement was nothing more th^ a spon- 

 sion that might be annulled or confirmed by 

 them, as he had no power to dispose of prison- 

 ers not in his possession, or under his direction ; 

 they refused to return the British prisoners on 

 their part, till the British commander in Cana- 

 da should deliver into their hands the perpetra- 

 tors of the murders committed on the American 

 prisoners ; and make indemnification for the 

 plunder of the prisoners, contrary to tl>e articles 

 of capitulation. At the same time they cashier- 

 ed Beadle and Butterfield, and declared them 

 incapable of ever bearing a commission again, 

 in the American armies. It would be difficult 

 to reconcile eitlier the proceedings of Foster, or 

 the resolves of Congress to the maxims of mili- 

 tary honor ; it was however necessary for Con- 

 gress not to acquiesce in the practice of Indian 

 massacres, or to allow the British king or officers 

 to adopt those barbarities, or to avail themselves 

 of the insolence and arrogance with which they 

 affected to treat the American rebels. 



The force destined for Canada consisted of 

 several British and German regiments, and 

 amounted to thirteen thousand men ; by the 

 latter end of May, the whole of the troops had 

 arrived at Quebec. The ceneral rendezvous 

 y^'-ds at Trois Rivieres, about half way between 



