Chapter XIII: Part IV: Indian Addresses (1)

I.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, June 1781.

_To Brother John Baptist de Coigne_:--

BROTHER JOHN BAPTIST DE COIGNE,--I am very much pleased with the visit you have made us, and particularly that it has happened when the wise men from all parts of our country were assembled together in council, and had an opportunity of hearing the friendly discourse you held to me. We are all sensible of your friendship, and of the services you have rendered, and I now, for my countrymen, return you thanks, and, most particularly, for your assistance to the garrison which was besieged by the hostile Indians. I hope it will please the great being above to continue you long in life, in health and in friendship to us; and that your son will afterwards succeed you in wisdom, in good disposition, and in power over your people. I consider the name you have given as particularly honorable to me, but I value it the more as it proves your attachment to my country. We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the same interests. I have carefully attended to the figures represented on the skins, and to their explanation, and shall always keep them hanging on the walls in remembrance of you and your nation. I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the pipe of peace; it is a good old custom handed down by your ancestors, and as such I respect and join in it with reverence. I hope we shall long continue to smoke in friendship together. You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation. Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little island beyond the great water, and, being distressed for land, they came and settled here. As long as we were young and weak, the English whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth to their country, to enrich them; and, not satisfied with this, they at length began to say we were their slaves, and should do whatever they ordered us. We were now grown up and felt ourselves strong, we knew we were free as they were, that we came here of our own accord and not at their biddance, and were determined to be free as long as we should exist. For this reason they made war on us. They have now waged that war six years, and have not yet won more land from us than will serve to bury the warriors they have lost. Your old father, the king of France, has joined us in the war, and done many good things for us. We are bound forever to love him, and wish you to love him, brother, because he is a good and true friend to us. The Spaniards have also joined us, and other powerful nations are now entering into the war to punish the robberies and violences the English have committed on them. The English stand alone, without a friend to support them, hated by all mankind because they are proud and unjust. This quarrel, when it first began, was a family quarrel between us and the English, who were then our brothers. We, therefore, did not wish you to engage in it at all. We are strong enough of ourselves without wasting your blood in fighting our battles. The English, knowing this, have been always suing to the Indians to help them fight. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet. We love and esteem you. We wish you to multiply and be strong. The English, on the other hand, wish to set you and us to cutting one another's throats, that when we are dead they may take all our land. It is better for you not to join in this quarrel, unless the English have killed any of your warriors or done you any other injury. If they have, you have a right to go to war with them, and revenge the injury, and we have none to restrain you. Any free nation has a right to punish those who have done them an injury. I say the same, brother, as to the Indians who treat you ill. While I advise you, like an affectionate friend, to avoid unnecessary war, I do not assume the right of restraining you from punishing your enemies. If the English have injured you, as they have injured the French and Spaniards, do like them and join us in the war. General Clarke will receive you and show you the way to their towns. But if they have not injured you, it is better for you to lie still and be quiet. This is the advice which has been always given by the great council of the Americans. We must give the same, because we are but one of thirteen nations, who have agreed to act and speak together. These nations keep a council of wise men always sitting together, and each of us separately follow their advice. They have the care of all the people and the lands between the Ohio and Mississippi, and will see that no wrong be committed on them. The French settled at Kaskaskias, St. Vincennes, and the Cohos, are subject to that council, and they will punish them if they do you any injury. If you will make known to me any just cause of complaint against them, I will represent it to the great council at Philadelphia, and have justice done you.

Our good friend, your father, the King of France, does not lay any claim to them. Their misconduct should not be imputed to him. He gave them up to the English the last war, and we have taken them from the English. The Americans alone have a right to maintain justice in all the lands on this side the Mississippi,--on the other side the Spaniards rule. You complain, brother, of the want of goods for the use of your people. We know that your wants are great, notwithstanding we have done everything in our power to supply them, and have often grieved for you. The path from hence to Kaskaskias is long and dangerous; goods cannot be carried to you in that way. New Orleans has been the only place from which we could get goods for you. We have bought a great deal there; but I am afraid not so much of them have come to you as we intended. Some of them have been sold of necessity to buy provisions for our posts. Some have been embezzled by our own drunken and roguish people. Some have been taken by the Indians and many by the English.

