[FN-3] Kent's Commentaries.
[FN-4] Kent's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 257.
[FN-5] Idem, vol. iii. p. 379.
[FN-6] Life and Writings of John Jay.
The treatment of the Six Nations by the Dutch Colonial Government had been kind and liberal. So, also, had it been under the Colonial Government of England—the Indians, in no instance, being dispossessed of a rood of ground, except by purchase. Immediately on the conclusion of the war, however, England having made no stipulation in behalf of the Indians, a disposition was manifested by the Legislature of New-York to expel the Six Nations from all the country within the bounds of that state, which had not been ceded by them previous to the war. [FN] This disposition, which seems, likewise, to have been entertained to some extent in other states, was viewed with great concern by Generals Washington and Schuyler, who united in the opinion that such a line of policy would be alike injudicious, inhuman, and unjust. General Schuyler addressed a memorial to Congress upon the subject in July. Coinciding entirely in the sentiments of Schuyler, Washington followed up that communication by a long letter to James Duane, then in Congress, in September. The views of these gentlemen were, that the most liberal and humane policy should be adopted in respect to the Indians. True, they had taken up the hatchet in favor of the crown, and by a rigid construction of the laws of conquest, they might be dispossessed of their lands, and driven, with their allies, north beyond the lakes. But General Washington strongly urged, that while the Indians should be informed of the strict right of the United States to deal thus severely with them, and compel them to share the same evil fortune with those whom they had chosen for their allies, nevertheless, looking upon them as a people who had been deluded into the service of the crown, they should be allowed honorable terms of peace, and to retain the possession of lands and hunting grounds, to be designated by treaty, within the boundaries of which they should not be molested. It was the desire of Washington, that with regard to these children of the forest, a veil should be drawn over the past, and that they should be taught that their true interest and safety must henceforward depend upon the cultivation of amicable relations with the United States. In regard to the Six Nations, he thought the course which the Legislature of New-York seemed desirous of pursuing would involve the country in another Indian war, since the Indians would never surrender their whole territory without another struggle; while he justly held that all the territory that was actually wanted by the people of the United States might be obtained by negotiation and compromise. As a general principle, moreover, it was held that, in all time to come, it would be much cheaper to obtain cessions of land from the Indians, from time to time, as they should be required for the extension of settlements, by purchase, than to acquire them by conquest—to say nothing of the sufferings, the evils, and the guilt of war. Upon this whole subject of Indian policy there was an entire coincidence of opinion between Washington and Schuyler. Most happily it prevailed, and the subsequent cession by the states of their Indian lands to the general government, facilitated the benevolent action of the latter under that system; the wisdom of which, irrespective of its justice and humanity, has become every year more apparent since.
[FN] Letter of Washington to James Duane, Sept 7, 1783.
It was while the Mohawk chief was occupied in making his final arrangements with the Canadian Commander-in-chief, as has been seen a few pages back, that the sachems and warriors of the Six Nations were holding a treaty with the United States at Fort Stanwix. At this negotiation, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, and Seneca-Abeal [FN-1] nations were represented. The Commissioners on the part of the United States were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. The records of this treaty, containing the speeches interchanged on the occasion, seem not to have been preserved, as has been usual in diplomatic matters with the Indians. Nothing appears upon the subject among the Indian state-papers at the seat of Government, save the naked result of the council, in the form of a very brief treaty, signed by the nations represented instead of the several chiefs. It is known, however, that among the leading chiefs who took an active part in the negotiations, were the Corn-planter and Red Jacket; and enough is to be gathered from the records of subsequent transactions with the Indians, to afford a general idea of the course of these proceedings. Beyond doubt the representatives of the Six Nations at that council were opposed to a separate negotiation with the United States. Their desire was, that no definitive treaty of peace and boundaries should be concluded, unless the whole ground was covered at once; and, as a consequence, they strenuously urged that the Hurons, Ottawas, Shawanese, Chippewas, Delawares, Pottawattamies, the Wabash Confederates, and the Cherokees, should be represented, in order that the whole question of boundaries, on all the Indian borders, might be determined. [FN-2] But the Commissioners on the part of the United States would listen to no such delay. The Six Nations, as such, had taken up the hatchet in favor of the crown, and it was determined to punish them by a dismemberment of their territory. Red Jacket, a somewhat younger chief than the Corn-planter, was opposed to a burial of the hatchet, and spoke with great eloquence and vehemence in favor of a continuance of the war by the Indians on their own account. "His speech was a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him was carried away with his eloquence." [FN-3] The Corn-planter was a wiser man than his junior associate. He saw the folly of a war to be waged by the Indians single-handed against the United States, and he exerted himself with all his power in favor of peace. He saw that the only alternative of his people was the relinquishment of a portion of their territory by compromise, or the loss of the whole by force. His efforts were in the end successful, and on the 22d of October a treaty was signed, by which the United States gave peace to the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, and Cayugas—the four hostile nations of the confederacy—and received them under their protection on condition that all the prisoners, white and black, in the possession of the said nations, should be delivered up; the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were secured in the possession of the lands then in their occupation; the Six Nations at the same time relinquishing all claims to the country west of a line beginning at the mouth of the Oyonwayea Creek, flowing into Lake Ontario four miles east of Niagara; thence southerly, but preserving a line four miles east of the carrying path, to the mouth of the Tehoseroron, or Buffalo Creek; thence to the north boundary of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of that boundary; and thence south along the Pennsylvania line, to the river Ohio. All the Six Nations were to be secured in the possession of the lands they were then occupying; and six hostages were to be delivered to the United States, to remain in their possession until all the prisoners, whose liberation was stipulated, should be surrendered by the Indians. [FN-4] There was likewise a stipulation that the Indians should deliver up certain persons of their own people, who were considered very great offenders, to be tried by the civil laws of the United States. Two persons were surrendered under this stipulation; but the Indians afterward complained, that, instead of being tried according to law, they were wrested from the hands of the magistrate by some of the lowest of the white people, and immediately put to death. [FN-5]
[FN-1] The clan of the Senecas residing with the Corn-planter on the Allegheny.