USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
Richard Hill, Caleb Pusey,
Colonel John ffrench,
Jonathan Dickinson,
James Logan, Secretary, with divers Gentlemen.
PRESENT ALSO :
The Chiefs or Deputies sent by the ffive Nations to treat with this Governmt., viz:
A Sinnekaes Nation :
Onondagoes Nation : Cayoogoes Nation : Sahoode,
Ghesaont,
Tannawree,
Awennool,
Skeetowas, Tchehuhque.
Smith, the Ganawese Indian Interpreter from the Mingoe Lan- guage to the Delaware; John Cartlidge and James Le Tort, Inter- preters from the Delaware into English.
Ghesaont, in the Name and on the behalf of all the ffive Nations, delivered himself in speaking to the Governour, as follows :
They were glad to see the Governour and his Council at this place, for they had heard much of the Governour in their Towns before they came from home, and now they find him to be what they had then heard of him, Viz: their Friend and Brother, and the same as if William Penn were still amongst them.
They assure the Governour and Council that they had not forgot William Penns Treaties with them, and that his advice to them was still fresh in their memories.
Though they cannot write, yet they retain every thing said in their Councils with all the Nations they treat with, and preserve it as carefully in their memories as if it was committed in our method to Writing.
They complain that our Traders carrying Goods and Liquors up
124
MINUTES OF THE
Sasquehanna River some times meet with their young People going out to war, and treat them unkindly, not only refusing to give them a Dram of their Liquor, but use them with ill Language and call them Dogs, &c.
They take this unkindly, because Dogs have no sense or under- standing : Whereas they are men, and think that their Brothers should not compare them to such Creatures.
That some of our Traders calling their young men by those Names, the young men answered, if they were Dogs then they might act as such ; Whereupon, they seized a Kegg of their Liquor and ran away with it.
N. B. This seems to be told in their artful way to excuse some small Roberies that had been committed by their young people.
Then laying down a Belt of Wampum upon the Table, He pro- ceeded and said,
That all their Disorders arose from the use of Rum and Strong Spirits which took away their sense and memory; That they had no such Liquors amongst themselves, but were hurt with what we fur- nished to them and therefore desired that no more of that sort might be sent amongst them.
He presented a Bundle of drest Skins and said,
That the five nations faithfully remember all their ancient Trea- ties, and now desire that the Chain of Friendship between them and us may be made so strong as that none of the Links can never be broken.
Presents another Bundle of raw Skins and observes,
That a Chain may contract Rust with lying and become weaker ; Wherefore, he desires it may now be so well clean'd as to remain brighter and stronger than ever it was before.
Presents another parcel of Skins and says,
That as in the Firmament all Clouds and Darkness are removed from the Face of the Sun, so they desire that all Misunderstandings may be fully done away ; So that when they who are now here shall be dead and gone, their whole People with their Children & Posterity may enjoy the clear Sun Shine of Friendship with us for ever, with- out any thing to interpose and obscure it.
Presents another Bundle of Skins and says,
That looking upon the Governour as if William Penn was pre- sent they desire, That in case any disorders should hereafter happen between their young people and ours, We would not be too hasty in resenting any such Accident, until their Council and ours can have some oppertunity to treat amicably upon it, and so to adjust all matters as that the Friendship between us may still be inviolably preserved.
Presents a small parcel of drest Skins and desires,
That We may now be together as one people, treating one anothers Children kindly and affectionately on all occasions.
He proceeds and says,
That they consider themselves in this Treaty as the full Plenipo- tentiaries and Representatives of the ffive nations, and they look
125
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
upon the Governour as the Great King of England's Representa- tive, and therefore they expect that every thing now stipulated will be made absolutely firm and good on both sides.
Presents a Bundle of Bear Skins and says,
That having now made a firm League with us as becomes our Brothers, they complain that they get too little for their Skins & ffurs so as they cannot live by their hunting, They desire us there- fore to take compassion on them and contrive some way to help them in that particular.
