dy conduct of the Indians has obliged me to use
every means to prevent their going to St. Johns. I have not met with
such difficulty previous to this summer." He managed to keep them a
little longer, but in July of the next year came the great defection
which had been so long impending. The immediate cause of this
defection it will be of interest now to consider.

Sir Guy Carleton, not long after his appointment to the command at
Quebec, secured the allegiance of the principal Indian tribes of
Canada, and at his instigation messages were sent to Machias early in
April 1779, desiring the Indians there to have no further connection
with the Americans, adding that the Indians of Canada were coming
across the woods, as soon as the leaves were as big as their nails, to
destroy the settlements on the Penobscot and the Kennebec. In order to
impress the Indians with the importance of the message the delegates
who bore it were furnished with an immense belt of wampum of 1500
pieces. "We send you this Great Belt," say the Canadian Indians, "for
every one of you to see and think of, and to show it to the St. Johns
and Micmac Indians, and then to return the belt to us immediately."
The message contained a further assurance that nine thousand Indians
were ready to execute any orders they might receive from the British
general in Canada. The arrival of this message made a great impression
on the Indians, and occasioned in them "a fluctuating and unsteady
conduct," but John Allan was able, with the help of Mon. de la Motte,
a French priest, to keep them in control.

Curiously enough at this crisis the old St. John river chieftain,
Pierre Thoma, arrived at Machias in quite an indignant frame of mind.
His annoyance was caused by General McLean's ordering Major Studholme
not to furnish any more provisions to the Indians. Francklin
considered this order a mistake, and at once represented to the
secretary of state the necessity of keeping the Indians in good humor
as the cutting of masts and timber for the Royal Navy, the safety of
the English settlers on the River St. John and communication with
Canada might all be endangered by losing their good will. His
statements were strongly supported by Sir Richard Hughes, the
lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. The next spring Col. Francklin
invited the Indians at Passamaquody and Machias to a conference at
Fort Howe.

Two English schooners arrived at Passamaquody on the 1st of June. John
Alle