1

According to Lafitau, "Although the chiefs have no mark of distinction and of superiority, so that they cannot be distinguished from the crowd by any honors rendered to them, except in special cases, nevertheless a certain respect for them is always felt. It is especially in public affairs that their dignity is displayed. The councils assemble at their summons; they are held in their cabins, unless there is a public cabin destined only for councils, and which is like a town hall; negotiations are carried on in their name; they preside at all sorts of assemblies; they have a considerable portion in the feasts and in general distributions; presents are often made them; and finally, they have certain prerogatives arising out of the preeminence of their position, as also certain onerous duties which serve to counter-balance the feeble advantages that they may have in other respects." Among the "onerous duties" of the Head Chief was the ordering and regulating of public games and feasts for the cure of the sick and other purposes. He saw to it that the poor and helpless of the gens were cared for. In cases of murder, ransoming of captives, etc., he carried on the negotiations between his gens and other tribes or gentes.1 He was also regarded as the chief custodian of the Public Treasury, from which he drew, on behalf of the gens, whatever was necessary to be munificent. The business of representing the gens in outside affairs was no sinecure. According to Le Jeune," ". these positions are servitudes more than anything else. A captain must always make it a point to be, as it were, in the field; if a council is held five or six leagues away for the affairs of the country, winter or summer, whatever the weather, he must go; if there is anything to be made public he must do it."

5

The political life of the tribe or village was dominated by the same principles that characterized the gentile government. The

87.

1 Lafitau, I, 474.

2 Jes. Rel., X, 231; XVII, 201; XXIII, 185, 243; XXVI, 265; XXVIII,

tribe, like the gens, was a federation of clans economically dependent upon one another; hence the governmental councils of the tribe were made up of representatives of these bodies. According to Major Powell, the tribal council of the Hurons consisted solely of the aggregated gentile committees and chiefs: thus fourfifths of the council of the Huron tribe were women, while only one-fifth were men.1 It must be remembered that from the military point of view the Hurons were not so thoroughly organized as were the Iroquois, while agriculture on the other hand was more developed among them than among the Iroquois; hence the influence of the women's clan continued predominant even in the tribal organization of the Hurons. In the Iroquois tribal council, the women were less overwhelmingly in the majority. Mr. Morgan speaks as if the body were composed exclusively of the gentile chiefs.2 Even if this were true, it would make no great difference in the present analysis, since the Head Chief held office as much by the suffrages of the female clan as of the male organization, and was, in fact, the nominee of the former. Frequent remarks, however, of the old French writers, with many of whose works Mr. Morgan was unacquainted, lead to the belief that the regular Iroquois tribal councils were partially composed of women from among the gentile Oyanders. One of the Jesuit Relations speaks of a Mohawk woman who by her noble birth is one of the chief women of Annié . . . one of the Otiander, and . . . wont to speak in the Councils."3 However it might have been among the Hurons, it is certain that among the Iroquois the warrior clans took a direct part in tribal government. In the economic life of the gens, the women's clan played the chief part; consequently in the gentile government the female organization assumed a correspondingly conspicuous rôle. Tribal organization, it must be remembered, brought in several new factors by which the warrior body gained in importance: hence it was but natural that in the tribal council the warriors should have their

1

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Powell, "Wyandot Gov't," Eth. Rep., 1879-1880, p. 61.

2 Morgan, "Anc. Soc.," pp. 85, 114.

3 Jes. Rel., LV, 261-263. Cf. XLIII, 299; LIV, 308; LVIII, 185; LXIV, 81, 101.

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own special representatives,-namely, the "Common or Pinetree" chiefs. This office was elective and held for life or during good behavior. Ability as a warrior, as an orator, as a councillor, were the qualifications for the position. The number of common chiefs was proportionate to the size of the population, each clan having a certain number. Chiefs of this rank were invested with office by the tribal council, as in the case of Head Chiefs.1

Mr. Morgan speaks of these common chiefs as officials, "the very existence of whose office was an anomaly in the oligarchy of the Iroquois." To Mr. Morgan, the gentile kinship theory had to be all sufficient to explain every feature in the political life of the Iroquois, and hence any additional officials outside of the Head Chief and his supporters were difficult to account for. As a result of the subordination of the gentile to the clan hypothesis, it is at once perceived that the gentile council was for the most part the representative of but one of the two clans composing the gens. In the tribal council, it was but natural that the other clan -that of the warriors should, as a result of their improved organization, at length have insisted upon having its own direct representatives. Hence, so far from being an anomaly, the presence of the Common Chiefs in the governmental body of the tribe seems not only natural, but indeed almost inevitable.

