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I CHOSE the subject
of this book as affording better opportunities than any other
portion of American history for portraying forest Hfe and the Indian
character and I have never seen reason to change this opinion.
In the nineteen years that have passed since the first edition was
published, a considerable amount of additional material has come to
light. This has been carefully collected, and is incorporated in the
present edition. The most interesting portion of this new material
has been supplied by the Bouquet and Haldimand Papers, added some
years ago to the manuscript collections of the British Museum. Among
them are several hundred letters from officers engaged in the
Pontiac war, some official, others personal and familiar. affording:
very curious illustrations of the events of the day and of the
characters of those engaged in them. Among the facts which they
bring to light, some are sufficiently startling; as, for example,
the proposal of the Commander-in-Chief to infect the hostile tribes
with the small-pox, and that of a distinguished subordinate officer
to take revenge on the Indians by permitting an unrestricted sale of
rum.
The two volumes of the present edition have been made uniform with
those of the series "France and England in North America." I hope to
continue that series to the period of the extinction of French power
on this continent. "The Conspiracy of Pontiac" will then form a
sequel; and its introductory chapters will be, in a certain sense, a
summary of what has preceded. This will involve some repetition in
the beginning of the book, but I have nevertheless thought it best
to let it remain as originally written.
Boston, 16 September, 1870.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
