Chapter XIV: Part IV: Indian Addresses (2)

I repeat to you assurances of the satisfaction it gives me to receive you here. Besides the labor of such a journey, the confidence you have shown in the honor and friendship of my countrymen is peculiarly gratifying, and I hope you have seen that your confidence was justly placed, that you have found yourselves, since you crossed the Mississippi, among brothers and friends, with whom you were as safe as at home.

_My Children_,--I sincerely weep with you over the graves of your chiefs and friends, who fell by the hands of their enemies lately descending the Osage river. Had they been prisoners, and living, we would have recovered them. But no voice can awake the dead; no power undo what is done. On this side the Mississippi, where our government has been long established, and our authority organized, our friends visiting us are safe. We hope it will not be long before our voice will be heard and our arm respected, by those who meditate to injure our friends on the other side of that river. In the meantime, Governor Harrison will be directed to take proper measures to inquire into the circumstances of the transaction, to report them to us for consideration, and for the further measures they may require.

_My Children_,--By late arrangements with France and Spain, we now take their place as your neighbors, friends, and fathers; and we hope you will have no cause to regret the change. It is so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land, as you have done. Never more will you have occasion to change your fathers. We are all now of one family, born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers; and the strangers from beyond the great water are gone from among us. The Great Spirit has given you strength, and has given us strength; not that we might hurt one another, but to do each other all the good in our power. Our dwellings, indeed, are very far apart, but not too far to carry on commerce and useful intercourse. You have furs and peltries which we want, and we have clothes and other useful things which you want. Let us employ ourselves, then, in mutually accommodating each other. To begin this on our part, it was necessary to know what nations inhabited the great country called Louisiana, which embraces all the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri, what number of peltries they could furnish, what quantities and kind of merchandize they would require, where would be the deposits most convenient for them, and to make an exact map of all those waters. For this purpose I sent a beloved man, Captain Lewis, one of my own household, to learn something of the people with whom we are now united, to let you know we were your friends, to invite you to come and see us, and to tell us how we can be useful to you. I thank you for the readiness with which you have listened to his voice, and for the favor you have showed him in his passage up the Missouri. I hope your countrymen will favor and protect him as far as they extend. On his return we shall hear what he has seen and learnt, and proceed to establish trading houses where our red brethren shall think best, and to exchange commodities with them on terms with which they will be satisfied.

With the same views I had prepared another party to go up the Red River to its source, thence to the source of the Arkansas, and down it to its mouth. But I will now give orders that they shall only go a small distance up the Red River this season, and return to tell us what they have seen, and that they shall not set out for the head of that river till the ensuing spring, when you will be at home, and will, I hope, guide and guard them in their journey. I also propose the next year to send another small party up the river of the Kansas to its source, thence to the head of the river of the Panis, and down to its mouth; and others up the rivers on the north side of the Missouri. For guides along these rivers, we must make arrangements with the nations inhabiting them.

_My Children_,--I was sorry to learn that a schism had taken place in your nation, and that a part of your people had withdrawn with the Great-Track to the Arkansas river. We will send an agent to them, and will use our best offices to induce them to return, and to live in union with you. We wish to make them also our friends, and to make that friendship, and the weight it may give us with them, useful to you and them.

We propose, my children, immediately to establish an agent to reside with you, who will speak to you our words, and convey yours to us, who will be the guardian of our peace and friendship, convey truths from one to the other, dissipate all falsehoods which might tend to alienate and divide us, and maintain a good understanding and friendship between us. As the distance is too great for you to come often and tell us your wants, you will tell them to him on the spot, and he will convey them to us in writing, so that we shall be sure that they come from you. Through the intervention of such an agent we shall hope that our friendship will forever be preserved. No wrong will ever be done you by our nation, and we trust that yours will do none to us. And should ungovernable individuals commit unauthorized outrage on either side, let them be duly punished; or if they escape, let us make to each other the best satisfaction the case admits, and not let our peace be broken by bad men. For all people have some bad men among them, whom no laws can restrain.

As you have taken so long a journey to see your father, we wish you not to return till you shall have visited our country and towns toward the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the country on this side the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring to acquire of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to explore them. We propose to do in your country only what we are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it, and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our friends, and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return tell your people that I take them all by the hand; that I become their father hereafter; that they shall know our nation only as friends and benefactors; that we have no views upon them but to carry on a commerce useful to them and us; to keep them in peace with their neighbors, that their children may multiply, may grow up and live to a good old age, and their women no more fear the tomahawk of any enemy.

