"When I answered your favor of the first of September last, I promised to let you hear farther from me after the meeting should have taken place, which you then said Captain Claus was to hold for the purpose of satisfying the discontented, &c.
"He did not, however, do any thing in the business, as I expected, from your letter, he would have done; but the Chiefs, on being made acquainted with the contents of it, became uneasy, and called a scrutiny to find who it was among the Indians on this river that had expressed dissatisfaction at my conduct respecting the public lands. The dissatisfied party was found to be only a few of the lower Mohawks, mostly women, and no real chief among them. Afterwards, the Chiefs unanimously expressed their general approbation of my conduct as their agent in land matters, in a speech to Captain Claus. They at the same time hinted at the almost impossibility of things being done in such a manner as to please every particular individual, which was also the case in the discharge of his own duty as Superintendent; but assured him that they, the Chiefs, who had constituted me their agent in land affairs, were perfectly satisfied. Since that I hear no more of the discontented; all seem quiet. Then I was prepared to give a full explanation of all my transactions, and also put them in mind of the trouble and expense I had been at on their business; but this conduct of the Chiefs prevented me, thinking if I yet persevered it would be wantonly ripping up old grievances, &c.
"I hope you will do me the favor to let me know who informed you that there prevailed such an universal discontent among the Grand River Indians at my transactions, as you said was the case; and you will infinitely oblige me by making me acquainted with the author of this rumor, which has not a little hurt my feelings; and it would also give satisfaction to the greater part of the Chiefs here.
"Respecting your advice not to have more councils of other nations, &c, the Chiefs, both here and at Buffalo, cannot comprehend the meaning of it; and I have been particularly requested, by two messengers from the latter, to remain unshaken in my public capacity, and attend to their common interests as usual; I therefore hope you will do me the kindness to acquaint me with the reason why I should desist from attending any councils of the nations of the General Confederacy which we formed under the auspices of Great Britain; and if our friendly intercourse with each other is supposed to be detrimental to the interests of government, and in what measure; for, since the year 1760, I perfectly remember what has passed at most councils, and I never recollect an instance of government interfering to prevent our mutual correspondence, but, on the contrary, they have rather encouraged our uniting. Should it therefore be the case, that what formerly gave satisfaction, has now quite a different, effect, it will be very difficult for me to act so as not to get censured, without I am well acquainted with the change of politics. Also, the serious consequences you mention, that the not complying with your advice may be of to me, I would be glad to know what it is. I hope that laws and customs are not so far changed, as that punishment is first to be inflicted, and the trial brought on afterwards, and you should give me no plainer hint of it than that. In short, your advice seems no other than a threat in disguise. Still, my dear friend, don't think that I suspect you to be the author of it; but rather that you have softened the original so as to save my feelings.
"During the war, although I bore the commission of a captain, I never received commands as such, but acted as War Chief, which I believe was of more utility than if I had been in the other capacity—generally having more men under my command than is customary for one of that rank. Since the peace, I have attended to our affairs as a sachem. I never supposed it to be wrong my so doing; if it is so, I could wish to have written instructions how I am to conduct myself, so as to prevent the serious consequences spoken of, by which, probably, may be meant the taking from me my half-pay or pension. I hope to have the pleasure to hear from you as soon as possible, at the same time I remain
"Dear Sir, Your very humble And obed't servant, Jos. Brant
"Sir John Johnson, Bar't."
Norton had been furnished by Brant with letters to his friends in England, and among them to the Duke of Northumberland, who interested himself warmly in behalf of the object of his mission. Such, moreover, were the zeal and ability with which he discharged the duties of his errand, that for a time there was a prospect of his mission being crowned with entire success. The decision of the ministers was favorable to the Indians, and letters to that effect were dispatched to the Provincial government. These, however, were met by an unexpected movement at home, which palsied the exertions of the agent, and caused his return with hopes at least deferred, if not blighted. The cause of this untoward change in the course of the parent government will be developed in a few succeeding pages.
