Father! The land which lies between the line running south from Lake Erie to the boundary of Pennsylvania, as mentioned at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, and the eastern boundary of the land which you sold, and the Senecas confirmed to Pennsylvania, is the land in which Half Town and all his people live, with other Chiefs who always have been and still are dissatisfied with the treaty at Fort Stanwix. They grew out of this land, and their fathers grew out of it, and they cannot be persuaded to part with it. We, therefore, entreat you to restore to us this little piece.
Father! Look at the land which we gave to you at that treaty, and then turn your eyes upon what we now ask you to restore to us, and you will see that what we ask you to return is a very little piece. By giving it back again you will satisfy the whole of our nation. The Chiefs who signed that treaty will be in safety, and peace between your children and our children will continue so long as your land shall join ours. Every man of our nation will then turn their eyes away from all the other lands which we then gave up to you, and forget that our fathers ever said that they belonged, to them.
Father! We see that you ought to have the path at the carrying-place from Lake Erie to Niagara, as it was marked down at Fort Stanwix, and we are all willing, that it should remain to be yours. And if you desire to reserve a passage through; the Conewango, and through the Chatauque lake, and land for a path from that lake to Lake Erie, take it where you best like. Our nation will rejoice to see it an open path for you and your children while the land and water remain. But let us also pass along the same way and continue to take the fish of those waters in common with you.
Father! You say that you will appoint an agent to take care of us. Let him come and take care of our trade; but we desire he may not have any thing to do with our lands; for the agents which have come among us, and pretended to take care of us, have always deceived us whenever we sold lands; both when the King, of England and the States have bargained with us. They have by this means occasioned many wars, and we are, therefore, unwilling to trust them again.
Father! When we return home we will call a Great Council, and consider well how lands may be hereafter sold by our nation. And when we have agreed upon it, we will send you notice of it. But we desire that you will not depend on your agent for information concerning land; for after the abuses, which we have suffered by such men, we will not trust them with any thing which relates to land.
Father! There are men that go from town to town and beget children, and leave them to perish, or, except better men take care of them, to grow up without instruction. Our nation has looked round for a father, but they found none that would own them for children, until you now tell us that your courts are open to us as to your own people. The joy which we feel at this great news so mixes with the sorrows that are past, that we cannot express our gladness, nor conceal the remembrance of our afflictions. We will speak of them at another time.
Father! We are ashamed that we have listened to the lies of Livingston, or been influenced by the threats of war by Phelps, and would hide that whole transaction from the world, and from ourselves, by quietly receiving what Phelps; promised to give us for the lands they cheated us of. But as Phelps will not pay us even according to that fraudulent bargain, we will lay the whole proceedings before your court. When the evidence which we can produce is heard, we think it will appear that the whole bargain was founded on lies which he placed one upon another; that the goods that he charges to us as part payment were plundered from us; that if Phelps was not directly concerned in the theft, he knew of it at the time and concealed it from us, and that the persons that we confided in were bribed by him to deceive us in the bargain, and if these facts appear, that your court will not say that such bargains are just, but will set the whole aside.
Father! We apprehend that our evidence might be called for as Phelps was here, and knew what we have said concerning him; and as Ebenezer Allen knew something of the matter, we desired him to continue here. Nicholson, the interpreter, is very sick, and we request that Allen may remain a few days longer, as he speaks our language.