neighborhood, and that the frontier was likely to be driven back to the Blue Ridge. With natural passion, considering the conditions, he speaks of the Indians "and their more cruel Associates." Two weeks before Dumas, then in command of Fort Duquesne, had written, in orders to a subordinate, leading a party of Indian scouts, special directions "to prevent the savages from committing any cruelties upon those who may fall into their hands." In 1757 this instruction was found in the pocket of a French cadet, killed near Fort Cumberland, "If any prisoners are taken, he will see that no cruelty is used by the savages.' Perhaps it is not surprising that, with so many massacres in their minds, settlers made little allowance for French instructions.

"1

Doubtless Washington was somewhat piqued by the superior success of the French in holding the savage ear-a feat which he so keenly wished to perform. Although a self-contained youth, he was hot-blooded, and his heat led to adjectives against his foes, and to sarcasm:

Mr. Pearis sends the scalp by Jenkins; and I hope, although it is not an Indian's, they will meet with an adequate reward at least, as the monsieur's is of much more consequence." He spoke of his foes as "an insulting and merciless

1 Cf. Pennsylvania Archives, II., 600, and Memoirs of Hist. Soc, of Pa., Vol. 6, p. 289.

enemy," and of the possible victory of the French as "a final stab to liberty and property." They were "barbarians, with hellish arts," more cruel than the Indians. To Dinwiddie he made use of this eloquence:

"I am too little acquainted, sir, with pathetic language, to attempt a description of the people's distresses, though I have a generous soul, sensible of wrong, and swelling for redress. But what can I do? If bleeding, dying! would glut their insatiate revenge, I would be a willing offering to savage fury, and die by inches to save a people!"

'Hoping it will now be in our power to testify a just abhorrence of the cruel butcheries exercised on friends, in the unfortunate day of General Braddock's defeat; and, moreover, to show our enemies, that we can practise all that lenity of which they only can boast, without affording any adequate proofs at all."

That sarcasm may seem to contrast with this report:

"I always send out some white people with the Indians, and will, to-day or to-morrow, send an officer and some alert white men with another party of Cherokees, as you desire it; tho', I must confess, that I think these scalping parties of Indians we send out will more effectually harrass the enemy (by keeping them under continual alarms) than any parties of white people can do."

We must remember, however, to judge fairly the passions of those days, that the English employed Indians only in warfare, whereas the French

probably instigated them to attacks on peaceable settlements, with the resulting murders of women and children.

Washington believed the Indians superior to the best white men in their manner of fighting in the woods, in craft, activity, and endurance. They stirred him even into imagery: "They prowl about like wolves, and, like them, do their mischief by stealth." He thought them worth "more than twice their number of white men." "No troops in the universe can guard against the cunning and wiles of Indians." He spoke of Indians as "the best if not the only troops fit to cope with Indians in such grounds." With equal ardor he stated that "the timidity of the inhabitants of this country is to be equalled by nothing but their perverseness."

His troubles had led him again to the brink of resignation, but tactful treatment on every hand quieted his feelings, and he continued with his work, seeking men used to hunting, and setting a standard of discipline indicated by these rules:

"Any commissioned officer, who stands by and sees irregularities committed, and does not endeavor to quell them, shall be immediately put under arrest. Any noncommissioned officer present, who does not interpose, shall be immediately reduced and receive corporal punishment.

66

Any soldier, who shall presume to quarrel or fight shall receive five hundred lashes, without the benefit of

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a court-martial. The offender, upon complaint made, shall have strict justice done him. Any soldier found drunk shall receive one hundred lashes, without benefit of a court-martial.”

A slightly later rule was: The officers are desired, if they hear any man swear, or make use of an oath or execration, to order the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, without a courtmartial. For the second offence, they will be more severely punished." To Stephen he wrote: "Waters and Burrass behaved extremely ill when they were sent down last. If I could lay my hands on them, I would try the effect of 1000 lashes on the former, and whether a general courtmartial would not condemn the latter to a life eternal!"

After a mutiny he reported: "We have held a General Court Martial on the Ring-leaders; flogged several severely; and have some under sentence of death." Referring to desertions he said: "I have a Gallows near 40 feet high erected (which has terrified the rest exceedingly), and I am determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it, as an example to others." To Dinwiddie he wrote: "Your Honor will, I hope, excuse my hanging instead of shooting them. It conveyed much more terror to others, and it was for example sake that we did it."

However, he was not without mercy:

66 As your Honor were pleased to leave to my discretion to punish or pardon the criminals, I have resolved on the latter, since I find example of so little weight, and since those poor unhappy criminals have undergone no small pain of body and mind in a dark prison, closely ironed."

Washington believed that the only way to make the colony safe was to destroy the French on the Ohio. Governor Dinwiddie for once agreed with him, but that troublesome official was recalled, and sailed in January, 1758. Lord Loudoun, then the commander, selected for the unworthy family reasons which were then so powerful in England, paid little attention to Virginia troubles, being occupied with schemes against Canada, and he also was recalled. Dr. Franklin has preserved the traditional jest about Loudoun, that he was like St. George on the signs, always on horseback and never advancing. Washington was taken so ill that he went to Mount Vernon, where dysentery and fever used him up so thoroughly that he was unable for four months to return to his command.

When he recovered, the good effects of William Pitt's rise to the ministry in England were being felt. Washington found that another expedition against Fort Duquesne, for which he had so vigorously pleaded, was now to be made, under command of General John Forbes. Pitt also proposed