It appears that in the course of the controversy violent disagreements had arisen between Captain Brant and the Deputy Superintendent, which were ultimately embittered by mutual allegations of pecuniary delinquency. A charge of this description had been made against Brant, a few years before, in connexion with a negotiation between the government of the State of New-York and the Caughnawaga and St. Regis Indians, calling themselves the Seven Nations of Canada. These nations, as the reader has been informed in a former part of the present work, were clans of the Mohawks, who had long before separated from the principal nation, and settled upon the banks of the St. Lawrence. In the year 1792, they sent a deputation to the government of the State of New-York, claiming a tract of land covering a large portion of the northern part of the state; all, indeed, lying between Lake Champlain on the East, and the head waters of the Mohawk on the West, bounded north by the St. Lawrence, and south by a line to be drawn from a point between Fort Edward and Lake George to the junction of Canada Creek with the Mohawk River, in the neighborhood of the Little Falls. This extensive claim was resisted by the state upon several grounds. One of these was, that the Indian title had been extinguished to a portion of the territory in question by the French; another, that several patents from the English crown had extinguished their title to other portions of it; added to all which, it was held by the state that the Caughnawagas had never any just title to the land, inasmuch as it originally belonged to the Six Nations, of whom the claimants formed but a small number. As proof of this position, it was contended by the state that the Six Nations had themselves sold this same territory, together with a large additional tract, extending from the Mohawk River to the Pennsylvania line, to Colonel John Livingston. This sale to Colonel Livingston was first made by forty-five chiefs of the Six Nations in 1787, and was confirmed in the following year, by a second deed, signed by sixty-five of their chiefs, and witnessed by Colonel John Butler and Joseph Brant. The purchase by Colonel Livingston being unconstitutional, was annulled; but the fact that such a sale had been made by the Six Nations at large, was adduced against the claim of the Caughnawagas, by way of showing that it was unfounded. Still as the St. Regis and Caughnawaga Indians persisted in their claim, a commission, consisting of Egbert Benson, Richard Varick, and James Watson, was appointed to treat with their Chiefs upon the subject; and it was not until the Summer of the year 1796 that an arrangement was effected, by virtue of which the Seven Nations relinquished their claim, with the exception of the St. Regis reservation, for a small sum in hand paid, and a yet smaller perpetual annuity.
It was as a witness only to the deed of sale to Colonel Livingston, that the name of Captain Brant came to be involved in this controversy. The Commissioners maintained to the last that the Six Nations had sold the lands, and that their great chief, Brant, was a witness to the sale. In reply to which, the Caughnawagas insisted that the Six Nations had no more right to sell the lands they claimed than they had to dispose of the city of New-York. [FN-1] The Caughnawaga Chiefs, probably, did not exactly understand the case of the sale to Colonel Livingston, which was set aside as being contrary to the fundamental law of the state, nor the position in which the name of Joseph Brant stood upon the deed. On the contrary, they seem to have been impressed with an idea that Brant and the Mohawks had been selling their lands to the state. The consequence was a controversy between the Caughnawagas and the Mohawks, which gave the old Chief an infinite deal of trouble—even after the affair between the former and the State of New York had been amicably closed. The charges of the Caughnawagas amounted to this—that Brant and the Mohawks had sold their lands to the state, and pocketed the avails. Brant repelled the charge with indignation. In regard to the deed of sale to which he was a witness, he affirmed that not a foot of the territory claimed by the Caughnawagas was embraced within it, but that the sale was of a portion only of lands belonging to the Senecas. He demanded of the Caughnawagas their authority for the charge against himself and the Grand River Indians. They replied, that their information was derived from the representations of the officers of the State of New-York at Albany. Brant opened a correspondence with George Clinton [FN-2] and Governor Jay upon the subject, the negotiations having commenced under the administration of the former and been concluded under the latter. But not satisfied with anything resulting from the correspondence, he caused a deputation of his tribe to repair to Albany, [FN-3] at the head of which was his adopted nephew, John Norton, to meet a similar deputation from the Caughnawagas, face to face, and to require his accusers connected with the government of the State of New-York, either to substantiate their charges or acquit him in the presence of both delegations. The papers of Captain Brant are pretty full in regard to this controversy, which seems to have affected him with the keenest sensibility. The result of this double mission to Albany, however, does not exactly appear, save that the Chief was not well satisfied with it. At least thus much is evident from the tone of the annexed letter to his friend, Thomas Morris, who was a member of the Legislature of New-York at that time, and to whom he had given his deputies, letters of introduction:—