My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation, keep them in your memories, and our friendship in your hearts, and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with the mantle of his love.

IX.

March 7, 1805.

_My Children, Chiefs of the Chickasaw nation, Minghey, Mataha, and Tishohotana_:--

I am happy to receive you at the seat of the government of the twenty-two nations, and to take you by the hand. Your friendship to the Americans has long been known to me. Our fathers have told us that your nation never spilled the blood of an American, and we have seen you fighting by our side and cementing our friendship by mixing our blood in battle against the same enemies. I rejoice, therefore, that the Great Spirit has covered you with his protection through so long a journey and so inclement a season, and brought you safe to the dwelling of a father who wishes well to all his red children, and to you especially. It would have been also pleasing to have received the other chiefs who had proposed to come with you, and to have known and become known to them, had it been convenient for them to come. I have long wished to see the beloved men of your nation, to renew the friendly conferences of former times, to assure them that we remain constant in our attachment to them, and to prove it by our good offices.

Your country, like all those on this side the Mississippi, has no longer game sufficient to maintain yourselves, your women and children, comfortably by hunting. We, therefore, wish to see you undertake the cultivation of the earth, to raise cattle, corn, and cotton, to feed and clothe your people. A little labor in the earth will produce more food than the best hunts you can now make, and the women will spin and weave more clothing than the men can procure by hunting. We shall very willingly assist you in this course by furnishing you with the necessary tools and implements, and with persons to instruct you in the use of them.

We have been told that you have contracted a great debt to some British traders, which gives you uneasiness, and which you honestly wish to pay by the sale of some of your lands. Whenever you raise food from the earth, and make your own clothing, you will find that you have a great deal of land more than you can cultivate or make useful, and that it will be better for you to sell some of that, to pay your debts, and to have something over to be paid to you annually to aid you in feeding and clothing yourselves. Your lands are your own, my children, they shall never be taken from you by our people or any others. You will be free to keep or to sell as yourselves shall think most for your own good. If at this time you think it will be better for you to dispose of some of them to pay your debts, and to help your people to improve the rest, we are willing to buy on reasonable terms. Our people multiply so fast that it will suit us to buy as much as you wish to sell, but only according to your good will. We have lately obtained from the French and Spaniards all the country beyond the Mississippi called Louisiana, in which there is a great deal of land unoccupied by any red men. But it is very far off, and we would prefer giving you lands there, or money and goods as you like best, for such parts of your land on this side the Mississippi as you are disposed to part with. Should you have anything to say on this subject now, or at any future time, we shall be always ready to listen to you.

I am obliged, within a few days, to set out on a long journey; but I wish you to stay and rest yourselves according to your own convenience. The Secretary at War will take care of you, will have you supplied with whatever you may have occasion for, and will provide for your return at your own pleasure. And I hope you will carry to your countrymen assurances of the sincere friendship of the United States to them, and that we shall always be disposed to render them all the service in our power. This, my children, is all I had proposed to say at this time.

X.

_To the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._

WASHINGTON, December 30, 1806.

_My Children, the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._--I take you by the hand of friendship and give you a hearty welcome to the seat of the government of the United States. The journey which you have taken to visit your fathers on this side of our island is a long one, and your having undertaken it is a proof that you desired to become acquainted with us. I thank the Great Spirit that he has protected you through the journey and brought you safely to the residence of your friends, and I hope He will have you constantly in his safe keeping, and restore you in good health to your nations and families.

My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations which live beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers have been so long here that we seem like you to have grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer of the old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family with our red brethren here. The French, the English, the Spaniards, have now agreed with us to retire from all the country which you and we hold between Canada and Mexico, and never more to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to you, my children, they are never to return again. We are now your fathers; and you shall not lose by the change. As soon as Spain had agreed to withdraw from all the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi, I felt the desire of becoming acquainted with all my red children beyond the Mississippi, and of uniting them with us as we have those on this side of that river, in the bonds of peace and friendship. I wished to learn what we could do to benefit them by furnishing them the necessaries they want in exchange for their furs and peltries. I therefore sent our beloved man, Captain Lewis, one of my own family, to go up the Missouri river to get acquainted with all the Indian nations in its neighborhood, to take them by the hand, deliver my talks to them, and to inform us in what way we could be useful to them. Your nation received him kindly, you have taken him by the hand and been friendly to him. My children, I thank you for the services you rendered him, and for your attention to his words. He will now tell us where we should establish trading houses to be convenient to you all, and what we must send to them.

