" lose no time in " to induce them to be might necessary

come

;

that he should

taking such steps" as take up the hatchet against his majesty's rebellious subjects," and that he should " engage them in his majesty's service"

upon such plan as would be suggested to him by General Gage. The course to be pursued in carrying out this plan was left to Johnson, but

with the specific

instruction that

he should

" not fail to exert

every effort to accomplish it, and to use the utmost dilligence and activity in the execution of the order." 1

Entering upon the duties assigned to him with a zeal sharp ened by the seizure of his property in the Mohawk valley, Johnson nevertheless found his efforts to control the Six Nations obstructed by the action of the council of Onondaga in favor of neutrality, as well as by the success of the colonists in the

reduction

of Ticonderoga and Crown point, and although Mohawks still adhered to him, his recruits were

Brant and his

principally confined

to enlistments

from the Canada

When Montgomery attacked Quebec,

tribes.

he claimed to have

had over four hundred Indians

in encampment, but of that number only ninety were participants in the engagement. The retreat of the Americans and the subsequent capture of Ethan

Allen inspirited his recruits for a short time, but by the middle of October scarce one of his dusky followers remained.

Even Brant was lukewarm and indifferent. The pledge of the tribes was sacred and could not be easily broken, even by one so firmly bound to the fortunes of the Johnsons. Be he was thoroughly schooled in the selfish politics of his predecessors, and would have positive assurances of com