The Spaniards, having now taken all the English posts on the Mississippi, have opened that channel free for our commerce, and we are in hopes of getting goods for you from them. I will not boast to you, brother, as the English do, nor promise more than we shall be able to fulfil. I will tell you honestly, what indeed your own good sense will tell you, that a nation at war cannot buy so many goods as when in peace. We do not make so many things to send over the great waters to buy goods, as we made and shall make again in time of peace. When we buy those goods, the English take many of them, as they are coming to us over the great water. What we get in safe, are to be divided among many, because we have a great many soldiers, whom we must clothe. The remainder we send to our brothers the Indians, and in going, a great deal of it is stolen or lost. These are the plain reasons why you cannot get so much from us in war as in peace. But peace is not far off. The English cannot hold out long, because all the world is against them. When that takes place, brother, there will not be an Englishman left on this side the great water. What will those foolish nations then do, who have made us their enemies, sided with the English, and laughed at you for not being as wicked as themselves? They are clothed for a day, and will be naked forever after; while you, who have submitted to short inconvenience, will be well supplied through the rest of your lives. Their friends will be gone and their enemies left behind; but your friends will be here, and will make you strong against all your enemies. For the present you shall have a share of what little goods we can get. We will order some immediately up the Mississippi for you and for us. If they be little, you will submit to suffer a little as your brothers do for a short time. And when we shall have beaten our enemies and forced them to make peace, we will share more plentifully. General Clarke will furnish you with ammunition to serve till we can get some from New Orleans. I must recommend to you particular attention to him. He is our great, good, and trusty warrior; and we have put everything under his care beyond the Alleghanies. He will advise you in all difficulties, and redress your wrongs. Do what he tells you, and you will be sure to do right. You ask us to send schoolmasters to educate your son and the sons of your people. We desire above all things, brother, to instruct you in whatever we know ourselves. We wish to learn you all our arts and to make you wise and wealthy. As soon as there is peace we shall be able to send you the best of schoolmasters; but while the war is raging, I am afraid it will not be practicable. It shall be done, however, before your son is of an age to receive instruction.

This, brother, is what I had to say to you. Repeat it from me to all your people, and to our friends, the Kickapous, Piorias, Piankeshaws and Wyattanons. I will give you a commission to show them how much we esteem you. Hold fast the chain of friendship which binds us together, keep it bright as the sun, and let them, you and us, live together in perpetual love.

II.

_Speeches of John Baptist de Coigne, Chief of the Wabash and Illinois Indians, and other Indian Chiefs._

Thomas Jefferson has the honor to send to the President the speech of De Coigne, written at length from his notes very exactly. He thinks he can assure the President that not a sentiment delivered by the French interpreter is omitted, nor a single one inserted which was not expressed. It differs often from what the English interpreter delivered, because he varied much from the other, who alone was regarded by Thomas Jefferson.

February 1, 1793. The President having addressed the chiefs
of the Wabash and Illinois Indians, John Baptist De Coigne,
chief of Kaskaskia, spoke as follows:--

FATHER,--I am about to open to you my heart. I salute first the Great Spirit, the Master of life, and then you.

I present you a black pipe on the death of chiefs who have come here and died in your bed. It is the calumet of the dead--take it and smoke it in remembrance of them. The dead pray you to listen to the living, and to be their friends. They are gone, we cannot recall them. Let us then be contented; for, as you have said, to-morrow, perhaps, it may be our turn. Take then their pipe, and as I have spoken for the dead, let me now address you for the living. [He delivered the black pipe.]

[Here Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw chief, came forward and carried round a white pipe, from which every one smoked.]

John Baptist De Coigne spoke again:

_Father_,--The sky is now cleared. I am about to open my heart to you again. I do it in the presence of the Great Spirit, and I pray you to attend.

You have heard the words of our father, General Putnam. We opened our hearts to him, we made peace with him, and he has told you what we said.

This pipe is white, I pray you to consider it as of the Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, and the people of Eel river. The English at Detroit are very jealous of our father. I have used my best endeavors to keep all the red men in friendship with you, but they have drawn over the one-half, while I have kept the other. Be friendly then to those I have kept.

I have long known you, General Washington, the Congress, Jefferson, Sinclair. I have labored constantly for you to preserve peace.

You see your children on this side, [pointing to the friends of the dead chief,] they are now orphans. Take care, then, of the orphans of our dead friends.

_Father_,--Your people of Kentucky are like mosquitos, and try to destroy the red men. The red men are like mosquitos also, and try to injure the people of Kentucky. But I look to you as to a good being. Order your people to be just. They are always trying to get our lands. They come on our lands, they hunt on them; kill our game, and kill us. Keep them then on one side of the line, and us on the other. Listen, father, to what we say, and protect the nations of the Wabash and Mississippi in their lands.

