[FN] The names of the Quaker gentlemen who went upon this benevolent errand were, John Parish, William Savory, and John Elliott, of Philadelphia; Jacob Findlay, of Chester County; and Joseph Moore and William Hartshorn, of New-Jersey. It may be noted as a singular fact, that while the Quakers solicited the appointment on this pacific mission at the hands of the President, the Indians, at about the same time, and evidently without consultation or arrangement, requested of some of the American agents, that some Quaker might be appointed on the Commission to treat with them.
Messrs. Randolph and Pickering arrived at the Queenston landing, (Niagara river,) on the 17th of May. Governor Simcoe, who was at home, had no sooner heard of their arrival in his vicinity, than he sent invitations insisting that they should consider themselves his guests during their stay at that place. He treated them with great hospitality, and at their request readily despatched a vessel to Oswego, to receive General Lincoln and the stores for the expedition. The latter gentleman did not reach Niagara until the 25th.
On their arrival at that place, the Commissioners were informed that Captain Brant, with a body of Mohawks, had set off for the west about the 5th of May. There was a preliminary council to be held at the Miami Rapids, which it was the purpose of that Chief to attend. The United States had fixed the 1st of June for the time of meeting; but Colonel McKee had written to Niagara, stating that that period would be quite too early, since the Indians were ever slow in such proceedings, and withal would not then probably have returned from their hunting. The Indians, however, were collecting at the Au Glaize, and Colonel McKee advised Governor Simcoe that the conference with the American Commissioners would probably be held at Sandusky. In the meantime it was proposed that the Commissioners should remain at Niagara until all things were ready for the conference.
Such being the position of affairs, the commissioners were detained with Governor Simcoe—occasionally visiting some of the Indian towns in that region—until near the middle of July. Every hospitable attention was bestowed upon them by the Governor, who spared no pains to render their sojourn with him agreeable. On the 4th of June, the King's birth-day was celebrated, on which occasion the Governor gave a fête, ending with a ball in the evening, which was attended by "about twenty well-dressed and handsome ladies, and about three times that number of gentlemen. They danced from 7 o'clock until 11 when supper was announced, and served in very pretty taste. The music and dancing were good, and every thing was conducted with propriety. What excited the best feelings of the heart, was the ease and affection with which the ladies met each other, although there were a number present whose mothers sprang from the aborigines of the country. They appeared as well dressed as the company in general, and intermixed with them in a manner which evinced at once the dignity of their own minds and the good sense of others. These ladies possessed great ingenuity and industry, and have great merit; for the education they have received is owing principally to their own industry, as their father, Sir William Johnson, was dead, and the mother retained the manners and dress of her tribe." [FN]
[FN] Private Journal of General Lincoln—Massachusetts Historical Collections. This incident has been preserved in the text by the author, as a curiosity; it being the first gala of a representative of royalty in the western woods.
Thus far the deportment of Governor Simcoe was conciliatory, and in all respects indicative of any thing rather than a hostile spirit. Reports having reached the ears of the Commissioners, that the Governor had qualified the expressions of his desire that the Indians might determine upon a peace with the United States, by advising them that they should not relinquish any of their lands to obtain it, those gentlemen addressed him a note upon the subject. The imputation was promptly and satisfactorily disclaimed; and at the request of the Commissioners, several British officers were detailed to accompany them to the council. Colonel Butler, the British Indian Superintendent of that station, [FN] had already departed with a large number of the Six Nations residing at the Buffalo Creek, to attend with Captain Brant the preliminary council at Miami.
[FN] The British commander at Wyoming.
Advices from Colonel McKee, at Detroit, having communicated the fact that all was ready on the part of the Indians, and urged them forthwith to repair to Sandusky and meet them, the Commissioners took their departure from Niagara on the 26th of June. Reports had been bruited about, however, that, should the council break up without making peace, it was the determination of the hostile Indians to fall upon the Commissioners and sacrifice them. In consequence of this intimation they were furnished with a letter from the Governor, expressed in the strongest terms, enjoining the officers in the Indian Department at the west to take care that they should be neither injured nor insulted by the savages; adding, "that an injury to them I would greatly affect him, the Commander-in-chief, the British nation, and even the King himself." [FN]