1764, Aug.] HE PROCEEDS WESTWARD. 179 



of having exceeded his orders, m promising to 

 condude a definite treaty with the Indians, a power 

 which Avas vested in Sir William Johnson alone ; 

 bnt as upon this point his instructions were not 

 explicit, he may be spared the full weight of this 

 additional charge.^ 



Having, as he thought, accomplished not only a 

 great part of his own task, but also the whole of 

 that which had been assigned to Colonel Bouquet, 

 Bradstreet resumed his progress westward, and in 

 a few days reached Sandusky. He had been 

 ordered to attack the Wyandots, Ottawas, and 

 Miamis, dwelling near this place ; but at his ap- 

 proach, these Indians, hastening to avert the 



consulted Colonel Bouquet, before you agreed upon any thing with them 

 (a deference he was certainly entitled to, instead of an order to stop his 

 march), you would have been acquainted with the treachery of those 

 people, and not have suffered yourself to be thus deceived, and you wofild 

 have saved both Colonel Bouquet and myself from the dilemma you 

 brought us into. You concluded a peace with people who were daily 

 murdering us." 



MS. Letter — Gage to Johnson, Sept. 4 : — 



" You will have received my letter of the 2d inst., enclosing you the 

 unaccountable treaty betwixt Colonel Bradstreet and the Shawanese, 

 Delawares, &c. On consideration of the treaty, it does not appear to me 

 that tlie ten Indians therein mentioned were sent on an errand of peace. 

 If they had, would they not have been at Niagara? or would the insolent 

 and audacious message have been sent there in the lieu of offers of peace ? 

 Would not they have been better provided with belts on such an occa- 

 sion ? They give only one string of wampum. You will know this 

 better, but it appears strange to me. They certainly came to watch the 

 motions of tlie. troops." 



1 MS. Letter — Gage to Bradstreet, Sept. 2 : — 



Bradstreet's instructions directed him to offer peace to such tribes as 

 should make their submission. '^ To offer peace," writes Gage, "I think 

 can never be construed a power to conclude and dictate the articles of peace, 

 and you certainly know that no such power could with propriety be lodged 

 in any person but in Sir Wilham Johnson, his majesty's sole agent and 

 superintendent for Indian affairs." 



