ergetically, until they did so. Col. Clark had made himself acquainted with the French and Spanish modes of treating the Indians, and had been long devoted to the study of the Indian character. In consequence of this, he determined to guard against spoiling the Indians, as had been too much the case in negotiating the English treaties; to use the strictest reserve, and to grant presents with a niggardly hand, as wrung from him, rather than as spontaneous and willing gratifications. These are principles of conduct founded on a profound knowledge of our indigenous barbarians; the propriety of which is confirmed by the success of Col. Clark, in the weakness of his military force, over the Indian multitude all around him; and it is well contrasted with any subsequent negotiations with the red men.

The ceremonies of the first and ancient council of our countrymen with these remote sons of the forest are worth recording, as they are found in the memoir of the negotiator himself.

These treaties began about the 1st of September, 1778, in the neighborhood of Cahokia. The parties both white and red had assembled, when the chief who was to open the council, as the Indians were the solicitors, advanced to the table at which Col. Clark was sitting, with the belt of peace in his hand, another with the sacred pipe, and a third with fire to kindle it. After the pipe was lighted, it was presented to the heavens, then to the earth, and completing a circle, was presented to all the spirits invoking them to witness what was about to be done.

The pipe was now presented to Col. Clark, and afterwards to every person present.*

After these formalities the speaker addressed himself to the Indians as follows: "Warriors, you ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit has taken pity on you, has cleared the sky and opened your ears and hearts so that you may hear the truth. We have been deceived by bad birds flying through the land, [meaning the British emissaries]; but we will take up the bloody hatchet no more against the Big Knife, [meaning our countrymen]; and we hope that as the Great Spirit has brought us together for good, as he is good, so we may be received as friends; and peace may take the place of the bloody belt." The speaker then threw into the middle of the room the bloody belt of wampum, and flags which had been

Clark's memoir.

received from the British and stamped upon them, in token of their rejection.

To this address, Clark very guardedly and coldly replied: "I have paid attention to what has been said, and will tomorrow give you an answer, when I hope the hearts of all people will be ready to receive the truth. But I recommend them to keep prepared for the result of this council, upon which their very existence as nations depends. I desire them not to let any of our people shake hands with them, as peace was not yet made; and it was time enough to give the hand, when the heart could be given also." An Indian chief rejoined to this address that "such sentiments are like men who had but one heart, and did not speak with a forked tongue."

The council then rose, until the next day, when Clark delivered to the Indians again assembled the following address, which is taken literally from his memoir: "Men and Warriors. Pay attention to my words. You informed me yesterday, that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that you hoped that as he was good, it would be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed on, whether it shall be peace or war; and hence forward, prove ourselves worthy of the protection of the Great Spirit. I am a man and a warrior, not a counsellor; I carry war in my right hand, and in my left, peace. I am sent by the Great Council of the Big Knife and their friends, to take possession of all the towns pussessed by the English in this country, and to watch the motions of the Red people; to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop the course of the river; but to clear the roads from us to those that desire to be at peace; that the women and children may walk in them, without meeting anything to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, that the Red people may hear no sound but of birds that live on blood."

"I know there is a mist before your eyes; I will dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the causes of the war between the Big Knife and the English; then you may judge for yourselves, which party is in the right; and if you are warriors, as you profess yourselves to be, prove it by adhering faithfully to the one which you shall believe to be entitled to your friendship; and not show yourselves squaws."

"The Big Knife is very much like the Red people, they don't know how to make blankets and powder and cloth; they buy these things from the English, from whom they are sprung. They live by making corn, hunting and trade, as you and your neighbors the French do. But the Big Knife daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the land became poor and hunting scarce; and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children naked, and they tried to make clothes for themselves. They soon made blankets for their husbands and children, and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way, we did not want to buy so much from the English; they then got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country, (as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French); they would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder; nor let us trade with any body else. The English said we should buy everything from them, and since we had got saucy, we should give two bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one; we should do as they pleased; and they killed some of our people, to make the rest fear them."

This is the truth and the real cause of the war between the English and us, which did not take place for some time after this treatment. But our women became cold and hungry, and continued to cry; our young men became lost for want of counsel to put them in the right path. The whole land was dark, the old men held down their heads for shame, because they could not see the sun, and thus there was mourning for many years over the land."

