EXTRACTS FROM A "JOURNAL OF A TREATY HELD IN 1793 WITH THE INDIAN TRIBES NORTH WEST OF THE OHIO, BY COMMISSIONERS OF THE UNITED STATES."

BY GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN.

May 25. Immediately on my arrival at Niagara, Governor Simcoe sent for me; the other Commissioners were with him; he shewed me my room. We remained with him a number of days; but knowing that we occupied a large proportion of his house, and that Mrs. Simcoe was absent, and so probably on our account, we contemplated a removal, and of encamping at the Landing, six miles from this place, where the Friends were encamped. But when the Governor was informed of our intentions, he barred a removal. His politeness and hospitality, of which he has a large share, preventing our executing the designs we had formed. This was in a degree painful, because we could not see a period to it, as the time of assembling the Indians was uncertain.

June 4. The King's birth-day; to all the ceremonies of which our duty required us to attend. At eleven o'clock the Governor had a levee at his house, at which the officers of the government, the members of the legislature, the officers of the army, and a number of strangers attended. After some time the Governor came in, preceded by two of his family. He walked up to the head of the hall, and began a conversation with those standing in that part of the hall, and went around to the whole, and I believe spoke with every person present. This was soon over, and we all retired. At one o'clock there were firings from the troops, the battery, and from the ship in the harbor. In the evening there was quite a splendid ball, about twenty well-dressed, handsome ladies, and about three times that number of gentlemen present. They danced from seven to eleven. Supper was then announced, where we found every thing good, and in pretty taste. In all this there was not anything very particular; the music and dancing were good, and every thing was conducted with propriety. What excited the best feelings of my heart, was the ease and affection with which the ladies met each other; although there were a number present whose mothers sprang from the aborigines of the country. They appeared as well dressed as the company in general, and intermixed with them in a manner which evinced at once the dignity of their own minds and the good sense of others. These ladies possess great ingenuity and industry, and have great merit; for the education they have acquired is owing principally to their own industry, as their father, Sir William Johnson was dead, and the mother retained the dress and manners of her tribe.

Governor Simcoe is exceedingly attentive to these public assemblies, and makes it his study to reconcile the inhabitants, who have tasted the pleasures of society, to their present situation, in an infant province. He intends the next winter to have concerts and assemblies very frequently. Hereby he at once evinces a regard to the happiness of the people, and his knowledge of the world; for while people are allured to become settlers in this country, from the richness of the soil and the clemency of the seasons, it is important to make their situation as flattering as possible.

June 9. Dined with Mr. Hamilton at the Landing, (Queenstown.) Towards evening we left his house, and rode as far as the Falls, where we lodged, nine miles. There are a number of new settlements on the road, and one small meeting-house.

The lands are generally covered with white oak, but they are neither strong nor well improved.

June 10. In the morning I went to view the Falls of Niagara.. After breakfast we pursued our journey towards Buffalo Creek, a few miles up which lives a number of the Seneca tribe. We found in our route a bad road, the lands flat, and a great proportion of the timber white oak.

..On finding that we could not cross the ferry, the waters which divide the United States from Upper Canada, we lodged about three miles below the ferry.

June 11. In the morning we crossed over to the United States, near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. There we took a boat, and went up the creek near to one

of the Seneca towns.

June 12.

We took leave of some of the chiefs and returned in our boat to Buffalo Creek where we dined; then mounted our horses, recrossed the ferry, and put up at night at the house we left the morning before, three miles from Lake Erie.

June 13. Confined by a heavy rain.

June 14. We returned to Navy Hall.

June 15. Col. Pickering, Mr. Dean, and myself crossed the river, and went to Fort Slauser, eight miles above Queenstown, on the opposite side of the river, and just above the Falls. At this place, the goods, after being taken across land from what is called the Landing, were re-shipped and carried into Lake Erie, and thence on to Detroit. Since this side is in the limits of the United States, the British have made a way on the west side of the communication between the lakes. All goods must be carried by the Falls ten miles on one side, or eight on the other (U.S.) At Fort Slauser, where there is a corporal's guard, we found Mr. Stedman, whose attentions and friendship were such as could not fail to make our stay with him very agreeable.

June 16. In the morning we went to pay a visit to the Tuscarora villages. They were about half a mile one from the other, and about four miles from Queenstown, or the Landing. In the first were thirty-odd houses, and in the other about twelve.....

