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A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

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212 WAR AND POLITICS. [1746-1748.gent young Irishman, nephew <strong>of</strong> Admiral Warren,<strong>and</strong> his agent <strong>in</strong> the management <strong>of</strong> his estates on theMohawk. Johnson soon became <strong>in</strong>timate with hisIndian neighbors, spoke their language, jo<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>their games <strong>and</strong> dances, sometimes borrowed theirdress <strong>and</strong> their pa<strong>in</strong>t, <strong>and</strong> whooped, yelped, <strong>and</strong>stamped like one <strong>of</strong> themselves. A white man thusplay<strong>in</strong>g the Indian usually ga<strong>in</strong>s noth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> theesteem <strong>of</strong> those he imitates; but, as before <strong>in</strong> thecase <strong>of</strong> the redoubtable Count Frontenac, Johnson'sadoption <strong>of</strong> their ways <strong>in</strong>creased their lik<strong>in</strong>g for him<strong>and</strong> did not dim<strong>in</strong>ish their respect. The Mohawksadopted him <strong>in</strong>to their tribe <strong>and</strong> made him a warchief.Cl<strong>in</strong>ton saw his value; <strong>and</strong> as the Albanycommissioners hitherto charged with Indian affairshad proved wholly <strong>in</strong>efficient, he transferred theirfunctions to Johnson; whence arose more heartburn<strong>in</strong>gs.The favor <strong>of</strong> the governor cost the newfunctionary the support <strong>of</strong> the Assembly, who refusedthe <strong>in</strong>dispensable presents to the Indians, <strong>and</strong> thusvastly <strong>in</strong>creased the difficulty <strong>of</strong> his task. Yet theFive Nations promised to take up the hatchet aga<strong>in</strong>stthe French, <strong>and</strong> their orator said, <strong>in</strong> a conference atAlbany, "Should any French priests now dare tocome among us, we know no use for them but toroast them."^ Johnson's present difficulties, however,sprang more from Dutch <strong>and</strong> English tradersthan from French priests, <strong>and</strong> he begs that an Act^ Answer <strong>of</strong> the Six [Five] Nations to His Excellency the Governorat Albany, 23 August, 1746.

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