My friends and children, I have now an important advice to give you. I have already told you that you and all the red men are my children, and I wish you to live in peace and friendship with one another as brethren of the same family ought to do. How much better is it for neighbors to help than to hurt one another; how much happier must it make them. If you will cease to make war on one another, if you will live in friendship with all mankind, you can employ all your time in providing food and clothing for yourselves and your families. Your men will not be destroyed in war, and your women and children will lie down to sleep in their cabins without fear of being surprised by their enemies and killed or carried away. Your numbers will be increased instead of diminishing, and you will live in plenty and in quiet. My children, I have given this advice to all your red brethren on this side of the Mississippi; they are following it, they are increasing in their numbers, are learning to clothe and provide for their families as we do. Remember then my advice, my children, carry it home to your people, and tell them that from the day that they have become all of the same family, from the day that we became father to them all, we wish, as a true father should do, that we may all live together as one household, and that before they strike one another, they should go to their father and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel.

My children, you are come from the other side of our great island, from where the sun sets, to see your new friends at the sun rising. You have now arrived where the waters are constantly rising and falling every day, but you are still distant from the sea. I very much desire that you should not stop here, but go and see your brethren as far as the edge of the great water. I am persuaded you have so far seen that every man by the way has received you as his brothers, and has been ready to do you all the kindness in his power. You will see the same thing quite to the sea shore; and I wish you, therefore, to go and visit our great cities in that quarter, and see how many friends and brothers you have here. You will then have travelled a long line from west to east, and if you had time to go from north to south, from Canada to Florida, you would find it as long in that direction, and all the people as sincerely your friends. I wish you, my children, to see all you can, and to tell your people all you see; because I am sure the more they know of us, the more they will be our hearty friends. I invite you, therefore, to pay a visit to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and the cities still beyond that, if you are willing to go further. We will provide carriages to convey you and a person to go with you to see that you want for nothing. By the time you come back the snows will be melted on the mountains, the ice in the rivers broken up, and you will be wishing to set out on your return home.

My children, I have long desired to see you; I have now opened my heart to you, let my words sink into your hearts and never be forgotten. If ever lying people or bad spirits should raise up clouds between us, call to mind what I have said, and what you have seen yourselves. Be sure there are some lying spirits between us; let us come together as friends and explain to each other what is misrepresented or misunderstood, the clouds will fly away like morning fog, and the sun of friendship appear and shine forever bright and clear between us.

My children, it may happen that while you are here occasion may arise to talk about many things which I do not now particularly mention. The Secretary at War will always be ready to talk with you, and you are to consider whatever he says as said by myself. He will also take care of you and see that you are furnished with all comforts here.

XI.

WASHINGTON, December 31, 1806.

_To the Chiefs of the Osage nation_:--

_My Children, Chiefs of the Osage nation_,--I welcome you sincerely to the seat of the government of the United States. The journey you have taken is long and fatiguing, and proved your desire to become acquainted with your new brothers of this country. I thank the master of life, who has preserved you by the way and brought you safely here. I hope you have found yourselves, through the whole journey, among brothers and friends, who have used you kindly, and convinced you they wish to live always in peace and harmony with you.

