"Brothers: You make one concession to us by offering to us your money, and another by having agreed to do us justice, after having long and injuriously withheld it; we mean, in the acknowledgment you have now made that the King of England never did, nor ever had a right to give you our country by the treaty of peace. And you want to make this act of common justice a great part of your concession, and seem to expect, that because you have at last acknowledged our independence, we should for such a favor surrender to you our country.
"Brothers: You have also talked a great deal about preemption, and your exclusive right to purchase the Indian lands, as ceded to you by the King at the treaty of peace.
"Brothers: We never made any agreement with the King, nor with any other nation, that we would give to either the exclusive right to purchase our lands; and we declare to you, that we consider ourselves free to make any bargain or cession of lands whenever and to whomsoever we please. If the white people, as you say, made a treaty that none of them but the King should purchase of us, and he has given that right to the United States, it is an affair which concerns you and him, and not us. We have never parted with such a power.
"Brothers: At our general council held at the Glaize last Fall, we agreed to meet Commissioners from the United States, for the purpose of restoring peace, provided they consented to acknowledge and confirm our boundary line to be the Ohio; and we determined not to meet you until you gave us satisfaction on that point. That is the reason we have never met.
"Brothers: We desire you to consider that our only demand is the peaceable possession of a small part of our once great country. Look back and view the lands from whence we have been driven to this spot. We can retreat no farther, because the country behind hardly affords food for its present inhabitants; and we have therefore resolved to leave our bones in this small space, to which we are now consigned.
"Brothers: We shall be persuaded that you mean to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary line between us. If you will not consent thereto, our meeting will be altogether unnecessary. This is the great point, which we hoped would have been explained before you left your houses; as our message last Autumn was principally directed to obtain that information.
"Done in General Council at the foot of the Miami Rapids, on the 13th day of August, 1793."
This address was signed by the Wyandots, the Seven Nations of Canada, the Delawares, Shawanese, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippeways, Senecas (of the Glaize), Pottawattamies, Connoys, Munsees, Nantikokes, Mohegans, Missisaguas, Creeks, and Cherokees—the name of each nation being written, and its emblem or escutcheon rudely pictured opposite the name. [FN] The Six Nations did not sign it. Indeed, it is believed that Captain Brant and the Six Nations "held fast together" in their efforts to make peace, to the last; and that the character of the final answer of the council was not communicated to them previous to its being sent off. On the contrary, they were told that it was a proposition to meet the Commissioners on the Miami instead of Sandusky, about five miles below their then place of sitting; and so well assured were they of the fact, that they proposed removing thither the day after the runners were dispatched from the council-fire.
[FN] Thus, according to the original communication in the author's possession:—