alliance of which Pontiac was the virtual head. He was of a despotic and
commanding temperament, and he wielded practical authority among all the
tribes of the Illinois country, and was known to all the Indian nations
of America. Pontiac, conscious of his power and position, haughtily
asked Major Rogers, "What his business was in that country?" and how he
dared enter it without Pontiac's permission? Rogers informed the chief
that the war was over, the French defeated, the country surrendered to
the British, and he was on his way to receive the posts from the French
occupiers. Pontiac was wily and diplomatic. He received the news
stolidly, reserved his answer till next morning, when his reply was that
as he desired to live in peace with the British, he would let them
remain in his country as long as "they treated him with due respect and
deference." Both parties smoked the calumet and protested friendship.
Rogers proceeded on his errand. On November 29, 1760, the French
garrison at Detroit transferred that historic and most important Western
station to British possession.[49]

The stormy season prevented Rogers from advancing farther.
Michilimackinac and the three remoter posts of Ste. Marie, La Baye
(Green Bay), and St. Joseph remained in the hands of the French until
the next year. The interior posts of the Illinois country were also
retained by the French, but the British conquest of America was
completed. The victory of England and the transfer of the French
strongholds to British commanders were a terrible and portentous blow to
the Indian. He could not fail to foresee therein dire results to his
race. His prophetic vision read the handwriting on the wall! Expressions
and signs of discontent and apprehension began to be audible among the
Indian tribes; "from the Potomac to Lake Superior, and from the
Alleghanies to the Mississippi, in every wigwam and hamlet of the
forest, a deep-rooted hatred of the English increased with rapid
growth." When the French occupied the military posts of the lakes and
the rivers they freely supplied the neighboring Indians with weapons,
clothing, provisions, and fire-water. The sudden cessation of these
bounties was a grievous and significant calamity.

The English fur-trader and incomer was rude and coarse and domineering
as compared with the agreeable and docile Frenchman. Worse and more
alarming than all was the intrusion into the forest solitude and
hunting-ground of the Indian by