The English have often spoken to me, but I shut my ears to them. I despise their money, it is nothing to me. I am attached to my lands. I love to eat in tranquillity, and not like a bird on a bough.

The Piankeshaws, Wyattanons, Wiaws, and all the Indians of the Mississippi and Wabash, pray you to open your heart and ears to them, and as you befriend them, to give them Captain Prior for their father. We love him, men, women, and children of us. He has always been friendly to us, always taken care of us, and you cannot give us a better proof of your friendship than in leaving him with us.

[Here Three-Legs handed round the white pipe to be smoked.] De Coigne, then, taking a third pipe, proceeded:

This pipe, my father, is sent you by the great chief of all the Wiaws, called Crooked-Legs. He is old, infirm, and cannot walk, therefore is not come. But he prays you to be his friend, and to take care of his people. He tells you there are many red people jealous of you, but you need not fear them. If he could have walked he would have come; but he is old and sick, and cannot walk. The English have a sugar mouth, but Crooked-Legs would never listen to them. They threatened us to send the red men to cut off him and his people, and they sent the red men who threatened to do it, unless he would join the English. But he would not join them.

The chiefs of the Wabash, father, pray you to listen. They send you this pipe from afar. Keep your children quiet at the Falls of Ohio. We know you are the head of all. We appeal to you. Keep the Americans on one side of the Ohio, from the falls downwards, and us on the other; that we may have something to live on according to your agreement in the treaty which you have. And do not take from the French the lands we have given them.

Old Crooked-Legs sends you this pipe, [here he presented it,] and he prays you to send him Captain Prior for his father, for he is old, and you ought to do this for him.

_Father_,--I pray you to listen. So far I have spoken for others, and now will speak for myself. I am of Kaskaskia, and have always been a good American from my youth upwards. Yet the Kentuckians take my lands, eat my stock, steal my horses, kill my game, and abuse our persons. I come far with all these people. My nation is not numerous. No people can fight against you father, but the Great God himself. All the red men together cannot do it; but have pity on us. I am now old. Do not let the Kentuckians take my lands nor injure me, but give me a line to them to let me alone.

_Father_,--The Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, Piorias, Powtewatamies, Mosquitoes, Kaskaskias, have now made a road to you. It is broad and white. Take care of it then, and keep it open.

_Father_,--You are powerful. You said you would wipe away our tears. We thank you for this. Be firm, and take care of your children.

The hatchet has been long buried. I have been always for peace. I have done what I could, given all the money I had to procure it.

The half of my heart, father, is black. I brought the Piorias to you. Half of them are dead. I fear they will say it was my fault; but, father, I look upon you, my heart is white again, and I smile.

The Shawanese, the Delawares, and the English, are always persuading us to take up the hatchet against you, but I have been always deaf to their words. [Here he gave a belt.]

Great Joseph who came with us is dead. Have compassion on his niece, his son-in-law, and his chiefs, [pointing to them.] It is a dead man who speaks to you, father; accept, therefore, these black beads. [Here he presented several strands of dark colored beads.] I have now seen General Washington, I salute and regard him next after the Great Spirit.

Como, a Powtewatamy chief, then said, that as the President had already been long detained, and the hour was advanced, he would resume what he had to say at another day.

Shawas, the Little Doe, a Kickapou chief, though very sick, had attended the conference, and now carried the pipe round to be smoked. He then addressed the President.

_Father_,--I am still very ill, and unable to speak. I am a Kickapou, and drink of the waters of the Wabash and Mississippi. I have been to the Wabash and treatied with General Putnam, and I came not to do ill, but to make peace. Send to us Captain Prior to be our father, and no other. He possesses all our love.

_Father_,--I am too ill to speak. You will not forget what the others have said.

_February 2._--The day being cloudy, the Indians did not choose to meet.

_February 4._--The morning was cloudy, they gave notice that if it should clear up they would attend at the President's at 2 o'clock. Accordingly, the clouds having broke away about noon, they attended a little after 2, except Shawas and another, who were sick, and one woman.

Como, a Powtewatamy chief, spoke.

_Father_,--I am opening my heart to speak to you, open yours to receive my words. I first address you from a dead chief, who when he was about to die, called us up to him and charged us never to part with our lands. So I have done for you, my children, and so do you for yours. For what have we come so far? Not to ruin our nation, nor yet that we might carry goods home to our women and children; but to procure them lasting good, to open a road between them and the whites, solicit our father to send Captain Prior to us. He has taken good care of us, and we all love him.

