To construct such a fence, of imperishable material, as ought to surround this memorial of State gratitude, to a public benefactor, will require at least $100, judiciously expended. I think it is due to the credit of the State, as it would be highly pleasing to the heirs and friends of Cornplanter, that a small additional appropriation should be made to consistently complete the work so generously begun. I am willing to bestow my time and attention, gratuitously, to accomplish it. I append to this report, the introductory remarks made at the dedication ceremonies, and the excellent address delivered by Col. Snowden, together with brief sketches of the responses made by the native orators who graced the occasion, that you may make such a disposition of them as, in your judgment, may be creditable to the State and beneficial to posterity.
S. P. JOHNSON.
Warren, January 25, 1867.
[INTRODUCTORY REMARKS]
OF
HON. S. P. JOHNSON.
Friends of Cornplanter and fellow citizens:
By a joint resolution of the Pennsylvania Legislature, approved by the Governor the 25th of January, 1866, the State Treasurer was directed to pay to me, the sum of five hundred dollars, "to be expended in erecting and enclosing a suitable monument to Cornplanter, as a recognition of his eminent services to the State during its early history."
This duty I have endeavored to perform, as well as the limited means at my disposal would permit. You have before you to-day, the result of that effort, which, for the price paid, is highly creditable to the State, the Chieftain, whose virtues it is intended to commemorate, and the architect who designed and executed it. It is befitting that the virtues and services of public benefactors should receive public recognition and be perpetuated by suitable memorials. There is much in the history of Cornplanter, after his alliance with the American government, to elicit admiration and secure the gratitude of this State and the nation.
Immediately upon the close of the Revolutionary war he became the fast friend of the white man and the government. Satisfied that his nation had been fraudulently decoyed into alliance with the British during the war, and basely betrayed by then allies at its close, he hastened to repair the wrong, by giving all his influence and energies to the inauguration of a peace between the United States and the Six Nations, of which he was then a distinguished Chief. Although resisted by all the craftiness of Brant, and the eloquence of Red Jacket, he persisted until his purpose was consummated by the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Fort Harmar, both of which were secured through and executed by himself. By them the Indian claims to most of the land in Western New York, and North-Western Pennsylvania, was surrendered, and a perpetual peace ordained.