USA > Vermont > Early history of Vermont, Vol. III > Part 19
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Governor Tichenor at the October Session made a report to the Legislature as follows :-
"I cannot learn that the state of New York was governed so much by a principle of justice, as policy, in the compensation made by them, in their late treaty with these people. The claims of the Indians to lands in the state of New York, and for which they received a compensation from that goverment, I conceive to be somewhat vari- ant from their claims to lands in this state. The greater part of our lands was granted by the King of England, without any express reservation of an Indian claim; while the lands in New York were principally vacant, and the hunting ground of the claimants.
"It has not been in my power to obtain any documents that would give any accurate inform- ation of the ancient claim of these Indians to the lands in question, but from the long and settled usage and principles which have governed na- tions in similar cases, I conceive their right, what- ever it may have been, extinguished. .
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"These Indians, the Cognawagahs; are ancient- ly of the confederacy called the five [subsequently six Iroquois] nations; which confederacy, or some nation of that confederacy, might have once had a good right to the territory now claimed.
"In the former wars, between the English and French, while the English King held the gover- ments of this country, it is believed the Cogna- waghas separated from the confederacy, removed into Canada, put themselves under the French, and joined their fortunes with the French King in his wars with the English; the latter being victor- ious conquered the French, and all their allies in this country and in Canada; upon which the whole country was yielded to the English, in right of conquest.
"The treaty which terminated that war, and which was made for all those who were united with the French, or were inhabitants or held rights in the province of Canada, reserved certain rights and privileges, to all the conquered people of that province. Their rights, so reserved, were considered to extend beyond the limits of that province; in this the Indians acquiesced, for and during all the time the English were in the pos- session and goverment of this country. It is also believed that the Indians never caused the voice of their claims to be heard, respecting these lands, during the existence of this goverment, or at any period since the conquest, or since the grant of these lands by his Britannie majesty.
"I may also add, that in the year 1775, when the King of England who had granted these
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lands, made war upon this country, these Indians were his allies in that war, and thereby subjected themselves and interest to its consequences. The people of the United States were victorious, and the King of England by treaty, yielded to the United States all the lands to the south of Can- ada. Thus, in my view, the claims of the Indians have been extinguished."
This report was referred to a committee, who reported to the House that the claims of the Chiefs of the seven nations of Indians of Lower Canada were not founded in justice or equity and the House accepted the report, and resolved that they were fully of the opinion that the claim of the In- dians "if it ever did exist, has long since been done away and become extinct, in consequence of the treaty of peace in 1763, between the King of Great Britain and the French King; and the treaty of peace between the King of Great Britain and the United States, of which this is a part, in the year 1783, and that the said Indians have now no real claim, either in justice or equity." At the Oc- tober Session of the Legislature of 1800, the Gov- ernor reported that he had informed the Indians of the action of the Legislature and endeavored to explain to them the reason why the Legislature decided against the justice of their claim, and said he was well persuaded that they will not trouble the Legislature in future. But in this prediction the Governor was mistaken, for at the October Session of the Legislature in 1812, the following Memorial wascommunicated to the Legislature by Lieut. Gov. Brigham in the absence of Gov. Galusha: viz,
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" Most Honorable Brother: We, the Chiefs of the Iroquois or Cognahwaghah nation, in mutual council, agreed to send the following speech to our great brother, the Governor of the State of Vermont.
"Most Honorable Brother: We, the Chiefs of the Iroquois nation, do now, in behalf of the whole nation, speak to you and others who are now sitting with you in the Great Council House.
