To the northward, a sandy tract, covered with low pines, formed a boundary betwixt the Flats and Stonehook, which lay further up the river.

CHAPTER XV.

Character of Philip Schuyler.-His Management of the Indians.

PHILIP SCHUYLER, who, on the death of his father, succeeded to the inheritance I have been describing, was a person of a mild, benevolent character, and an excellent understanding, which had received more culture than was usual in that country. But whether he had returned to Europe for the purpose of acquiring knowledge in the public seminaries there, or had been instructed by any French protestants, who were sometimes retained in the principal families for such purposes, I do not exactly know; but am led rather to suppose the latter, from the connection which always subsisted between that class of people and the Schuyler family.

When the intimacy between this gentleman and the subject of these memoirs took place, she was a mere child; for the colonel, as he was soon after called, was ten years older than she. This was singular there, where most men married under twenty. But his early years were occupied by momentous concerns; for, by this time, the public safety began to be endangered by the insidious wiles of the French Canadians, to whom our frontier settlers began to be formidable rivals in the fur-trade, which the former wished to engross. In process of time, the Indians, criminally indulged with strong liquors by the most avaricious and unprincipled of the traders, began to have an insatiable desire for them, and the traders' avidity for gain increased in the same proportion.

Occasional fraud on the one hand gave rise to occasional violence on the other. Mutual confidence decayed, and hostility betrayed itself, when intoxication laid open every thought. Some of our traders were, as the colonists alleged, treacherously killed in violation of treaties solemnly concluded between them and the offending tribes.

The mediation and protection of the Mohawk tribes were, as usual, appealed to. But these shrewd politicians saw evidently the value of their protection to an unwarlike people, who made no effort to defend themselves; and who, distant from the source of authority, and contributing nothing to the support of government, were in a great measure neglected. They began also to observe, that their new friends were extending their possessions on every side, and, conscious of their wealth and increasing numbers, did not so assiduously cultivate the good-will of their faithful allies as formerly. These nations, savage as we may imagine them, were as well skilled in the arts of negotiation as the most polite Europeans. They waged perpetual war with each other about their hunting-grounds; each tribe laying claim to some vast wild territory, destined for that purpose, and divided from other districts by boundaries which we should consider as merely ideal, but which they perfectly understood. Yet these were not so distinctly defined as to preclude all dispute; and a casual encroachment on this imaginary deer-park, was a sufficient ground of hostility; and this, not for the value of the few deer or bears which might be killed, but that they thought their national honor violated by such an aggression. The system of revenge, which subsisted with equal force among them all, admitted of no sincere conciliation, till the aggrieved party had obtained at least an equal number of scalps and prisoners for those that they had lost. This bloody reckoning was not easily adjusted. After a short and hollow truce, the remaining balance on either side afforded a pretext for new hostilities, and time to solicit new alliances; for which last purpose much art and much persuasive eloquence were employed.

But the grand mystery of Indian politics was the flattery, the stratagem, and address employed in detaching other tribes from the alliance of their enemies. There could not be a stronger proof of the restless and turbulent nature of ambition, than these artful negotiations, the consequence of perpetual hostility, where one would think there was so little ground for quarrel; and that among a people who, individually, were by no means quarrelsome or covetous, and seemed, in their private transactions with each other, impressed with a deep sense of moral rectitude; who reasoned soundly, re

flected deeply, and acted in most cases consequentially. Property there was none, to afford a pretext for war, excepting a little possessed by the Mohawks, which they knew so well how to defend, that their boundaries were never violated;

"For their awe and their fear was upon all the nations round about." Territory could not be the genuine subject of contention in these thinly-peopled forests, where the ocean and the pole were the only limits of their otherwise boundless domain. The consequence attached to the authority of chiefs, who, as such, possessed no more property than others, and had not power to command a single vassal for their own personal benefit, was not so considerable as to be the object of those wars. The chief privilege was, to be first in every dangerous enterprise. They were loved and honored, but never, that I have heard of, traduced, envied, or removed from their painful pre-eminence.

