e banks of the St.
Lawrence, six miles above Montreal. Others were from St. Francis,
about forty-five leagues above Quebec, and were of a warlike tribe,
from which hostilities had been especially apprehended. Washington,
accustomed to deal with the red warriors of the wilderness, received
them with great ceremonial. They dined at head-quarters among his
officers, and it is observed that to some of the latter they might
have served as models; such was their grave dignity and decorum.

A council fire was held. The sachems all offered, on behalf of their
tribes, to take up the hatchet for the Americans, should the latter
invade Canada. The offer was embarrassing. Congress had publicly
resolved to seek nothing but neutrality from the Indian nations,
unless the ministerial agents should make an offensive alliance with
them. The chief of the St. Francis tribe declared that Governor
Carleton had endeavored to persuade him to take up the hatchet against
the Americans, but in vain.

Washington wished to be certain of the conduct of the enemy, before he
gave a reply to these Indian overtures. He wrote by express,
therefore, to General Schuyler, requesting him to ascertain the
intentions of the British governor with respect to the native tribes.
By the same express, he communicated a plan which had occupied his
thoughts for several days. As the contemplated movement of Schuyler
would probably cause all the British force in Canada to be
concentrated in the neighborhood of Montreal and St. Johns, he
proposed to send off an expedition of ten or twelve hundred men, to
penetrate to Quebec by the way of the Kennebec River.

The express found Schuyler in Albany, where he had been attending the
conference with the Six Nations. He had just received intelligence
which convinced him of the propriety of an expedition into Canada; had
sent word to General Montgomery to get everything ready for it, and
was on the point of departing for Ticonderoga to carry it into effect.
In reply to Washington, he declared his conviction, from various
accounts which he had received, that Carleton and his agents were
exciting the Indian tribes to hostility. "I should, therefore, not
hesitate one moment," adds he, "to employ any savages that might be
willing to join us." He expressed himself delighted with Washington's
project of sending off an expedition to Quebec, regretting only that
it had not been thought of earlier.

Having sent off these despatches,