Now, Father, I address you for our young people, but there remains not much to say, for I spoke to you through General Putnam, and you have what I said on paper. I have buried the hatchet forever, so must your children. I speak the truth, and you must believe me. We all pray you to send Captain Prior to us, because he has been so very kind to us all. [Here he delivered strands of dark colored beads.]

_Father_,--Hear me and believe me. I speak the truth, and from my heart; receive my words then into yours. I am come from afar for the good of my women and children, for their present and future good. When I was at home in the midst of them, my heart sunk within me, I saw no hope for them. The heavens were gloomy and lowering, and I could not tell why. But General Putnam spoke to us, and called us together. I rejoiced to hear him, and determined immediately to come and see my father. Father, I am happy to see you. The heavens have cleared away, the day is bright, and I rejoice to hear your voice. These beads [holding up a bundle of white strands] are a road between us. Take you hold at one end, I will at the other, and hold it fast. I will visit this road every day, and sweep it clean. If any blood be on it, I will cover it up; if stumps, I will cut them out. Should your children and mine meet in this road they shall shake hands and be good friends. Some of the Indians who belong to the English will be trying to sow harm between us, but we must be on our guard and prevent it.

_Father_,--I love the land on which I was born, the trees which cover it, and the grass growing on it. It feeds us well. I am not come here to ask gifts. I am young, and by hunting on my own land, can kill what I want and feed my women and children in plenty. I come not to beg. But if any of your traders would wish to come among us, let them come. For who will hurt them? Nobody, I will be there before them.

_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart. I will never forget you; do not you forget me.

[Here he delivered the bundle of white strands.]

The Little Beaver, a Wyattanon, on the behalf of Crooked-Legs, handed round the pipe, and then spoke.

_Father_,--Listen now to me as you have done to others. I am not a very great chief; I am a chief of war, and leader of the young people.

_Father_,--I wished much to hear you; you have spoken comfort to us, and I am happy to have heard it. The sun has shone out, and all is well. This makes us think it was the Great Spirit speaking truth through you. Do then what you have said, restrain your people if they do wrong, as we will ours if they do wrong.

_Father_,--We gave to our friend (Prior) who came with us, our name of Wyattanon, and he gave us his name of American. We are now Americans, give him then unto us as a father. He has loved us and taken care of us. He had pity on our women and children, and fed them. Do not forget to grant us this request. You told us to live in quiet, and to do right. We will do what you desire, and let Prior come to us.

Now that we have come so far to hear you, write a line to your people to keep the river open between us, that we may go down in safety, and that our women and children may work in peace. When I go back, I will bear to them good tidings, and our young men will no longer hunt in fear for the support of our women and children.

_Father_,--All of us who have heard you are made happy, all are in the same sentiment with me, all are satisfied. Be assured that, when we return, the Indians and Americans will be one people, will hunt, and play, and laugh together. For me, I never will depart one step from Prior. We are come from afar to make a stable peace, to look forward to our future good. Do not refuse what we solicit, we will never forget you.

Here I will cease. The father of life might otherwise think I babbled too much, and so might you. I finish then, in giving you this pipe. It is my own, and from myself alone. I am but a warrior. I give it to you to smoke in. Let its fumes ascend to the Great Spirit in heaven.

[He delivered the pipe to the President.]

The wife of the soldier, a Wyattanon, speaks:

_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart because you have spoken comfort to us. I am but a woman, yet you must listen.

The village chiefs, and chiefs of war, have opened their bodies and laid naked their hearts to you. Let them too see your heart and listen to them.

We have come, men and women, from afar to beseech you to let no one take our lands. That is one of our children, [pointing to General Putnam.] It was he who persuaded us to come. We thought he spoke the truth, we came, and we hope that good will come of it.

_Father_,--We know you are strong, have pity on us. Be firm in your words. They have given us courage. The father of life has opened our hearts on both sides for good.

He who was to have spoken to you is dead, Great Joseph. If he had lived you would have heard a good man, and good words flowing from his mouth. He was my uncle, and it has fallen to me to speak for him. But I am ignorant. Excuse, then, these words, it is but a woman who speaks.

[She delivers white strands.]

Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw spoke.

I speak for a young chief whom I have lost here. He came to speak to you, father, but he had not that happiness. He died. I am not a village chief, but only a chief of war.

We are come to seek all our good, and to be firm in it. If our father is firm, we will be so. It was a dark and gloomy day in which I lost my young chief. The master of life saw that he was good, and called him to himself. We must submit to his will. [He gave a black strand.] I pray you all who are present to say, as one man, that our peace is firm, and to let it be firm. Listen to us if you love us. We live on the river on one side, and shall be happy to see Captain Prior on the other, and to have a lasting peace. Here is our father Putnam. He heard me speak at Au Porte. If I am false let him say so.

