George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

[301] recruits, and they would not hearken to a doubt of

Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar.

speedily crushing the rebellion. On the morning of the fourteenth of March, the British secretary of state listened to a speech from Thayendanegea, otherwise named Joseph Brant, a full-blooded Mohawk, of the Wolf Tribe, the chosen chief of the confederacy of the Six Nations, who had crossed the great lake to see King George; to boast that the savages, ‘his brethren,’ had offered the last year to prevent the invasion of Canada; and to complain that the white people had given them no support. ‘Brother,’ so the Mohawk chief addressed Germain, ‘we hope to see these bad children, the New England people, chastised. The Indians have always been ready to assist the king.’ And Germain replied: ‘Continue to manifest attachment to the king; and be sure of his majesty's favor.’ George and his ministers promised themselves important aid from the Iroquois and Northwestern warriors. ‘Unconditional submission’ was now the watchword of Germain; and when on the evening of the same day the Duke of Grafton attempted once more, in the house of lords, to plead for conciliation, the gentle Dartmouth approved sending over ‘a sufficient force to awe the colonies into submission;’ Hillsborough would ‘listen to no accommodation, short of the acknowledgment of the right of taxation and the submission of Massachusetts to the law for altering its charter;’ and Mansfield ridiculed the idea of suspending hostilities, and laughed moderating counsels away. The ministers pursued their rash policy with such violence and such a determination to brave all difficulties, that it was evident they followed a superior will, which demanded