USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 11
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between the Indians were such as to disturb the peace of the province. To prevent this, Keith entered into articles of stipulation; returned, determined on, and soon afterwards, visiting the Indians at Conestoga, to have them ratify the treaty, which was in substance: "That the Indians resident on the north and south of the Potomac be confined to their respective sides of the river."
Governor Keith, accompanied by a suit of seventy horsemen, many of them well armed, repaired to Conestoga .* "He arrived there, July 5th, 1721, at noon, and in the evening went to Captain Civility's cabin, where four deputies of the Five Nations, and some few more of their people, came to see the Go- vernor, who spake to them by an interpreter to this purpose :
That this being the first time that the Five Nations had thought fit to send any of their chiefs to visit him (the Governor had invited them to Philadelphia; but they refused), he had come a great way from home to bid them welcome; that he hoped to be better acquainted and hold a further discourse with them before he left the place.
They answered, that they were come a long way on purpose to see the Governor and speak with him; that they had heard much of him, and would have come here before now, but that the faults or mistakes of their young men had made them ashamed to shew their faces, but now that they had seen the Governor's face, they were well satisfied with their journey, whether any thing else was done or not.
The Governor told them that to-morrow morning he designed to speak a few words to his brothers and *Proud, II. 129.
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children, the Indians of Conestoga and their friends upon Susquehanna, and desired that deputies of the Five Nations might be present in council to hear what is said to them.
At a council held at Conestoga, July 6th, 1721- Present : the Hon. Sir William Keith, Bart., Gov. Richard Hill, Caleb Pusey, Jonathan Dickinson, Col. John French, James Logan, secretary.
The Governor spoke to the Indians, as follows: My brothers and children, soon as you sent me word that your friends and relations, the chiefs of the Five Nations, were come to visit you, I made haste and came up to see both you and them, and to assure all the Indians of the continuance of my love to them.
Your old acquaintance and true friend, the great William Penn, was a wise man, and therefore he did not approve of wars among the Indians whom he loved, because it wasted and destroyed their people, but always recommended peace to the Indians as the surest way to make them rich and strong by increasing their numbers.
Some of you can well remember since William Penn and his friends came first to settle among you in this country ; it is but a few years, and like as yesterday, to an old man ; nevertheless, by following that great man's peaceable councils this Government is now become wealthy and powerful, in great numbers of people; and though, many of our inhabitants are not accustomed to war, and dislike the practice of men killing one another, yet you cannot but know I am able to bring several thousands into the field well armed to defend both your people and ours from being hurt by any enemy that durst attempt to invade us. However, we do not forget what William Penn often told us, "That the experience
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of old age, which is true wisdom, advises peace," and I say to you, that the wisest man is also the bravest man, for he safely depends on his wisdom, and there is no true courage without it. I have so great a love for you, my dear brothers, who live under the protection of this Government, that I cannot suffer you to be hurt no more than I would my own children. I am just now returned from Virginia, where I wearied myself in a long journey both by land and water, only to make peace for you, my children, that you may safely hunt in the woods without danger from Virginia, and the many Indian nations that are at peace with that Government. But the Governor of Virginia expects that you will not hunt within the Great Mountains, on the other side of Potomac river; being it is a small tract of land which he keeps for the Virginia Indians to hunt in; and he promises that his Indians shall not any more come on this side Potomac, or behind the Great Mountains, this way, to disturb your hunting; and this is the condition I have made for you, which I expect you will firmly keep, and not break it on any consideration whatsoever.
I desire that what I have now said to you, may be interpreted to the chiefs of the Five Nations, present ; for as you are a part of them. They are in like manner one with us, as you yourselves are; and therefore our councils must agree and be made known to one another ; for our hearts should be open, that we may perfectly see into one another's breasts. And that your friends may speak to me freely, tell them I am willing to forget the mistakes which some of their young men were guilty of, among our people; I hope they will grow wiser with age, and hearken to the grave counsels of their old men whose valor we esteem because they are wise; but the rashness of their young men is altogether folly.
