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Witnesses Present.

Simeon De Witt, Survr. Genl,

Louis, Nyadeghhalongweah, of the Oneidas.

Chief Governess of the Senecas:

Kayendatsyònà

Senecas:

Shagodd' yadyèstha

Kanoweantho,

Joàigwatel

Senecas:

Sheanóoewa (Symbol of Animal.)

Shagokan'yos

Cayugas:

Kanèongwe (Symbol of pope).

Kaghyouthiyo

Samuel Kirkland, Interpreter,

John I. Bleecker, Interpreter,
J. P. Penet,

Nicholas Jourdain,

Frederick Fox,

Saml. Latham Mitchell,

William Colbratt,

Abm. Bloodgood.

On the same Day, and before the Completion of the Business with the Onondagas, a Number of Seneca Warriors with one of their Chief Governesses residing at the Genesee having arrived, they attended at the Commissioners' Quarters and addressed them with the following Speech, accompanied with a string of Wampum. Brother, the Chief of this Council Fire! You will open your Ears, while we, some of the Warriors of the Senecas address. you. It has pleased the Great Spirit to preserve us in our respective Journies, until we have met together.

You our Brother the Chief preside over a great People and are coming from a great Distance; we also are come far from the West. Brother the Chief, we desire you to possess your Mind in Peace, notwithstanding you co not see the Faces of any of our Sachems or Chiefs here with us, the Warriors now present. It is

true they promised and it was their Intention to have come, but they were hindered. We are under Embarrassments. The Warriors whom you see here present, were so desirous to meet you at this Council Fire, that they were determined to contend with every difficulty rather than not see you.

Brother! The Seneca Warriors here present salute you, and congratulate you and the chiefs who accompany you, on your safe Arrival at this Place, and we thank the Great Spirit that he has preserved you and the Chiefs who attend you, from the Influence of the Evil Spirit on your Journey hither. Here is also present the Chief of the Female Governesses in our Nation, with some of her Sisters, who also pay their Respects to you and join with us in our Congratulations (here the Congratulations of Men were in behalf of the Women repeated by the Speaker.) A String.

The Governor's Answer.

Brother! I and the Chiefs who accompany me are very glad to see you and thank you for this Mark of Respect, and especially for the Visit from our Sister the Chief of the Governesses, and the Sisters who accompany her; as the Journey must have been peculiarly fatiguing to them. With you we thank the great Spirit that he has preserved us together. We lament that your Sachems and Chiefs have been prevented from meeting us: But we know that there are wicked and designing Men, who for injurious Purposes have endeavoured to prevent not only our Brothers the Senecas, but also our Brothers the Cayugas, Onondagoes and Oneidas from Meeting us. The Onondagoes and Oneidas have notwithstanding met us and we have settled Matters with the Onondagoes to our mutual Satisfaction, & made a Covenant with them in such a Manner as will be most for their Good & prevent any abuses in future against them.

As the Sachems and Chiefs of the Senecas are not present, it is not in our Power formally to renew the ancient Covenant and brighten the Chain of Friendship that has existed between us or to enter on or transact any Business with you our Brothers now present, but we are notwithstanding happy to see you and we wish that some of you would remain and be Witnesses to the Completion of the Covenant between us & the Onondagoes, so that you may always bear your Testimony to the Fairness of the Transaction and be able to inform your Nation of it on your Return home.

The String returned to the Chief of the Governesses.

On Monday an additional Number of Senecas having arrived and now amounting to near eighty in the whole, and no Hopes remaining that such a Representation of that Nation would attend as to enable them to transact Business with the Commissioners, it was determined that immediate Measures should be taken to induce them to return home, and to effect this (as it would be a Saving to the Public) to make some small pecuniary Presents to them, particularly to the leading Characters among them; and the more especially as their returning satisfied to their Country, and informing the Cayugas and their own Nation of the Transactions with the Onondagoes, and of the satisfactory Agreement which was effected between the State and that Nation, would be attended with salutary Consequences.

On the 16th the Governor and other Commissioners attended in the Ruins of Fort Schuyler where the Seneca Indians were encamped and addressed them in a Speech to the folllowing effect, having previously communicated the Wish of the Commissioners to the leading Characters among them for their immediate Return to their Country, and distributed among thirty-seven Crowns.

BROTHERS! Young Warriors of the Seneca Nation, open your Ears and hear a few Words I have to speak to you.

