Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

inds, but no other persons can. You may retain them as long as you please, and you may sell them to Ogden as soon as you please. You are the owners of these lands in the same way that your brethren, the Oneidas, are of their reservations. They are all that is left of what the Great Spirit gave to your ancestors. No man shall deprive you of them, without your consent. This state will protect you in the full enjoyment of your property. We are strong-we are willing to shield you from oppression. The Great Spirit looks down on the conduct of mankind, and will punish us, if we permit the remnant of the Indian nations, which is with us, to be injured. We feel for you, brethren: we shall watch over your interests; we know that in a future world we shall be called upon to answer for our conduct to our fellow

creatures.

I am pleased to hear of your attention to agriculture, education, and religion. Without agriculture, you will suffer for want of food or clothing: without education, you will be in a state of mental darkness : and without religion, you cannot expect happiness in this world nor in the world to come.

Brethren,-Your suggestions about the appointment of an attorney, to guard you against the intrusions and trespasses of the whites; about the free passage of the Indians over the ferry at Black Rock; about the ferriage on your side of Cattaraugus reservation; and about the erection of a house of worship and education, will be transmitted to the great council, who will, I am persuaded, grant these requests.

Brethren, I recommend to you to refrain from those vices which have nearly exterminated all our red brethren. Cultivate sobriety aud justice, and may the Great Spirit look down upon you with eyes of mercy!

Albany, 9th February, 1820.

DE WITT CLINTON.

I know not what effect the succeeding document may have on my readers, but to me it is deeply affecting; and furnishes a triumphant proof of the genius of these extraordinary people for eloquence. · It is worthy of remark that the interpreter himself was unable to write, though a better evidence than this of the genuineness of the memorial, as proceeding from the unprompted Indians, may, I think, be found in the character of the language. The style is primitive; the short sentences teem with power; a serene majesty is spread over the entire composition; and the pathos searches and melts the very soul. It bears à considerable resemblance, in my opinion, to the inspired writings, and could not have been supplied to the Indians by any white scribe; nor could its peculiar characteristics have been superinduced by the art of the translator. At least such is my belief.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY DE WITT CLINTON, Esq. Go-
VERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK,
FEB. 14, 1818.

Father, We learn from your talk delivered at the great council fire in Albany, your opinion of the condition and prospects of your red children.

Father, We feel that the hand of our God has long been heavy on his red children. For our sins he has brought us low, and caused us to melt away before our white brothers, as snow before the firé. His ways are perfect; he regardeth not the complexion of man. God is terrible in judgment. All men ought to fear before him. He putteth down and buildeth up, and none can resist him.

Father, The Lord of the whole earth is strong; this is our confidence. He hath power to build up Will he keep his anger för destruction the workman

as well as to pull down. ever? Will he pursue to ship of his own hand, and strike off a race of men

from the earth, whom his care hath so long preserved through so many perils?

Father,-We thank you that you feel so anxious to do all you can to the perishing ruins of your red children. We hope, Father, you will make a fence strong and high around us, that wicked white men may not devour us at once, but let us live as long as we can. We are persuaded you will do this for us, because our field is laid waste and trodden down by every beast; we are feeble and cannot resist them.

Father,―We are persuaded you will do this for the sake of our white brothers, lest God, who has appeared so strong in building up white men, and pulling down Indians, should turn his hand and visit our white brothers for their sins, and call them to an account for all the wrongs they have done, and all the wrongs they have not prevented that was in their power to prevent, to their poor red brothers who have no helper.

Father,-Would you be the father of your people, and make them good and blessed of God, and happy, let not the cries of your injured red children ascend into his ears against you.

Father, We desire to let you know that wrong information hath reached your ears. Our western brothers have given us no land. You will learn all our mind on this subject, by a talk which we sent our Great Father, the President of the United States. We send it to you, that you may see it and learn our

mind.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Wheel Barrow, his mark,

Captain Cole, his
Big Kettle, his

mark,

mark.

Done at the great council fire, Seneca Village, near Buffalo, 14th Feb. 1818.

HARRY YORK, Interpreter, his mark.

P. S. The above Chiefs request your Excellency to publish, or cause to be published, that article of the treaty between the state of New-York and the Indians, that relates to their fishing and hunting privileges, which their white brethren seem to have forgotten.

The foregoing address to Governor Clinton arose in consequence of the following passage in his Excellency's Speech to the Legislation at Albany, delivered on the 27th January, 1818.

"The Indians in our territory are experiencing the fate of all barbarous tribes in the vicinity of civi lized nations, and are constantly deteriorating in character, and diminishing in number; and before the expiration of half a century, there is a strong probability they will entirely disappear. It is understood that the Western Indians are desirous that ours should emigrate to an extensive territory remote from white population, and which will be granted to them gratuitously. As this will preserve them from rapid destruction; as it is in strict unisonwith the prescriptions of humanity, and will not interfere with the blessing of religious instruction, there can be no objection to their removal. This, however, ought to be free and voluntary on their part, and whenever it takes place it is our duty to see that they receive an ample compensation for their territory. At the present time they are frequently injured and defrauded by intrusions upon their lands, and some of the most valuable domains of the state are subjected to similar detriment. It is very desira

ble that our laws should provide adequate remedies in these cases, and that they should be vigorously enforced."

Our subject will be further illustrated by the following, which furnishes another instance of the eternal violation of treaty by the white people in their intercourse with the red men of America.

CORNPLANTER'S LETTER.

Allegheny River, 2d mo. 2d, 1822.

SPEECH OF CORNPLANTER TO THE GOVERNOR OF

PENNSYLVANIA.

1 feel it my duty to send a speech to the Governor of Pennsylvania at this time, and inform him the place where I was from-which was at Conewaugus, on the Genesee River.

When I was a child, I played with the butterfly, the grasshopper and the frogs; and as I grew up, began to pay some attention and play with the Indian boys in the neighbourhood, and they took notice of my skin being a different colour 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- grew up to be a young man, and married me a wife-and I had no kettle or 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 whilst I was at his house, but when I started to return 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 now 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

« AnteriorContinuar »