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you into trouble. The United States, will be true and faithful to their engagements.

Given under my hand and seal of the United
States, at Philadelphia, this twenty-ninth
day of December, in the year of our Lord
1790, and in the fifteenth year of the Sove-
reignty and Independence of the United
States.
G. WASHINGTON,

By the President,

T. JEFFERSON.

Enrolled in the Rolls-Office, for the State of Pennsylvania, in Commission Book No. 1, page 255, &c.

MATT. IRVIN.

To the President of the United States of America. The Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, Chiefs of the Seneca Nation.

Father,-Your speech written on the great paper, is to us like the first light of the morning to a sick man, whose pulse beats strongly in his temples, and prevents him from sleeping; he sees it and rejoices, but is not cured. You say you have spoken plainly on the great point; that you will protect us in our lands, secured to us at Fort Stanwix; and that we have the right to sell, or refuse to sell it. This is very good.

But our nation complain that you compelled us, at that treaty to give up too much of our lands. We confess, that our nation was bound by what was done there, and acknowledge your power. We have now appealed to yourselves against that treaty, as made while you were too angry at us, and therefore

unreasonable and unjust. To this you have given

us no answer.

Father, That treaty was not with a single state, it was with the Thirteen States; we should never have given all that land to one state. We know that it was before you had the great authority; and as you have more wisdom than the commissioners, who forced us into that treaty, we expect you have more regard to justice, and will now at our request reconsider the treaty, and restore to us part of that land.

Father, The land which lies between the line running south from the Lake Erie, to the boundary of Pennsylvania, as mentioned in the treaty at Fort Stanwix; and the eastern boundary of that land which you sold, and the Senecas confirmed to Pennsylvania, is the land on which Half Town and all his people live, with other chiefs, who always have been, and still are dissatisfied with the treaty at Fort Stanwix. They grew out of this land, and their fathers' fathers grew out of it, and they cannot be persuaded to part with it; we therefore entreat you to restore to us this little piece.

Father, Look at the land we gave to you at the treaty, and then cast your eyes upon what we now ask you to restore to us; and you will see that what we ask 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 lands continue to join ours. Every man of our nation will turn his eyes away from all the other lands, which we then gave up to you, and forget that our fathers even 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 willing it should remain to be yours. And if you

desire to reserve a passage, through the Connewaugo, and through the Chataughque Lake, and land for a path from that Lake to Lake Erie, take it where you like best. Our nation will rejoice to see it an open path for you and your children, while the land and water remain; but let us pass along the same way, and continue to take the fish in these waters in com mon with you.

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Father, You say 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 and when the separate states have bargained with us. They have by this means occasioned many wars, and we are unwilling to trust them again.

Father,-When we return home, we will call a great council, and consider well how land may be hereafter sold by our nation: and when we have agreed upon it, we will send you notice thereof; but we desire you will not depend on your agent for information concerning land.

Father, We will not hear lies concerning you; and we desire that you will not hear lies concerning us; and then we shall certainly live in peace with

you.

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

Father, We are ashamed that we have listened to L's lies, or been influenced with threats of war from P, and would hide that whole transaction from the world, and from ourselves, by quietly receiving from P- what he promised to give us for the lands they cheated us of. But as P

will not pay us even according to that fraudulent bargain, we must lay the whole proceedings before your courts. When the evidence which we can produce is heard, we think it will appear that the whole bargain was founded in lies, which he placed one upon another; that the goods which he charged to ns as part payment, were plundered from us; and that if Pwas not directly concerned in the theft, he knew of it at the time, and concealed it from us; and that the persons we confided in were bribed by him to deceive us in the bargain; and if these facts appear, that your courts will not say that such bargains are just, but set the whole aside.

Father,-We expect that our evidence might be called for, as P was here and knew what we had 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 desire that Allen may remain a few days longer, as he speaks our language.

Father, The blood that was spilt near Pine Creek is covered, and we shall never look where it lies. We know Pennsylvania will satisfy us for that which we speak of to them, before we speak to you. The chain of friendship will now, we hope, be made strong, as you desire it to be. We will hold it fast, and our end of it shall never rust in our hands. Father, We told you what advice we gave to the people you are now at war with; and we now tell you they have promised to come again next spring to our towns. We shall not wait for their coming, but set out very early in the season, and show them what you have done for us, which must convince

them that you will do for them every thing that they ought to ask. We think they will hear us, and follow our advice.

Father,-You gave us leave to speak our minds concerning tilling of the ground. We ask you to teach us to plough and grind corn, and supply us with broad-axes, saws, augers, and other tools, to assist us in building saw-mills, so that we may make our houses more comfortable and 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 weave. The manner of 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.

The President of the United States, his second Reply to the Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, Chiefs of the Seneca Nation of Indians.

Brothers, I have maturely considered your second written speech. You say your nation complain, that at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, you were compelled to give up too much of your lands; that you confess your nation is bound by what was then done, and acknowledging the power of the United States; that you have now appealed to ourselves against that treaty, as made while we were angry against you; and that the said treaty was therefore unreasonable and unjust. But while you complain of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1784, you seem entirely to for get, that you yourselves, Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, with others of your nation, confirmed by the treaty at Fort Harmar upon the Muskingum, so late as the 9th of January, 1789, the boundaries marked at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, and that in VOL. I.

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