This fatal delusion was not even dispelled by the intelligence that 1400 Indians and 100 French were already mustered on the banks of the Susquehanna, only eighty miles from Philadelphia, with the object of again dividing and sweeping the whole country in separate parties. Soon after, news arrived that the peaceful and prosperous settlement of Great Cove was utterly destroyed, and all the inhabitants massacred or carried into captivity. Still the men of peace refused to use the arm of flesh. The spirited governor in vain urged the necessity of action upon his unmanageable Assembly, till the sudden arrival of some hundreds of ruined fugitives strengthened his argument. These unfortunates crowded to the State House, dragging a wagon loaded with the dead and mutilated bodies of their friends, who had been scalped by the Indians at a place only sixty miles distant; they threw the bleeding corpses at the door, and threatened violence if their demands for protection and revenge were not instantly complied with. The Assembly, either moved by their distress, or overawed by their menaces, at length gave up its scruples, and passed a bill to call out the militia and appropriate £62,000 to the expenses of the war. It must be said, at the same time, that the other English colonies, where no such scruples as those of the Quakers existed, were far from being active or united in raising supplies of men and money for their common safety. Those, however, where danger was most imminent, addressed strong and spirited appeals to their rulers for protection and support, and denounced in vigorous language the aggressions and usurpations of the French. These remonstrances had at length the desired effect of disposing the minds of the local authorities to second the views of the court of London for curbing the advances of Canadian power. On the 12th of December, 1755, a grand council of war was assembled at New York, consisting of as many provincial governors and superior officers as could be collected for the purpose. General Shirley presided, and laid before them the instructions which had been given to Braddock, his unfortunate predecessor. He exerted himself with energy and success to create a good understanding among the several governments, and was particularly happy in effecting a union for mutual protection and support between the important states of New England and New York. He also succeeded in regaining to his cause many of the Indians, who had either already gone over to the French or withdrawn to a cold neutrality.