"Most Excellent Brother, now attend != We, the red people, have inhabited and owned this is- land [America] from the time of immemorial. Our land extended from rising to the setting sun, and from the cold region of the North to the hot climes of the South. The Great Spirit above made it, and gave it to the Indians for their use. He created various kinds of animals for our food and their skins served us for clothing. He scattered them over this extensive country, and taught us how to kill them. He made the earth to produce Indian corn for bread. He made also the innumer- able inhabitants in the great waters to run up and down in our rivers, and taught us how to catch them. The Great Spirit created all these for the use of his red children because he loved them. Great Brother, continue to listen! When your an- cestors crossed the great lake [the Atlantic Ocean] and landed on this Western island, they were poor and few in number. Our fathers had compassion on them, and protected them. They told our fathers they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small tract of land. We,
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the red people, gave them a seat, and they sat down among us. We instructed the manner of painting and dressing the Indian corn. We carried them upon our backs through rivers and waters, and when any of them or their children were lost in the woods, and in danger of perishing with hunger or cold, we carried them to our wigwams, fed them, and restored them to their parents and friends. We gave them corn and meat when pinch- ed with famine. We relieved their distresses, and prevented their perishing in a strange land.
"Thus you see, Brother, when your ancestors came into our country, you did not find us ene- mies-but friends. Great Brother, you have now become a great people, but we are decreased and now smaller in comparison to what we once were. Your territory has become to be very large now, and we poor Indians have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, and now what shall we say? We say, brother, in truth we are distressed on account of it. You have settled where we formerly caught moose deer and bears-and now we hardly know where to go to find them.
"Most excellent Brother, we would now once more request you to continue to listen. We would now remind you that in the year 1798 we met you at your council fire, and we then requested you that you would give us something in compen- sation annually, for our land, which you have taken possession of. But our Brother, who was then Governor in Vermout, said that in justice and equity the lands we claimed did not belong to
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us. He required us to exhibit documents as proofs that the land which was then claimed did belong to us-and this he well knew we could not do -as you well know, Brother, we are destitute of writ- ings, records, and history. With us, to preserve the memory of our public affairs and transactions, we depend upon our most aged men to keep them in their head and mind. He also required us to fur- nish the necessary documents authorizing the State of Vermont to trade with us. This he also well knew, we were totally ignorant where to go to find the necessary documents for the State of Vermont to treat with us.
"We would now speak a few words to the honorable Representatives of the' people of Ver- mont.
"Brethren and friends: The land we now claim never was purchased of us either by the French or English, and we never sold it nor was it ever con- quered by our Indian brethern, but it has always been in our hands, and when you made settle- ments upon it, we considered then it belonged to us. And now "In justice and equity it does not be- long to us !" Yes, brethern, we believe it belongs to us, and we shall claim it as long as the sun rolls from the East to the West. In the year 16S3 our ancestors had a considerable dispute as to the boundary line of the land, which we now claim, with the eastern Indians. A French Jesuit, who was well acquainted of our claim, wrote the fol- lowing paragraph to Governor Dongan, of New- York: "The Iroquois, of the Sault St. Louis or Cognawagahah, have always claimed the country
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lying in the East side of Lac de Champlain." The boundary line is as follows, viz: beginning at the head of Lac de Champlain [Lake George] running thence east up to the heights of the great moun- tain, thence north to the Fort Chamblee." Thus you see, brethren, the Jesuit makes it appear that our ancestors have always claimed the land where you now live, and much larger than we do now. We claim as follows : " Beginning on the east side of Ticonderoga, from thence to the great falls on Otter Creek [Sutherland's Falls,] and continues the same course to the height of land that divides the streams between Lake Champlain and Con- necticut river, from thence along the heights of land opposite Missisquoi, and down to the Bay: " that is the land which we claim.
" Now brethren and friends, we do not ask you, that you must give us so much. No, far from that, for we know that you and the brethren in Vermont are generous and kind. We also know, that you will do justice to a nation who has been, and is now, much abused and despised-a nation, who have been cheated and driven from their an- cient settlements. We do hope and pray to the Great Spirit, that the great governor, the honor- able representatives and the good people in Ver- mont will have compassion on their red brethren and give them something annually in compen- sation for their land.
" Most Excellent Governor and respected Gen- tlemen, Representatives of Vermont: We, the Chiefs of Cognawagah, have now spoken to your ears of our mind-we hope you will take into con-
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sideration what we have said. We wish to live in peace with you, and we hope you will ever con- sider us your brothers-we hope we shall always live on friendly terms. This is all your red breth- ren have to say."
