put to the credit of the blind folly of their missionary leaders.  Their only hope in such a conflict as was then raging, was to be removed from their fatally dangerous position; and this the missionaries would not see.  As long at they stayed where they were, it was a mere question of chance and time whether they would be destroyed by the Indians or the whites; for their destruction at the hands of either one party or the other was inevitable.

Their fate was not due to the fact that they were Indians; it resulted from their occupying an absolutely false position.  This is clearly shown by what happened twenty years previously to a small community of non-resistant Christian whites.  They were Dunkards—­Quaker-like Germans—­who had built a settlement on the Monongahela.  As they helped neither side, both distrusted and hated them.  The whites harassed them in every way, and the Indians finally fell upon and massacred them. [Footnote:  Withers, 59.] The fates of these two communities, of white Dunkards and red Moravians, were exactly parallel.  Each became hateful to both sets of combatants, was persecuted by both, and finally fell a victim to the ferocity of the race to which it did not belong.

    Evil Conduct of the Backwoodsmen.

The conduct of the backwoodsmen towards these peaceful and harmless Christian Indians was utterly abhorrent, and will ever be a subject of just reproach and condemnation; and at first sight it seems incredible that the perpetrators of so vile a deed should have gone unpunished and almost unblamed.  It is a dark blot on the character of a people that otherwise had many fine and manly qualities to its credit.  But the extraordinary conditions of life on the frontier must be kept in mind before passing too severe a judgment.  In the turmoil of the harassing and long-continued Indian war, and the consequent loosening of social bonds, it was inevitable that, as regards outside matters, each man should do what seemed right in his own eyes.  The bad and the good alike were left free and untrammelled to follow the bent of their desires.  The people had all they could do to beat off their savage enemies, and to keep order among themselves.  They were able to impose but slight checks on ruffianism that was aimed at outsiders.  There were plenty of good and upright men who would not harm any Indians wrongfully, and who treated kindly those who were peaceable.  On the other hand, there were many of violent and murderous temper.  These knew that their neighbors would actively resent any wrong done to themselves, but knew, also, that, under the existing conditions, they would at the worst do nothing more than openly disapprove of an outrage perpetrated on Indians.

    Its Explanation.