Had any thing of moment been transacted at the great Congress at Sioto, the Deaths of the Principal Indian Chiefs, upon whom you relied for a faithful Report of the Proceedings at that Congress, would have been unfortunate ; but, if the Accounts given by Nicaroondase are true, very little of Importance was transacted, and the whole seems to have ended, as such Meetings generally have ^one, with Excuses on the part of the Indians for past Irregularities, and with Promises, which are seldom or never kept, of behaving better for the future.

I must confess to you that, after the very full Assurances I had received, that all the Indians concerned in the Treaty at Fort

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 997

Stanwix had fully pledged themselves for the Cession to His Majesty of the Lands in Virginia to the West and South West of the Allegany Mountains, it is a very great Surprise to me now to find that the Shawanese are at least dissatisfied with, if not disposed to disavow that Cession, so far as it regards the Lands on the Ohio above the Kanawah.

Every Day discovers more and more the fatal Policy of departing from the Line prescribed by the Proclamation of 1763 ; and the Extension of it on the ground of a Cession made by the Six Nations, of Lands, their Right to which, is denied by other Nations equally powerful and more numerous, instead of being attended with Advantage to this Kingdom and Security to the Colonies, is now likely to have no other Consequence than that of giving a greater Scope to distant Settlements, which I conceive to be inconsistent with every true Principle of Policy, and which I clearly see from your last Letter, will most probably have the Effect to produce a general Indian War, the Expense whereof will fall upon this Kingdom.