The Committee to whom the memorial was re- ferred reported against the claim, but the Legis- lature appropriated $100 as a present to the Ind- ian Chiefs and $100 to pay their expenses while in the State on their embassy. The Committee rec- ommended that the Governor have a talk with the Chiefs and inform them that the State could not accede to their claim for lands nor stipulate an annual payment of money. The Lieutenant Governor met the Chiefs of the Cognahwaga na- tior accompanied by their interpreter and had the following talk with them: viz,
"BROTHERS, CHIEFS AND COUNCILLORS OF THE IROQUOIS OR COGNAWAGHAH NATION :- I have heard your talk and have told it to the great council of this State. We have all considered it; we now answer. Brothers, we are very glad of your friendship-we love peace. The Great Spirit did not make us to kill one annother, but to live in peace, to enjoy his rich bounties, and prepare for happiness. You live among a people at war with us-they have injured us, and our great na- tion has waged war with them for it. It is for your interest and ours, it is for your happiness and ours, that we should be at peace.
"BROTHERS: It has been the policy of our great father and his council to help our red brethren of the west to such things as they could not provide
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for themselves, and to cultivate peace and friend- ship with them; and our enemy has told them wicked and strong stories-so that our chain of friendship has become dull and broken, and war with all its horrors has taken the place of peace. Brothers, we love justiee,-it is an attribute of the Great Spirit. You love it as well as we. We don't. think we have injured you. We don't complain that you have injured us. We have bought our lands a great while ago. We have paid a great deal of money for them. You love justice, -- You don't want we should pay for our lands again. We can't get back the money we have paid for them.
"BROTHERS: let us forget the past,-let us en- joy the future,-let us live in peace.
" We have much confidence in your wishes for our good, and we are anxious for your good; we shall not fail to recommend you to our councils in future. Brothers, you say ' we have become a great people.' True. The Great Spirit has blessed and increased us. He loves us and makes us love peace. He makes us willing to fight where we can't have peace. We are a great nation. We, the Vermonters, are only a little part of that great nation. We are cemented to the whole by our great charter. If we break that charter we forfeit its protection. In that charter are these words: " No State shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with a for -. eign power. " So you see, brothers, we can't agree to pay you money annually without an act of Congress. You see we are just-not to break our
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great charter which binds us to our nation, our great charter which binds our nation to protect us. You love justice. You approve it in us. We hail you as friends. We hail you as brothers. We tender you our friendship; we solicit yours. We pray the Great Spirit to make them both perpet- ual. Thus you have the end of our talk. Receive, brothers, this small testimonial of our friendship and sincerity."
On Oct. 21st, 1826, Gov. Butler communicated to the General Assembly another memorial of the Iroquois tribe residing in Sault St. Louis in the district of Montreal, much of the same tenor of the one quoted above, but we quote from it the following statement :---
" That under the French and British Govern- ments, and during their respective possessions ot the above tract of land, they (your memorialists) never were troubled or molested in any manner whatsoever; on the contrary it was known and acknowledged by those governments to be .your memorialists' property. They were protected and supported in the full and peaceable enjoyment and possession of it-where they used to fish and hunt exclusively to any other persons-for the use and maintenance of themselves and famillies. But now they see with sorrow, that since many years they have been dispossessed of their father's inherit- ance, by force, and deprived of enjoying it as they did from immemorial time-being at present in the possession and occupied by persons, who pre- tend to be the real proprietors of it in virtue of legal titles from the State of Vermont.
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It is notorious that this tribe never have relin- quished or given any titles, or ever received any compensation or recompense for their rights to the said land, or for any part thereof: So that your memorialists are dispossessed of their prop- erty without their consent, without any indem- nification whatsoever, and deprived of the only means they had to support and maintain their famillies, and find themselves confined to such a narrow state of limits that they are most reduced to want.
This memorial was also referred to a committee who in their report set forth the action the State had taken on the several occasions when the Ind- ian claims had been urged for allowance, and reached the same result; and the report was ac- cepted.
