Chapter IV: Part 4

Father! Look at the land which we gave to you at that treaty, and then turn your eyes upon what we now ask you to restore to us, and you will see that what we ask you to return _is a very little piece_. By giving it back again you will satisfy the whole of our nation. The Chiefs who signed that treaty will be in safety, and peace between your children and our children will continue so long as your land shall join ours. Every man of our nation will then turn their eyes away from all the other lands which we then gave up to you, and forget that our fathers ever said that they belonged, to them.

Father! We see that you ought to have the path at the carrying-place from Lake Erie to Niagara, as it was marked down at Fort Stanwix, and we are all willing, that it should remain to be yours. And if you desire to reserve a passage through; the Conewango, and through the Chatauque lake, and land for a path from that lake to Lake Erie, take it where you best like. Our nation will rejoice to see it an open path for you and your children while the land and water remain. But let us also pass along the same way and continue to take the fish of those waters in common with you.

Father! You say that you will appoint an agent to take care of us. Let him come and take care of our trade; but we desire he may not have any thing to do with our lands; for the agents which have come among us, and pretended to take care of us, have always deceived us whenever we sold lands; both when the King, of England and the States have bargained with us. They have by this means occasioned many wars, and we are, therefore, unwilling to trust them again.

Father! When we return home we will call a Great Council, and consider well how lands may be hereafter sold by our nation. And when we have agreed upon it, we will send you notice of it. But we desire that you will not depend on your agent for information concerning land; for after the abuses, which we have suffered by such men, we will not trust them with any thing which relates to land.

Father! There are men that go from town to town and beget children, and leave them to perish, or, except better men take care of them, to grow up without instruction. Our nation has looked round for a father, but they found none that would own them for children, until you now tell us that your courts are open to us as to your own people. The joy which we feel at this great news so mixes with the sorrows that are past, that we cannot express our gladness, nor conceal the remembrance of our afflictions. We will speak of them at another time.

Father! We are ashamed that we have listened to the lies of LIVINGSTON, or been influenced by the threats of war by PHELPS, and would hide that whole transaction from the world, and from ourselves, by quietly receiving what PHELPS; promised to give us for the lands they cheated us of. But as PHELPS will not pay us even according to that fraudulent bargain, we will lay the whole proceedings before your court. When the evidence which we can produce is heard, we think it will appear that the whole bargain was founded on lies which he placed one upon another; that the goods that he charges to us as part payment were plundered from us; that if PHELPS was not directly concerned in the theft, he knew of it at the time and concealed it from us, and that the persons that we confided in were bribed by him to deceive us in the bargain, and if these facts appear, that your court will not say that such bargains are just, but will set the whole aside.

Father! We apprehend that our evidence might be called for as PHELPS was here, and knew what we have said concerning him; and as EBENEZER ALLEN knew something of the matter, we desired him to continue here. NICHOLSON, the interpreter, is very sick, and we request that ALLEN may remain a few days longer, as he speaks our language.

Father! The blood which was spilled near Pine creek is covered, and we shall never look where it lies. We know that Pennsylvania will satisfy us for that which we spoke of to them before we spoke to you. The chain of Friendship will now, we hope, be made strong as you desire it to be. We will hold it last, and our end of it shall never rust in our hands.

Father! We told you what advice we gave the people you are now at war with, and we now tell you, that they have promised to come again to our towns next spring. We shall not wait for their coming, but will set out very early and show to them what you have done _for_ us, which must convince them that you will do for them every thing which they ought to ask. We think they will hear and follow our advice.

Father! You give us leave to speak our minds concerning the tilling of the ground. We ask you to teach us to plough, and to grind corn; to assist us in building saw mills, and to supply us with broad axes, saws, augers, and other tools, so as that we make our houses more comfortable and more durable; that you will send smiths among us, and above all, that you will teach our children to read and write, and our women to spin and to weave. The manner of your doing these things for us we leave to you, who understand them; but we assure you we will follow your advice as far as we are able.

SPEECH

OF

CORNPLANTER, HALF TOWN, AND BIG TREE, SENECA CHIEFS,

ON TAKING LEAVE OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON.

Father! No Seneca ever goes from the fire of his friend until he has said to him, "I am going." We, therefore, tell you, that we are now setting out for our own country.

Father! We thank you from our hearts, that we now know there is a country we may call our own, and on which we may lay down in peace. We see that there will be peace between your children and our children, and our hearts are very glad. We will persuade the Wyandotts, and other western nations, to open their eyes and look towards the bed which you have made for us, and to ask of you a bed for themselves and their children, that will not slide from under them. We thank you for your presents to us, and rely on your promise to instruct us in raising corn, as the white people do; the sooner you do this the better for us. And we thank you for the care you have taken to prevent bad men from coming to trade among us. If any come without your license we will turn them back; and we hope our nation will determine to spill all the rum which shall hereafter be brought to our towns.

