You will judge what a Baulk and Discouragement, this Instance of Pusilanimity has occasioned to those Number of Indians, of the far Nations, who have rarely come to Trade with us but perhaps finding the French, had no Goods to supply them at Niagara, resolved to proceed to Oswego, where some of them found the place was basely deserted by most of the People, and no Goods to exchange for their Furs upon Information whereof, many other Indian Canoes were turned back before they reached ;

;

;

that Place.

How mean an Opinion, must the Savages entertain of us, when they find our People so easily by this Advantageous Traffick, are not sufficient to excite a Resolution in our Traders, to stand to the Defence frightened, as it were with a Shadow, and that the great Gains, which are constantly reaped

of this Fortress, the Loss of which, would determine that Trade, and it is to be feared the Indians too,

how fatal such an Event would prove to this Colony in particular, and the British Interest upon the Continent in general, may be easily foreseen. in favour of our natural Enemies the French ;

The pernicious Consequences which must inevitably flow from this sort of Demeanour, I persuade myself, you will think deserving of your serious Attention, and that you will put this most profitable

Branch of our Trade, into such a Method for the Future, as may encourage and invite the most distant Nations to

come yearly