Presenting a few ffurrs, he Speaks only as from himself to acquaint the Govr., That the five Nations having heard that the Governour of Virginia wanted to speak wt. them. He himself with some of his Company intend to proceed to Virginia, but do not know the way how to get safe thither.
At a Council held at the House of John Cartlidge, Esqr., near Conestogo, July 8th, 1721.
PRESENT :
The Honourable Sir WILLIAM KEITH, Bart. Governour. Richard Hill, Col. John French,
Jonathan Dickinson,
James Logan, Secretary.
The Governour desired that the Board would advise him as to the Quantity and kind of the presents that must be made to the Indians in Return to theirs, and in Confirmation of his speech to them; Whereupon it was agreed, That twenty five strowd Match Coats of two yards each, One hundred wt. of Gun powder, two hundred of Lead, with some Bisket, Tobacco and Pipes, should be delivered as the Governour's Present to the five Nations; And the same being prepared accordingly, the Council was adjourned to Conestogoe, the Place of Treaty.
At a Council held at Conestogoe, July the 8th, 1721. Post Me- ridiem.
PRESENT : .
The Honourable Sir WILLIAM KEITH, Bart., Governour.
The same members as before, with divers Gentlemen attending, the Govr. And the Chiefs of the Five Nations being all seated in Council, and the Presents laid down before the Indians.
The Governour spoke to them by the Interpreters in these Words. My Friends & Brothers :
It is a great satisfaction to me that I have this opportunity of speaking to the Valiant and wise five Nations of Indians, whom you tell me you are fully empowered to represent. I treat with you therefore as if all these Nations were here present, And you are to understand what I now say to be agreeable to the mind of our Great Monarch George the King of England, who bends his care to esta- blish Peace amongst all the mighty nations of Europe, and unto VOL. III .- 6
126
MINUTES OF THE
whom all the People in these parts are as it were but like one Drop out of a Bucket, So that what is now transacted between us must be laid up as the words of the whole Body of your People and our Peo- ple, to be kept in perpetual Remembrance. I am also glad to find® that you remember what William Penn formerly said to you ; He was agreat and a good man, his own People loved him ; He loved the In- dians, and they also loved him, He was as their Father, He would never suffer them to be wronged, Neither would he let his people enter upon any Lands untill he had first purchased them of the In -. dians ; He was just, and therefore the Indians loved him.
Though he is now removed from us, yet his children and people following his Example will always take the same measures, So that his and our posterity will be as a long chain of which He was the first Link, and when one link ends another succeeds, and then an- another, being all firmly bound together in one strong chain to endure forever.
He formerly knit the Chain of Friendship with you as the Chief of all the Indians in these parts, and lest this chain should grow rusty you now desire it may be scowred and made strong, to bind us as one People together ; We do assure you it is and has always been bright on our side, and so we will ever keep it.
As to your complaint of our Traders, that they have treated some of your young men unkindly, I take that to be said only by way of Excuse for the Follies of your People, thereby endeavouring to per- swade me that they were provoked to do what you very well know they did, But as I told your Indians two days ago, I am willing to pass by all those things. You may therefore be assured that our people shall not suffer any Injury to yours; or if I know that they do, they shall be severely punished for it, So you must in like man- ner strictly command your young men that they do not offer any In- jury to ours ; For when they pass through the utmost skirts of our Inhabitants, where there are no People yet settled but Traders, they should be more careful of them as having separated themselves from the Body of their Friends, purely to serve the Indians more commodiously with what they want.
Nevertheless if any little disorders should at any time hereafter arise, We will endeavour that it shall not break or weaken the Chain of Friendship between us; To which End if any of your People take offence, you must in that case apply to me or to our Chiefs ; And when We have any cause to complain, We shall as you desire apply to your Chiefs by our friends the Conestogoe Indians, but on both sides we must labor to prevent every thing of this kind as much as we can.
You complain that our Traders come into the path of your young men going out to War, and thereby occasion Disorders amongst them, I will therefore my Frds. and Brothers, speak very plainly to you on this Head.
