fpirit, inherent in all true Batavians, only flept to wake again, when the avidity of gain was called forth by the temptation of bartering for any lucrative commodity. The furs of the Indians. gave this occafion, and were too foon made the object of the avidity of petty traders. To the infant fettlement at Albany the confequences of this fhort-fighted policy might have proved fatal, had not these patriotic leaders, by their example and influence, checked for a while fuch illiberal and dangerous practices. It is a fact fingular and worth attending to, from the leffon it exhibits, that in all our distant colonies there is no other inftance where a confiderable town and profperous fettlement has arisen and flourished, in peace and fafety, in the midst of nations difpofed and often provoked to hoftility; at a distance from the protection of fhips, and from the only fortified city, which, always weakly garrifoned, was little fitted to awe and pro-. tect the whole province. Let it be remembered that the distance from New York to Albany is 170 miles; and that in the intermediate.

termediate space, at the period of which I speak, there was not one town or fortified place. The fhadow of a palifadoed fort* which then existed at Albany, was occupied by a fingle independent company, who did duty, but were dispersed through the town, working at various trades; fo fcarce indeed were artizans in this community, that a tradesman might in these days ask any wages he chofe.

To return to this fettlement, which evidently owed its fecurity to the wisdom of its leaders, who always acted on the fimple maxim that honefty is the best policy; feveral miles north from Albany a confiderable poffeffion, called the Flats, was inhabited by Colonel Philip Schuyler, one of the most enlightened men in the province. This being a frontier, he would have found it a very dangerous fituation had he not

*It may be worth noting, that Captain Maffey, who commanded this non-effective company for many years, was the father of Mrs. Lennox, an eftimable character, well known for her literary productions, and for being the friend and protegée of Doctor Johnson.

béen

been a perfon of fingular worth, fortitude, and wisdom. Were I not afraid of tiring my reader with a detail of occurrences which, taking place before the birth of my friend, might feem irrelevant to the prefent purpose, I could relate many inftances al-' most incredible, of the power of mind dif-' played by this gentleman in governing the uninftructed without coercion or legal right. He poffeffed this fpecies of power in no common degree; his influence, with that of his brother John Schuyler, was exerted to conciliate the wandering tribes of Indians; and by fair traffic, for he too was a trader, and by fair liberal dealing, they attained their object. They alfo ftrengthened the league already formed with the five Mohawk nations, by procuring for them fome affiftance against their enemies, the Onondagoes of the Lakes.

Queen Anne had by this time fucceeded to the Stadtholder. The gigantic ambition of Lewis the Fourteenth actuated the remoteft parts of his extenfive dominions; and the encroaching fpirit of this reftlefst

nation began to discover itself in hoftilities. to the infant colony. A motive for which could fcarce be difcovered, poffeffing, as they did, already much more territory than they were able to occupy, the limits of which were undefined. But the province of New York was a frontier; and, as fuch, a kind of barrier to the fouthern colonies. It began alfo to compete for a fhare of the fur. trade, then very confiderable, before the beavers were driven back from their origi nal haunts. In short, the province daily rofe in importance; and being in a great measure protected by the Mohawk tribes, the policy of courting their alliance, and. impreffing their minds with an exalted. idea of the power and grandeur of the Bri tish empire, became obvious. I cannot recollect the name of the governor at this time; but whoever he was, he, as well as the fucceeding ones, vifited the fettlement at Albany, to obferve its wife regulations, and growing profperity, and to learn maxims of found policy from those whose interefts and happine's were daily promoted by the practice of it.

CHAP.

CHAP. III.

Colonel Schuyler perfuades four Sachemes to accompany him to England.-Their Reception and Re

turn.

IT was thought adviseable to bring over fome of the heads of tribes to England to attach them to that country: but to perfuade the chiefs of a free and happy people, who were intelligent, fagacious, and aware of all probable dangers; who were stran gers to all the maritime concerns, and had never beheld the ocean; to perfuade fuch independent and high-minded warriors to forfake the fafety and enjoyments of their own country, to encounter the perils of a long voyage, and trust themfelves among entire ftrangers, and this merely to bind clofer an alliance with the fovereign of a diftant country - a female fovereign too; a mode of government hat must have appeared to them very in

congruous.