Father! We are glad to hear that you determine to appoint an agent that will do us justice in taking care that bad men do not come to trade among us; but we earnestly entreat you that you will let us have an interpreter, in whom we can confide, to reside at Pittsburg. To that place our people, and other nations, will long continue to resort. There we must send what news we hear, when we go among the western nations, which we are determined shall be early in the spring. We know JOSEPH NICHOLSON, and he speaks our language so that we clearly understand what you say to us, and we rely on what he says. If we were able to pay him for his services we would do it, but when we meant to pay him, by giving him land, it has not been confirmed to him; and he will not serve us any longer, unless you will pay him. Let him stand between us we entreat you.

Father! You have not asked any security for peace on our part, but we have agreed to send you nine Seneca boys to be under your care for education. Tell us at what time you will receive them, and they shall be sent at the time you shall appoint. This will assure you that we are indeed at peace with you, and determined to continue so. If you can teach them to become wise and good men, we will take care that our nation shall be willing to receive instruction from them.

SPEECH OF CORNPLANTER,

TO PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 28, 1797.

Father! I thank the Great Spirit for protecting us through the various paths which we have trod since I was last at this place. As I am told you are about to retire from public business, I have come to pay my last address to you as the Great Chief of the Fifteen Fires, and am happy to find that I have arrived here in time to address you once more as father, and to advise with you on the business of our nation. You have always told us that the land which we live upon is our own and that we may make such use of it as we think most conducive to our own comfort, and the happiness of posterity.

Father! I wish, whilst I am able to do business, to provide for the rising generation. Our forefathers thought that their posterity would pursue their tracks, and support themselves by their hunts, as they did in the extensive forests given them by the Great Spirit, and by them transmitted to us. But the great revolution among the white people in this country has extended its influence to the people of my color. Turn our faces which way we will, we find the white people cultivating the ground which our forefathers hunted over, and the forests which furnished them with plenty, now afford but a scanty subsistence for us, and our young men are not safe in pursuing it. If a few years have made such a change, what will be the situation of our children when those calamities increase?

Father! To those points I wish to draw your attention, and once more to have your candid and friendly advice on what will be the best for the present race, and how we can best provide for posterity. Your people have a different mode of living from ours; they have trades and they have education, which enables them to take different pursuits, by which means they maintain themselves, provide for their children and help each other.

Father! I am also told that your people have a strong place for their money, where it is not only safe, but that it produces them each and every year an increase without lessening the stock. If we should dispose of part of our country and put our money with your's in that strong place, will it be safe? Will it yield to our children the same advantages after our heads are laid down as it will at present produce to us? Will it be out of the reach of our foolish young men, so that they cannot drink it up to the prejudice of our children?

Father! You know that some of our people are fond of strong drink, and I am sorry to observe that your people are too apt to lay that temptation before them.

Father! The last time I was here I mentioned to you that my mind was uneasy in regard to Mr. OLIVER PHELPS'S purchase, to which you desired me to make my mind easy, and said that you would inquire into the business. On my return I met Mr. PHELPS at Canandaigua, where he promised to give me a piece of land and to build me a house, and give me some cattle. With this I was satisfied, till I saw him again sometime after, when he, to my surprise, had almost forgotten it; but when I put him in mind of it, he gave me a horse and ten cattle, but refused the house and land because land had raised so much in value.

Father! To one thing more I wish your attention. When I was returning home the last time I was here, I was plundered by some of your unruly people of several things, amongst which was a paper, given me by General PARSONS, entitling me to one mile square of land at Muskingum, which I have never been able to recover, and without your friendly assistance must lose the land.[AD]

[AD] This is the land granted by the Ohio company referred to in Colonel SNOWDEN'S Historical Sketch. It thus appears that CORNPLANTER'S title papers for this land were stolen from him.

Father! I congratulate you on your intended repose from the fatigues and anxiety of mind which are constant attendants on high public stations, and hope that the same good Spirit which has so long guided your steps as a father to a great nation, will still continue to protect you, and make your private reflections as pleasant to yourself as your public measures have been useful to your people.

SPEECH OF CORNPLANTER,

TO THE GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, FEBRUARY, 1822.

I feel it my duty to send a speech to the Governor of Pennsylvania at this time, and inform him of the place where I was from, which was at Connewaugus, on the Genessee river.

When I was a child I played with the butterfly, the grasshopper and the frogs; and as I grew up, I began to pay some attention, and play with the Indian boys in the neighborhood, and they took notice of my skin being of a different color from theirs, and spoke about it. I inquired of my mother the cause, and she told me that my father was a residenter in Albany. I still eat my victuals out of a bark dish. I grew up to be a young man, and married me a wife, and I had no kettle nor gun. I then knew where my father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a white man, and spoke the English language. He gave me victuals while I was at his house, but when I started home, he gave me no provision to eat on the way. He gave me neither kettle nor gun, neither did he tell me that the United States were about to rebel against the government of England.

