202 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA! 
conduct was pursued towards them* is an as* 
persion equally false and malicious. To the 
conduct of the people of the States themselves 
alone, and to no other cause, is unquestionably 
to be attributed the continuance of the warfare 
i 
between them and the Indians, after the defi¬ 
nitive treaty of peace was signed. Instead of 
then taking the opportunity to reconcile the 
Indians, as they might easily have done by 
presents, and by treating them with kindness, 
they still continued hostile towards them ; they 
looked upon them, as indeed they still do, 
merely as wild beasts, that ought to be ba¬ 
nished from the face of the earth ,* and actu¬ 
ated by that insatiable spirit of avarice, and 
that restless and dissatisfied turn of mind, 
which I have so frequently noticed, instead of 
keeping within their territories, where millions 
of acres remained unoccupied, but no part, 
however, of which could be had without being 
paid for, they crossed their boundary lines, 
and fixed themselves in the territory of the 
Indians, without ever previously gaining the 
consent of these people. The Indians, nice 
about their boundary line beyond any other 
nations, perhaps, in the world, that have such 
extensive dominions in proportion to their 
numbers, made no scruple to attack, to plunder, 
and even to murder these intruders, when a 
fit opportunity offered. The whites endear 
o 
