He traveled to Philadelphia, then the seat of government of the United
States, accompanied by his steadfast friends and Chiefs of his nation,
HALF TOWN and BIG TREE. On the arrival of the Chiefs at Philadelphia,
they had an official audience with the President, on which occasion
CORNPLANTER made an eloquent and dignified address, and which called
forth an appropriate reply from WASHINGTON. To WASHINGTON he said,
referring to General SULLIVAN'S destruction of the Seneca towns: "We
called you the 'town destroyer,' but when you gave us peace, we called
you father, because you promised to secure us in the possession of our
lands. Do this, and so long as the lands shall remain, that beloved name
shall live in the heart of every Seneca." He then gives a terse and
clear statement of the means taken to induce the Six Nations to make
such extensive grants of their lands--grants, he adds, "made at a time
when you told us that we were in your hand, and that by closing it, you
could crush us to nothing; and you demanded from us a great country as
the price of that peace which you had offered us; as if our want of
strength had destroyed our rights." Referring to his own conduct and
its effect upon his tribe, he uses the following eloquent and patriotic
words: "Father, we will not conceal from you, that the Great God, and
not man, has preserved THE CORNPLANTER from the hands of his nation. For
they continually ask, where is the land which our children, and their
children after them, are to lie down upon? You told us, say they, that
the line drawn from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, would mark it forever
on the east, and the line running from Buffalo creek to Pennsylvania,
would mark it on the west, and we see that it is not so. You, first
one and then another, comes and takes it away by order of that people,
which you tell us promised to secure it to us. He is silent--for he has
nothing to answer. When the sun goes down, he opens his heart before
God; and earlier than the sun appears upon the hills, he gives thanks
for his protection during the night; for he feels, that among men become
desperate by their danger--it is God only that can preserve him. He
loves peace and all that he has had in store, he has given to those who
have been robbed by your people, lest they should plunder the innocent
to re-pay themselves. The whole season which others have employed in
providing for their families, he has spent in his endeavors to preserve
peace. At this moment his wife and children are lying upon the ground,
and in want of food. His heart is in pain for them, but he perceives that
the Great Spirit will try his firmness in doing what is right."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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