Your young men come down Sasquehanna River and take their Road through our Indian towns and Settlements, and make a path between us and the People against whom they go out to War ; Now
127
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
you must know, that the Path this way leads them only to the In- dians who are in alliance with the English, and first to those who are in a strict League of Friendship with the great Governour of Virginia, Just as these our Friends and Children who are settled amongst us are in League with me and our People.
You cannot therefore make War upon the Indians in League with Virginia without weakening the Chain with the English ; For as We would not suffer these our Friends and Brothers of Conestogoe, and upon this River to be hurt by any person without considering it was done to ourselves; So the Governour of Virginia looks upon the Injuries done to his Indian Brothers and ffriends as if they were done to himself; And you very well know that though you are five different Nations yet you are but one People, so as that any wrong done to one Nation is received as an Injury done to you all.
In the same manner and much more so it is with the English, who are all united under one great King, who has more People in that one Town where he lives, than all the Indians in North America put together.
You are in a League with New York as your ancient Friends and nearest Neighbours, and you are in a League with us by Treaties often repeated, and by a Chain which you have now brightened. As therefore all the English are but one People you are actually in League with all the English Governments, and must equally preserve the Peace with all as with one Government.
You pleased me very much when you told me that you were going to treat with the Govr. of Virginia. Your Nations formerly entered into a very firm League with that Govmt., and if you have suffered that Chain to grow rusty it is time to scour it, And the ffive Nations have done very wisely to send you there for that pur- pose.
I do assure you, the Governour of Virginia is a great and good Man ; He loves the Indians as his Children and so protects and de- fends them, for he is very strong, having many thousand Christian Warriors under his Command, whereby he is able to assist all those who are in any League of Friendship with him. Hasten therefore, my Friends, to brighten and strengthen the Chain with that great Man, for he desires it, and will receive you kindly. He is my great and good Friend, I have been lately with him, And since you say you are Strangers, I will give you a Letter to him to inform him of what we have done, and of the good Design of your Visit to him and to his Country.
My Friends and Brothers : I told you two Days agoe that We must open our Breasts to each other, I shall therefore, like your true Friend, open mine yet further to you for your Good.
You see that the English, from a very small People at first in these parts, are by Peace amongst themselves become a very great People amongst you, far exceeding the Number of all the Indians that we know of.
But while We are at Peace the Indians continue to make War
128
MINUTES OF THE
upon one another, and destroy each other, as if they intended that none of their People should be left alive, by which means you are from a great People become a very small People, and yet you will go on to destroy your selves.
The Indians of the South, tho' they speak a different Language, yet they are the same People and inhabit the same Land with those of the North, We therefore cannot but wonder how you that are a wise people should take Delight in putting an end to your Race. The English being your true Friends labour to prevent this. We would have you strong as a part of our selves, For as our Strength is your Strength so we would have yours to be as our own.
I have persuaded all my Brethren in these parts to consider what is for their Good, and not to go out any more to War, but your young men as they come this way endeavour to force them, and be- · cause they incline to follow the Counsels of Peace and the Advice of their true Friends, your People use them ill and often prevail with them to go out to their own destruction. Thus it was that this Town of Conestogoe lost their good King not long agoe, and thus many have been lost, Their young children are left without Parents, their Wives without Husbands, the old men contrary to the Course of Nature mourn the Death of their young, the People Decay and grow weak, We loose our dear friends and are afflicted, and this is chiefly owing to your young men.
Surely you cannot propose to get either Riches or Possessions by going thus out to War; For when you kill a Deer you have the Flesh to eat and the skin to sell, but when you return from War you bring nothing home but the Scalps of a dead man who perhaps was Husband to a kind wife, And Father to tender children who never wronged you, tho' by loosing him you have robbed them of his Help and Protection, and at the same titne get nothing by it.
