was completed

in

June, 1750.*

the Mohawks carried the

For two or three years later

hatchet in

their

hands, the English

having neglected to call them together and remove it by a dis tribution of presents, a custom for which they had a most tena cious regard.

In the meantime, five tribes of the confederacy made peace with the French, asserting thereby not only their national in dependence but subscribing their totems to the declaration

" that

they had not ceded to any one, their lands ;" that they To the French this was

"were not subjects of England." 2 an important declaration. independence, then could

If the nations represented treaties

claimed

be made with them and the

foundation of territorial lines established ; but if already under allegiance to Great Britain, the question of boundaries was still an open one. The Mohawks alone took their rank with the

English ; the practical division of the confederacy, upon a very was established, and a new element added to the

vital point,

controversy which had so long existed between the Indian na tions and the English.

Colonial History , x, an.

*

Colonial History, x,

187.

THE INDIAN TRIBES

THE WAR OF

REHABILITATION OF THE LENAPES THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.

AND SHAWANOES |

HE treaty of Aix la Chapelle was a very imperfect paper.

By its

Acadia,

with

Great Britain

stipulations its

;

"all Nova Scotia, or

dependencies,"

was ceded

to

the " subjects of France, inhabit

ants of Canada," were not to " disturb or molest in any man ner whatever," the Five Indian Nations which were " subject to