[474] MS. Gage Papers.
[475] “The country people appear greatly incensed at the attempt they imagine has been made of opening a clandestine trade with the Savages under cover of presents; and, if it is not indiscreet in me, I would beg leave to ask whether Croghan had such extensive orders.”—Bouquet to Amherst, 10 April, 1765, MS.
[476] Before me is a curious letter from Grant, in which he expatiates on his troubles in language which is far from giving a flattering impression of the literary accomplishments of officers of the 42d Highlanders, at that time.
[477] The account of the seizure of the Indian goods is derived chiefly from the narrative of the ringleader, Smith, published in Drake’s Tragedies of the Wilderness, and elsewhere. The correspondence of Gage and Johnson is filled with allusions to this affair, and the subsequent proceedings of the freebooters. Gage spares no invectives against what he calls the licentious conduct of the frontier people. In the narrative is inserted a ballad, or lyrical effusion, written by some partisan of the frontier faction, and evidently regarded by Smith as a signal triumph of the poetic art. He is careful to inform the reader that the author received his education in the great city of Dublin. The following melodious stanzas embody the chief action of the piece:—
“Astonished at the wild design,
Frontier inhabitants combin’d
With brave souls to stop their career;
Although some men apostatiz’d,
Who first the grand attempt advis’d,
The bold frontiers they bravely stood,
To act for their king and their country’s good,
In joint league, and strangers to fear.
“On March the fifth, in sixty-five,
The Indian presents did arrive,
In long pomp and cavalcade,
Near Sidelong Hill, where in disguise
Some patriots did their train surprise,
And quick as lightning tumbled their loads,
And kindled them bonfires in the woods,
And mostly burnt their whole brigade.”
The following is an extract from Johnson’s letter to the Board of Trade, dated July 10, 1765:—
“I have great cause to think that Mr. Croghan will succeed in his enterprise, unless circumvented by the artifices of the French, or through the late licentious conduct of our own people. Although His Excellency General Gage has written to the Ministry on that subject, yet I think I should not be silent thereupon, as it may be productive of very serious consequences.
“The frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, after having attacked and destroyed the goods which were going to Fort Pitt (as in my last), did form themselves into parties, threatening to destroy all Indians they met, or all white people who dealt with them. They likewise marched to Fort Augusta, and from thence over the West branch of the Susquehanna, beyond the Bounds of the last purchase made by the Proprietaries, where they declare they will form a settlement, in defiance of Whites or Indians. They afterwards attacked a small party of His Majesty’s troops upon the Road, but were happily obliged to retire with the loss of one or two men. However, from their conduct and threats since, there is reason to think they will not stop here. Neither is their licentiousness confined to the Provinces I have mentioned, the people of Carolina having cut off a party, coming down under a pass from Col. Lewis, of the particulars of which your Lordships have been doubtless informed.
“Your Lordships may easily conceive what effects this will have upon the Indians, who begin to be all acquainted therewith. I wish it may not have already gone too great a length to receive a timely check, or prevent the Indians’ Resentment, who see themselves attacked, threatened, and their property invaded, by a set of ignorant, misled Rioters, who defy Government itself, and this at a time when we have just treated with some, and are in treaty with other Nations.”