At the beginning of the Revolution there was

a democracy of six confederate states within the present boundaries

of our own municipality. So strong had this democracy grown

that it dominated the inhabitants of a territory of more than a million square miles. Their battle-cry was heard from the Kennebec

to Lake Superior, and under the very fortifications of Quebec they

annihilated the Huron. Their orators were fit to rank with any that we have to-day. Their legends are the legends of a people whose souls were filled

with poetry. Their military tactics were those of a people trained

for war -- successful war. Man to man, they were what no other

barbarians have been, a match for the white man. They held the

gateway to the West and their position made them umpires between the mighty nations of the Old World who were struggling

for the possession of the New. Civilized in a sense they were, but

they were barbarians too, and savages to their very heart of hearts. Rapacious, treacherous, cruel beyond belief, -they were dreaded

alike by friend and foe. Their home was a terra incognita. No

colonist had trodden it. From no peak had trapper looked across

the profile of their land. Their numbers were unknown and could

only be guessed at by their achievements -- and these were terrible. How silly of Gordon to criticise Sullivan for over-manning his

expedition. Darkest Africa is better known to-day than was then

the land of the Iroquois. They were re-enforced by British regulars, by fanatical tories ; they were led by white men, and one of