Note 1303 — Chapter VIII

The hints as to Burgoyne's opinions of the Indians which are derived from contemporaneous documents are of course more satisfactory than any of his subsequent expressions of opinion. In his speech in the House of Commons, May 26, 1778, his estimate of their value as soldiers was very reasonable: "Sir, I ever esteemed the Indian alliance, at best, a necessary evil. I ever believed their services to be overvalued; sometimes insignificant, often barbarous, always capricious; and that the employment of them in war was only justifiable when, by being united to a regular army, they could be kept under control, and rendered subservient to a general system." (Parl. Reg., ix. p. 218).