The schooner _Gladwin_ made her way again to Niagara and returned early in September with a welcome load of forty-seven barrels of flour and one hundred barrels of pork, but with a tale of Indian attack and the loss of six of her crew of twelve. Other attempts from Niagara to relieve the garrison were unsuccessful, but Pontiac received in October a heavy blow in a letter from the French commander at Fort Chartres in the Illinois country, saying that not only could he offer Pontiac no help but he was now at peace with the English and wished the Indians to follow his example. This message had its effect. Pontiac had had great hopes of French assistance. With these hopes dashed he knew he could not hold out much longer; already his warriors were wearying of the attack and deserting him. He sent a letter to Gladwin asking for peace and agreeing to forget the “bad things that had happened,” if the Englishman would do the same. Gladwin replied that he would grant a truce while he sent Pontiac’s message to his general, who alone had power to grant pardon. As it was then late in the season, it was deemed best to leave matters in this condition until spring, as it held the Indians in a wholesome state of uncertainty. Within a few days the encampments in the vicinity of Detroit were abandoned. After a confinement of five long months the inhabitants of the town could venture outside the stockade without dread of Indian bullets. A report was sent to General Amherst, the commander of the British army, and during the winter plans were made to relieve Detroit and bring peace to the lake region. A military expedition was to be sent in the spring to force the tribes into submission; and in the meantime Sir William Johnson, the superintendent of Indian affairs, despatched messages to all the tribes, warning them of the coming expedition and urging those who were ready to make peace to come, while there was yet time, to a grand council fire at Niagara. From the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, from Lake Superior and eastern New York, the friendly tribes came up in July to Niagara. When Johnson stepped ashore from the boat which brought him from Oswego, he saw dotting the fields the wigwams of more than a thousand Indians, and in a few days the number was doubled. Councils were held at which the representatives of the tribes promised their friendship to the English, agreed to restore the forts, to cede lands, and in so far as their own nations were concerned to guarantee safe navigation on the lakes. This convention was the most remarkable assemblage of Indians that had ever gathered on the shores of the Great Lakes.