256 PONTIAC AT DETROIT. [1763, Mat, June. 



them so as to keep each of them ignorant of what 

 is transacted by the other." ^ 



Major Kogers, a man familiar with the Indians, 

 and an acute judge of mankind, speaks in the 

 highest terms of Pontiac's character and talents. 

 '* He puts on," he says, " an air of majesty and 

 princely grandeur, and is greatly honored and 

 revered by his subjects." ^ 



In the present instance, few durst infringe the 

 command he had given, that the property of the 

 Canadians should be respected ; indeed, it is said 

 that none of his followers would cross the culti- 

 vated fields, but always followed the beaten paths ; 

 in such awe did they stand of his displeasure.^ 



Pontiac's position was very different from that of 

 an ordinary military leader. When we remember 

 that his authority, little sanctioned by law or usage, 

 was derived chiefly from the force of his own indi- 

 vidual mind, and that it was exercised over a 

 people singularly impatient of restraint, we may 



1 MS. Letter— Gage to Lord Halifax, April 16, 1764. 



Extract from a MS. Letter — William Smith, Jr., to . 



" New York, 22d Nov. 1763. 



*' 'Tis an old saying that the Devil is easier raised than laid. Sir Jef- 

 frey has found it so, with these Indian Demons. They have cut his 

 little Army to Pieces, & almost if not entirely obstructed the Commu- 

 nication to • the Detroite, where the Enemy are grown very numerous ; 

 and from whence I fancy you'll soon hear, if any survive to relate them, 

 very tragical Accounts. The Besiegers are led on by an enterprising 

 Fellow called Pondiac. He is a Genius, for he possesses great Bravery, 

 Art, & Oratory, & has had the Address to get himself not only at the 

 Head of his Conquerors, but elected Generalissimo of all the confederate 

 Forces now acting against us — Perhaps he may deserve to be called the 

 Mithridates of the West." 



■^ Rogers, North America, 240. 



3 Gouin's Account, MS. 