My land is but small. If any more be taken from us, I will come again to you and complain, for we shall not be able to live. Have pity on us father. You have many red children there, and they have little whereon to live. Leave them land enough to labor, to hunt, and to live on, and the lands which we have given to the French, let them be to them forever.

_Father_,--We are very poor, we have traders among us, but they will sell too dear. We have not the means of supplying our wants at such prices. Encourage your traders then to come, and to bring us guns, powder, and other necessaries, and send Captain Prior also to us.

[He gave a string of white beads.] De Coigne spoke:

Jefferson, I have seen you before, and we have spoken together. Sinclair, we have opened our hearts to one another. Putnam, we did the same at Au Porte.

_Father_,--You have heard these three speak of me, and you know my character. The times are gloomy in my town. We have no commander, no soldier, no priest. Have you no concern for us, father? If you have, put a magistrate with us to keep the peace. I cannot live so. I am of French blood. When there are no priests among us we think that all is not well. When I was small we had priests, now that I am old we have none; am I to forget, then, how to pray? Have pity on me and grant what I ask. I have spoken on your behalf to all the nations. I am a friend to all, and hurt none. For what are we on this earth? But as a small and tender plant of corn; even as nothing. God has made this earth for you as well as for us; we are then but as one family, and if any one strikes you, it is as if he had struck us. If any nation strikes you, father, we will let you know what nation it is.

_Father_,--We fear the Kentuckians. They are headstrong, and do us great wrong. They are not content to come on our lands, to hunt on them, to steal and destroy our stocks, as the Shawanese and Delawares do, but they go further, and abuse our persons. Forbid them to do so. Sinclair, you know that the Shawanese and Delawares came from the Spanish side of the river, destroyed our corn, and killed our cattle. We cannot live if things go so.

_Father_,--You are rich, you have all things at command, you want for nothing, you promised to wipe away our tears. I commend our women and children to your care.

[He gave strands of white beads.]

The President then assured them that he would take in consideration what they had said, and would give them an answer on another day; whereupon the conference ended for the present.

III.

January 7, 1802.

_Brothers and friends of the Miamis, Powtewatamies, and Weeauks:--_

I receive with great satisfaction the visit you have been so kind as to make us at this place, and I thank the Great Spirit who has conducted you to us in health and safety. It is well that friends should sometimes meet, open their minds mutually, and renew the chain of affection. Made by the same Great Spirit, and living in the same land with our brothers, the red men, we consider ourselves as of the same family; we wish to live with them as one people, and to cherish their interests as our own. The evils which of necessity encompass the life of man are sufficiently numerous. Why should we add to them by voluntarily distressing and destroying one another? Peace, brothers, is better than war. In a long and bloody war, we lose many friends, and gain nothing. Let us then live in peace and friendship together, doing to each other all the good we can. The wise and good on both sides desire this, and we must take care that the foolish and wicked among us shall not prevent it. On our part, we shall endeavor in all things to be just and generous towards you, and to aid you in meeting those difficulties which a change of circumstances is bringing on. We shall, with great pleasure, see your people become disposed to cultivate the earth, to raise herds of the useful animals, and to spin and weave, for their food and clothing. These resources are certain; they will never disappoint you: while those of hunting may fail, and expose your women and children to the miseries of hunger and cold. We will with pleasure furnish you with implements for the most necessary arts, and with persons who may instruct you how to make and use them.

I consider it as fortunate that you have made your visit at this time, when our wise men from the sixteen States are collected together in council, who being equally disposed to befriend you, can strengthen our hands in the good we all wish to render you.

The several matters you opened to us in your speech the other day, and those on which you have since conversed with the Secretary of War, have been duly considered by us. He will now deliver answers, and you are to consider what he says, as if said by myself, and that what we promise we shall faithfully perform.

IV.

February 10, 1802.

_Brothers of the Delaware and Shawanee nations_:--

I thank the Great Spirit that he has conducted you hither in health and safety, and that we have an opportunity of renewing our amity, and of holding friendly conference together. It is a circumstance of great satisfaction to us that we are in peace and good understanding with all our red brethren, and that we discover in them the same disposition to continue so which we feel ourselves. It is our earnest desire to merit, and possess their affections, by rendering them strict justice, prohibiting injury from others, aiding their endeavors to learn the culture of the earth, and to raise useful animals, and befriending them as good neighbors, and in every other way in our power. By mutual endeavors to do good to each other, the happiness of both will be better promoted than by efforts of mutual destruction. We are all created by the same Great Spirit; children of the same family. Why should we not live then as brothers ought to do?

