and give up the useless contest. To continue the struggle
for the present would be vain. Pontiac, though enraged
by the desertion of his allies, and by what seemed to
him the cowardly conduct of the French, determined at
once to accept the situation, sue for peace, and lay
plans for future action. So far he had been fighting
ostensibly for the restoration of French rule. In future,
whatever scheme he might devise, his struggle must be
solely in the interests of the red man. Next day he sent
a letter to Gladwyn begging that the past might be
forgotten. His young men, he said, had buried their
hatchets, and he declared himself ready not only to make
peace, but also to 'send to all the nations concerned in
the war' telling them to cease hostilities. No trust
could Gladwyn put in Pontiac's words; yet he assumed a
friendly bearing towards the treacherous conspirator,
who for nearly six months had given him no rest. Gladwyn's
views of the situation at this time are well shown in a
report he made to Amherst. The Indians, he said, had lost
many of their best warriors, and would not be likely
again to show a united front. It was in this report that
he made the suggestion, unique in warfare, of destroying
the Indians by the free sale of rum to them. 'If your
Excellency,' he wrote, 'still intends to punish them
further for their barbarities, it may easily be done
without any expense to the Crown, by permitting a free
sale of rum, which will destroy them more effectually
than fire and sword.' He thought that the French had been
the real plotters of the Indian war: 'I don't imagine
there will be any danger of their [the Indians] breaking