On Jnne 14, 1853, Gov. Stephen Royce appoint- Hon. Timothy P. Redfield to ascertain the claims of the Iroquois Indians to compensation for lands in Vermont, and cause the result of his examina- tion to be laid before the General Assembly of the State at its then next session. The result of his in- vestigation reported to the Assembly was in sub- stance, that the Iroquois who represent the ancient confederacy of the Six Nations assert a claim to compensation for land in the State, the bounds of which have been given; that the Iroquois had pos- session of these lands, and exereised dominion of the same until dispossessed by the encroachments of civilization: that they had never parted with their title by any treaty or compact to which they as a trible had been a party; that it has been con-
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ceded that the claimants, prior to the treaty be- tween Great Britain and France in 1763, had pos- session of the lands as their "hunting ground" and that such title, Great Britain and the United States have uniformly treated with respect in their inter- course with the Indians; that the claim of the Ver- mont authorities that they could not treat with the Iroquois without the consent of Congress, by reason of the prohibition of the tenth section of the first article of the United States constitution and by reason of an act of Congress relating to trade and intercourse with Indian tribes passed July 22, 1790, "that no sale of lands made by any Indians, or any nation or tribe of Indians, within the United States, shall be valid to any person or persons; or to any State, whether hav- ing the right of preemption to such lands or not, unless the same shall be made and duly executed at some public treaty held under the authority of the United States, " was not well founded; that the proposition to treat with the Indians respect- ing these lands could not be called strictly a pur- chase, as the jurisdiction of the State over these lands was not disputed, and the lands had been in the peaceable possession of the citizens of the State for more than half a century, with undoubted ti- tle to the same; that if the Legislature should deem that the Iroquois were entitled, "in the forum of conscience," to some remuneration for lands long since granted and appropriated by the State. and should make appropriation for such remuner- ation, that such proceedings would neither con- fliet with the provisions of the act of Congress nor the Constitution.
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Redfield also reported that the main objection to the allowance of the Indians claim was that the lands were granted by the King of Great Britain without reservation of Indian titles and that the Iroquois were subjects then of that King, and that by the treaty of 1783, by which this territory was ceeded to the United States the Ind- ian title became extinguished; and also it had been objected that in the war between Great Britain and France, the Iroquois were allies of France, and that war resulted in the conquest of Canada by Great Britain and that by the treaty between those powers in 1763, the Iroquois' claim was ex- tinguished, but in his report he contended that the Six Nations, during the "French War" and also of the Revolution, in the main, were attached to the crown of England, although the French made great efforts to obtain their alliance during the former war and sometimes were successful, but he contended even if it was conceded that the Iroquois were allies of France, the cession of Canada to the crown of England would not ex- tinguish the title to lands within the British Col- onies, and England did not so regard it, and that from 1763, to 1783, the British Sovereign, by his agent, negotiated with the Chiefs of the Six Nations respecting their land, and they were treat- ed as having the undisputed title; and that the Indians did not loose their title by the treaty be- tween the United States and Great Britain in 1783; that the Crown treated with them, as an independent power, before the treaty of 1783, and the United States have since that time; that the
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authorities of New York through Abraham Ogden, a commissioner of the United States, concluded a treaty with the "Seven Nations" by which they ceeded to the people of the state of New York all title to their adjacent lands in that state for the consideration paid by New York, of 1447 pounds, one shilling, four pence, and New York also stip- ulated to pay them annually, thereafter, 212 pounds, six shilling and eight pence.
The Supreme Court of the United States stated in the case of Clark vs. Smith, 13 Peters Reports, 195 page, that, "the ultimate fee, encumbered with the right of Indian occupancy, was in the Crown previous to the Revolution, and in the States of the Union afterwards, and subject to grant. The right of occupancy was protected by the polit- ical powers, and respected by the Courts, until ex- tinguished." In the case of United States vs. Clark, 9 Peters' Reports, the same Court said, that "friendly Indians were protected in the possession of lands they occupied, and were considered as owning them, by a perpetual right of possession in the tribe or nation inhabiting them as their common property, from generation to generation, not as a right of individuals located on particular spots. Indian possession was considered in refer- ence to their habits and modes of life; their hunt- ing grounds were as much in their actual posses- session as the cultivated fields of the whites .. " Redfield finally said in his report that "If the Iroquois have been divested of their title, it would seem more legitimate to say that they had been divested, and the title obtained by conquest."