Brothers! When it was proposed to kindle a Council Fire at this Place, the Chiefs of the Six Nations were invited to it, and it was expected they would have attended. The Business to be transacted was of great Importance to you all. As soon as we were informed that a Number of our disobedient and disorderly Children were among our Brethren of the Six Nations treating with them for their Lands contrary to our Laws and the ancient Custom of transacting Business between us, and attempting to cheat and deceive you, we determined to kindle up a Council Fire at this Place, to renew the Ancient Covenant of Friendship that has so long subsisted between us, brighten the Chain of Friendship & to concert Measures as well for securing to you your Property as to prevent any Abuses that might be attempted against you in future. We regret therefore that the Intrigues and Artifices of a set of Wicked Men who have intruded themselves among you should have prevented the Attendance af a National

Representation from the Cayuga and your Nation at this Council Fire. The Attempts which were made by these Men at Kanadasegea to prevent your coming on, must convince you of their evil Intentions. You have now seen with your own Eyes and heard with your own Ears, and you are able to determine whether what these Men told you at Kanadasegea is true or false. We have received you with Friendship. We have treated you kindly, and you have discovered no hostile Appearance in this Quarter. Our Brethren the Onondagoes listened to our Invitation; they have attended and we have settled all Matters with them to our mutual Interests & Satisfaction, and established our Friendship, we trust, on a lasting and permanent Basis.

Brothers! Altho' your Nation is not represented here so as to transact Business, it has given us great pleasure to see the Chief of the female Governesses here and you young Warriors, & especially as you have now been Witnesses to the fair and candid Manner in which we have conducted and settled our Business with the Onondagoes, and how anxiously we have attended to their true Interest.

Brothers! We expect you will now return home and inform the Chiefs and Sachems of the Cayuga and your own Nation, of all you have seen and heard, and of our Desire of renewing our ancient Covenant and of brightening the Chain of Friendship and of settling all our Business with them. It is necessary you should return home with Expedition, that by spreading the Truth among your Brethren you may prevent the Mischiefs that are attempted against them by bad Men who deal in Falsehoods.

(There the Nature of the Settlement with Massachusetts and the Purchase made under the Authority of that State was freely explained, and the Difference of the Conduct of the Proprietors under that Government and the Men who call themselves the New York Genesee Company pointed out.)

Brothers! We desire you to inform the Chiefs and Warriors of the Cayuga Nation and such of your own Nation as are connected and interested with them, that we still have their Interest much at Heart, and that we are desious of settling all our Concerns with them on the same fair and reasonable Terms that we have with our Brethren the Onondagoes, and that for this Purpose we will kindle a Council Fire at Albany the first of January, when we expect they will meet us.

To which the Senecas made the following Answer:

Brother Governor with your Chiefs Attend! You have now spoken to us. You have acquainted us with the Design of your kindling a Council Fire at this Place, which was to renew the ancient Covenant of Friendship subsisting betwixt your Forefathers and ours, and that you would not have called us here at this Time on this Business, had not some disorderly People of your State broken that Covenant by attempting to purchase our Lands without the Authority and Direction of your Chiefs, and contrary to our ancient Customs. You have also informed us particularly of your friendly Negociation with the Onondagoes and the competent Territory reserved for their own Use and secured to their Posterity forever by all the Chiefs of your State. The Onondagoes told us the same, and we were Witnesses to it This transaction being done agreeably to ancient Custom, has given us great Pleasure. You have desired us to take charge of this String of Wampum, and communicate its Import to our Chiefs at Genesee, and then forward it to Buffaloe Creek.

BROTHER! This we will faithfully do. We observed to you upon our Arrival, that we were only young Warriors not capable of transacting any National Business. We came to be mere hearers. We were determined to see you and hear your Voice. We had to struggle hard to break through the Opposition that was made to our coming down by some of your disobedient Children. We will now tell you how things really are among us. The Voice of the Birds and proud strong Words uttered by some of your own People at Kanadasegea overcame the Sachems and turned them back after they had twice promised to come down with us.

Brother! Your Invitation to the Chiefs to meet you in Albany about New Year we shall carefully deliver, and we flatter ourselves that with the Assistance of the Chief of the Female Governesses here present we shall be able to quiet the Minds of all on our River, and you may expect to see the Chiefs of our Nation and of the Cayugas by the Middle of Winter. We shall also expect to hear from you again before that Time. We are encouraged in the prospect which now opens to us that all the Affairs that pertain to our Peace and the Good of our Nation will be by and by settled, and firmly established to our Satisfaction.

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