The only way in which these wars can be accounted for, is, first, from the general depravity of our nature, and from a singularly deep feeling of injury, and a high sense of national honor. They were not the hasty outbreakings of savage fury, but were commenced in the most solemn and deliberate manner; and not without a prelude of remonstrances from the aggrieved party, and attempts to sooth and conciliate from the other. This digression must not be considered as altogether from the purpose. To return to the Indians, whose history has its use in illustrating that of mankind: they now became fully sensible of the importance they derived from the increased wealth and undefended state of the settlement. They discovered, too, that they held the balance between the interior settlements of France and England, which, though still distant from each other, were daily approximating.

The Mohawks, though always brave and always faithful, felt a very allowable repugnance to expose the lives of their warriors in defence of those who made no effort to defend themselves; who were neither protected by the arms of their sovereign, nor by their own courage. They came down to hold a solemn congress, at which the heads of the Schuyler and Cuyler families assisted; and where it was agreed that, for the present, hostilities should be delayed, the hostile na

tions pacified by concessions and presents, and means adopted to put the settlement into a state of defence against future aggressions.

On all such occasions, when previously satisfied with regard to the justice of the grounds of quarrel, the Mohawks promised their hearty co-operation. This they were the readier to do, as their young brother Philip (for so they styled Colonel Schuyler) offered not only to head such troops as might be raised for this purpose, but to engage his two brothers, who were well acquainted with the whole frontier territory, to serve on the same terms. This was a singular instance of public spirit in a young patriot, who was an entire stranger to the profession of arms, and whose sedate equanimity of character was adverse to every species of rashness or enthusiasm. Meantime the provisions of the above-mentioned treaty could not be carried into effect, till they were ratified by the assembly at New York, and approved by the governor. Of this there was little doubt: the difficulty was to raise and pay the troops. In the interim, while steps were taking to legalize this project, in 1719, the marriage between Colonel Schuyler and his cousin took place under the happiest auspices.

CHAPTER XVI.

Account of the Three Brothers.

COLONEL SCHUYLER and his two brothers all possessed a superior degree of intellect, and uncommon external advantages. Peter, the only one remaining when I knew the family, was still a comely and dignified-looking old gentleman; and I was told his brothers were at least equal to him in this respect. His youngest brother, Jeremiah, who was much beloved for a disposition frank, cheerful, and generous to excess, had previously married a lady from New York, with whom he obtained some fortune: a thing then singular in that country. This lady, whom, in her declining years, I knew very well,

was the daughter of a wealthy and distinguished family of French protestants. She was lively, sensible, and well in

formed.

Peter, the second, was married to a native of Albany. She died early; but left behind two children, and the reputation of much worth, and great attention to her conjugal and maternal duties. All these relations lived with each other, and with the new-married lady, in habits of the most cordial intimacy and perfect confidence. They seemed, indeed, actuated by one spirit: having in all things similar views and similar principles. Looking up to the colonel as the head of the family, whose worth and affluence reflected consequence upon them all, they never dreamed of envying either his superior manners, or his wife's attainments, which they looked upon as a benefit and ornament to the whole.

Soon after their marriage they paid a visit to New York, which they repeated once a year in the earlier period of their marriage, on account of their connection in that city, and the pleasing and intelligent society that was always to be met with there, both on account of its being the seat of government, and the residence of the commander-in-chief on, the continent, who was then necessarily invested with considerable power and privileges, and had, as well as the governor for the time being, a petty court assembled round him. At a very early period a better style of manners, greater ease, frankness, and polish prevailed at New York, than in any of the neighboring provinces. There was in particular a Brigadier-general Hunter, of whom I have heard Mrs. Schuyler talk a great deal, as coinciding with her uncle and husband successively, in their plans either of defence or improvement. He, I think, was then governor, and was as acceptable to the Schuylers for his colloquial talents and friendly disposition, as estimable for his public spirit and application to business, in which respects he was not equalled by any of his successors. In his circle the young couple were much distinguished. There were too among those leading families the Livingstons and Rensselaers, friends connected with them both by blood and attachment. There was also another distinguished family to whom they were allied, and with whom they lived in cordial intimacy; these were the De Lancys, of French descent, but, by subsequent intermarriages, blended with the