If I were not your true Friend I would not take the Trouble of saying all these things to you, which I desire may be fully related to all your People when you return home, that they may consider in time what is for their own Good; And after this if any will be so madly deaf and blind as neither to hear nor see the Danger before them, but will still go out to destroy and be destroyed for nothing, I must desire that such foolish young men will take another path and not pass this way amongst our People, whose Eyes I have opened, and they have wisely hearkened to my Advice. So that I must tell you plainly, as I am their best Friend, and this Government is their Protector and as a Father to them. We will not suffer them any more to go out as they have done to their Destruction. I say again, We will not suffer it for we have the Counsel of Wisdom amongst us and know what is for their Good, For tho' they are weak yet they are our Brethren, We will therefore take care of them that they be not misled with ill Council; you mourn when you lose a Brother, we mourn when any of them are lost, to prevent which They shall not be suffered to go out as they have done to be destroyed by war.
My Good Friends & Brothers : I give you the same Counsel and carnestly desire that you will follow it, since it will make you a
129
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
happy people, I give you this advice because I am your true Friend, but I much fear you hearken to others who never were nor never will be your Friends. You know very well that the French have been your Enemies from the Begining, and tho' they made Peace with you about two and twenty years agoe, yet by subtle Practices they still endeavour to ensnare you. They use Arts and Tricks and tell you Lies to deceive you, and if you would make use of your own Eyes and not be deluded by their Jesuits and Interpreters; you would see this yourselves, For you know They have had no Goods of any Value these several years past, except what has been sent to them from the English of New York, and that is now all over. They give fair Speeches instead of real services, and as for many years they attempted to destroy you in War, so they now endeavour to do it in Peace; For when they perswade you to go out to war against others, it is only that you may be destroyed yourselves which we as your true Friends labour to prevent, because we would have your Numbers increased that you may grow strong, and that we may be all strengthened in ffriendship and Peace together.
As to what you have said of Trade, I suppose the great Distance at which you live from us has prevented all commerce between us and your People; We believe, Those who go into the Woods and spend all their time upon it endeavour to make the best Bargains they can for themselves; So on your part you must take Care to make the best Bargain you can with them, but we hope our Traders do not exact, ffor We think that a Stroud Coat or a pound of powder is now sold for no more Buck Skins than formerly ; Beaver indeed is not of late so much used in Europe and therefore does not give soe good a price, and We deal but very little in that Commodity. But Deer Skins sell very well amongst us, and I shall always take care that the Indians be not wronged, but except other measures be taken to regulate the Indian Trade every where, the common methods used in Trade will still be followed, and every man must take care of himself, for thus I must do myself, when I buy any thing from our own People, if I do not give them their price they will keep it for we are a free People. But if you have any further Proposals to make about these affairs I am willing to hear and consider them, for 'tis my Desire that the Trade be well regulated to your Content.
I am sensible Rum is very hurtful to the Indians ; we have made Laws that nome should be carried amongst them, or if any were, that it should be staved and thrown upon the Ground, and the Indians have been ordered to destroy all the Rum that comes in their way, But they will not do it, they will have Rum, and when we refuse it they will travel to the neighbouring provinces and fetch it; Their own Women go to purchase it, and then sell it amongst their own People at excessive rates. I would gladly make any Laws to pre- vent this that could be effectual, but the Country is so wide, the woods are so dark and private, and so far out of my sight, that if the Indians themselves do not prohibit their own People there is no other way to prevent it; For my part, I shall readily Joyn in any measures that can be proposed for so good a purpose.
130
MINUTES OF THE
I have now, my Friends & Brothers, said all that I think can be of any service at this time, and I give you these things here laid before you to confirm my words, viz: five Stroud Coats, twenty pound of powder, and forty pound of Lead for each of the five Na- tions ; that is, twenty-five Coats, One Hundred Weight of Powder and two Hundred of Lead in the whole, which I desire may be de- . livered to them, with these my words in my Name and on behalf of this province.
§: I shall be glad frequently to see some of your chief men sent in the name of all the rest, but desire you will be so kind as to come to us to Philadelphia to Visit our Families and Children born there, where we can provide better for you and make you more welcome, for People always receive their Friends best at their own Houses. I heartily wish you well on your Journey and good success in it, And when you return home I desire you will give my very kind love and the Love of all our People to your Kings and to all their People.