My children, your forefathers have doubtless handed it down to you that in ancient times the French were the fathers of all the red men in the country called Louisiana, that is to say, all the country on the Mississippi and on all its western waters. In the days of your fathers France ceded that country to the Spaniards and they became your fathers; but six years ago they restored it to France and France ceded it to us, and we are now become your fathers and brothers; and be assured you will have no cause to regret the change. It is so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land as you have done. Never more will you have occasion to change your fathers. We are all now of one family, born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers, and to have nothing more to do with the strangers who live beyond the great water. The Great Spirit has given you strength and has given us strength, not that we should hurt one another, but to do each other all the good in our power. Our dwellings indeed are very far apart, but not too far to carry on commerce and useful intercourse. You have furs and peltries which we want, and we have clothes and other useful things which you want. Let us employ ourselves, then, in making exchanges of these articles useful to both. In order to prepare ourselves for this commerce with our new children, we have found it necessary to send some of our trusty men up the different rivers of Louisiana, to see what nations live upon them, what number of peltries they can furnish, what quantities and kinds of merchandize they want, and where are the places most convenient to establish trading houses with them. With this view we sent a party to the head of the Missouri and the great water beyond that, who are just returned. We sent another party up the Red river, and we propose, the ensuing spring, to send one up the Arkansas as far as its head. This party will consist, like the others, of between twenty and thirty persons. I shall instruct them to call and see you at your towns, to talk with my son the Big Track, who, as well as yourselves and your people, will I hope receive them kindly, protect them and give them all the information they can as to the people on the same river above you. When they return they will be able to tell us how we can best establish a trade with you, and how otherwise we can be useful to them.

My children, I was sorry to learn that a difference had arisen among the people of your nation, and that a part of them had separated and removed to a great distance on the Arkansa. This is a family quarrel with which I do not pretend to intermeddle. Both parties are my children, and I wish equally well to both. But it would give me great pleasure if they could again reunite, because a nation, while it holds together, is strong against its enemies, but, breaking into parts, it is easily destroyed. However I hope you will at least make friends again, and cherish peace and brotherly love with one another. If I can be useful in restoring friendship between you, I shall do it with great pleasure. It is my wish that all my red children live together as one family, that when differences arise among them, their old men should meet together and settle them with justice and in peace. In this way your women and children will live in safety, your nation will increase and be strong.

As you have taken so long a journey to see your fathers, we wish you not to return till you have visited our country and towns towards the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the country on this side of the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring to acquire of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to explore them. We propose to do in your country only what we are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it, and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our friends, and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return, tell your chief, the Big Track, and all your people, that I take them by the hand, that I become their father hereafter, that they shall know our nation only as friends and benefactors, that we have no views upon them but to carry on a commerce useful to them and us, to keep them in peace with their neighbors, that their children may multiply, may grow up and live to a good old age, and their women no longer fear the tomahawk of any enemy.

My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation, keep them in your memories and our friendship in your hearts, and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with the mantle of his love.

XII.

February 19, 1807.

_To the Chiefs of the Shawanee Nation_:--

_My children, Chiefs of the Shawanee nation_,--I have listened to the speeches of the Blackhoof, Blackbeard, and the other head chiefs of the Shawanese, and have considered them well. As all these speeches relate to the public affairs of your nation, I will answer them together.

You express a wish to have your lands laid off separately to yourselves, that you may know what is your own, may have a fixed place to live on, of which you may not be deprived after you shall have built on it, and improved it; you would rather that this should be towards Fort Wayne, and to include the three reserves; you ask a strong writing from us, declaring your right, and observe that the writing you had was taken from you by the Delawares.

After the close of our war with the English, we wished to establish peace and friendship with our Indian neighbors also. In order to do this, the first thing necessary was to fix a firm boundary between them and us, that there might be no trespasses across that by either party. Not knowing then what parts on our border belonged to each Indian nation particularly, we thought it safest to get all those in the north to join in one treaty, and to settle a general boundary line between them and us. We did not intermeddle as to the lines dividing them one from another, because this was their concern, not ours. We therefore met the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, Ottaways, Chippeways, Powtewatamies, Miamis, Eel-Rivers, Weaks, Kickapoos, Pianteshaws, and Kaskaskies, at Greeneville, and agreed on a general boundary which was to divide their lands from those of the whites, making only some particular reserves, for the establishment of trade and intercourse with them. This treaty was eleven years ago, as Blackbeard has said. Since that, some of them have thought it for their advantage to sell us portions of their lands, which has changed the boundaries in some parts; but their rights in the residue remain as they were, and must always be settled among themselves. If the Shawanese and Delawares, and their other neighbors, choose to settle the boundaries between their respective tribes, and to have them marked and recorded in our books, we will mark them as they shall agree among themselves, and will give them strong writings declaring the separate right of each. After which, we will protect each tribe in its respective lands, as well as against other tribes who might attempt to take them from them, as against our own people. The writing which you say the Delawares took from you, must have been the copy of the treaty of Greeneville. We will give you another copy to be kept by your nation.

