Father! Our writings were lodged in the hands of Street, of Niagara, as we supposed him to be our friend; but when we saw Phelps consulting with Street, on every occasion, we doubted of his honesty towards us, and we have since heard that he was to receive, for his endeavors to deceive us, a piece of land ten miles in width, west of the Genesee river, and near forty miles in length, extending to Lake Ontario; and the lines of this tract have been run accordingly, although no part of it is within the bounds which limits his purchase. No doubt he meant to deceive us.
Father! You have said that we are in your hand, and that by closing it you could crush us to nothing. Are you determined to crush us? If you are, tell us so; that those of our nation who have become your children, and have determined to die so, may know what to do.
In this case, one Chief has said he would ask you to put him out of pain. Another, who will not think of dying by the hand of his father or his brother, has said he will retire to the Chatauque, eat of the fatal root, and sleep with his fathers in peace.
Before you determine on a measure so unjust, look up to God, who has made us as well as you. We hope he will not permit you to destroy the whole of our nations.
Father! Hear our case; many nations inhabited this country, but they had no wisdom, and therefore they warred together. The Six Nations were powerful, and compelled them to peace; the lands, for a great extent, were given up to them, but the nations which were not destroyed, all continued on those lands, and claimed the protection of the Six Nations, as the brothers of their fathers. They were men, and when at peace, had a right to live on the earth. The French came among us and built Niagara; they became our fathers, and took care of us. Sir William Johnson came and took that Fort from the French; he became our father, and promised to take care of us, and did so, until you were too strong for his King. To him we gave four miles around Niagara, as a place of trade. We have already said how we came to join against you; we saw that we were wrong; we wished for peace; you demanded a great country to be given up to you; it was surrendered to you, as the price of peace, and we ought to have peace, and possession of the little land which you then left us.
Father! When that great country was given up, there were but few Chiefs present, and they were compelled to give it up, and it is not the Six Nations, only, that reproach these Chiefs with having given up that county, the Chippewas, and all the nations who lived on those lands westward, call to us, and ask us "Brothers of our fathers, where is the place you have reserved for us to lie down upon?"
Father! You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. When, last spring, they called upon us to go to war to secure them a bed to lie upon, the Senecas entreated them to be quiet, till we had spoken to you. But on our way down, we heard that your army had gone toward the country which those nations inhabit, and if they meet together, the best blood on both sides will stain the ground.
Father! We will not conceal from you that the Great God and not man has preserved The Cornplanter from the hands of his own nation. For they ask continually "where is the land which our children, and their children after them, are to lie down upon." You to us say, that the line drawn from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario would mark it forever on the east, and the line running from Buffalo creek to Pennsylvania would mark It on the west, and we see that it is not so. For first one, and then another, comes and takes it away by order of that people which you tell us promises to secure it to us. He is silent, for he has nothing to answer. When the sun goes down, he opens his heart before God, and earlier than that sun appears upon the hills he gives thanks for his protection during the night; for he feels that among men, become desperate by their danger, it is God only that can preserve him. He loves peace, and all that he had in store he has given to those who have been robbed by your people lest they should plunder the innocent to re-pay themselves. The whole season which others have employed in providing for their families, he has spent in his endeavors to preserve peace; at this moment his wife and children are lying on the ground, and in want of food; his heart is in pain for them, but he perceives that the Great God will try his firmness in doing what is right.
Father! The game which the Great Spirit sent into our country for us to eat is going from among us. We thought that he intended we should till the ground with the plough, as the white people do, and we talked to one another about it. But before we speak to you concerning this, we must know from you, whether you mean to leave us and our children any land to till. Speak plainly to us concerning this great business.
All the lands we have been speaking of belonged to the Six Nations, and no part of it ever belonged to the King of England, and he could not give it to you.