ate with exact justice, the relative means employed by the
belligerents. In no part of those dominions was this joy felt, in a
higher degree, or with more reason, than in America. In that region,
the wars between France and England had assumed a form, happily
unknown to other parts of the civilised world. Not confined, as in
Europe, to men in arms; women and children were its common victims. It
had been carried by the savage to the fire side of the peaceful
peasant, where the tomahawk and scalping knife were applied
indiscriminately to every age, and to either sex. The hope was now
fondly indulged that these scenes, at least in the northern and middle
colonies, were closed for ever.

The colonies of South Carolina and Georgia had been entirely exempted
from the sharp conflicts of the north. France having been unable to
draw Spain into the war, their neighbours in Florida remained quiet;
and the Indians on their immediate frontiers were in the English
interest. As the prospect of establishing peace in the north seemed to
brighten, this state of repose in the south sustained a short
interruption.

When the garrison of fort Du Quesne retired down the Ohio into
Louisiana, the French employed their address in the management of
Indians, to draw the Cherokees from their alliance with Great Britain.
Their negotiations with these savages were favoured by the irritations
given to their warriors in Virginia, where they had been employed
against the French, and the Indians in the French interest.

Their ill humour began to show itself in 1759. Upon its first
appearance, governor Lyttleton prepared to march into their country at
the head of a respectable military force. Alarmed at these hostile
appearances, they dispatched thirty-two of their chiefs to Charleston,
for the purpose of deprecating the vengeance with which their nation
was threatened. Their pacific representations did not arrest the
expedition. The governor not only persisted in the enterprise, but,
under the pretext of securing the safe return of the Indian
messengers, took them into the train of his army, where they were, in
reality, confined as prisoners. To add to this indignity, they were,
when arrived at the place of destination, shut up together in a single
hut.

Notwithstanding the irritation excited by this conduct, a treaty was
concluded, in which it was agreed that the chiefs detained by the
governor should remain with him as hostages, until an equal num