1764, Oct.] EEPLY OF BOUQUET. 217 



cil, when one of the speakers has advanced a 

 matter of weight and urgency, the other party 

 defers his reply to the following day, that due time 

 may be allowed for deliberation. Accordingly, in 

 the present instance, the council adjourned to the 

 next morning, each party retiring to its respective 

 camp. But, when day dawned, the weather had 

 changed. The valley of the Muskingum was filled 

 with driving mist and rain, and the meeting was in 

 consequence postponed. On the third day, the 

 landscape brightened afresh, the troops marched 

 once more to the place of council, and the Indian 

 chiefs convened to hear the reply of their trium- 

 phant foe. It was not of a kind to please them. 

 The opening words gave an earnest of what was to 

 come ; for Bouquet discarded the usual address of 

 an Indian harangue : fathers, brothers, or chil- 

 dren, — terms which imply a relation of friendship, 

 or a desire to conciliate, — and adopted a sterner 

 and more distant form. 



" Sachems, war-chiefs, and warriors,^ the excuses 

 you have offered are frivolous and unavailing, and 

 your conduct is without defence or apology. You 

 could not have acted as you pretend to have done 

 through fear of the western nations ; for, had you 

 stood faithful to us, you knew that we would have 



1 The sachem is the civil chief, who directs the counsels of the tribe, 

 and governs in time of peace. His office, on certain conditions, is heredi- 

 tary ; while the war-chief, or military leader, acquires his authority solely 

 by personal merit, and seldom transmits it to his offspring. Sometimes 

 the civil and military functions are discharged by the same person, as in 

 the instance of Pontiac himself 



The speech of Bouquet, as given above, is taken, with some omission 

 and condensation, from the journals mentioned in the preceding note. 



