The Board of Commissioners for the Northern Department met at Albany, on the 23d of August, (with the exception of Major Hawley, who had declined his appointment in consequence of ill health,) and made the necessary arrangements for holding the treaty. An invitation was given to the civil authorities of Albany, to pay the sachems and warriors a complimentary visit in company with the Commissioners, which was accepted. A committee of the principal gentlemen of Albany was likewise appointed, to join in the complimentary visit on the 24th. On reaching the quarters of the chiefs, they were addressed as follows:—
"Brethren of the Six Nations:—We, the deputies appointed by the twelve United Colonies, the descendants of Quedar, and the gentlemen of the city of Albany, congratulate you on your arrival here. They are glad to see you well, and thank the Great God that he suffers us to meet."
In the course of this interview, the sachems intimated a desire to have a consultation with the municipal officers of the city of Albany before they met the commissioners in formal council. It appears that there had been some diplomatic passages between the Oneida Indians and the Albanians, and an interchange of messengers; and the chiefs were now desirous of having a conference with them. The commissioners, anxious to humor the Indians, assented to the request; and the Albanians appointed a committee, consisting of Walter Livingston, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and Samuel Stringer, to make the arrangements. The interview took place the same evening, when Seaghnagerat, an Oneida chief, opened the proceedings with a speech of very unusual length for an Indian. He commenced by an expression of his gratification that, on opening the ashes to rekindle the old council-fire, they had found some of the sparks remaining. He next referred to the proceedings of a previous consultation at the German Flats, touching the conduct of Guy Johnson in removing their missionaries, and other matters. The meeting referred to seems to have been a partial council, to which the Albanians had sent a deputation, the object of which was, by the exhibition of some ancient belts, to remind the Indians of a former covenant of peace with Quedar, and to dissuade them from engaging in the existing quarrel. What had been said by the Albany deputies, at the conference referred to, but of which no record seems to have been preserved, was now repeated in substance by the Oneida chief, after the Indian manner of conducting their councils. He then proceeded to reply seriatim; from which circumstance it is probable that the former council-fire had been raked up, before its proceedings were brought to a close. The reply now made was decidedly and strongly pacific. The chief admitted that "evil birds" had been busy in circulating unpleasant rumors, and that efforts had been made to make them swerve from their neutrality by Guy Johnson or his agents—at least, such was the inference from the speech; but he over and over again protested the determination of the Six Nations to avoid interfering with the controversy, and only exhorted the Colonists to keep the path into their country open, so that they could pass and repass without molestation. In regard to the removal of their missionary, the chiefs said Guy Johnson had done it pursuant to "a belt" [FN] received from Governor Gage. He expressed the greatest respect for Mr. Kirkland; but at the same time, under the circumstances of the case, suggested whether it would not on the whole be better for Mr. K. to leave them for the present, until the storm should be over and gone.
[FN] An order.
The speech having been ended, the Albanian Committee thanked them for it, and promised a reply after the grand council with the Commissioners of the Twelve Colonies should be terminated.
That council commenced its sittings on the day following—August 25th. The Oneida speaker of the preceding evening opened the council very appropriately, after which the Commissioners, before proceeding formally to business, proposed that they should all sit down and smoke the pipe of peace together. The suggestion was acceded to, and the calumet passed round. This ceremony having been ended, the Commissioners opened their mission by a very appropriate and effective speech, reminding the Indians of some ancient covenants of friendship with the Colonists, and repeating to them a portion of the speech of Cannassateego, an old and popular sachem of the Six Nations, whose name and character were held in great reverence by them, delivered thirty years before at a great council held in Lancaster. [FN] The exhortation was, to union among themselves, and peace and friendship with the Colonists.
[FN] A brother of Cannassateego was present on this occasion, and well remembered his words.
The council was then adjourned to the 26th, when, the Commissioners presented the address from the Congress, of which particular mention has been made on a preceding page. The deliberations of Indian councils are slow procedures. Their language is composed of long and intricate compounds, and the necessity of deliberate and thorough interpretations, so that the matter spoken and explained be fastened upon the memories of the Indians, who possess not the advantage of written language, renders the process tedious. The entire sittings of two days were therefore required for the delivery and interpretation, by Mr. Kirkland, of the Congressional "talk" with which the Commissioners were charged. At the close, one of the chiefs declared that the address contained "nothing but what was pleasant and good." But, as the matters proposed were of high importance, they requested the next day for separate deliberation among themselves, promising on the succeeding day, August 27th, to make their reply. It was not, however, until the 31st of August that the Indians were ready to make known the results of their own secret councils. Their answer was delivered by Little Abraham, the Mohawk sachem of the Lower Castle. It was an able speech, thoroughly pacific. But there was one declaration which it is difficult to reconcile with the admitted veracity of the Indians, since it was inconsistent with the well-known course of Guy Johnson, and the covenant which had then already been made by Brant and his followers, with Sir Guy Carleton and General Haldimand at Montreal. We allude to the declaration of Little Abraham, that Johnson had advised them to assume and preserve a neutral position at the recent Oswego council. The proceedings of Brant and Guy Johnson at Montreal had not then probably transpired in the Mohawk Valley. Still Guy Johnson must have dissembled, or spoken with a "forked tongue," to those Indians whom he supposed friendly to the Colonies, or so great a mistake could not have been made by Little Abraham.