If an attempt upon Niagara thro Lake Ontario should be a part of the Plan of Operations for this year, and that our Preparations for it, are projected with judgment & carried on with Vigour, I am persuaded I could join His Majestys Troops that way, with the main Body of the Warriors of the 5 Nations together with many others of their Allies & Dependants, and that by taking proper measures, I could not only prevail on those Indians of the 5 Nations, who have been debauched by the French from their respective Settlements to go & live under their Protection at La Galette on the River St. Lawrence, to abandon the French interest & return to their native Towns ; but that I could also prevent many if net most of those Northern & Western Indians who form the Ottoway Confederacy from joining the French against us, & which they have hitherto done. Nay I flatter myself I could prevail on many of the aforesaid Indians to join with us in our operations from Lake Ontario, the Six Nations in general & the

782 MANUSCRIPTS OF

CI nosslo Inilians in particular (who are a brave & powerful Ti ')e of the Seneca Nation & live near Niagara) are as your Lc 'dships may see by the Proceedings I now send you, very de irous of (h'iving the French from Niagara & equaly pressing thai; we should undertake it. I have given General Amherst Intelligence hereof & wrote him on this subject, nearly in sui stance what I have now had the honour to mention to your Lc -ships. My Lords