"At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council fire, that man goes out at a place called Philadelphia; he then stuck down a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and went away. The sun immediately broke out; the sky was blue again; the old men held up their heads and assembled at the fire; they took up the hatchet, sharpened it and put it into the hands of our young men, ordered them to strike the English as long as they could find one, on this side of the great waters. The young men immediately struck the war post and blood was shed. In this way the war began; and the English were driven from one place to another, until they got weak, and then they hired you Red people to fight for them. The Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused your old Father, the French king, and other great nations to join The Big Knife and fight with them against all their enemies. So

the English have become like a deer in the woods; and you may see it is the Great Spirit that has caused your waters to be troubled, because you have fought for the people he was mad with."

"If your women and children should now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the Big Knife. You can now judge, who is in the right. I have already told you who I am; here is a bloody belt and a white one, take which you please. Behave like men, and don't let your being surrounded by the Big Knife cause you to take up the one belt with your hands, while your hearts take up the other. If you take the bloody path, you shall leave the town in safety, and you may go and join your friends, the English. We will then try, like warriors, who can put the most stumbling blocks in each other's way, and keep each other's clothes longest stained with blood. If on the other hand, you shall take the path of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knife with their friends, the French, should you then listen to bad birds that may be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve to be counted as men, but as creatures with two tongues that ought to be destroyed without listening to anything you might say."

“As I am convinced you never heard the truth before, I do not wish you to answer before you have taken counsel. We will therefore part this evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and think with but one heart and one tongue."

The next day after this speech a new fire was kindled with more than usual ceremony, when the Indian speaker again came forward and said: "They ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit had taken pity on them, and opened their ears and hearts to receive the truth. I have paid great attention to what the Great Spirit had put into my heart to say to us, as the Big Knife did not speak, like any other people we have heard. We now see that we have been deceived, and that the English had told them lies, and that you have told us the truth; just as some of our old men have always told us. We now believe that you are in the right; and as the English had forts in their country, they might, if they got strong enough, want to serve them, as they had treated the Big Knife. The Red people ought therefore to help us; we have taken the belt of peace, and spurned that of war; we are determined to hold the former fast, and have no doubt of your friendship,

from the manner of your speaking, so different from that of the English. We will now call in our warriors, and throw the toma hawk into the river, where it can never be found. We will suffer no more bad birds to fly through the land disquieting the women and ahildren. We will be careful to smooth the roads for our brothers, the Big Knife, whenever they may wish to come and see us.”

"Our friends shall hear of the good talk you have given us; and we hope you will send chiefs among us with your own eyes to see yourself that we are men, and strictly adhere to all we have said, at this great fire, which the Great Spirit has kindled at Cahokia, for the good of all people who have attended it."

The pipe was again kindled and presented to all the spirits as witnesses of the transactions. It was smoked; and the council was concluded by shaking hands among all the parties, both white and red. In this manner, with very little variety, treaties were concluded with many tribes with a dignity and sense of importance in their eyes, little inferior to that felt by our own countrymen at the alliance of their government with the powerful kingdom of France.

These negotiations of Clark at Cahokia, in a short time undermined the British influence through a large portion of these regions. The co-operation of the French inhabitants essentially contributed to these important results; the Indians implicitly trusted in the representations of their ancient allies, and became thoroughly alarmed by the French accounts of the power of the Americans. Their actual force on the spot was utterly too insignificant, even added to the boasted reinforcement from Kentucky, to have had any such influence. Let the recollection of this ancient partiality of our French fellow-citizens be an additional bond of attachment between the descer dants of fathers who so early had been friends.

Col. Clark adhered resolutely to a determination of not appearing to court the Indians; he even affected to apologize for making them the few presents his scanty stores enabled him to confer. He attributed them to the great way they had traveled; and thus having expended their ammunition and worn out their moccasins and leggins. The native tribes were so much alarmed at the high and disdainful spirit of their new neighbor that the conclusion of peace notwithstanding Clark's reserve, and possibly in consequence of it, gave them satisfaction. This state of mind was confirmed by the report of the spies, whom Clark kept among all his new allies