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's Reply.

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.

White men ought to be just and generous to your race. Indians, 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.Albany, March 6, 1840.

Letter-Reply to the Colored Citizens of Albany,

IF prejudice, interest, and passion, did sometimes counsel me that what seemed to be the rights of the African race might be overlooked without compromise of principle, and even with personal advantage, yet I never have been able to find a better definition of equality than that which is contained in the Declaration of Independence, or of justice, than the form which our religion adopts. If, as the former asserts, all men are born free and equal, institutions which deny them equal political rights and advantages are unjust, and if I would do unto others as I would desire them to do unto me, I should not deny them any right on account of the hue they wear, or of the land in which they or their ancestors were born.

Only time can determine between those who have upheld, and those who have opposed the measures to which you have adverted. But I feel encouraged to wait that decision, since, in the moment when, if ever, reproaches for injustice should come, the exile does not reproach me, the prisoner does not exult in my departure, and the disfranchised and the slave greet me with their salutations. And if every other hope of my heart shall fail, the remembrance that I have received the thanks of

those who have just cause to upbraid the memory of our forefathers, and to complain of our contemporaries, will satisfy me that I have not lived altogether in vain.

May that God whose impartial love knows no difference among those to whom he has imparted a portion of his own spirit, and upon whom he has impressed his own image, reward you for your kindness to me now and in times past, and sanction and bless your generous and noble efforts to regain all the rights of which you have been deprived.-Jan. 10, 1843.

The Militia System-Reforms proposed.*

I AM aware that the amendments I have submitted are such an innovation upon the existing militia system, as to require, if not an apology for offering them, at least an explanation of the necessity for a change of some kind. Complaints long and loud have been made of the defects of the system, and the oppressive burden it imposes upon the people; these complaints have, at length, reached the executive ear, and have drawn from the governor a recommendation to the consideration of the legislature. I do not know that I should have ventured to suggest the amendments, had not the committee of the senate, after mature deliberation, reported a bill which can be regarded in no other light but as going immediately to change the whole system, and, in the result, to abolish it. This bill originates in the deep conviction, I doubt not, of the committee, that some law must be proposed to relieve the people from the trouble of military duty under the present organization. I confess that it is not my object to destroy the system; but, at the same time, that I would relieve the people from the burden it imposes-I would, if possible, preserve and improve the militia, and would elevate it so that it might be what it ought to be—the ornament of the country, and the safeguard of the rights and liberties of the people.

*

*

*

I propose as a remedy for the evils I have mentioned 1st. To reduce the number of the militia who shall be required to perform military duty, to some much smaller number-say fifty thousand, sixty thousand, or seventy thousand; the last

*This appears to have been Mr. Seward's first parliamentary effort.-ED.

being, I believe, about the number of uniformed troops, in the present organization, and I would, I confess, prefer to sustain those whose public spirit and military ardor have induced them to assume their present organization.

2d. To make the performance of military duty voluntary, as far as practicable.

This force, if it consist of but fifty thousand men, may be subdivided into five divisions, ten brigades, fifty regiments, and five hundred companies. After what I fear has been a tedious detail of the evils and defects of the present system, it will be necessary to state, but very briefly, the advantages of the proposed system. They would be-that the force could be well and easily organized. It could be uniformed-disciplined to some considerable extent; not only the officers, but the troops could be improved in military skill. All this could be done, because there are nearly, if not quite, the requisite number of young men, who would be able and willing to encounter the expense of filling up the ranks. And if necessary that legislative encouragement should be afforded, it could be done to any requisite extent at much less expense than is now drawn from the yeomanry of the country to sustain the present defective system. Men would then seek and obtain the offices in the militia, who would have the ability and spirit necessary for the discharge of the important duties attached to them.

Adopt such a system, and I feel assured that the militia, instead of being degraded, ridiculed, and despised, will be respected, honored, and valued; men enough will volunteer to take its most subordinate ranks, from the patriotic desire to be among those upon whom the republic will rely for its defenders, and from the honorable ambition for military promotion.

Finally, the time has come to decide whether the militia system shall be preserved or abandoned. It can be no longer maintained without radical alteration and amendment. And though members may wish to preserve it, they will find it as hopeless as the attempt to retain the snow which melts more rapidly with the pressure of the hand.

I have looked upon the system with veneration, while I have felt and acknowledged the justice of the popular complaint against it; and, under the influence of mingled solicitude arising from both

these causes, I have long endeavored to find a remedy for the evils I have mentioned. Of all which I have imagined and heard suggested, this appears to me most feasible, as well as most likely to be effectual. It is with a degree of diffidence I have ventured to give my views on the subject, which only can be overcome by a sense of my responsibility, before I can give a vote which will go to the eventual abolition of the system; to offer the best exertion in my power to procure it, and, at the same time, to meet the requirements of the people. I have always felt that the militia system is a relic of the age of the Revolu tion too valuable to be idly thrown away; that it is a strong and beautiful pillar of the government which ought not to be rudely torn from its base. But if no effectual remedy can be found in legislative wisdom, I shall feel myself bound, though with reluctance, to vote at all hazards for such a bill as will redress the evils the system imposes, and to trust to the exigencies of invasion, insurrection, or oppression, for a regeneration of the military spirit which brought the nation into existence, and will, if restored in its primitive purity and vigor, be able to carry us through the dark and perilous ways of national calamity yet unknown to us, but which must, at some time, be trodden by all nations.-Speech in N. Y. Senate, Feb. 11, 1831.

The Public Domain-The Homestead Principle.

THE aggregate quantity of the national estate is fifteen hundred and eighty-four millions of acres; of which, one hundred and thirty-four millions have been definitely appropriated, and there remain, including appropriations not yet perfected, fourteen hundred and fifty millions of acres.

Using only round numbers, these lands are distributed among the states and territories as follows: :