With respect to the reserves, you know they were made for the purpose of establishing convenient stations for trade and intercourse with the tribes within whose boundaries they are. And as circumstances shall render it expedient to make these establishments, it is for your interest, as well as ours, that the possession of these stations should enable us to make them.

You complain that Blue-jacket, and a part of your people at Greeneville, cheat you in the distribution of your annuity, and take more of it than their just share. It will be difficult to remedy this evil while your nation is living in different settlements. We will, however, direct our agent to enquire, and inform us what are your numbers in each of your settlements, and will then divide the annuities between the settlements justly, according to their numbers. And if we can be of any service in bringing you all together into one place, we will willingly assist you for that purpose. Perhaps your visit to the settlement of your people on the Mississippi under the Flute may assist towards gathering them all into one place from which they may never again remove.

You say that you like our mode of living, that you wish to live as we do, to raise a plenty of food for your children, and to bring them up in good principles; that you adopt our mode of living, and ourselves as your brothers. My children, I rejoice to hear this; it is the wisest resolution you have ever formed, to raise corn and domestic animals, by the culture of the earth, and to let your women spin and weave clothes for you all, instead of depending for these on hunting. Be assured that half the labor and hardships you go through to provide your families by hunting, with food and clothing, if employed in a farm would feed and clothe them better. When the white people first came to this land, they were few, and you were many: now we are many, and you few; and why? because, by cultivating the earth, we produce plenty to raise our children, while yours, during a part of every year, suffer for want of food, are forced to eat unwholesome things, are exposed to the weather in your hunting camps, get diseases and die. Hence it is that your numbers lessen.

You ask for instruction in our manner of living, for carpenters and blacksmiths. My children, you shall have them. We will do everything in our power to teach you to take care of your wives and children, that you may multiply and be strong. We are sincerely your friends and brothers, we are as unwilling to see your blood spilt in war, as our own. Therefore, we encourage you to live in peace with all nations, that your women and children may live without danger, and without fear. The greatest honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men, not in destroying them. We have placed Mr. Kirk among you, who will have other persons under him to teach you how to manage farms, and to make clothes for yourselves; and we expect you will put some of your young people to work with the carpenters and smiths we place among you, that they may learn the trades. In this way only can you have a number of tradesmen sufficient for all your people.

You wish me to name to you the person authorized to speak to you in our name, that you may know whom to believe, and not be deceived by impostors. My children, Governor Harrison is the person we authorize to talk to you in our name. You may depend on his advice, and that it comes from us. He stands between you and us, to convey with truth whatever either of us wishes to say to the other.

My children, I wish you a safe return to your friends and families, that you may retain your resolution of learning to live in our way, that it may give health and comfort to your families, and add members to your nation. In me you will always find a sincere and true friend.

XIII.

WASHINGTON, February 27, 1808.

_To Kitchao Geboway_:--

_My son Kitchao Geboway_,--I have received the speech which you sent me through General Gansevoort from Albany on the 13th of this month, and now return you my answer. It would have given me great pleasure to have been able to converse with and understand you, when you visited me at Washington; but the want of an interpreter rendered that impossible.

My son, tell your nation, the Chippewas, that I take them by the hand, and consider them as a part of the great family of the United States, which extends to the great Lakes and the Lake of the Woods, northwardly, and from the rising to the setting sun; that the United States wish to live in peace with them, to consider them as a part of themselves, to establish a commerce with them, as advantageous to the Chippewas as they can make it, and in all cases to render them every service in our power. We shall never ask them to enter into our quarrels, nor to spill their blood in fighting our enemies. My son, in visiting this quarter of the United States, you have seen a part of our country, and some of our people from East to West. If you had travelled also from North to South, you would have seen it the same. You see that we are as numerous as the leaves of the trees, that we are strong enough to fight our own battles, and too strong to fear any enemy. When, therefore, we wish you to live in peace with all people, red and white, we wish it because it is for your good, and because it is our desire that your women and children shall live in safety, not fearing the tomahawk of any enemy, that they may learn to raise food enough to support their families, and that your nation may multiply and be strong. If any white men advise you to go to war for them, it is a proof they are too weak to defend themselves, that they are in truth your enemies, wishing to sacrifice you to save themselves; and when they shall be driven away, my son, what is to become of the red men who may join in their battles? Take the advice then of a father, and meddle not in the quarrels of the white people, should any war take place between them; but stay at home in peace, taking care of your wives and children. In that case not a hair of your heads shall be touched. Never will we do you an injury unprovoked, or disturb you in your towns or lands by any violence.