I am peculiarly gratified by receiving the visit of some of your most ancient and greatest warriors, of whom I have heard much good. It is a long journey which they have taken at their age, and in this season, and I consider it as a proof that their affections for us are sincere and strong. I hope that the young men, who have come with them, to make acquaintance with us, judging our dispositions towards them by what they see themselves, and not what they may hear from others, will go hand in hand with us, through life, in the cultivation of mutual peace, friendship, and good offices.

The speech which the Blackhoof delivered us, in behalf of your nation, has been duly considered. The answer to all its particulars will now be delivered you by the Secretary of War. Whatever he shall say, you may consider as if said by myself, and that what he promises our nation will perform.

V.

WASHINGTON, November 3, 1802.

_To Brother Handsome Lake_:--

I have received the message in writing which you sent me through Captain Irvine, our confidential agent, placed near you for the purpose of communicating and transacting between us, whatever may be useful for both nations. I am happy to learn you have been so far favored by the Divine spirit as to be made sensible of those things which are for your good and that of your people, and of those which are hurtful to you; and particularly that you and they see the ruinous effects which the abuse of spirituous liquors have produced upon them. It has weakened their bodies, enervated their minds, exposed them to hunger, cold, nakedness, and poverty, kept them in perpetual broils, and reduced their population. I do not wonder then, brother, at your censures, not only on your own people, who have voluntarily gone into these fatal habits, but on all the nations of white people who have supplied their calls for this article. But these nations have done to you only what they do among themselves. They have sold what individuals wish to buy, leaving to every one to be the guardian of his own health and happiness. Spirituous liquors are not in themselves bad, they are often found to be an excellent medicine for the sick; it is the improper and intemperate use of them, by those in health, which makes them injurious. But as you find that your people cannot refrain from an ill use of them, I greatly applaud your resolution not to use them at all. We have too affectionate a concern for your happiness to place the paltry gain on the sale of these articles in competition with the injury they do you. And as it is the desire of your nation, that no spirits should be sent among them, I am authorized by the great council of the United States to prohibit them. I will sincerely coöperate with your wise men in any proper measures for this purpose, which shall be agreeable to them.

You remind me, brother, of what I said to you, when you visited me the last winter, that the lands you then held would remain yours, and shall never go from you but when you should be disposed to sell. This I now repeat, and will ever abide by. We, indeed, are always ready to buy land; but we will never ask but when you wish to sell; and our laws, in order to protect you against imposition, have forbidden individuals to purchase lands from you; and have rendered it necessary, when you desire to sell, even to a State, that an agent from the United States should attend the sale, see that your consent is freely given, a satisfactory price paid, and report to us what has been done, for our approbation. This was done in the late case of which you complain. The deputies of your nation came forward, in all the forms which we have been used to consider as evidence of the will of your nation. They proposed to sell to the State of New York certain parcels of land, of small extent, and detached from the body of your other lands; the State of New York was desirous to buy. I sent an agent, in whom we could trust, to see that your consent was free, and the sale fair. All was reported to be free and fair. The lands were your property. The right to sell is one of the rights of property. To forbid you the exercise of that right would be a wrong to your nation. Nor do I think, brother, that the sale of lands is, under all circumstances, injurious to your people. While they depended on hunting, the more extensive the forest around them, the more game they would yield. But going into a state of agriculture, it may be as advantageous to a society, as it is to an individual, who has more land than he can improve, to sell a part, and lay out the money in stocks and implements of agriculture, for the better improvement of the residue. A little land well stocked and improved, will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement. I hope, therefore, that on further reflection, you will see this transaction in a more favorable light, both as it concerns the interest of your nation, and the exercise of that superintending care which I am sincerely anxious to employ for their subsistence and happiness. Go on then, brother, in the great reformation you have undertaken. Persuade our red brethren then to be sober, and to cultivate their lands; and their women to spin and weave for their families. You will soon see your women and children well fed and clothed, your men living happily in peace and plenty, and your numbers increasing from year to year. It will be a great glory to you to have been the instrument of so happy a change, and your children's children, from generation to generation, will repeat your name with love and gratitude forever. In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may count with confidence on the aid and protection of the United States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren should do. Farewell.

VI.

January 8, 1803.

_Brothers Miamis and Delawares_:--

I am happy to see you here, to take you by the hand, and to renew the assurances of our friendship. The journey which you have taken is long; but it leads to a right understanding of what either of us may have misunderstood; it will be useful for all. For, living in the same land, it is best for us all that we should live together in peace, friendship, and good neighborhood.

