199 
been purposely sent to embarrass and weaken the 
hands of Benyowsky, and the colony under his care. 
It required great presence of mind and fortitude to 
bear up against such discouragements; and had 
not the governor possessed the confidence of his 
officers, he could not have enforced the performance 
of those arduous duties which the welfare of the 
colony required. 
Under these disadvantages, however, he went on 
steadily with the execution of his projects, omitting 
nothing that was calculated to promote the welfare 
of his men, or the civilization of the natives. He 
shared the dangers, the labours, and the privations 
of the former; and, by moderation and lenient 
conduct, abated the enmity of the latter, while 
the continuance of their friendship was provided 
for by the establishment of posts for trade. As to 
the supercargo, when he found he could not other¬ 
wise induce him to alter his conduct, he called a 
council of war, and placed him in confinement; by 
which step he induced many of the chiefs, who had 
been the dupes of his calumnies, to render their as¬ 
sistance to the colony. Nor would he release him 
until he had consented to make a public acknowledg¬ 
ment of the impropriety of his conduct. 
The beginning of the year 1775 brought with it 
intelligence that could not fail to alarm the colony, in 
its exhausted state. This was no other, than that a 
combination was forming against it, of the chiefs of 
the Seclaves, who could at least command forty thou- 
