200 TRAVELS! THROUGH LOWER CANADA! 
never were so happy as when the French had 
possession of the country; and;, indeed, it is a 
very remarkable fact, which I before mention¬ 
ed, that the Indians, if they are sick, if they 
are hungry, if they want shelter from a storm, 
or the like, will always go to the houses of the 
old French settlers in preference to those of 
the British inhabitants. The necessity of 
treating the Indians with respect and atten¬ 
tion is strongly inculcated on the minds of the 
English settlers, and they endeavour to act 
accordingly ; but still they cannot banish 
wholly from their minds, as the French do, the 
idea that the Indians are an inferior race of 
people to them, to which circumstance is to 
be attributed the predilection of the Indians 
for the French rather than them ; they all live 
together, however, on very amicable terms, 
and many of the English on the frontiers have 
indeed told me, that if they were but half as 
honest, and half as well conducted towards 
one another as the Indians are towards them, 
the state of society in the country would be 
truly enviable. 
On the frontiers of the United States little 
pains have hitherto been taken by the govern¬ 
ment, and no pains by the people, to. gain the 
good w ill of the Indians; and the latter, in¬ 
deed, instead of respecting the Indians as an 
independent neighbouring nation, have in too 
