In their efforts to negotiate a fair compact, the United States had some reason to anticipate a friendly disposition on the part of the Delawares and Wyandots. Large numbers of the latter tribe had been won over to the principles of Christianity and were inclined towards peace, but the Miamis of the Wabash, the Shawnees and the Kickapoos were hostile. At Miamitown were the Little Turtle and Le Gris; close by, were the Shawnees under Blue Jacket; all were under the influence of the Girtys, George and Simon, and all had been engaged in the Indian raids. The Miami confederates at Eel River, Ouiatenon and Tippecanoe all looked to the head men at Miamitown for inspiration. Miamitown was in turn connected with the British agency at Detroit. The confederates of the Three Fires, the Ottawas or Tawas, the Chippewas and Potawatomi, otherwise known as the "Lake Tribes," were also under the influence of the British. On July 5th, 1788, General Arthur St. Clair, writing to the Secretary of War from Pittsburg, said that the western tribes, meaning those under the influence of the Miami chiefs, had been so successful in their depredations on the Ohio river, their settlements were so distant and "their country so difficult," that they imagined themselves to be perfectly safe, and that as they were able by these incursions "to gratify at once their passions of avarice and revenge, and their desire for spirituous liquors, every boat carrying more or less of that commodity, few of them may be expected to attend; nor are they much to be depended on should they attend generally." He further remarked: "Our settlements are extending themselves so fast on every quarter where they can be extended; our pretensions to the country they inhabit have been made known to them in so unequivocal a manner, and the consequences are so certain and so dreadful to them, that there is little probability of there ever being any cordiality between us. The idea of being ultimately obliged to abandon their country rankles in their minds, and our British neighbors, at the same time that they deny the cession of the country made by them, suffer them not to forget for a moment the claim that is founded upon it."