Nothing very particular took place from the 16th to the 25th, the day our express returned from Philadelphia.

June 26. We left our lodgings at Governor Simcoe's, where we had been treated with attention. On our departure he gave a letter to those who had care of the Indians, relative to their supplies; in which he expressed himself in the strongest terms, that, in case the treaty should not produce a peace, care should be taken that the Commissioners should not be injured or insulted by the savages; for that an injury to them would greatly affect him, the commander in chief, the British nation, and even the king himself. This, I suppose, had its origin from a report, which circulated pretty generally, that the Indians intended, if they could not make peace, to commence hostilities on the spot, by sacrificing the Commissioners, &c. We arrived in the evening at the Landing, where we lodged. The common cherries and the currants are now ripe enough to eat.

June 27. This day we left the Landing, and travelled to Chippewa, ten miles; here we waited until our baggage could be forwarded..

June 28. Lodged on the road.

June 29. This day we went to Lake Erie from Chippewa to see the vessel in which we were to embark; but as we were not ready for this, we returned four miles, and lodged where we lodged the night before.

June 30. This day we went on board the vessel, where I continued without going on shore until July 2d.

July 2. I went on shore and examined the rocks thereon.

While at Fort Erie, the commanding officer invited me into his garden, which was very handsomely laid out, and in excellent order, and vegetation in great forwardness. Besides having the common cherry, the currant, &c., I found his potatoes in blossom, as also his cucumbers, his melons, and his Indian beans ready to be eaten as stringed beans, and his windsor beans fully grown. These observations are of no other importance than as they show the state of vegetation in this climate on the 2d of July.

July 3. I dined on shore with Captain Pratt. We had from his garden, peas, beans, &c., as also new potatoes, which were planted about the middle of April, and were now as big as eggs.

July 5. The wind remaining against us, a British vessel appeared in sight with a number of Indians on board. On the arrival of the vessel, we found that in her had arrived a large Deputation from the council-fire at the Rapids of the Miami. In two points they wanted satisfaction, the first respecting the movements of our army, and the second whether we were fully authorized to run and establish a new line between us and them.

The Indians assembled and gave notice to the Commissioners that they desired to speak with them. The Commissioners attending, a Shawanese chief (called Cat's Eyes,) addressed us thus.

Brothers,

We are sent by the nations of Indians assembled at the Rapids of Miami, to meet the Commissioners of the United States. We are glad to see you here. It is the will of the chiefs of those nations that our Father, the Governor of this Province, should be present, and hear what we have to say to you, and what you have to say to us.

Brothers,

Do not make yourselves uneasy that we did not meet you at the time proposed, at Sandusky. The reasons thereof will be mentioned at another time. Four Strings of black and white Wampum delivered to the Commissioners.

To which the Commissioners replied.

The Commissioners are glad to see you. We will confer with you in the presence of your Father, the Governor of this Province at any time and place which shall be convenient to him and you.

Returned the four Strings.

The chiefs having consulted a few moments by themselves, again asked the attendance of the Commissioners, and proposed that the meeting should be at the Governor's, at Niagara; to which the Commissioners agreed, informing the chiefs that they would be at the Governor's to-morrow night.

July 7. Before the arrival of the Commissioners at the council-house from Navy Hall, while waiting for them, Captain Brant spoke in the name of the deputies of the western Indians.

(The report of the speeches substantially agrees with that contained in the records of the Indian Department, printed herein.)

July 10. Left Navy Hall. Lodged at Chippewa.

July 11. Arrived on board, where we are now waiting for the return of the Indians and a fair wind.

According to our promise we wrote to the President on the complaints made that our army was approaching, and sent to the Secretary of War a copy of all our official transactions, which had a tendency to show the real state of matters respecting the treaty. In addition thereto I wrote him the following private letter.

My Dear Sir,

Niagara, 10th July, 1793.

Having my pen in my hand I cannot help making an observation or two relative to appearances here, which may not be so fully expressed in our public communications.

