[FN] This narrative of facts is derived from a long speech of Captain Brant, made in council, to Gov. Simcoe, in 1795, a copy of which is preserved among the Brant papers.
In the Autumn of 1784, having learned that General Haldimand was about returning to England, the vigilant chief repaired to Quebec a third time upon this business, in order to make sure of the title deed. The result of this visit was a formal grant by Sir Frederick Haldimand, in the name of the crown, of a tract of land "upon the banks of the river Ouise, commonly called Grand River, running into Lake Erie, of six miles breadth from each side of the river, beginning at Lake Erie, and extending in that proportion to the head of said river; which the Mohawks, and others of the Six Nations who had either lost their possessions in the war, or wished to retire from them to the British, with their posterity, were to enjoy forever." [FN-1] The course of the river Ouise is about one hundred miles, so that the grant embraced a territory of that extent in length by twelve miles in width. "This tract, though much smaller than that which they had been obliged to forsake within the United States, amply satisfied these loyal Indians, who preferred living under the protection of His Britannic Majesty, (ready to fight under his standard again, if occasion should require,) to a more extensive country." [FN-2] The district of country thus granted, is said to be alike beautiful and fertile. The Grand River rises in the interior of the country toward Lake Huron, and winds its way to Lake Erie through a long and picturesque course. It is navigable for small vessels many miles upward, and for large boats a much greater distance still. The land along its whole course is uncommonly productive.
[FN-1] Copy of the Grant, among the Brant papers.
[FN-2] Norton's Memorial to Lord Camden.
The policy to be observed by the United States toward the Indians residing within their borders, was a question of grave and weighty importance, and early arrested the consideration of American statesmen. Very soon after the English came into possession of the Colony of New-York, the Six Nations relinquished their own primitive right of absolute sovereignty, and placed themselves and their lands under the protection of the government of New-York, [FN-1] reserving to themselves a kind of qualified sovereignty. The immediate object of this act, on the part of the Indians, was to secure the alliance of the English in their wars with the French, and the Huron and Algonquin Indians in Canada. [FN-2] Subsequently, during the Colonial administration, the Indians were considered as separate but dependent nations. [FN-3] Aside from this circumstance, however, by the treaty of peace the sovereignty of all the Indian countries within the prescribed limits granted to the United States by Great Britain, became vested in the former, to the same extent, of course, as it had been exercised by Great Britain. With that sovereignty, moreover, the exclusive right of preemption to all the Indian lands lying within the territory of the United States also became vested in them—subject to the possessory right only of the natives. [FN-4] These rights had been acquired by England by discovery, which, under the practice of the European nations, was held to be equivalent to conquest; and although the natives were admitted to possess a just and legal claim, as the original occupants of the soil, to retain and use it according to their own discretion, still they were not allowed to dispose of the soil at their own will, except to the government claiming the right of preemption. [FN-5] Such was the practice of Spain, France, Holland, and England; and as early as 1782, Mr. Jay, then the American Minister at the Court of Madrid, in his correspondence with the Count d'Aranda, asserted the adoption of the same principle on the part of the United States. [FN-6] But while the right of sovereignty, as it had been exercised by England, passed over to the United States by virtue of the treaty, under the complicated system of the confederacy, the preemptive right to the soil became vested in the respective States within whose boundaries or grants they were situated—the States themselves being so many sovereign powers in all matters of national import which had not been specially conceded to the Government of the Union under the Articles of Confederation.
[FN-1] Kent's Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 399.
[FN-2] Colden's Canada.