every reason to imagine that one of the negroes at least would be sacrificed. [Sidenote: JOSEPH BRANDT.] This indifference in the mind of the Indians about taking away the life of a fellow creature, makes them appear, it must be confessed, in a very unamiable point of view. I fear also, that in the opinion of many people, all the good qualities which they possess, would but ill atone for their revengeful disposition, and for the cruelties which, it is well known, they sometimes inflict upon the prisoners who have fallen into their power in battle. Great pains have been taken, both by the French and English missionaries, to represent to them the infamy of torturing their prisoners; nor have these pains been bestowed in vain; for though in some recent instances it has appeared that they still retain a fondness for this horrid practice, yet I will venture, from what I have heard, to assert, that of late years not one prisoner has been put to the torture, where twenty would have been a hundred years ago. Of the prisoners that fell into their hands on St. Clair’s defeat, I could not learn, although I made strict enquiries on the subject, that a single man had been fastened to the stake. As soon as the defeat was known, rewards were held out by the British officers, and others that had influence over them, to bring in their prisoners alive, and the greater part of them were delivered up unhurt; but to irradicate wholly from their breasts the spirit of revenge has been found impossible. You will be enabled to form a tolerable idea of the little good effect which education has over their minds in this respect, from the following anecdotes of Captain Joseph Brandt, a war chief of the Mohawk nation. This Brandt, at a very early age, was sent to a college in New England, where, being possessed of a good capacity, he soon made very considerable progress in the Greek and Latin languages. Uncommon pains were taken to instil into his mind the truths of the gospel. He professed himself to be a warm admirer of the principles of christianity, and in hopes of being able to convert his nation on returning to them, he absolutely translated the gospel of St. Matthew into the Mohawk language; he also translated the established form of prayer of the church of England. Before Brandt, however, had finished his course of studies, the American war broke out, and fired with that spirit of glory which seems to have been implanted by nature in the breast of the Indian, he immediately quitted the college, repaired to his native village, and shortly afterwards, with a considerable body of his nation, joined some British troops under the command of Sir John Johnston. Here he distinguished himself by his valour in many different engagements, and was soon raised, not only to the rank of a war chief, but also to that of a captain in his Majesty’s service. [Sidenote: BRANDT.]