weight, I will not say in justifying our conduct, (that
needs no justification,) but in quieting your apprehensions.
As I have before remarked, had we been the first to enter
on this war, sending forth into your settlements a ruthless
enemy to lay waste and massacre wherever they passed, no
time could have washed away the recollection of the
atrocity; but we take our stand on high ground. We war
not on your possessions; we merely await you on the
defensive, and it must be borne in mind that, if these
very people whose employment you deprecate are not let
loose upon the Canadas in a career of unchecked spoliation,
it is only because your Government has failed in the
attempt to blind them to a sense of their numerous wrongs."

"No reasoning can be more candid, General," returned
Major Montgomerie; "and far be it from me wholly to deny
the justice of your observation. My own private impressions
tend less to impugn your policy than to deplore the
necessity for the services of such an ally: for, however,
it may be sought on the part of the British Government,
(and I certainly do differ from the majority of my
countrymen in this instance, by believing it WILL impose
every possible check to unnecessary cruelty,) however,
I repeat, it may be sought to confine the Indians to
defensive operations, their predatory habits will but
too often lead them to the outskirts of our defenceless
settlements, and then who shall restrain them from imbruing
their hands in the blood of the young and the adult--the
resisting and the helpless."