No. XVII.
[Reference from Page 480.]
"London, April 2d, 1803.
"My dear Col. Joseph Brant,
"Years may have banished me out of the temple of your memory, but I have not yet forgot you, Sir William Johnson, his Lady and children. You will graciously receive this letter, which is to inform you that I esteem and reverence the virtues of Great Hendrick, yourself, and those of the Mohawk nation and their Allies; while I do not admire the policy, humanity, and justice of the English nation towards the Mohawks and their Allies, in aiding and assisting their enemies to rob them of their territory and country, and compelling them to seek shelter and lands amongst the Ottawawas and Mississagas, formerly their enemies, by the arts and intrigues of the French. The Christian rules are good and excellent; yet few Christians of the Roman and Protestant kind love or practise those rules. What is remarkable to me is, that Popes, Bishops. Nobles and Kings, who ought to be wise in doctrine and example, are the greatest strangers and enemies to Christianity.
"The reason of such conduct, no doubt, is pride; yet Solomon, in wisdom great, says, 'Pride was not made for man.' I conclude, therefore, that great men in state and church, having robbed Lucifer of his pride, they stole all his cruelty, and so became legislators; made laws to deprive the multitude of rational freedom, and plunder Gentiles without sin, because they are honest and good; and not Christians.
"The Pope, in 1492, gave, by his Bull to the King of Spain, all America, only because America was owned by the Gentiles, and because the Pope was, by his claim, successor of Christ, 'to whom God had given the heathen for his inheritance, and the western parts of the earth for his possession.' Had the Apostles and Christian Bishops, for the first six hundred years, understood Christ's words, 'I have other sheep which are not of this fold, them I will gather in,' the Pope would have not been content with his triple crown, which represents Asia, Africa, and Europe, but would have put on a quadruple crown to include America.
"It is evident that Christ commissioned his twelve Apostles to teach and baptize the people in Asia, Africa, and Europe, but not in America; for Christ said to them, 'I have other sheep which are not of this fold, them I will gather in,' and not depend on the twelve Apostles to do that benevolent work.
"What right then could the Pope, in 1492, have over America, when his predecessor, St. Peter, and the other eleven Apostles, held no commission in America or over America. Hence, as the King of Spain had no valid title to America from the Pope, what right has the King of England in and over America, who is an excommunicated heretic from the church of Rome. I conclude that the people of America belong to 'the fold of Christ,' not to the fold of the twelve Apostles, because God gave America to Christ, Psalm 2, v. 8, the Pope, Kings, and Bishops in the old world, have not, and never had, any divine authority in America, over Christ's sheep, the Gentiles; of course they are usurpers, robbers and deceivers.
"I consider you, Sir, as the Chief of the Mohawks, and the other five nations of Indians, the legal and just owners of the country lying between the waters St. Lawrence, Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Champlain, and Hudson's River to the forks of Susquehanna, which you have lost for fighting your Gentile brethren in behalf of English Christians; and the good and honest Mississagas have in part lost their country, for fighting you, their Gentile brethren, in behalf of French Christians. Thus, I see you and the Mississagas have been crucified like Christ between two thieves, (i. e.) Jews and Romans. I have seen so much of Christian knavery and policy, that I am sick of Europe, which loves war and hates peace; therefore I want and long to have a wigwam near Great Pontiack, King by divine right of the Mississaga Nation and Tribes near Detroit and Lake Michigan. Great Pontiack has adopted my grandson, Nikik, Samuel Peters Jarvis. Should you judge it proper to explain my obligations to Great Pontiack, [FN] and thereby induce the Great Chief to patronize me also, I will go with Nikik to Michigan, and teach Nikik the rules and laws, how he shall defend in all shapes his brothers and sisters of the Mississaga Nation."