two divisions of Indians, held a stick in his hand, of three or four feet in length, strung with scalps which they had taken in their last foray on the American frontier.

The Council was opened by the Commandant's signifying to Captain Pipe, that he might make his report, when the latter rose from his seat, holding a stick in his left hand :

"Father!" he began; and here he paused, turned round to the audience with a most sarcastic look, and then proceeded in a lower tone, as addressing them,— "I have said father, though indeed I do not know why I should call him so-I have never known any father but the French-I have considered the English only as brothers. But as this name is imposed upon us, I shall make use of it and say

"Father"-fixing his eyes again on the Commandant. "Some time ago you put a war-hatchet into my hands, saying, 'take this weapon and try it on the heads of my enemies, the Long-Knives, and let me know afterwards if it was sharp and good.'

"Father-At the time when you gave me this weapon, I had neither cause nor wish to go to war against a foe who had done me no injury. But you say you are my father-and call me your child-and in obedience to you I received the hatchet. I knew that if I did not obey you, you would withhold from me* the necessaries of life, which I could procure nowhere but here.

"Father! You may perhaps think me a fool, for risking my life at your bidding—and that in a cause in which I have no prospect of gaining any thing. For it is your cause, and not mine-you have raised a quarrel among yourselves and you ought to fight it out-It is your concern to fight the Long-KnivesYou should not compel your children, the Indians, to expose themselves to danger for your sake.

"Father!-Many lives have already been lost on

* Meaning his tribe.

your account-The tribes have suffered, and been weakened-Children have lost parents and brothers-Wives have lost husbands-It is not known how many more may perish before your war will be at an end.

"Father!-I have said, you may perhaps think me a fool, for thus thoughtlessly rushing on your enemy! Do not believe this, Father: Think not that I want sense to convince me, that although you now pretend to keep up a perpetual enmity to the Long-Knives, you may, before long, conclude a peace with them.

"Father! You say you love your children, the Indians. This you have often told them; and indeed it is your interest to say so to them, that you may have them at your service.

"But, Father! Who of us can believe that you can love a people of a different colour from your own, better than those who have a white skin, like yourselves?

"Father! Pay attention to what I am going to say. While you, Father, are setting me * on your enemy, much in the same manner as a hunter sets his dog on the game; while I am in the act of rushing on that enemy of yours, with the bloody destructive weapon you gave me, I may, perchance, happen to look back to the place from whence you started me, and what shall I see? Perhaps, I may see my father shaking hands with the Long-Knives; yes, with those very people he now calls his enemies. I may then see him laugh at my folly for having obeyed his orders; and yet I am now risking my life at his command-Father! keep what I have said in remembrance.

"Now, Father! here is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me," [handing the stick with the scalps on it.] "I have done with the hatchet what you ordered me to do, and found it sharp. Nevertheless,

I did not do all that I might have done. No, I did not. My heart failed within me. I felt compassion for your enemy. Innocence* had no part in your quarrels; therefore I distinguished-I spared. I took some live flesh,† which, while I was bringing to you, I spied one of your large canoes, on which I put it for you. In a few days you will receive this flesh, and find that the skin is of the same color with your

own.

"Father! I hope you will not destroy what I have saved. You, Father, have the means of preserving that which would perish with us from want. The warrior is poor, and his cabin is always empty; but your house, Father, is always full."

During the delivery of this harangue, which is said to have produced a great effect on all present, and especially on those who understood the language in which it was spoken, the Orator two or three times advanced so far towards the Commandant, in the heat of his excitement, that one of the officers present thought proper to interfere and request him to move back. The other war-chiefs now made their speeches, and then the Commandant (an honorable and humane man, notwithstanding the Orator's strictures on his Father,)-called upon him to substantiate his charges against the Missionaries. Pipe, who was still standing, was unwilling to make the attempt, but felt embarrassed. He began to shift and shuffle, (says Loskiel,) and bending towards his Councillors, asked them what he should say. They all hung their heads, and were silent. Suddenly, recollecting himself and rising up, he addressed the Commandant. "I said before that some such thing might have happened, but now I will tell you the plain truth. The Missionaries are innocent. What they have done, they were compelled to do. [alluding to their having interpreted letters which the Delaware Chief received from Pittsburg, &c.] We were Meaning women and children.

*

† Prisoners.

to blame-We forced them to it, when they refused." After some farther conversation the Commandant declared the Missionaries to be acquitted of all the accusations brought against them.

Pipe expressed his satisfaction at the result, and on returning from the council-house, he asked some of the Delaware Chieftains who were present how they liked what he said. He observed, that he knew it was true, and added; "I never wished your teachers any harm, knowing that they love the Indians; but, I have all along been imposed on, and importuned to do what I did by those who do not love them; and now, when these were to speak, they hung their heads, leaving me to extricate myself, after telling our Father things they had dictated and persuaded me to tell him." This declaration has decidedly the air of candor and truth; and the Captain's subsequent conduct was much more in accordance with the spirit of it than it had been before. He did not however distinguish himself particularly after the close of the war, and even the time of his death has not come within our knowledge, although we have reason to believe that he was living, and able to visit the City of Washington, as late as 1817.

N 2

CHAPTER X.

State of several Southern tribes during the last century-The English send deputies to the CHEROKEES, in 1756--Their lives threatened, and saved by ATTAKULLAKULLA-Account of that Chieftain and his principles-The party opposed to him headed by OCCONOSTOTA- -War with the Colonies in 1759 and two years following-Anecdotes of both these Chiefs-SALOUEH, FIFTOE, and others-Several battles-Peace concluded -Attakullakulla visits Charleston-His subsequent career, and that of Occonostota-Remarks on their character.

Cotemporary with the individuals who have just been mentioned, were a number of noted chieftains among the more Southern tribes. Of them we may take this occasion to say, that the Chickasaws generally affected the English interest; and the Creeks, the French; so that the friendship or the hostility of GREAT-MORTAR, the STANDING-TURKEY, the WOLFKING, and the other leading men among the latter tribe was nearly neutralized, as regarded the several civilized parties, by the counteraction of the former.

The Cherokees had been friendly to the English ever since the treaty of 1730; but, owing partly to the influence of the Mortar, and partly to the direct exertions of the French, they had now become wavering and divided in sentiment. In 1756, deputies were sent among them, to secure their aid against the French. A council was convened, and was likely to terminate favorably, when tidings suddenly came that a party of Cherokees, who had visited the French on the Ohio, were massacred by some of the Virginians on their return home. The Council was in an uproar, as much as an Indian Council could be,-the gravest political assembly on earth, at once. Many cried aloud that vengeance should be taken on the persons