The Bonaparte family, represented by Louis Napoleon, were just then in
control of France; but the Bourbon family, of which Louis the XVII.,
were he alive, would naturally be the head, considered themselves
rightful hereditary masters of that country. Of course, there was at the
time no opportunity for any Bourbon actually to occupy the French
throne; but the people of that country are highly emotional, revolutions
have been numerous among them, and displaced royalists are always hoping
for some turn in affairs which may enable them once more to gain the
government. It was this possible chance of the Bourbons getting into
power once more, that added interest to the story.
Let us see what sort of person this Eleazer Williams of Wisconsin was,
and how it came about that he made the assertion that he was the head of
the Bourbons, and an uncrowned king. It had heretofore been supposed by
every one who knew him that he was the son of Mohawk Indian parents,
both of whom had white blood in their veins, living just over the New
York border, in Canada. Certain Congregationalists had induced this
couple to allow two of their sons, Thomas and Eleazer, to be educated in
New England as missionaries to the Indians; and for several years they
attended academies there, becoming fairly proficient in English,
although their aboriginal manners were not much improved.
At last returning to his Canadian home, Eleazer neglected his
Congregational benefactors, and soon became interested in the Episcopal
Church. He would have become one of its missionaries at once, but just
at that time the War of 1812-15 broke out; and instead he became a spy
in the pay of the United States, conveying to his employers important
information concerning the movements of British troops in Canada. When
the war was over, having, as an American spy, incurred the dislike of
the Canadian Mohawks, he was sent as an Episcopal missionary to the
Oneida Indians, then living in Oneida county, New York.
Williams appears to have differed from the ordinary Indian type,
although he was thickset, dark haired, and swarthy of skin. Some took
him to be a Spaniard; others there were who thought him French; and
comments which he had heard, concerning his slight resemblance to the
pictures of the Bourbons, doubtless caused Eleazer in later years to
pretend to be the lost dauphin. He was a fair orator, and in his earlier
years succeeded well in persuading the simple red men about him. His
plausible manner, and this ease of persuasion, finally led him astray.
The Oneida Indians in New York and their neighbors (formerly from New
England), the Munsees, Stockbridges, and Brothertowns, were just then
being crowded out of that State. A great company had acquired the right
from the federal government to purchase the lands held by these Indians,
whenever they cared to dispose of them. In order to hurry matters, the
company began to sow among the poor natives the seeds of discontent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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