I have taken into serious consideration the several subjects on which you spoke to me the other day, and will now proceed to answer them severally.

You know, brothers, that, in ancient times, your former fathers the French settled at Vincennes, and lived and traded with your ancestors, and that those ancestors ceded to the French a tract of country, on the Wabash river, seventy leagues broad, and extending in length from Point Coupee to the mouth of White river. The French, at the close of a war between them and the English, ceded this country to the English; who, at the close of a war between them and us, ceded it to us. The remembrance of these transactions is well preserved among the white people; they have been acknowledged in a deed signed by your fathers; and you also, we suppose, must have heard it from them. Sincerely desirous to live in peace and brotherhood with you, and that the hatchet of war may never again be lifted, we thought it prudent to remove from between us whatever might at any time produce misunderstanding. The unmarked state of our boundaries, and mutual trespasses on each others' lands, for want of their being known to all our people, have at times threatened our peace. We therefore instructed Governor Harrison to call a meeting of the chiefs of all the Indian nations around Vincennes, and to propose that we should settle and mark the boundary between us. The chiefs of these nations met. They appeared to think hard that we should claim the whole of what their ancestors had ceded and sold to the white men, and proposed to mark off for us from Point Coupee to the mouth of White river, a breadth of twenty-four leagues only, instead of seventy. His offer was a little more than a third of our right. But the desire of being in peace and friendship with you, and of doing nothing which should distress you, prevailed in our minds, and we agreed to it. This was the act of the several nations, original owners of the soil, and by men duly authorized by the body of those nations. You, brothers, seem not to have been satisfied with it. But it is a rule in all countries that what is done by the body of a nation must be submitted to by all its members. We have no right to alter, on a partial deputation, what we have settled by treaty with the body of the nations concerned. The lines too, which are agreed on, are to be run and marked in the presence of your chiefs, who will see that they are fairly run. Your nations were so sensible of the moderation of our conduct towards them, that they voluntarily offered to lend us forever the salt springs, and four miles square of land near the mouth of the Wabash, without price. But we wish nothing without price. And we propose to make a reasonable addition to the annuity we pay to the owners.

You complain that our people buy your lands individually, and settle and hunt on them without leave. To convince you of the care we have taken to guard you against the injuries and arts of interested individuals, I now will give you a copy of a law, of our great council the Congress, forbidding individuals to buy lands from you, or to settle or hunt on your lands; and making them liable to severe punishment. And if you will at any time seize such individuals, and deliver them to any officer of the United States, they will be punished according to law.

We have long been sensible, brothers, of the great injury you receive from an immoderate use of spirituous liquors; and although it be profitable to us to make and sell these liquors, yet we value more the preservation of your health and happiness. Heretofore we apprehended you would be displeased, were we to withhold them from you. But leaving it to be your desire, we have taken measures to prevent their being carried into your country; and we sincerely rejoice at this proof of your wisdom. Instead of spending the produce of your hunting in purchasing this pernicious drink, which produces poverty, broils and murders, it will now be employed in procuring food and clothing for your families, and increasing instead of diminishing your numbers.

You have proposed, brothers, that we should deduct from your next year's annuity, the expenses of your journey here; but this would be an exactness we do not practise with our red brethren. We will bear with satisfaction the expenses of your journey, and of whatever is necessary for your personal comfort; and will not, by deducting them, lessen the amount of the necessaries which your women and children are to receive the next year.

From the same good will towards you, we shall be pleased to see you making progress in raising stock and grain, and making clothes for yourselves. A little labor in this way, performed at home and at ease, will go further towards feeding and clothing you, than a great deal of labor in hunting wild beasts.

In answer to your request of a smith to be stationed in some place convenient to you, I can inform you that Mr. Wells, our agent, is authorized to make such establishments, and also to furnish you with implements of husbandry and manufacture, whenever you shall be determined to use them. The particulars on this subject, as well as of some others mentioned in your speech, and in the written speech you brought me from Buckangalah and others, will be communicated and settled with you by the Secretary at War. And I shall pray you in your return, to be the bearers to your countrymen and friends of assurances of my sincere friendship, and that our nation wishes to befriend them in everything useful, and to protect them against all injuries committed by lawless persons from among our citizens, either on their lands, their lives or their property.

VII.

December 17, 1803.

