WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

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The land between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes appears good. Level and well-timbered; affording a sufficiency for twenty elegant townships which, in the process of time, will doubtless add to the importance of America. The communication of the Seneca with Cayuga is passable with boats and is about twenty miles. Whether the God of nature ever designed that so noble a part of His creation should remain uncultivated, in consequence of an unprincipled and brutal part of it, is one of those arcana yet hidden from human intelligence. However, had I any influence in the councils of America, I should not think it an affront to the Divine will, to lay some effectual plan, either to civilize or totally extirpate the race. Counting their friendship is not only a disagreeable task, but impracticable; and if obtained it is of no longer duration than while we are in prosperity and the impending rod threatens their destruction. To starve them is equally impracticable for they feed on air and drink the morning dew…

Major Jeremiah Fogg Diary Entry Sullivan-Clinton Campaign September 1779