At our several meetings with the delegates from the tribes assembled in council at the Rapids of the Miami, a great number of people attended the hearing; among which many were from the United States. Yesterday, after we covered up the council-fire, all classes of men seemed to unite in the idea that a peace would be established. Perhaps they are too sanguine in their expectations; I hope they are not. However that may be, such a sentiment will spread; for many of our people are on their return, and will doubtless give their opinion on the state of matters. It becomes therefore, if possible, of infinitely more importance than ever, that no movements of our army should intervene and destroy the present favorable appearance of things. For after the people are once flushed with the hope of peace, they will not be easily satisfied, if to any improper conduct on our part, they should be under the painful necessity of sacrificing the pleasing hope that the war will soon terminate.

If the reports which circulate here from different quarters are in any degree true, General Wayne must have violated the clearest principles of a truce. Certainly we expected from the nature of all the transactions of the United States, they considered themselves as bound by its laws, as established by the different nations. The Commissioners could not have painted to themselves any hope of personal security but in such a belief. For if there is no truce existing, they are just throwing themselves into the hands of the savages at open and active war. The Commissioners are not so apprehensive for themselves, as for the honor of the United States, and the success of their mission.

If the present treaty, in this stage of it, should be broken up by the movements of our army, by the advancement of stores, other than those necessary for the several garrisons, by cutting of roads, or by any military transaction against the laws of war, our country will be highly irritated, and the blame will fall somewhere; not on the President, you know. The eyes of our country, as well as the eyes of our neighbors, are upon you.

Secretary of War.

Adieu.

Believe me, &c.

While at Navy Hall, a deputation from the Seven Nations of Canada arrived; they amounted to two hundred and eighty. They appear in their color, manners and dress similar to those in this neighborhood..

July 14. We left Fort Erie early in the morning. As we sailed on our course, an extensive lake opened to our view, and a pleasing appearance of the lands on shore....

July 21. We arrived at the west end of Lake Erie, where we landed, and the vessel pursued her course up the river to Detroit. The Commissioners could not obtain permission to visit it, although we were within eighteen miles of the garrison. Upon our landing, we were conducted to the house of Captain Eliot, who received us with hospitality, and gave us the use of his house, garden, &c. The morning after our arrival, we had a full supply of boiled green corn, which was well grown. Eliot has the best farm I have seen in the country by far. He has in possession the grounds on which the Indians formerly lived, and where the French first sat down to open a trade with the natives. The savages afterwards cut off the settlement, and the French then began at Detroit, where they always maintained their ground, and which I hear is now a handsome settlement, within the limits of the United States. As the people have not settled far from the river, a full view is had of their improvements as you sail up, and the whole may be seen as you pass.

July 29. Captain Eliot arrived with a deputation of upwards of twenty Indians from the nations assembled at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami. He delivered us a letter from Col. McKee, acknowledging the receipt of one, &c. which we had sent him.

July 30. In council at Captain Eliot's, at the mouth of Detroit river. Present, The Commissioners and other citizens of the United States, the deputation of Indians, and the British officers and inhabitants.

The deputation addressed the Commissioners as follows, viz. a Wyandot chief (whose name signifies "Carry-one-about,") being their speaker.

Brothers, listen.

We are glad to see you here in peace, and thank the Great Spirit which has preserved us to meet again.

Brothers, we were sent to speak to you some time ago at Niagara. Some chiefs are now here who were then present.

Brothers, we did not explain ourselves to each other, and we did not rightly understand each other.

Brothers, we desire that we may rightly understand each other. We have thought it best that what we had to say should be put into writing, and here is the meaning of our hearts, (presenting the paper to the Commissioners.)

The above speech was interpreted by Simon Girtie, a British interpreter. The Commissioners received the paper, and told the deputation that they would consider the subject of it and return an answer in writing, and give them notice when they were ready to deliver it. The contents of the paper were as follows, viz.

(The document agrees with the copy in the records of the Indian department.) July 31. At the close of the afternoon, the Commissioners delivered the following answer to the deputation, viz.

(The reply cited agrees with the copy preserved in the records of the Indian department.)

This speech was read by paragraphs, and interpreted by Mr. Jones into the Seneca tongue, and then delivered to the oldest chief with a white belt and with thirteen stripes of black wampum.

The deputation said that it was too late to make any reply, but they would speak to us in the morning.

August 1, 1793. Present as yesterday.

The Wyandot chief arose and spoke, which was interpreted by Simon Girtie. Brothers, we are all brothers you see here now.