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The report was referred to a committee who reported resolutions to the House directing the Governor to appoint a Commissioner to ascertain the amount and extent of the claim; and also em- powering the Treasurer to pay the Indians in at- tendance fifty dollars for their expenses.
Gov. Royce on the 22nd day of January, 1855, appointed the Hon. James M. Hotchkiss as such commissioner, who commenced the hearing of the claim of the Indians on the 14th day of June, 1855, at Massena, New York. There were two branches of the Iroquois that presented themselves, through their agents, before the Commissioner as claim- ants, the Coughnawagas and the Lake of Two Mountains. The former objected to the latter par- ticipating in the claim, upon the ground that they were not descendents of the Coughnawagas. The Lake of Two Mountains claimed they sepa- rated from the Caughnawagas about the year 1789, and soon emigrated to the Lake of Two Mountains and claimed to belong to the Iroquois. The Coughnawagas claimed they had no record of a separation. The Commissioners over-ruled the objection and allowed both parties to partic- ipate in the hearing and investigation. The Ind- ians claimed before the Commissioners more than two million acres of land east of New York line exclusive of the waters of Lake Champlain as their former hunting grounds, and as compensation asked to be paid the average price of land per acre ceded to the United States by twenty of the most favorable treaties made between the United States and the different tribes of Indians for the then last
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thirty years-the treaties to be selected by the Indians. This proposition the Commission treated as inadmissible, as being too indefinite, and the mode of ascertaining the price exceedingly difficult and expensive, and informed them that their title to lands in Vermont was not only doubtful, but utterly denied, and that they had only asked compensation for the lands their ancestors once occupied as their hunting ground. And he remind- ed them that their ancestors emigrated to Canada about the year 1676, and placed themselves under the Crown of France, and soon after swore alleg- iance to his Majesty's government, became . allies of the French and the enemies of the English and American colonies. The Vermont Territory was found to be vacant at an early day and grants of land were made to the people of Vermont by the Governor of New Hampshire and by New York without requiring a previous purchase from the In- dians, and that Vermont subsequently paid New York $30,000 to relinquish her claim to the terri- tory of Vermont.
The Commissioner asked them to fix upon a defi- nite sum as their claim. The Indians thereupon fixed their demand at four cents per acre for their hunting grounds or pay them $89.600. The Com- missioner in reply to this proposition stated to them that the Documentary History of New York showed that lands on both sides of the Lake Cham- plain to a very great extent, by an agreement with the Iroquois Indians, were granted by the government of New York to British subjects pre- vious to the year 1731, and that their last prop-
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osition to pay them $89,600 was entirely out of the question, and that unless they made a very different proposition he should feel under the ne- cessity of declining their proposition altogether.
On October 18, 1855, the Indians proposed to submit their claim direct to the Legislature of Ver- mont, without further debate as to the sum that ought to be paid, "and rely upon the justice and humanity of the Government of Vermont," and re- linquish all claim upon Vermont, in consideration of such sum as the Legislature shall appropriate for that purpose. The Commissioner in his report to the General Assembly of 1855, stated as facts that in the year 1609, a Frenchman by the name of Champlain in company with several other French- men and about one-hundred of the Canadian Indians, started from Quebec upon an expedition against their enemies, the Iroquois Indians; that the object of Champlain was to explore the coun- try and assist the Canadian Indians in their war against the Iroquois; he soon reached the lake to which he gave his own name. As they proceed- ed up the lake they came in sight of the Green Mountains on the east side of the lake; Cham- plain was told by Indians that that was the coun- try of the Iroquois who lived farther south upon the west side of the lake. It was subsequently as- certained that the Iroquois were a very powerful confederacy: that the Mohawk branch of them re- sided in the valley of the Mohawk river, and it was admitted by the people of New York, and by historians that their territory extended into the present limits.of Vermont at a very early day;
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