"We are glad the Great Spirit has preserved us in peace, to meet together to-day." ." "Brothers of the United States: yesterday you made an answer to the message delivered you by us, from the great council at Miami, in the two particulars which we had stated to you. You may depend on it, we fully understood your speech. We shall take with us your belt and strings, and repeat it to the chiefs at the great council at the Miami." [He then laid down the strings and belt, and took up a white belt and proceeded.]

"Brothers! We have something more to say to you, though not much. We are small, compared with our great chiefs, at the Miami; but though small, we have something to say. We think, from your speech, there is a prospect of coming together. We, who are the nations at the West, are of one mind; and if we agree with you, as there is a prospect that we shall, it will be binding and lasting. Our prospects are the fairer, because our minds are one. You have not heretofore spoken to us unitedly. Formerly, because you did not speak to us unitedly, what was done was not binding. Now you have an opportunity of speaking to us together; and we now take you by the hand, to lead you to the place appointed for the meeting." [A white belt of seven rows.]

"Brothers! This is all we have to say."

Afterwards, Captain Brandt, recollecting that he had not answered the Commissioners, respecting the nations and chiefs assembled at the Miami, rose and said: "One thing more we have to say-Yesterday you expressed a wish to be informed of the names of the nations, and number of chiefs assembled at the Miami; but as they were daily coming, we cannot give you exact information ;—you will see for yourselves in a few days. When we left it, the following nations were there, to wit:-Five Nations, Wyandotts, Shawanees, Delawares, Munsees, Miamies, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potawatamies, Mingoes, Cherokees,

and Nan-ti-ko-kees. The principal men of all these nations were there."

The Commissioners then replied, "Brothers! Our ears have been open to your speech. It is agreeable to us. We are ready to accompany you to the place of treaty, where, under the direction of the Great Spirit, we hope for a speedy termination to the present war, on terms equally interesting and agreeable to all parties."

On the 10th of July, the Commissioners wrote to the Secretary of War, advising him of their promise to the Indians, to request that fresh orders might be sent to General Wayne, not only to abstain from hostilities, but to remain quietly at his post; and expressing their own opinion in favor of the measure; as being indispensably necessary to the success of the treaty, The Indians had been informed by their scouts, who were constantly on the alert, that General Wayne had cut and cleared a road from Fort Washington into the Indian country, passing Fort Jefferson, and extending six miles beyond it;-that large quantities of provision were accumulated at the forts, and that large droves of horses and cattle were collected and guarded by considerable bodies of troops. With such preparations for war in their neighborhood, they said it was impossible for their minds to be at rest.

It is important, said the Commissioners, to consider the manner in which negotiations are carried on, and treaties formed by the Indians. Such business is not managed as it is with us, by a few Commissioners or Chiefs, but the body of the nation assemble and take part in the transactions. Hence it was, that such negotiations were delayed or interrupted, if the movements of an enemy called the warriors from the council, to watch or check them. These reports, they believed, were greatly exaggerated; but there was enough of truth in them, to create alarm in the suspicious minds of Indians. Many of them feared, and some believed, that the treaty was intended as a decoy; and that

measures were on foot, to strike a fatal blow, as soon as their tribes should be assembled at Sandusky.

It was easy, without violating the truth, to contradict those reports, as was done by the Commissioners, in the most positive manner; but it was not so easy to convince the minds of the savages, or quiet their fears; hence the earnestness with which they pressed their recommendation on the attention of the government.

On the next day, the Commissioners left Niagara, and on the day after, arrived at Fort Erie. The wind being favorable, they set sail for the mouth of Detroit river, where they arrived on the morning of the 21st, and took quarters at Captain Elliott's, who was an assistant to Colonel McKee. On the same day, they addressed a note to the Colonel, informing him of their arrival at that place, where they proposed to remain, till advised that the Indians at the rapids of the Miami, were ready to remove to Sandusky. They also very politely solicited his endeavors, to expedite the councils of the Indians, and to inform them (the Commissioners) when they might expect the Indian nations would be at Sandusky; so that they might regulate their movements accordingly. In a few days thereafter, Captain Elliott arrived at the mouth of the Detroit river, with a deputation of twenty Indians, from the nations assembled at the foot of the rapids; and on the following day, the Commissioners met them in council.

A Wyandot chief, after some complimentary, unmeaning remarks, interpreted by Simon Girty, a renegade American from the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, delivered to the Commissioners a paper, which, he said, contained the determination of the Indians. The substance of the communication was to this effect: that they insisted on the treaty of Fort Stanwix, which established the Ohio river as the boundary between them and the white people; and that if the United States seriously wished to make a firm and lasting peace, they would immediately remove all their

people from the upper side of that river, which the Indians claimed as their own. This paper was signed by the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Miamies, Mingoes, Pottawatamies, Ottawas, Connoys, Chippewas and Munsees.

In the evening of the same day, the Commissioners delivered their answer to the Indian deputation, in which they very concisely recapitulated the substance of what had occurred, in their different interviews with the representatives of the Indian nations; and exhibited the inconsistency between their former conversations, and the grounds they had then taken; and again urged the necessity of mutual concessions; and once more repeated the offer of the United States to act on that principle. They stated their reasons for wishing to meet all the Indians in council, face to face. They insisted, that the concessions which ought to be made on either side, and also the fixing of the boundary line, between the United States and their red brothers, were proper subjects for discussion at the treaty, when they would speak face to face. They also complained, that the course adopted by the nations at the Rapids, kept the parties at a distance from each other, and cherished those jealousies and suspicions, which were the greatest obstacles to a peace; and that they were, on that account, desirous of meeting the Indian nations in full council, without more delay.

They admitted, that by the first treaty made at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, the Ohio was made the boundary, but reminded them, that, when the United States became an independent nation, the British King established the chain of the great Lakes, as the boundary. They also called the attention of the deputation to the second treaty of Fort Stanwix, made in 1784; and to the treaty of Fort Harmar, in 1789, by which the United States purchased large tracts of land from the Indians, north of the Ohio, which had been sold to white people who had settled and improved them— that these settlements were very numerous -that they had

been expensive, and could not be given up, on any terms whatever. They then told the deputies in direct and positive terms, that, for the reasons stated, it was impossible to make the river the boundary between their people and the citizens of the United States.

The Commissioners then appealed to the understanding and good sense of the deputies, to determine, whether, under the circumstances stated, it were possible to make the Ohio the boundary; and whether it was not necessary, in order to obtain a permanent peace, that both they and the United States should make concessions. They again desired the deputation to hear them patiently. The business, they said, was of the highest importance, and required a great many words to be understood. They further stated, that in their opinion, the concession necessary to be made, on the part of the Indians, was, to relinquish a part of the lands north of the Ohio-that the United States wished to have confirmed to them, all the lands ceded by the treaty of Fort Harmar, and also a small tract near the Falls, for the use of General Clark and his warriors; in consideration of which, the United States would give the largest sum, in money or goods, that was ever given, at one time, for any quantity of Indian lands, since the white people first set their foot on this island. They told them further, that, inasmuch as those lands furnished them every year, with skins and furs, with which they bought clothing, and other necessaries; the United States would furnish them with the same description of supplies; and in addition to the great sum to be advanced at once, they would every year deliver to them large quantities of such goods, as were most necessary for them, and their women and children. They said further, that if the Indians could not give up all the lands mentioned before, then they would desire to treat and agree on a new boundary line; and for the land ceded by such new line, the United States would pay them a large compensation.