at the confluence of the Schoharie Creek and Mohawk River, and the others were farther to the west. This nation, from their propinquity to the settlements of the whites, from their martial renown and military spirit, have, like Holland, frequently given their name to the whole confederacy, which is often denominated the Mohawks in the annals of those days; and it may be found employed in the pages of a celebrated periodical writer of Great Britain, for the purpose of the most exquisite humour.* This nation was always held in the greatest veneration by its associates. At the important treaty of 1768, at Fort Stanwix, by Sir William Johnson, they were declared by the other nations "the true old heads of the confederacy."+ The Oneidas had their principal seat on the south of the Oneida Lake, the Onondagas near the Onondaga, and the Cayugas near the Cayuga Lake. The principal village of the Senecas was near the Genesee River, about twenty miles from Irondequoit Bay. Each nation was divided into three tribes; the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf; and each village was, like the cities of the United Netherlands, a distinct republic, and its concerns were managed by its particular chiefs. Their exterior relations, general interests, and national affairs, were conducted and superintended by a great council, assembled annually in Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of each republic; and eighty sachems were frequently convened at this national assembly. It took cognizance of the great questions * Spectator. †The proceedings of this treaty were never published. I have seen them in manuscript, in the possession of the late Vice Presi dent Clinton. See Charlevoix, Colden, &c. of war and peace; of the affairs of the tributary nations, and of their negotiations with the French and English colonies. AH their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation, and were distinguished for order, decorum, and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of profound policy, they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were perhaps not far inferior to the great Amphyctionic Council of Greece. Dr. Robertson, who has evinced, in almost every instance, a strong propensity to degrade America below its just rank in the scale of creation, was compelled to qualify the generality of his censures in relation to its political institutions, by saying, "If we except the celebrated league which united the Five Nations in Canada into a federal republic, we can discern few such traces of political wisdom among the rude American tribes as discover any great degree of foresight or extent of intellectual abilities."* A distinguished feature in the character of the confederates, was an exalted spirit of liberty, which revolted with equal indignation at domestic or foreign controul. "We are born free, (said Garangula in his admirable speech to the governor general of Canada) we neither depend on Ononthio, or Corlear," on France, or on England. Baron Lahontan, who openly avowed his utter detestation and abhorrence of them, is candid enough to acknowledge, that "they laugh at the menaces of kings and governors, for they have no idea of dependence; nay, the very word is to them insupportable. They look upon themselves as sovereigns, accountable to none but God alone, whom * Robertson's America, vol. 1. p. 435. See this speech in Appendix No 1; taken from Smith's History of New-York. they call the Great Spirit." They admitted of no hereditary distinctions. The office of sachem was the reward of personal merit; of great wisdom, or commanding eloquence; of distinguished services in the cabinet or in the field. It was conferred by silent and general consent, as the spontaneous tribute due to eminent worth; and it could only be maintained by the steady and faithful cultivation of the virtues and accomplishments which procured it. No personal slavery was permitted: their captives were either killed or adopted as a portion of the nation. The children of the chiefs were encouraged to emulate the virtues of their sires, and were frequently elevated to the dignities occupied by their progenitors. From this source has arisen an important error with respect to the establishment of privileged orders among the Confederates. There is a striking similitude between the Romans and the Confederates, not only in their martial spirit and rage for conquest, but in their treatment of the conquered. Like the Romans, they not only adopted individuals, but incorporated the remnant of their vanquished enemies into their nation, by which they continually recruited their population, exhausted by endless and wasting wars, and were enabled to continue their career of victory and desolation: if their unhappy victims hesitated or refused, they were compelled to accept of the honours of adoption. The Hurons of the Island of Orleans, in 1656, knowing no other way to save themselves from destruction, solicited admission into the canton of the Mohawks, and were accepted; but, at the instance of the French, they declined their own proposal. On this occasion the Mohawks continued their ravages, and compelled acquiescence: they sent thirty of their warriors to * Colden, vol. 1. p. 11. Quebec, who took them away, with the consent of the governor general; he, in fact, not daring to refuse, after having addressed him in the following terms of proud defiance; which cannot but bring to our recollection similar instances of Roman spirit, when Rome was free.* "Lift up thy arm, Önonthio, and allow thy children, whom thou holdest pressed to thy bosom, to depart; for if they are guilty of any imprudence, have reason to dread, lest in coming to chastise them, my blows fall on thy head." Like the Romans, also, they treated their vassal nations with extreme rigour. If there were any delay in the render of the annual tribute, military execution followed, and the wretched delinquents frequently took refuge in the houses of the English to escape from destruction. On all public occasions they took care to demonstrate their superiority and dominion, and at all times they called their vassals to an awful account, if guilty of violating the injunctions of the great council. At a treaty held on the forks of the Delaware, in 1758, by the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with the Six Nations, several claims of the Munseys, Wapings, and other Delaware Indians, for lands in the latter province, were adjusted and satisfied under the cognizance of the Confederates, who ordered them to deliver up their prisoners, and to be at peace with the English, and who assumed a dictatorial tone, and appeared to exercise absolute authority over the other Indians.† At a former conference on this subject, a Munsey, or Minisink Indian had spoken sitting, not being allowed to stand, until a Cayuga Chief had spoken; when the latter, thus expressed himself, "I, who * Heriot's History of Canada. p. 79 (This work is a compilaon principally from Charlevoix.) Smith's New-Jersey, 466, &c. am the Mingoian, am by this belt to inform you that the Munseys are women, and cannot hold treaties for themselves; therefore I am sent to inform you, that the invitation you gave the Munseys is agreeable to us, the Six Nations." At a treaty held at Lancaster in 1742, by the government of Pennsylvania with the Iroquois, the governor complained of the Delawares, who refused to remove from some lands which they had sold on the River Delaware.* On this occasion a great chief called Cannassalecgoo, after severely reprimanding them, and ordering them to depart from the land immediately to Wyoming or Shamokin, concluded in the following manner: "After our just reproof and absolute order to depart from the land, you are now to take notice of what we have further to say to you. This string of wampui serves to forbid you, your children, and grand children, to the latest posterity, from ever meddling in land affairs; neither you, nor any who shall descend from you, are ever hereafter to sell any land. For this purpose you are to preserve this string, in memory of what your uncles have this day given you in charge. We have some other business to transact with our brethren, and therefore depart the council, and consider what has been said to you." The Confederates had captured a great part of the Shawanese Nation who lived on the Wabash, but afterward, by the mediation of Mr. Penn, at the first settlement of Pennsylvania, gave them liberty to settle in the western parts of that province; but obliged them, as a badge of their cowardice, to wear female attire for a long time: and some nations, as low down as 1769, were not permitted to appear ornamented with paint† at any general * Colden, vol. 1. p. 31. + Roger's Concise Account, &c. p. 209, &c. |