_Brothers of the Choctaw nation_:--

We have long heard of your nation as a numerous, peaceable, and friendly people; but this is the first visit we have had from its great men at the seat of our government. I welcome you here; am glad to take you by the hand, and to assure you, for your nation, that we are their friends. Born in the same land, we ought to live as brothers, doing to each other all the good we can, and not listening to wicked men, who may endeavor to make us enemies. By living in peace, we can help and prosper one another; by waging war, we can kill and destroy many on both sides; but those who survive will not be the happier for that. Then, brothers, let it forever be peace and good neighborhood between us. Our seventeen States compose a great and growing nation. Their children are as the leaves of the trees, which the winds are spreading over the forest. But we are just also. We take from no nation what belongs to it. Our growing numbers make us always willing to buy lands from our red brethren, when they are willing to sell. But be assured we never mean to disturb them in their possessions. On the contrary, the lines established between us by mutual consent, shall be sacredly preserved, and will protect your lands from all encroachments by our own people or any others. We will give you a copy of the law, made by our great Council, for punishing our people, who may encroach on your lands, or injure you otherwise. Carry it with you to your homes, and preserve it, as the shield which we spread over you, to protect your land, your property and persons.

It is at the request which you sent me in September, signed by Puckshanublee and other chiefs, and which you now repeat, that I listen to your proposition, to sell us lands. You say you owe a great debt to your merchants, that you have nothing to pay it with but lands, and you pray us to take lands, and pay your debt. The sum you have occasion for, brothers, is a very great one. We have never yet paid as much to any of our red brethren for the purchase of lands. You propose to us some on the Tombigbee, and some on the Mississippi. Those on the Mississippi suit us well. We wish to have establishments on that river, as resting places for our boats, to furnish them provisions, and to receive our people who fall sick on the way to or from New Orleans, which is now ours. In that quarter, therefore, we are willing to purchase as much as you will spare. But as to the manner in which the line shall be run, we are not judges of it here, nor qualified to make any bargain. But we will appoint persons hereafter to treat with you on the spot, who, knowing the country and quality of the lands, will be better able to agree with you on a line which will give us a just equivalent for the sum of money you want paid.

You have spoken, brothers, of the lands which your fathers formerly sold and marked off to the English, and which they ceded to us with the rest of the country they held here; and you say that, though you do not know whether your fathers were paid for them, you have marked the line over again for us, and do not ask repayment. It has always been the custom, brothers, when lands were bought of the red men, to pay for them immediately, and none of us have ever seen an example of such a debt remaining unpaid. It is to satisfy their immediate wants that the red men have usually sold lands; and in such a case, they would not let the debt be unpaid. The presumption from custom then is strong; so it is also from the great length of time since your fathers sold these lands. But we have, moreover, been informed by persons now living, and who assisted the English in making the purchase, that the price was paid at the time. Were it otherwise, as it was their contract, it would be their debt, not ours.

I rejoice, brothers, to hear you propose to become cultivators of the earth for the maintenance of your families. Be assured you will support them better and with less labor, by raising stock and bread, and by spinning and weaving clothes, than by hunting. A little land cultivated, and a little labor, will procure more provisions than the most successful hunt; and a woman will clothe more by spinning and weaving, than a man by hunting. Compared with you, we are but as of yesterday in this land. Yet see how much more we have multiplied by industry, and the exercise of that reason which you possess in common with us. Follow then our example, brethren, and we will aid you with great pleasure.

The clothes and other necessaries which we sent you the last year, were, as you supposed, a present from us. We never meant to ask land or any other payment for them; and the store which we sent on, was at your request also; and to accommodate you with necessaries at a reasonable price, you wished of course to have it on your land; but the land would continue yours, not ours.

As to the removal of the store, the interpreter, and the agent, and any other matters you may wish to speak about, the Secretary at War will enter into explanations with you, and whatever he says, you may consider as said by myself, and what he promises you will be faithfully performed.

I am glad, brothers, you are willing to go and visit some other parts of our country. Carriages shall be ready to convey you, and you shall be taken care of on your journey; and when you shall have returned here and rested yourselves to your own mind, you shall be sent home by land. We had provided for your coming by land, and were sorry for the mistake which carried you to Savannah instead of Augusta, and exposed you to the risks of a voyage by sea. Had any accident happened to you, though we could not help it, it would have been a cause of great mourning to us. But we thank the Great Spirit who took care of you on the ocean, and brought you safe and in good health to the seat of our great Council; and we hope His care will accompany and protect you, on your journey and return home; and that He will preserve and prosper your nation in all its just pursuits.

VIII.

_My Children, White-hairs, Chiefs, and Warriors of the Osage Nation_:--