[A] Cha-da-gweh, by the Senecas; meaning a place where one was lost.
In the morning the Indian invited the traveler to sit beside him on a large log in front of his cabin. They were seated side by side; presently the Indian told the traveler to move a little; which he did; and, keeping by his side, again requested him to move. This was repeated several times. At length, when near the end of the log, the Chief gave an energetic push, and requested his companion to move further. The traveler remonstrated, and said, "I can go no further; if I do I shall fall off the log." "That is the way," said the Indian, in reply, "that you white people treat us. When the United People, the Six Nations, owned the whole land, from the lakes to the great water, they gave to Corlaer[B] a seat on the Hudson, and to Onas[C] a town and land on the Delaware. We have been driven from our lands on the Mohawk, the Gennessee, the Chemung and the Unadilla. And from our western door we have been pushed, from the Susquehanna, then over the great mountains, then beyond the Ohio, the Allegheny and the Conewango; and now we are here on the borders of the great lakes, and a further push will throw me and my people off the log. If I ask, where is our land? a bird whispers in my ear, the Great King over the water has made peace with Washington and the thirteen fires, and divided the land between them by a line through the great lakes. Our Chiefs were not at the council, we were not warmed by its fire, nor protected by its heat. Our ally, in his hurry to make peace, forgot his red brethren; and did not even invite them to smoke the calamut which he had prepared for the thirteen fires which had rebelled against him." The Chief, in conclusion, with a sad and anxious countenance, asked the question, "Where are we to go?" The only response that was made was the sighing of the wind through the leaves of the forest. The traveler was silent.[D]
[B] The Indian name of the Governors of New York.
[C] The Indian name of William Penn; and subsequently applied to the Governors of Pennsylvania.
[D] Rev. Samuel Kirtland, missionary among the Indians, was the traveler referred to. He stated the substance of this anecdote to my father, Rev. Nathaniel R. Snowden.
I have seen a large medal of Washington, on one side of which is his bust in armor facing to the right. On the reverse or opposite side, is a full length figure of an Indian chief looking to the left, with an arrow in his right hand, and leaning on a bow; it contains the inscription "The land was ours." It also inscribes to Washington these words: "Innumerable millions yet unborn will venerate the memory of the man who obtained their country's freedom." Both these inscriptions command our assent. It thus appears that what was partial evil to the red man may be regarded as universal good to the human race. The former gives way to the advancing column of civilization, and will disappear from the land unless he abandons the life of a wanderer, and acquires a fixed home, where he can cultivate the soil and pursue the arts of civilized industry.
It would be inappropriate to this occasion, to enter upon a discussion of the causes of the gradual disappearance of the Indian race, when coming in contact with white men, nor of the tendency of the intercourse between these races of men to deteriorate the former and reduce their numbers. Neither can I enter upon the ethics involved in such a discussion. I leave these topics to the moral philosopher and the historian.
The distinguished Chief whose memory we this day commemorate, met these questions as practical facts. Cornplanter had learned from observation as well as experience, the influence and power of the whites, and as an able statesmen and friend of his race, he yielded to the superior force, and endeavored to preserve the existence of his family and nation, by securing for his people, land and other property where they would not be disturbed by the encroachment of the whites. It is a noticeable fact, and highly illustrative of his far-seeing policy, that in the treaties in which he took part as a Chief or representative of his tribe, he declined to stipulate for, or receive money or goods, but asked for well defined boundaries to their territories, or for land by title in fee simple to himself and to his people. He had the sagacity to perceive that if his nation and people depended upon a mere hunter's right to roam over a section of country, they would be driven, like other Indian tribes, from place to place, and at length be either exterminated or removed to distant lands, where they would be regarded as new comers, and be oppressed or destroyed by the Indians who had a prior claim to the territory.
Before making further remarks upon the life, character and public services of Cornplanter, I deem it proper to present some general observations respecting the Indian League or Confederacy,[E] known originally as the Five Nations, called by the French, Iroquois, and afterwards as the Six Nations, of which the tribe of Cornplanter, the Senecas,[F] was the most numerous and powerful. The Confederacy was originally composed of the Senecas, Oneidas, Mohawks, Onondagos and Cayugas. To these were added in the year 1712, the Tuscaroras, who had previously resided, and had their hunting ground in North Carolina, but in that year were driven north by the southern Indians, and were added to the League, thence afterwards called the Six Nations. In many authorities and manuscripts, however, they continued to be denominated the Five Nations.
[E] Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or the United People.