My son, I confirm everything which your father, Governor Hall, said to you at Detroit on my part: and in all your difficulties and dangers apply to him, and take his advice. If some of your principal chiefs will pay me a visit at Washington, I shall be very happy to receive them, to smoke the pipe of friendship with them, to take them by the hand and never to let go their friendship. They shall see that I want nothing from them but their good will, and to do them all the good in my power.

My son, the Secretary at War will comply with your request in giving you a chief's coat with epaulettes, and a stand of the colors of the United States, to plant in your town, to let all the world see that you are a part of the family of the United States.

My son, I wish you a pleasant journey, and a safe return to your family and friends.

XIV.

WASHINGTON, April 22, 1808.

_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies, Wyandots, and Senecas of Sandusky_:--

_My Children_,--I received your message of July last, and I am glad of the opportunity it gives me of explaining to you the sentiments of the government of the United States towards you.

Many among you must remember the time when we were governed by the British nation, and the war by which we separated ourselves from them. Your old men must remember also that while we were under that government we were constantly kept at war with the red men our neighbors. Many of these took side in the English war against us; so that after we had made peace with the English, ill blood remained between us for some time; and it was not till the treaty of Greeneville that we could come to a solid peace and perfect good understanding with all our Indian neighbors. This being once done and fixed lines drawn between them and us, laying off their lands to themselves, and ours to ourselves, so that each might know their own, and nothing disturb our future peace, we have from that moment, my children, looked upon you heartily as our brothers, and as a part of ourselves. We saw that your game was becoming too scarce to support you, and that unless we could persuade you to cultivate the earth, to raise the tame animals, and to spin and weave clothes for yourselves as we do, you would disappear from the earth. To encourage you, therefore, to save yourselves has been our constant object; and we have hoped that the day would come when every man among you would have his own farm laid off to himself as we have, would maintain his family by labor as we do, and would make one people with us. But in all these things you have been free to do as you please; your lands are your own; your right to them shall never be violated by us; they are yours to keep or to sell as you please. Whenever you find it your interest to dispose of a part to enable you to improve the rest, and to support your families in the meantime, we are willing to buy, because our people increase fast. When a want of land in a particular place induces us to ask you to sell, still you are always free to say "No," and it will never disturb our friendship for you. We will never be angry with others for exercising their own rights according to what they think their own interests. You say you were told at Swan's Creek, that if you would not let us have lands, we should be angry with you, and would force you. Those, my children, who told you so, said what was false, and what never had been said or thought of by us. We never meant to control your free will; we never will do it. I will explain to you the ground of our late application to you for lands. You know that the posts of Detroit and Macinac have very little lands belonging to them. It is for your interest as well as ours that these posts should be maintained for the purposes of our trade with one another. We were desirous therefore to purchase as much land around them as would enable us to have sufficient settlements there to support the posts; and that this might be so laid off as to join with our possessions on Lake Erie. But we expressly instructed our beloved man, Governor Hall, not to press you beyond your own convenience, nor to buy more than you would spare with good will. He accordingly left you to your own inclinations, using no threats whatever, as you tell me in your message. You agreed to let us have a part of what we wished to buy. We are contented with it my children. We find no fault with you for what you did not do, but thank you for what you did.

You complain, my children, that your annuities are not regularly paid, that the goods delivered you are often bad in kind, that they sometimes arrive damaged, and are dear, and that you would rather receive them in money. You shall have them in money. We had no interest in laying out your money in goods for you.

It cost us considerable trouble in the purchase and transportation, and as we could not be everywhere with them to take care of them ourselves, we could not prevent their being injured sometimes by accident, sometimes by carelessness. To pay money therefore, is more convenient to us, and as it will please you better, it shall be done.

