sequently despaired of anything being ever done for them in it by Government; they therefore thought it was time to act for themselves. But he at the same time assured me that nothing he had said in his Speech was meant to reflect on my Conduct. That on the contrary the five Nations as well as himself were perfectly sensible of my Attentions, and satisfied that I had not the power of doing more than I did. There was only one thing that hurt him with respect to me, which was my having said in the last Conversation he had with me that General Haldimand did not know the Value of the Lands he gave them, and that he might as well have given them the whole Province of Upper Canada, as it seemed to imply an opinion that he had given them too much. To which I replied, that I was sorry to find he had mistaken both my words & my meaning. For upon his saying that General Haldimand had made them an absolute unconditional Grant of the Lands on the Grand River from its mouth to its Source, I only told him that it appeared that General Haldimand did not know what he gave them. them. For if he meant to give them an absolute Grant of the Land (as he supposed he had done) he certainly mistook the means of doing it; for the paper which conveyed this Land to them was not a Grant, but only a Permission for them and their Posterity to live upon it forever; and that it was plain the General did not know what he gave them, since it declares he had purchased the whole Tract from the Mouth to the Source of the River, tho it is well known that Governor Simcoe has since then purchased from the Mississagues a very large body of Land within those very Specifick Boundaries, and given it to the five Nations to complete the Donation intended to have been made them by General Haldimand, for if the General had then given them the whole of Upper Canada, the faith of Government would have been pledged to confirm the Grant. So that he had no reason to be offended with what I said, nor did he show any Symptom of it at the time; for no man could have been more sensible of the Merits and Services of the five Nations to the British Government than I was, and I was consequently much concerned at the principal Step they had now taken. He then beged leave to produce Documents to proved what he had asserted respecting Governor Simcoe's Breach of Promise, and withdrew for that purpose; but tho' we waited for his return above two Hours, we heard no more of him. Under the Circumstances in which I received the Administration of this Government from Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, and expecting & hopeing to return it back to him very soon, I hold it to be incumbent upon me, my Lord, not to suffer any of his Excellency's Plans to be interrupted by his Absence, but to take his Designs (as far as I may know them) for my Guide, and follow the Path of his Intentions wherever I can trace it. But in this particular Instance, the Propriety of complying with the Wishes of the five Nations appears to me to involve so many difficult Questions of Policy-Law-Humanity & Justice, that had I even been certain that His Excellency had actually made to Captain Brant the Promise which that Chief asserts he did, I hope your Grace would have deemed me to be very justifiable in suspending the fulfilling it until I could receive His Majesty's Commands. The Instrument given to the Six Nations by Sir F. Haldimand clearly permits them only to live on this Land, they and their Posterity for ever; consequently the Property as well as the Sovereignty of it still remains in the King, and I humbly conceive it would be no less than a breach of my Oath to confirm the Power which the five Nations claim of transferring this Right to others untill I shall receive His Majesty's Permission to do so. But could I have been of Opinion that the Emergency of the Case would warrant my availing myself of the 63rd Article of His Majesty's Instructions to the Governor of this Province in consenting to the alienation requested, as has been suggested to me, I should have found myself stopt from proceeding by the Proviso which prohibits my doing any thing repugnant to the Act of the 31st of His present Majesty. For as it is therein enjoined that there shall be a Specifick Reserve for the Support & Maintenance of a Protestant Clergy made within the Township or Parish to which any Lands to be granted shall appertain or be annexed, the Provision of this Act could not be complied with in Grants made of the lands on the Grand River, because the five Nations declare thro their Agent that they will not allow of any Reserve whatsoever being taken from those Lands. It is possible indeed that when Sir Frederick Haldimand appropriated the Lands on the Grand River for the Accomodation of the Six Nations, he meant to give them the same kind of Property in them which those Indians had from whom he bought them; not foreseeing that this Peninsula would soon after become so flourish ing a British Colony as it now promises to be, and consequently not immediately adverting to the Obstruction to Justice likely to be occasioned by his thus placing so large an extra judicial Territory across its Center (for nearly so far does the Course of that River extend from its Source to its Communication with Lake Erie.) Should this have been really the Case, I am so sensible of the Difficulties we may experience from thence in regulating the Police of this Government, that I should be almost inclined to wish a removal of them by availing ourselves of the strong Desire to dispose of those lands by which the five Nations appear to be now actuated, could it be conveniently done without any material Injury to them. I am however apprehensive that they would not be prevailed on to suffer the Sale