On their arrival there, it appeared a mistake had been made in the translation of the speech the Indians had sent to Friends, respecting the time of opening their great council, to which Friends had been invited. They were now informed that it began annually at the full moon in the Sixth month.
Finding it would be difficult to procure food for themselves and horses there, until that time, the committee concluded it best to have a conference with Tarhie and other chiefs who were then in the neighbourhood of Sandusky, which was accordingly agreed to. At the time appointed they met at Tarhie’s house, with several other chiefs, and a number of hunters, when they had a full opportunity with them, on the subject of their visit.
Their communication appeared to be received with great satisfaction by the Indians, and in their answer, delivered on some strings of wampum, they expressed the gratitude they felt for the care and friendship, which their beloved brethren the Quakers had always manifested for the Indians, and promised as soon as the grand council met, that they should communicate fully to it, respecting the concern which the society felt for their improvement, and inform Friends by a written speech of their conclusion thereon.
Whilst these Friends were at Sandusky and other villages, their minds were deeply affected under the sorrowful considerations of the baneful effects of spirituous liquors upon the Indians, who were at that time supplied with it in almost every village, by Canadian traders, residing amongst them—and they were confirmed in the opinion, that unless these traders could be restrained from furnishing them with this destructive article, in exchange for their skins and furs, they could not easily be persuaded to turn their minds towards agriculture and the mechanic arts. Notwithstanding which discouragement, the great affection they have for the society of Friends, manifested on all occasions whilst the committee were with them, induced them to hope that Friends would endeavour to keep under the weight of the concern, and be prepared to proceed in the benevolent work whenever way might open, for further service amongst them.
In the year 1800 and 1801, no personal interview was had by Friends with those Indians. In the year 1802, the Little Turtle, Five Medals, and several other principal chiefs of the Miami and Pottawatomie nations passed through Baltimore, on their way to visit the President of the United States, when the committee had a conference with them, in which the view’s of Friends were fully opened, and they were informed of the great discouragement Friends had met with, in carrying their benevolent designs into effect, from the intemperate and destructive use of spirituous liquor amongst the Indians, which was found to be the greatest obstacle in the way of their profiting by the aid which the society had been desirous of giving them.
The Little Turtle in reply, made a very pathetic and impressive speech upon this subject, from which the following is extracted.
“Brothers and friends—When our forefathers first met on this island, your red brethren were very numerous. But since the introduction of what you call spirituous liquors amongst us, and what we think may justly be called poison, our numbers are greatly diminished. It has destroyed a great part of your red brethren.
“My brothers and friends—we plainly perceive that you see the very evil which destroys your red brethren; it is not an evil of our own making; we have not placed it amongst ourselves; it is an evil placed amongst us by the white people. We look to them to remove it out of our country. We tell them, brethren, fetch us useful things, bring goods that will clothe us, our women and our children, and not this evil liquor that destroys our reason—that destroys our health—that destroys our lives. But all we can say on this subject is of no service—it gives no relief to your red brethren.
“My brothers and friends—I rejoice to find that you agree in opinion with us, and express an anxiety to be, if possible, of service to us in removing this great evil out of our country; an evil which has had so much room in it, and has destroyed so many of our lives, that it causes our young men to say, ‘we had better be at war with the white people; this liquor which they introduce into our country, is more to be feared than the gun and the tomahawk. There are more of us dead since the treaty of Grenville, than we lost by the six years war before. It is all owing to the introduction of this liquor amongst us.’