I am now, my children, to address you on a very serious subject, one which greatly concerns your happiness. Open your ears, therefore, let my words sink deeply into your bosoms, and never forget them. For be assured that I will not, and that I will fulfil them to their uttermost import. We have for sometime had a misunderstanding with the English, and we do not yet know whether it will end in peace or in war. But in either case, my children, do you remain quiet at home, taking no part in these quarrels. We do not wish you to shed your blood in our battles. We are able to fight them ourselves. And if others press you to take part against us, it is because they are weak, not able to protect themselves nor you. Consider well then what you do. Since we have freed ourselves from the English government, and made our peace with our Indian neighbors, we have cultivated that peace with sincerity and affection. We have done them such favors as were in our power, and promoted their interest and peace wherever we could. We consider them now as a part of ourselves, and we look to their welfare as our own. But if there be among you any nation whom no benefits can attach, no good offices on our part can convert into faithful friends, if relinquishing their permanent connection with us for the fugitive presents or promises of others, they shall prefer our enmity to our friendship, and engage in war against us, that nation must abandon forever the land of their fathers. No nation rejecting our friendship, and commencing wanton and unprovoked war against us, shall ever after remain within our reach; it shall never be in their power to strike us a second time. These words, my children, may appear harsh; but they are spoken in kindness; they are intended to warn you beforehand of the ruin into which those will rush, who shall once break the chain of friendship with us. You know they are not spoken from fear. We fear no nation. We love yours. We wish you to live forever in peace with all men, and in brotherly affection with us; to be with us as one family; to take care of your women and children, feed and clothe them well, multiply and be strong with your friends and your enemies.

My children, I salute you with fatherly concern for your welfare.

XV.

May 4, 1808.

_To the Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_:--

_My Children, Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_,--I am glad to see you at the seat of government, to take you by the hand, and to assure you in person of the friendship of the United States towards all their red children, and of their desire to extend, to them all, their protection of good offices. The journey you have come is a long one, and the object expressed in our conference of the other day is important. I have listened to it with attention, and given it the consideration it deserves. You complain that you do not receive your just proportion of the annuities we pay your nation; that the chiefs of the lower towns take for them more than their share. My children, this distribution is made by the authority of the Cherokee nation, and according to their own rules over which we have no control. We do our duty in delivering the annuities to the head men of the nation, and we pretend to no authority over them, to no right of directing how they are to be distributed. But we will instruct our agent, Colonel Meigs, to exhort the chiefs to do justice to all the parts of their nation in the distribution of these annuities, and to endeavor that every town shall have its due share. We would willingly pay these annuities in money, which could be more equally divided, if the nation would prefer that, and if we can be assured that the money will not be laid out in strong drink instead of necessaries for your wives and children. We wish to do whatever will best secure your people from suffering for want of clothes or food. It is these wants which bring sickness and death into your families, and prevent you from multiplying as we do. In answer to your question relating to the lands we have purchased from your nation at different times, I inform you that the payments have for the most part been made in money, which has been left, as the annuities are, to the discharge of your debts, and to distribute according to the rules of the nation.

You propose, my children, that your nation shall be divided into two, and that your part, the upper Cherokees, shall be separated from the lower by a fixed boundary, shall be placed under the government of the United States, become citizens thereof, and be ruled by our laws; in fine, to be our brothers instead of our children. My children, I shall rejoice to see the day when the red men, our neighbors, become truly one people with us, enjoying all the rights and privileges we do, and living in peace and plenty as we do, without any one to make them afraid, to injure their persons, or to take their property without being punished for it according to fixed laws. But are you prepared for this? Have you the resolution to leave off hunting for your living, to lay off a farm for each family to itself, to live by industry, the men working that farm with their hands, raising stock, or learning trades as we do, and the women spinning and weaving clothes for their husbands and children? All this is necessary before our laws can suit you or be of any use to you. However, let your people take this matter into consideration. If they think themselves prepared for becoming citizens of the United States, for living in subjection to laws and under their protection as we do, let them consult the lower towns, come with them to an agreement of separation by a fixed boundary, and send to this place a few of the chiefs they have most confidence in, with powers to arrange with us regulations concerning the protection of their persons, punishment of crimes, assigning to each family their separate farms, directing how these shall go to the family as they die one after another, in what manner they shall be governed, and all other particulars necessary for their happiness in their new condition. On our part I will ask the assistance of our great council, the Congress, whose authority is necessary to give validity to these arrangements, and who wish nothing more sincerely than to render your condition secure and happy. Should the principal part of your people determine to adopt this alteration, and a smaller part still choose to continue the hunter's life, it may facilitate the settlement among yourselves to be told that we will give to those leave to go, if they choose it, and settle on our lands beyond the Mississippi, where some Cherokees are already settled, and where game is plenty, and we will take measures for establishing a store there among them, where they may obtain necessaries in exchange for their peltries, and we will still continue to be their friends there as much as here.

