That of Sir John Sinclair had
already been overcome by his dealings with the provincial authorities;
and he wrote in good French, at the tail of a letter to the Swiss
colonel: "Adieu, my dear Bouquet. The greatest curse that our Lord can
pronounce against the worst of sinners is to give them business to do
with provincial commissioners and friendly Indians." A band of sixty
warriors told Colonel Burd that they would join the army on condition
that it went by Braddock's road. "This," wrote Forbes, on hearing of the
proposal, "is a new system of military discipline truly, and shows that
my good friend Burd is either made a cat's-foot of himself, or little
knows me if he imagines that sixty scoundrels are to direct me in my
measures."[650] Bouquet, with a pliant tact rarely seen in the born
Briton, took great pains to please these troublesome allies, and went so
far as to adopt one of them as his son.[651] A considerable number
joined the army; but they nearly all went off when the stock of presents
provided for them was exhausted.
[Footnote 650: The above extracts are from the _Bouquet and Haldimand
Papers_, British Museum.]
[Footnote 651: _Bouquet to Forbes, 3 June, 1758._]
Forbes was in total ignorance of the strength and movements of the
enemy. The Indians reported their numbers to be at least equal to his
own; but nothing could be learned from them with certainty, by reason of
their inveterate habit of lying.
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