228 TREACHERY OF PONTIAC. [1763, Mat. 



Gladwyn has been censured, and perhaps with 

 justice, for not detaining the chiefs as hostages for 

 the good conduct of their followers. An entrapped 

 wolf meets no quarter from the huntsman ; and a 

 savage, caught in his treachery, has no claim to 

 forbearance. Perhaps the commandant feared 

 lest, should he arrest the chiefs when gathered at 

 a public council, and guiltless as yet of open vio- 

 lence, the act might be interpreted as cowardly 

 and dishonorable. He was ignorant, moreover, of 

 the true nature of the plot. In his view, the 

 whole affair was one of those impulsive outbreaks 

 so common among Indians ; and he trusted that, 

 could an immediate rupture be averted, the threat- 

 ening clouds would soon blow over. 



Here, and elsewhere, the conduct of Pontiac is 

 marked with the blackest treachery ; and one cannot 

 but lament that a commanding and magnanimous 

 nature should be stained with the odious vice of 

 cowards and traitors. He could govern, with 

 almost despotic sway, a race unruly as the winds. 

 In generous thought and deed, he rivalled the 

 heroes of ancient story; and craft and cunning 



a few days, when the rest of his Nation came in, he Intended to Pay me a 

 Formal Visit. The 7th he came, but I was luckily Informed, the Night 

 before, that he was coming with an Intention to Surprize Us ; Upon 

 which I took such Precautions that when they Entered the Fort, (tho' 

 they were, by the best Accounts, about Three Hundred, and Armed with 

 Knives, Tomy hawks, and a great many with Guns cut short, and hid 

 under their Blankets), they were so much surprized to see our Dispo- 

 sition, that they would scarcely sit down to Council : However in about 

 Half an hour, after they saw their Designs were Discovered, they sat 

 Down, and Pontiac made a speech which I Answered calmly, without 

 Intimating my suspicion of their Intentions, and after receiving some 

 Trifling Presents, they went away to their Camp." 