of their lands to be conducted by Trustees of His Majesty's appointing and the purchase Money vested by them in secure & permanent Funds for the Support of them and their Posterity forever; which would be the only Measure that could fully obviate their probable Ruin & prevent their becoming hereafter dependent on the Bounty of Great Britain for Support;for was the Management of the Sale and disposal of the Money to be left solely to themselves & their Agents, I am persuaded the whole would very soon be dissipated, and His Majesty's most gracious and benevolent Intentions towards these poor People totally frustrated. But viewing, as I do, His Majesty's gracious Bounty to the Six Nations as a free Gift to them in Trust for the sole use of themselves and their Children forever, I do not judge any alienation of the lands so granted to be valid without the Consent of the King who gave them. And altho' this Power of Alienation has been unanimously solicited by the five Nations, who are the only original Grantees who have placed themselves under His Majesty's Protection by taking up their Residence within this Province;yet a door being still left open by Sir F. Haldimand's Instrument for the Sixth Nation to avail itself of its share of these Lands, whenever the Members of it may please to relinquish their Possessions in the United States and claim it, I humbly presume that a Sale of any Part of these lands (in their present undivided State) without the consent of that Nation also, might contravene the King's Intentions, and would be a manifest Act of Injustice to every Individual of it. I cannot, my Lord Duke, close this Dispatch without humbly requesting leave to call your Grace's Attention to the Danger which may sometime or other happen to this Government from the Officers of the Indian Department conceiving themselves not only under no obligation to communicate any of their Transactions with Indians to the Civil Governor, but even liable to reprehension for doing so. Not having seen the Instructions under which these Gentlemen act, and being ignorant of the Policy on which they were framed, I dare not hazard an Opinion respecting the Propriety of Sanctioning their Independence on the Governor of the Province wherein they reside. But I hope that I am not passing the line of my present Station in humbly submitting to your Grace the possibility of a Case happening, wherein the most hostile Projects may be formed by the Indian Inhabitants against the lives & properties of His Majesty's Subjects in this Province, and the Person administering the Government not have it in his Power to take timely measures to defeat their Effect, should the Management of Indian Affairs be above his Control, and the Persons to whom it is intrusted be thus even restricted from instantly Communicating to him all Matters likely to affect the Interests or Safety of the People under his Charge which may come to their knowledge thro' Indian Councils or any other Channels. This Case, my Lord, I apprehend to be in great measure exemplified in the present Instance. An Indian Council has been held at Newark, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the Officer commanding the Troops, two other Military Officers, and two Officers of the Department being present. Before this Audience a powerful Indian Chief, who has nearly 400 Warriors at his Command made a Speech with a manifest Tendency to impress on the Minds of his Followers a Contempt for the Executive Government and an opinion that the Members of it are more inclined to be their Enemies than their Friends. And the purport of this Speech has been kept concealed from our Knowledge and Suffered to operate its banefull Effects on Indian Passions for two months to the great Peril of the whole Province, before any one of the Persons present vouchsafed to communicate to me the smallest Hint of its Contents. I have the Honor to be with the greatest Respect My Lord Duke, Your Grace's Most obedient & Most Humble Servant. PETER RUSSELL, Administering the Government of Upper Canada. His Grace the Duke of Portland, etc, etc, etc. Endorsed:-Upper Canada 28th Jany. 1797. Mr. Presdt. Ansd. 10th May. Russell. R 26th April, No. 7. Extracts recd. to Lt. Genl. Prescott the 10th May. Six Inclosures. EXHIBIT 348. The Duke of Portland to President Russell.' MR. PRESIDENT RUSSELL: WHITEHALL, 10th March 1797. SIR: I have laid before The King Your Letters of the dates and Numbers mentioned in the Margin. No. 2-20th Augt. 1796 3-28th Sept. 4-19th Octr. 66 The points in Your Dispatches now before me, which require a particular answer are two. In regard to the first, which relates to the small Military Force left in Upper Canada upon which you appear to have made a proper representation to General Prescott, I have the satisafction to find, that I have anticipated your wishes, by having strongly recommended to the General, in a Letter which I wrote to him on the 13th of last December, to consider most attentively the circumstances of our recent evacuation of the Forts and the Effects which that event may be likely to produce upon the minds of the Indians for the purpose of his making such an apportionment and destination of his Force, as may obviate every Idea or Suspicion which they may entertain of our intending to withdraw our accustomed protection from that Quarter. The next point which is set forth at large in No. 5 and its Inclosure is relative to the disposal by the Six Nations, of the Lands, which were granted them by Sir Frederick Haldimand on the Grand River and it contains matter of a very serious and important nature. General Simcoe having sailed for St. Domingo long before the receipt of your Letter No. 5 prevents my availing myself 'Canadian Archives, Q. 283, p. 50. |