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At Conestoga, in council, July 7th .- Present: Gov. Keith, Richard Hill, Caleb Pusey, Jonathan Dickinson, Col. John French, James Logan, Secretary, with divers other gentlemen. Present, also : The chiefs or deputies sent by the Five Nations to treat with the Government, viz: Sinnekaes nation, Ghesaont, Awennool, Onondagoes nation, Tannawree, Skeetowas, Gayoogoes nation, Sahoode, Tchehuque.
Smith, the Ganawese Indian interpreter of the Mingo language to the Delawares; John Cartledge and James Le Tort, interpreter of the Delaware into English.
Ghesaont, in the name and on the behalf of all the Five Nations, delivered himself in speaking to the Governor, as follows:
They were glad to see the Governor and his council at this place, for they had heard much of the Governor 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 Go- vernor and council that they had not forgot William Penn's 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 the Susquehanna river, sometimes meet with their young men 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 understanding; whereas they are men, and think that
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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 keg of their liquor and ran away with it.
N. B .- This seems to be told in their artful way to excuse some small robberies that had been committed by their young people.
Then laying down a belt of wampum upon the table, he proceeded, 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 among themselves, but were hurt with what we fur- nished to them, and therefore desired them that no more of that sort might be sent among them.
He presented a bundle of dressed skins, and said: That the Five Nations, faithfully, remembered all their ancient treaties, and now desire that the chain of friend- ship, between them and us, may be made strong as that none of the links can never be broken.
Presents a bundle of raw skins, and observes : That a chain may contract rust with lying and become weaker , wherefore, he desires it may now become so well cleaned 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 misunderstand- ings may be fully done away; so that when they who are now here shall be dead and gone, their whole people with their children and posterity, may enjoy the clear sunshine of friendship with us forever, without any thing to interpose and obscure it.
Presents another bundle of skins, and says : That
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looking upon the Governor, as if William Penn was present, they desire, that in case any disorders should hereafter happen between their young and ours, we would not be too hasty in resenting any such accident, until their council and ours can have some opportunity to- treat amicably upon it, and so to adjust all matters as that the friendship between us may still be inviolably preserved.
Presents another parcel of dressed skins and desires: That we may now be together as one people, treating one another's children kindly and affectionately on all occasions. He proceeds, and says: That they. consider themselves, in this treaty, as the full plenipotentiaries and representations of the Five Nations, and they look upon the Governor as the Great King of England's Representative, 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 and furs, so as they cannot live by their hunting .- They desire us, therefore, to take compassion on them and contrive some way to help them in that particular.
Presenting a few furs, he speaks only as for himself to acquaint the Governor that the Five Nations having heard that the Governor of Virginia wanted to speak with 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 Cartledge, Esq. near Conestoga, July 8th, 1721. Present, Gov. Keith,
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Richard Hill, Jonathan Dickinson, Col. John French, James Logan, secretary.
The Governor desired the Board would advise him as to the quantity and kind of 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 weight of gunpowder, two hundred weight of lead, with some biscuit, tobacco and pipes, should be delivered as the Governor's present to the Five Nations. And the same being prepared accordingly, the council was adjourned to Conestoga, the place of treaty.
At a council held at Conestoga, July 8th, 1721. P. M. Present: Gov. Keith, and the same members as before, with divers gentlemen attending, the Governor and the chiefs of the Five Nations being all seated in council, and the presents laid down before the Indians .- The Governor spoke to them, by the interpreters, in these words :
, My friends and brothers, it is a great satisfaction to me that I have this opportunity of speaking to the valient and wise Five Nations, whom you tell me you are fully empowered to represent. I treat with you, therefore, as if all these nations, here, were present; and you are to understand that what I now say to be agreeable to the minds of our great monarch, George, the King of Eng- land, who lends his care to establish peace amongst all the mighty nations of Europe, and unto whom all the the people, in these parts, are as it were but like one drop 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 people, to be kept in perpetual remembrance. I am also glad to find that you remember what William Penn formerly said to you.