The tribal council of Chiefs and Oyanders, never seems to have taken action on important affairs, without first asking the advice of the Elders of the tribe. The wisdom and experience of these "Old Men" seem to have given them equal authority over both male and female clans. Lafitau speaks of the Elders as a regular governmental body to be compared with the council of Oyanders and Chiefs.2 "After the Oyanders come the Elders

.; the number of these Senators is not determined: any one has a right to enter the council to give his vote, when he has attained to that age of maturity to which prudence and wisdom in affairs is attributed as a prerogative, and each one, as is the

'Chadwick, "People of the Longhouse," p. 42; Beauchamp, "Iroquois Trail," p. 69; Morgan, "Anc. Soc.," pp. 71-73, 145, 112; Lafitau, I, 476; La Potherie, III, 12-13.

2 Lafitau, I, 475-476.

case everywhere else, knows how to make himself respected there, according as he has a greater or less degree of astuteness.' Lafitau describes in vivid terms the meetings of the Council of Elders. "This council has séances which are private, and others which are public. The former are held to deliberate on their different interests, of whatever nature they may be; and the second to declare publicly what has been resolved, or to discuss all the other affairs of the country which demand some solemnity, such as the reception of ambassadors, responding to them, declaring war, mourning the dead, holding a feast, etc.1 . . . Those who are to attend the secret council are warned individually; the council fire is always lighted, either in the public cabin, or in that of a chief.2 . . . Although there is no set time for the holding of these councils, the members ordinarily arrive at night fall . . .. This senate is a troop of dirty fellows, seated on their haunches, crouching like monkeys, with their knees up to their ears, or else lying on their bellies or on their backs; and all of them, pipe in mouth, treat of state affairs with as much sang-froid and gravity as the Spanish Junta. . . . Hardly any one besides the Elders are present at these councils, or have any part in the deliberations. The Chiefs and the Oyanders would be ashamed to open their mouths unless they happened to possess the dignity of age in addition to that of office. If they are present, it is rather to listen and to educate themselves than to speak. Even those chiefs who are the most honored both for their ability and for their age, defer to such an extent to the authority of the senate, that they do not go further than to announce or to have announced the subject to be deliberated upon, after which they always cease to speak, saying, 'Think it over-you other Old Men; you are the masters, do

1

1Cf. Morgan, “Anc. Soc.," p. 18; Jes. Rel., X, 231, 235; XV, 37; XVII, n. 7; XXVI, 155; LII, 223; LVIII, 185 sq.; LXIV, 91.

2 Cf. References to Hurons; Jes. Rel., XIII, 59; XVIII, 19—" They have in fact no other place of meeting for transacting their affairs than the cabin of some one of the captains." X, 251-" Sometimes this assembly takes place in the midst of the village, if it is summer; and sometimes also in the obscurity of the forest, apart, when affairs demand secrecy. The time is oftener night than day, whole nights often being passed in council."

you order.' . . . The manner of deliberating is characterized by great self-restraint and maturity. Each speaker first restates the proposition in a few words, and gives all the arguments which have been brought forward for or against by those who have spoken first. After that, he expresses his own individual opinion." 1

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According to the usual method of procedure in important matters, the women councillors seem to have met first, and then to have reported the result of their deliberations to the chiefs. women," says Lafitau, "are always the first to deliberate or who ought to deliberate, according to their principles, on particular or general affairs. They hold their council apart, and in consequence of their decisions they notify the chiefs of the matters under consideration."2 Similarly, in matters strictly "de leur compétence," the warriors might hold a preliminary council, and report their decisions to the chiefs. The latter thereupon summoned a council of the Elders, who discussed the matter in secret session, and decided upon some definite course of action. Finally, a great public mass-meeting was often held, at which the whole adult population was present. Here, professional orators from among the councillors or chiefs generally spoke in behalf of the different classes in the village, some for the women, others for the warriors. The Elders were then asked to make the final decision. Thus even in the tribal government, the women's clans took the foremost part, in that they were the initiators of action by the council as a whole. In the subsequent discussion and decision, however, both clans were well represented.

1Lafitau, I, 477–481. Cf. Jes. Rel., X, 251 sq.; XV, 27; X, 15—“ We pay special attention to the Old Men, insomuch as they are the ones who determine and decide all matters, and everything is ordered by their advice."

2 Lafitau, I, 477–481. Cf. Jes. Rel., LIV, 281-283-" They hold councils and the Elders decide no important affair without their advice.”

3 Jes. Rel., XLII, 101 sq.; X, 213—“. . . although it is the old men who have control there, and upon whose judgment depend the decisions made, yet everyone who wishes may be present, and has the right to express his opinion."

'Lafitau, I, 481-484.