My children, carry these words to your people, advise with Colonel Meigs in your proceedings, ask him to inform me from time to time how you go on, and I will further advise you in what may be necessary. Tell your people I take them all by the hand; that I leave them free to do as they choose, and that whatever choice they make, I will still be their friend and father.

XVI.

May 5, 1808.

_To Colonel Louis Cook and Jacob Francis of the St. Regis Indians_:--

_My Children_,--I take you by the hand, and all the people of St. Regis within the limits of the United States, and I desire to speak to them through you. A great misunderstanding has taken place between the English and the United States, and although we desire to live in peace with all the world and unmolested, yet it is not quite certain whether this difference will end in peace or war. Should war take place, do you, my children, remain at home in peace, taking care of your wives and children. You have no concern in our quarrel, take therefore no part in it. We do not wish you to spill your blood in our battles. We can fight them ourselves. Say the same to your red brethren everywhere, let them remain neutral and quiet, and we will never disturb them. Should the English insist on their taking up the hatchet against us, if they choose rather to break up their settlements and come over to live in peace with us, we will find other settlements for them, and they shall become our children. The red nations who shall remain in peace with the United States, shall forever find them true friends and fathers. Those who commence against them an unprovoked war, must expect their lasting enmity.

My children, I wish you well, and a safe return to your own country.

XVII.

WASHINGTON, December 2, 1808.

_To the Delaware Chief, Captain Armstrong_:--

I have received your letter of October 20th, wherein you express a wish to obtain a deed for the thirteen sections of lands reserved for the Delawares in the State of Ohio, by an act of Congress. I accordingly now send you an authentic deed designating the thirteen sections, and signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, who was authorized for this purpose by the act of Congress. Under this you are free to settle on the lands when you please, and to occupy them according to your own rules. You cannot, indeed, sell them to the white citizens of the United States. Knowing how liable you would be to be cheated and deceived, were we to permit our citizens to purchase your lands, our government acting as your friends and patrons, and desirous of guarding your interests against the frauds that would surround you, does not permit white persons to purchase your lands from you. In every other way they are yours, free to be used as you please; and their possession will be protected and guaranteed to you by the United States. I salute you and my children, the Delawares, with friendship.

XVIII.

December 21, 1808.

_To the Miamis, Powtewatamies, Delawares and Chippeways._

_My Children_:--Some of you are old enough to remember, and the youngest have heard from their fathers, that the country was formerly governed by the English. While they governed it there were constant wars between the white and the red people. To such a height was the hatred of both parties carried that they thought it no crime to kill one another in cold blood whenever they had an opportunity. This spirit led many of the Indians to take side against us in the war; and at the close of it the English made peace for themselves, and left the Indians to get out of it as well as they could. It was not till twelve years after that we were able by the treaty of Greeneville to close our wars with all our red neighbors. From that moment, my children, the policy of this country towards you has been entirely changed. General Washington, our first President, began a line of just and friendly conduct towards you. Mr. Adams, the second, continued it; and from the moment I came into the administration I have looked upon you with the same good will as my own fellow citizens, have considered your interests as our interests, and peace and friendship as a blessing to us all. Seeing with sincere regret that your people were wasting away, believing that this proceeded from your frequent wars, and the destructive use of spirituous liquors, and scanty supplies of food, I have inculcated peace with all your neighbors, have endeavored to prevent the introduction of spirituous liquors among you, and pressed on you to rely for food on the culture of the earth more than on hunting. On the contrary, my children, the English persuade you to hunt, they supply you with spirituous liquors, and are now endeavoring to engage you to join them in the war against us, should a war take place. You possess reason, my children, as we do, and you will judge for yourselves which of us advise you as friends. The course they advise has worn you down to your present numbers, but temperance, peace and agriculture will raise you up to be what your forefathers were, will prepare you to possess property, to wish to live under regular laws, to join us in our government, to mix with us in society, and your blood and ours united will spread again over the great island.