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He was a great man, and a good man; his own people loved him; he loved the Indians, and they also loved him; he was as their father; he would never suffer them to be wronged; never would he let his people enter upon any lands until he had first purchased them of the Indians. He was just, and therefore the Indians loved him.
Though he is now removed from us, yet his children and people follow 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 one link ends another succeeds, and then 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, lest this chain should grow rusty you now desire it may be secured and made strong, to bind us as one people together. · We do assure you it is, and has always been bright on one 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 endeavoring to persuade me that they were provoked to do what you very well know they did; but, as I told our own Indians two days ago, I am willing to pass by all these things. You may therefore be assured that our people shall not offer any injury to yours; or if I know that they do, they shall be severely punished for it. So you must, in like manner, strictly command your young men that they do not offer any injury to ours; for when they pass through the utmost skirts of our inhabitants, where there are no people yet settled, but a few traders, they should be more careful of them as having separated themselves from the body of
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their friends, purely to serve the Indians more commo -- diously with what they want. Nevertheless, if any little disorders should at any time hereafter arise, we. will endeavor 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 shall 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 friends and brothers, speak very plainly to you on this head. Your young men come down the Susquehanna 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 you must know, that the path this way, leads them only to the Indians who are in alliance with the English, and first those who are in strict league of friendship with the great Governor 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 persons without considering it was done to, ourselves; so, the Governor of Virginia looks upon the injuries done to his Indian brothers and friends 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.
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our nation is received as an injury done to 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 neighbors, 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 Governor of Virginia. Your nations formerly entered into a firm league with that Government, and if you have suffered that chain to grow' rusty it is time to scour it; and the Five Nations have done very wisely to send you there for that purpose.
I do assure you, the Governor of Virginia, is a great and good man. He loves the Indians as his children, and so protects and defends them, for he is very strong, having many thousand christian warriors under his com- mand, 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 a few days ago, that we must open our breasts to each other; I shall,
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therefre, 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, 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 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 yourselves.
The Indians of the south, though they speak a different language, yet they are the same people, and inhabit the same land with those of the north, we there- fore 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, labor to prevent this .- We would have you strong as a part of ourselves ; for as our strength is your strength, so we would have yours. to be as our own.
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I have persuaded all my brethren in these parts to consider what is for your good, and not to go out any more to war; but your young men, as they come this: way, endeavor to force them, and because they incline to: follow the counsels of peace and 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 ago, 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
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grow weak, we lose our dear friends and are afflicted, and this is chiefly owing to your young men.
Surely you cannot suppose 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 scalp of a dead man, who, perhaps, was husband to a kind wife, and father to tender children, who never wronged you, though by losing him you have robbed them of this help and protection, and at the same time got 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 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 them 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 destruc- tion. 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 though they are weak, yet they are our brethren. We will therefore take care of them that they are 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.
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My good friends and brothers, I give you the same counsel, and earnestly desire that you will follow it, since it will make you a 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 beginning, and though they were at peace with you about two and twenty years ago, yet by subtle practices they still endeavor 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 inter- preters, 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 endeavor to do it in peace; for when they persuade you to go out to war against others, it is only that you may be destroyed yourselves, while we, as your true friends, labor to prevent, because we would have your numbers increased that you may grow strong, and that we may be all strengthened in friendship 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, endeavor 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, for we think that a stroud coat, or a pound of powder is now sold for no more buck-
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skins than formerly; beaver, indeed, is not of late so much used in Europe, and therefore does not give so -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 expect 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 it is 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 none 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 neighboring 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 prevent 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 join in any measures that can be proposed for so good a purpose.
I have now, my friends and 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
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words, viz : five stroud coats, twenty pounds of powder, and forty pounds of lead, for each of the Five Nations; that is, twenty-five coats, one hundred weight of powder, and two hundred of lead, in the whole, which I desire may be delivered to them, with these my words in my name and the behalf of the 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 on 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.
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