Missionary's address to the Chiefs of the Six Nations of Indians and their response.

1.
[Page]

An Indian Speech
In the summer of 1805, a number of the principal Chiefs
and warriors of the six Nations of Indians principally
Seneca assembled at Buffaloe Creek in the state of
New York, at the particular request of a Gentleman
Missionary from the state of Massachusett,
The Missionary being furnished with an Interpre
ter and accompanyed by the Agent of the U States for
Indian affairs, met the Indians in council, when
the following talk took place
2.
First by the Agent
Brothers of the six Nations, I rejoice to meet you at
this time, and thank the Great spirit that he hath
preserved you in health, and given me another oppo
rtunity of takeing you by the hand
Brothers, The person who now sits by me is a friend
who has come a great distance to hold a talk with
you, he will inform you what his business is, and
and it is my request that you should listen
with attention to his words
3.
Missionary
My friends I am thankful for the opportunity
afforded us in meeting together at this time, I had
a great desire to see you and enquire into your state
and welfare, for this purpose I have traveled a
great distance being sent by your old friends
the Boston Missionary society; you will recollect
they formerly sent Missionaries amongst you, to
instruct you in Religion and I aboud[?] for your
good, Altho they have not heard from you for
a long time yet they have not forgotten there
Brothers of the six Nations, and are still [...]
[...] anxious to do you good
Brothers
I have not come to get your lands or
Money but to enlighten your minds, and to
instruct you how to worship the Great Spirit, agreeable
[Page] agreeable to his mind, and will, and to preach to you
the Gosple of his son Jesus Christ, there is but one Religion
and one way to serve God, and if you do not embrace the
right way you cannot be happy hereafter; you have
never worshiped the Great Spirit in a maner acceptable
to him but have all your lives been in great errors and
darkness, to indeavour to remove these errors, and open
your eyes, so that you might see clearly is my business
with you
Brothers
I wish to talk with you as one friend talks
with another, and if you have any objections to recieve
the Religion which I preach I wish you to take them
and I will, and I will endeavour to satisfy your minds
and remove the the objections
Brothers
I want you to speak your minds freely; for
I wish to reason with you on the subject, and if possible
to remove all doubts if there be any on your minds
the subject is an important one, and it is of consequ
ence that you give it an early attention, while the offer
is made you; you find the Boston Missionary society
will continue to send you good and faithful Ministers
to instruct and strength you in Religion, if on your
part you are willing to receive them
Brothers
Since I have been in the part of the country
I have visited some of your small Villages, and talked
with your people, they appear willing to receive instruc
tion, but as they look up to you as your Older Brother
in council, the want first to know your opinion on
the subject; you have now heard what I have to propose
at present, I hope you will take it into consideration,
and give me an answer before we part
4.
After about two hours consultation amongst
themselves, the Cheif commonly called Red Jacket
by the white people arose and spoke as follows
Friend and Brother
It was the will of the great
spirit that we should meet together this day,
[Page] he orders all things and has given us a fine Day for our
council. He has taken his garment from before the
Sun, and caused it to shine with brightness upon us,
our eyes are open that we see clearly, our ears have
been unstoped that we have been able to hear distinctly
the words you have spoken, for all these favours we
thank the great spirit, and him only.
Brother
This council fire was kind led by you, it
was at your request that we came together at this time
we have listned with attention to what you have
said, you requested us to speak our minds freely,
this gives us great Joy, for we now consider that we
stand upright before you, and can speak what we
think, all have heard your voice and all speak to
you now as one Man, our Minds are agreed
Brother,
You say you want an answer to your talk
before you leave this place, it is right you should have
one, as you are a great Distance from home, and
we dont wish to ditain you, but we will first look
back a little, and tell you what our fathers have
told us, and what we have heard from the white people
Brother listen to what we say. There was a time
when our forefathers owned this great Land, their seats
Extended from the rising to the setting sun, the Great
spirit had made it for the use of Indians he had cre
ated the Buffaloe, the Deer, and other animals for
food, he made the Bear & the Beaver, their skins served
us for clothing, he had scattered them over the country
and taught us how to take them, he had caused the
earth to produce corn for bread, all this he had done
for his red children because he loved them; if we had
some disputes about hunting ground they were generally
settled without the shedding of much blood; but an
Evil day came upon us your forefathers crossed the
great watter and landed on this Island; their number were
[Page] were small, they found friends and not enemies, they
told us they had fled from their own country for fear of
wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion,
they asked for a small seat, we took pity on them,
Graned their request, and they sat down amongst us,
we gave them corn & meat, they gave us poison (alluding
it as supposed to ardent spirits) in retuurn. the white people
had now found our country, tidings were carried back,
and more came amongst us, yet we did not fear them
we took them to be friends they called us Brothers, we
believed them, and gave them a large seat, at length
their numbers had greatly increased, they wanted
more land, they wanted our country, our eyes were
opened and our minds became uneasy, wars took place
Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and
many of our people were destroy'd, they also brought
strong liquors amongst us, it was strong and power
ful, and has slain thousands.
Brother, our seats were once large and yours
were small, you have now become a great people;
and we have scarcely a place left to spread our
Blankits, you have got our country, but are not
satisfied, you want to force your Religion upon us.
Brother, continue to listen, you say you are sent
to instruct us how to worship the Great spirit agreeably to
his mind, and if we do not take hold of the Religion which you
teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter, you say that you
are right and we are lost, how do you know this to be
true; we understand that your religion is written in a
book, if it was intended for us as well as you, why has
not the great spirit given to us, and not only to us,
but why did he not give to our forefathers the know
ledge of that book, with the means of understanding
it rightly; we only know what you tell us about
it, how shall we know what to believe, being so often
deciev'd by the white people
Brother, you say there is but one way to worship
and serve the Great spirit, if there is but one Religion
[Page] Religion, why do you white people differ so much about
it? why not all agreed, as you can all used the Book?
Brother, we do not understand these things, we are told
that your religion was given to your forefathers, and how
been handed down from father to son, we also have a
Religion, which was given to our forefathers, and has
been handed down to us their Children, we worship
in that way, it teaches us to be thankful for all the
favours we Recieve, to love each other and to be united,
we never quarrel about Religion.
Brother, the Great spirit has made us all, but
he has made a great difference between his white &
Red children, he has given us different complexions &
different customs, to you he has given the arts, to
these he has not opened our eyes, we know these things
to be true; since he has made so great a differenc
between us in other things, why may we not conclude
that he has given us a different Religion according to
our understandings; The Great spirit does right, he
honors what is best for his children, we are satisfied.
Brother, we do not wish to destroy your Religion,
or take it from you, we only want to enjoy our own.
Brother, we are told that you have been preach
ing to the white people in this place, These people
are our neighbours, we are acquainted with them,
we will wait a little while and see what effect
your preaching has upon them, if we find it
does them good, makes them honest and less dispos'd
to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what
you have said.
Brother You have now heard our answer to your
talk, and this is all we have to say at present, as we are
going to part we will come and take you by the hand
and hope the Great spirit will protect you on your
journey and return you safe to your friends.
[Page]
5.
As the Indians began to approach the missionary,
he rose hastily from his seat and replied, he could not
take them by the hand, that there was no fellowship between
the Religion of God and the words of the Devil, this being
interpreted to the Indians, they smiled, and retired in a
peacable manner.
It being afterwards suggested to the Missionary that
his Reply to the Indians was rather indiscreet,
he observ'd that he supposed the ceremony of shaking
hands wou'd be reciev'd by them as a token, that he
assented to what they had said, being otherways inform'd
he said he was sorry for the expression.
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Date: 2014