It was late in June when Lee's party finally reached Lancaster, a new and still raw town. The conference convened in the court-house, with Governor George Thomas, of Pennsylvania, presiding. On his right sat Lee and Beverley and on his left were the two commissioners from Maryland. The Indians occupied the space usually allotted to the audience, but the powerful chiefs, like Jonnhaty, Canasatego and Tocanuntie, met the white men as equals. A Pennsylvania Dutchman named Conrad Weiser, acted as interpreter. He was trusted by both sides. The meeting was opened by the commissioners from Maryland, since they had issued the invitation to the meeting. This was in accordance with a rigid Iroquois custom. The complaint of the Six Nations was that the white settlers were coming over the "Great Mountains" and moving into the Valley and trespassing on their ancestral lands. "You English have come settling on our lands like a flock of birds," said Canasatego. The white men explained that when they entered the country west of the Blue Ridge it "was altogether deserted and free for any people to enter upon." To which the Indians replied: "We have the right of conquest, a right too dearly purchased and which cost us too much blood to give up without any reason, at all.... All the world knows we conquered the several nations living on Susquehanna, Cohongaranta and at the back of the Great Mountains." Thomas Lee, when his turn came to speak, answered this charge by saying that the King of England held Virginia by right of conquest and that the bounds of the conquered land extended west as far as the Great Sea. However, he continued, the "Great King" was willing to pay them for certain lands. He was speaking, he told the Indians, for Assarogoa, Virginia's governor. Coming to the point, Thomas Lee laid down the customary string of wampum and said: "We have a chest of new goods and the key is in our pockets. You are our brethren; the Great King is our common father, and we will live with you as children ought to do in peace and love. We will brighten the chain and strengthen the Union between us, so that we shall never be divided but remain friends and brethren as long as the sun gives us light." The Indian spokesman replied: "We are glad to hear that you have brought with you a big chest of new goods, and that you have the key in your pockets. We do not doubt that we shall have a good understanding on all points and come to an agreement with you." Each oration was ended with belts of wampum and "Jo-hahs." The great Iroquois chieftains no doubt understood what was happening, but the wampum and rum, the gifts of camlet coats and gold-braided hats, the festivities and ceremonial dances which accompanied the conference, must have caused them to shut their eyes to the truth. Or maybe they already saw the handwriting on the wall.