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EXECUTIVE SPEECHES.

THE ONONDAGAS.

ALBANY, MARCH 6, 1840.

ABRAHAM LE FORT TO GOVERNOR SEWARD.

GREAT FATHER: Your children, the Onondagas, have sent me to you, and they ask you to open your ears to me, and hear the talk which they have sent by me to you. FATHER: Your red children, the Onondagas, are in great trouble. They feel that you can scatter the dark clouds that are collecting and thickening around them, and can cause the bright sun of peace again to shine upon them, and their minds again to be possessed in peace.

FATHER: Will you now listen to your children, the Onondagas? Our white fathers that were before you, were good men, and gave good counsels to us. We have lain down in their shade, and have been safe. We have listened to their advice, and been happy. They told us no longer to drink strong water-to sell no more of our lands -to keep and cultivate them, to raise food for ourselves, our wives, and our little ones-to leave hunting and fishing—to live as oar white brethren did, and like them to be happy and comfortable. We have considered this advice. We have watched our white brethren. We believe this advice, of our white fathers, to be good. We hunt no more. We have gotten oxen and horses. We cultivate our lands, and are following the advice of our white fathers, and are fast getting into the ways and comforts of our white brethren.

FATHER: You are young in years: we hope you are old in counsel-so our white brethren tell us, and we believe it. And your red children would like to know what is your mind, and whether it is like our other white fathers, who have sat in council before you at the great council fire in Albany, and who are now dead.

FATHER: Will you listen again? Our Oneida brothers have been in trouble, and have been often to you in council. But they would not listen to you, and now agree that they have listened to bad men, who did not counsel them, like their white fathers, for their good. They have sold their lands, received their whole pay, and spent it for strong water; become a poor, and wretched, a scattered, and wandering people.

NOTE.-Speech of Abraham Le Fort to Governor Seward.-Abraham Le Fort was the last Onondaga chief, the last of a race of savage kings. The Onondagas were merged in the Six Nations, or Senecas, and left at the old seat of the tribe, only a small remnant, which was still allowed during Governor Seward's time, to retain their qualified sovereignty and nationality.-Ed.

Many have gone beyond the great waters of the west.

Some of them have come among your red children of the Onondagas, and with the little white foxes would persuade our young warriors to sell their homes-to leave their fathers and mothers— their brothers and sisters-to go with them to possess the west-to be led back to hunting and drunkenness.

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FATHER: Your red children desire to know your mind. We wish to keep together to possess the land which the Great Spirit in goodness has given us-to stay by the bones of our fathers, and watch the ashes here of those we loved -to live by the side of those we know, whom we have tried, and who are our friends. We know our white brethren who surround us: we know not those in the far west. We know our white fathers here: we know not the white fathers in the west. Our white fathers nere have taken us by the hand—and have been wise to us in counsel here. Who will be our fathers in the west? Will they be kind to us, or will they strike us down? We do not desire to sell. We do not desire to receive the principal for what we have sold. We only want the interest annually. We could not keep the principal. Our white brethren understand this matter much better than your red children. They have been honest with our nation, and always paid every year. We can do no better than to go on as we have done with them, and not do as the Oneidas have done.

FATHER: Listen once more. The chiefs, and warriors, and women, of the Onondagas have had a long council- -a talk of three days - and their request to their father is, that he will shut his ears, shake his head, and turn his face away from all talk to him about the sale of the lands of the Onondagas. We know he can do it, and drive them away-preserve the nation in peace-keep them together in friendship—and not scatter them like the Oneidas.

We now make our last request. Will our father think of the talk which his red children have now sent him? Will he send them his mind? Will he remember his children of the Onondagas, as our white fathers have done, and let them continue to lie under his shade, as they have done under the shade of their white fathers before him? Will he also be a father to them, and send them his mind? This is all that is sent by me, and I have done.

GOVERNOR SEWARD TO ABRAHAM LE FORT.

I HAVE considered the talk you have made to me in behalf of the sachems, chiefs, and warriors, of the Onondagas. I am sorry to hear that the avarice of white men and the discontent of red men, have excited alarms among your people. I rejoice, and all good white men rejoice, to hear that the Onondagas have determined to banish the use of strong water, that they assume the habits and customs of civilized life, cultivate their lands, possess oxen and horses, and desire to remain in the land of their brave and generous, though unfortunate forefathers.

Why should the Onondagas exchange their homes among us for the privations of the wilderness in the far west? They are a quiet, inoffensive, and improving people. The public welfare

does not require that they should be banished from their native land. Although individuals often improve their fortunes by emigration, the removal of a whole community is always followed by calamity and distress. With temperance, industry, and education, the Onondagas may be comfortable and happy, and in time they may become good citizens of the state.

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White men ought to be just and generous to your race. dians, but a few years ago, possessed all this broad domain. Now the white men own all, except the small parcels which have been reserved as a home for the remnants of the Indian tribes. There is one common Father of all mankind. Although his ways are inscrutable, we know that his benevolence extends to all his children alike, and his blessings rest upon those who protect the defenceless and succor the unfortunate.

Say to your people that I heard their message with attention: that I approve their determination to retain their lands and remain under the protection of the state; that, so far as depends upon my exertions, the treaties made with them shall be faithfully kept; that if white men seek to obtain their lands by force or fraud, I will set my face against them; if red men propose to sell the lands, I will expostulate with them, and endeavor to convince them of their error, and that I will in no event consent to such sale, except with the free, and unbought, and uncorrupted consent of the chiefs, head men, warriors, and people of the Onondagas, and not even then without an effort to persuade them that their true happiness would be promoted by retaining their possessions, cultivating their lands, and enjoying the comforts with which our common Father has surrounded them. The Onondagas may confide in me.

THE ONEIDAS.

ALBANY, MARCH 10, 1841.

BROTHER: I have listened to your talk with deep interest. The departure from time to time of the several portions of your tribe is always regarded by me as among the most affecting events in our history. It proves that a Providence overrules the action of the white men and red men. The Oneidas have always been protected and cherished by the public councils of the state; their welfare, their improvement, their civilization, have been our constant care, and I have indulged a hope that a remnant at least of the nation might remain among us, a monument of the justice. and generosity of our people. But the Great Spirit does not will it to be so. You know how reluctantly I have consented to the sale of your lands. I have now given the reason for it. The council-fires of the Oneidas will soon be extinguished. It is well that no enmity can be raked from its ashes.

Brother, I thank you for all your expressions of gratitude, kindness, and affection. Since it is decreed that you must leave your native fields, it is consoling to us to know that we are not richer by your misfortunes or losses; that your relinquishment of your lands was more than voluntary; and that we have accounted to you for your land at the full value at which it could be sold under the most favorable circumstances.

Brother, your request is complied with. The agent, who has been just to you and to us, shall accompany you until you pass the boundaries of the state.

Brother, I shall always listen anxiously to hear the reports concerning you in your new settlement. I hope to hear that your people are contented, prosperous, and happy.

Brother, you are an old and good man. You have seen the

NOTE-Speech addressed to Moses Schuyler, an Oneida chief.-Ed.

desolations which the fire-water has produced among your people. Admonish them now to banish that fatal enemy from their new home.

Brother, I bid you farewell. May the Great Spirit guide you on your way, defend your people from every danger, and enlighten them with the knowledge that leads in the ways of virtue and happiness!

Peace be with you and your children for ever!

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