Butler to

were prominent, and accompanied by Brant and a portion of the Mohawks, he fled to Oswego, where he held a conference with the tribes, and from thence pushed on to Montreal, where, in July, he met the Indians of the northren confederacy, seven Whether his fears were well teen hundred in number. 1 founded or not, the movement was an adroit one. Wherever he met the Indians he urged upon their consideration the attack

which had been made upon himself, and appealed to the memory of his father-in-law, and to his associations with them, to pro tect Sir John, and to induce them to become his followers; yet

he still insisted that his mission was that of peace, and that'the Indians should maintain their neutrality.

Such was the condition of affairs when, in July, the Conti nental congress resolved to establish three departments of Indian

the northern, middle and southern, " with powers to treat with the Indians in their respective departments, to pre

affairs,

serve peace and friendship, and to prevent their taking any part in

the present commotion." z

In accordance with this resolution,

the commissioners for the northern department 3 held a council with chiefs of the Six Nations at German Flats on the fifteenth

of August, but the attendance being limited, adjourned it to Albany, where, on the twenty- fourth, its proceedings were con At this conference the commissioners recited the cluded. grievances of which the colonists complained, and against which they had resolved to take up arms, and advised the Indians to