I will tell you, brothers, who are in session of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, that the Great Spirit has made known to me, that I have been wicked; and the cause thereof has been the Revolutionary war in America. The cause of the Indians being led into sin at that time, was that many of them were in the practice of drinking and getting intoxicated. Great Britain requested us to join with them in the conflict against the Americans, and promised the Indians land and liquor. I myself was opposed to joining in the conflict, as I had nothing to do with the difficulty that existed between the two parties. I have now informed you how it happened that the Indians took a part in the Revolution, and will relate to you some circumstances that occurred after the close of the war.

General PUTNAM, who was then at Philadelphia, told me there was to be a Council at Fort Stanwix; and the Indians requested me to attend on behalf of the Six Nations, which I did, and there met with three commissioners who had been appointed to hold the Council. They told me that they would inform me of the cause of the Revolution, which I requested them to do minutely. They then said that it originated on account of the heavy taxes, that had been imposed upon them by the British government, which had been for fifty years increasing upon them; that the Americans had grown weary thereof, and refused to pay, which affronted the King. There had likewise a difficulty taken place about some tea, which they wished me not to use, as it had been one of the causes that many people had lost their lives. And the British government now being affronted, the war commenced, and the cannons began to roar in our country.

General PUTNAM then told me at the Council at Fort Stanwix, that by the late war, the Americans had gained two objects: they had established themselves an independent nation, and had obtained some land to live upon, _the division line of which from Great Britain run through the Lakes_. I then spoke, and said I wanted some land for the Indians to live on, and General PUTNAM said that it should be granted, and I should have land in the State of New York for the Indians. He then encouraged me to use my endeavors to pacify the Indians generally, and as he considered it an arduous task, wished to know what pay I would require. I replied, that I would use my endeavors to do as he requested with the Indians, and for pay therefore, _I would take land_. _I told him not to pay me money or dry-goods, but land._ And having attended thereto, I received the tract of land on which I now live, which was presented to me by Governor MIFFLIN. I told General PUTNAM that I wished the Indians to have the exclusive privilege of the deer and wild game, to which he assented. I also wished the Indians to have the privilege of hunting in the woods and making fires, which he likewise assented to.

The treaty that was made at the aforementioned Council, has been broken by some of the white people, which I now intend acquainting the Governor with. Some white people are not willing that the Indians should hunt any more, whilst others are satisfied therewith; and those white people who reside near our reservation, tell us that the woods are theirs, and they have obtained them from the government. The treaty has also been broken, by the white people using their endeavors to destroy all wolves, which was not spoken about in the Council at Fort Stanwix, by General PUTNAM, but has originated lately.

It has been broken again, which is of recent origin. White people get credit from Indians, and do not pay them honestly according to agreement. In another respect, also, it has been broken by white people residing near my dwelling; for when I plant melons and vines in my field, they take them as their own. It has been broken again, by white people using their endeavors to obtain our pine trees from us. We have very few pine trees on our land in the State of New York, and whites and Indians often get into dispute respecting them. There is also a great quantity of whiskey brought near our reservation, and the Indians obtain it and become drunken.

Another circumstance has taken place which is very trying, to me, and I wish for the interference of the Governor. The white people who live at Warren, called upon me some time ago, to pay taxes for my land, which I objected to, as I never had been called upon for that purpose before; and having refused to pay, they became irritated, called upon me frequently, and at length brought four guns with them, and seized our cattle. I still refused to pay, and was not willing to let the cattle go. After a time of dispute, they returned home, and I understood the militia was ordered out to enforce the collection of the tax. I went to Warren, and to avert the impending difficulty, was obliged to give my note for the tax, the amount of which was forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents. It is my desire that the Governor will exempt me from paying taxes for my land to white people; and also to cause that the money I am now obliged to pay, be refunded to me, as I am very poor. The Governor is the person who attends to the situation of the people, and I wish him to send a person to Allegheny, that I may inform him of the particulars of our situation, and he be authorized to instruct the white people in what manner to conduct themselves towards the Indians.

The government has told us, that when difficulties arose between the Indians and the white people, they would attend to having them removed. We are now in a trying situation, and I wish the Governor to send a person authorized to attend thereto the forepart of next summer, about the time that the grass has grown big enough for pasture.

The Governor formerly requested me to pay attention to the Indians, and take care of them. We are now arrived at a situation in which I believe the Indians cannot exist, unless the Governor should comply with my request, and send a person authorized to treat between us and the white people the approaching summer. I have now no more to speak.

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Transcriber Note

All presumed typographical errors were corrected. Hyphenation of proper names was not standardized. On page 27, Sir WILLIAM JOHNSTON is the father of Sir JOHN JOHNSTON who is mentioned twice. The quotation beginning on page 60 lacked a closing quote which was placed based on an internet search of the document quoted.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Cornplanter Memorial, by James Ross Snowden