184 ANDREW FISH
influence with the Indians, and the Indians gave those servants respect and confidence, mingled though it was with fear.
At least the native was at peace with the British as he was not with the Americans. The settler was after his land; he knew it was to the interest of the cultivator to crowd him out of his hunting-grounds, and if in the process it meant his extermination he felt instinctively that these land-hungry farmers would not stop short. To these American home- makers the Indian was a natural enemy ; "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." Right or wrong, the spirit between the native and the Americans could never be the same as that between the native and the British. Hostility was inherent in the situation, however much it might be mitigated by such feelings of humanity as managed to survive in that atmosphere, or however softened by the influence of the missionaries. Un- like the servants of the Company the American farmers were on terms of more or less constant enmity with the uncivilized native.
This difference in attitude made it more difficult then ever for Americans and British to understand each other ; to the British the Americans seemed cruel and bloodthirsty, while to the Americans it looked as if the British were sometimes un- naturally neutral in the deadly feud between the red men and themselves. There were occasions when Americans were glad to have the protection of the Company, generously extended. At other times much needed supplies of ammunition were forth- coming from fellow whites for which the Americans were duly grateful. But it is alleged in Mr. Nugent's report, on the basis of testimony offered to him by military officers and others, that the Company was purchasing American equipment cap- tured by the Indians, thus providing a market for stolen goods, and also that it was selling firearms and ammunition to the Indians at a time when these were more than likely to be used against the Americans. 11 Again, it is stated that "Company" agents went so far as to incite the redskins against the Amer-
11 Ex. Doc. No. Ill, 35th Cong. 2 Sess. p. 8.