Then the Governour rose up from his Chair, and when he had called Ghesont the Speaker to him, He took a Coronation Medal of the Kings out of his pocket, and presented it to the Indian in these words.
That our children when we are dead may not forget these things, but keep this Treaty between us in perpetual Remembrance. I here deliver to you a Picture in Gold, bearing the Image of my great Master the King of all the English ; And when you return home I Charge you to deliver this piece into the hands of the first man or greatest Chief of all the five Nations, whom you call Kannygoodk, to be laid up and kept as a Token to our childrens children, that an entire and lasting Friendship is now established for ever between the English in this Country and the great five Nations.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, July the 20th, 1721.
PRESENT :
The Honourable Sir WILLIAM KEITH, Bart., Governour.
Richard Hill, Thomas Masters,
Isaac Norris, Andrew Hamilton, Att. Genl.
Samll. Preston, James Logan, Secretary.
Jonathan Dickinson,
The minutes of Council and Treaty lately held with Deputies of the ffive Nations at Conestogoe being read, for the Service and Satis- faction of those who would not undertake that Journey, the Secre- tary reported what he had further transacted with them there, after the Governour left that place, as follows :
James Logan, Secretary, further reports, that having continued at Conestogoe, after the Departure of the Governour and the rest of the Company, He had the next day, by the Governours approbation and Direction held a Discourse with Ghesaont, the Chief of those Indians and their Speaker Civility, the Captain of Conestogoe, and John Cartlidge, being Interpreters.
131
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
That He first put Ghesaont in mind of the great Satisfaction the Governour had expressed to him in the Council upon their kind visit, and the ffreedom and openness that had been used to them on our parts, and therefore advised him if he had any thing in his thoughts further relating to the Friendship established between us and the matters treated in Council, he would open his Breast in this free Conversation, and Speak it without Reserve, and whatever he said on those heads should be reported faithfully to the Governour.
Ghesaont then said, that he was very well pleased with what had been spoken. He saw the Governour and the English were true Friends to the ffive Nations, but as to their People going out to War, which Head we chiefly insisted on, the principal reason was that their young men were become very poor, They could get no goods nor Clothing from the English, and therefore they went abroad to gain them from their Enemies.
That they had once a clear Sky and Sun Shine at Albany, but now all was over-cast, they could no longer Trade and get Goods as they had done, of which he could not know the Reason, and there- fore they had resolved to try whether it was the same among the other English Governments.
To this the Secretary answered, That they had from the first Set- tlement of New York and Albany been in a strict League and Friend- ship with that Government, and had always had a Trade with and been supplied by them with the Goods they wanted. That it was true, for three or four years past the ffrench had come from Canada to Albany in New York, and purchased and carried away great part of the Goods, Strowd waters especially, Sometimes three or four hundred pieces in a year, which the ffive Nations ought to have had ; but that now, another Governour being lately sent thither from the Great King of England, He had made a Law that the ffrench should not have any more Goods from the English ; That this had been the Reason of the Clouds and dark Weather they complained of, but that now a clear Sunshine as they desired would be restored to them ; That he very well knew this Gentleman the new Governour, that He had not long since been at Philadelphia, and at his (the Secretary's) House, and that he had heard him (the Corlear) say He would take Care his Indians should be well supplied for the future, and accord- ingly they might depend on it.
Ghesaont being hereupon asked whether they did not know that the ffrench had for some years past had the Cloths from the Eng- lish, answered, that they knew very well that these English Goods went now in a new path, different from that they had formerly gone in, that they knew not where they went, but they went beside them and they could not get hold of them, tho' they much wanted them.
The Secretary proceeded to say, that as New York and Albany had been their Ancientest Friends, so they could best supply them, and they would certainly do it if they continued in their Duty on their part ; That they were sensible the Great King of England had a Regard for them, by the notice that He took of them almost every year ; That all the English every where were their Friends. We
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.