Signed by Buckingeheles, and six other Chiefs of the Delaware nation.
These Indian chiefs, before alluded to, were presented with suitable presents previous to their leaving Philadelphia, as a token of brotherly regard entertained for the natives of the land,—and some time after the committee wrote to the Delaware nation, strongly recommending them to betake themselves to the cultivation of the earth to procure sustenance, and in allusion to the time of their first intercourse with Friends in the early settlement of the country, they say:
“Brothers, at that time the white inhabitants were few and inclined to peace; since then, they have increased to a great number, amongst whom we and our brethren are but as a handful. Yet the good Spirit who taught our forefathers to cultivate peace with the Indians and all men, still teaches us the same; therefore, we can take no part in the war with any people, and our influence in the great councils of our nation is very small—but we use our endeavours to persuade men to live in peace, and have brotherly love towards each other.”
In the First month, 1802, the Little Turtle and several other chiefs of the Miami and Pottawattamie nations, again visited Philadelphia, when Friends had satisfactory conferences with them, in which the Little Turtle renewed in a pathetic manner his request for some assistance to be given his nation, to accelerate their improvement in civilization. Suitable advice was given them on this subject, accompanied with some presents: but these nations lived more within the vicinity of Friends of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, who had formed similar plans to improve the condition of the Indian natives; it was therefore concluded by their committee, to extend aid to some of the nations north-west of the river Ohio—of which some account may be given hereafter.
Early in the spring of 1802, a number of the Indians of the Delaware and Shawaneese nations came to Philadelphia, and in their conferences with Friends, renewed their requests for assistance in procuring some necessary articles, and particularly that they might be furnished with a schoolmaster in their towns to instruct their children.
These people, being the immediate descendants from those tribes who were very friendly and kind to our ancestors in the early settlement of Pennsylvania, seemed to have a special claim upon Friends. Accordingly, they were furnished with a considerable amount in money, and goods adapted to their wants. Suitable advice was given them, encouraging them to cultivate their land, and raise cattle, hogs, and other useful animals. They lived at so remote a distance, that Friends had no expectation of any one of their people going among them in the capacity of schoolmaster.
In the conclusion of their reply to Friends, they say:
“May the great good Spirit above protect you for the favours you have shown us. The present you have made us will put us in grateful remembrance of you for ever.”
Thus we see, in this short account of the correspondence with the Indians, of various and distant nations to the westward, (of which much more might have been said,) not only their strong attachment to the society of Friends, but their determination to live in peace with the people of the United States. We also may discover their destitute and miserable situation, in consequence of the ravages of war, and the wide field of labour that opens for the benevolent and philanthropic mind to extend the empire of civilization and knowledge, to these untutored sons of the forest. It was a pleasing reflection, at that time, that the benign influence of the prince of peace had so softened the hearts of men, that measures were contemplated by the rulers of our land to extend the blessings of civilization to these aborigines of our country; to reclaim them from their savage habits and induce them to adopt the innocent employments of the pastoral and agricultural life. But alas! the subsequent policy of the general government, combined with the interested motives of individual states, too sorrowfully demonstrate that their fate is inevitably fixed—the decree has gone forth—they must recede before the giant march of white population; and however strong their attachment to their native soil, and reluctant to abandon the homes of their fathers, be compelled to retreat further and further into the dreary abodes of an unknown wilderness, and to seek an asylum among more savage and barbarous tribes, towards the setting sun.