[Council
between Harrison and Tecumseh]
The council between the
governor and the Indian chiefs closed on Wednesday evening. The celebrated
Tecumseh was the
principal speaker on the part of the Indians.
His display of talents and oratory was by no
means such as we had
anticipated. -- In his first speech on Tuesday he made
an apology for taking the salt, &
it was so weak a one, he might as well have held his
tongue. In
his last speech, he displayed indeed some
art and ingenuity;
but the veil under
which he attempted to cover his designs was so thin as
to be seen thorough by
all who are not wilfully blind. He gave
indeed, no satisfaction on any point. -- To the
complaint of the governor upon the
subject of the late murders, and other depredations, and
the demand of the two
men who had murdered capt. Cole, and his party on the
Missouri -- he replied "that
these ought all to be forgiven; that he was about to set
out to visit the
southern Indians, for the purpose of inviting them to
join the northern tribes,
all of whom were now united, and under his control --
that as soon as he effected the object of his journey,
which he expected would take him until next spring;
he would then return, and he would then be willing to
settle all differences
with the white people; that he would send messages to
all [illegible] tribes
under his control, to tell them what they were to do in
his absence; but if any
further murders were committed upon our people, he hoped
it would be overlooked
until his return. To
the question asked
him by the governor, whether it was the intention of the
Indians to do any
mischief to those who have, or who shall settle in the
new purchase. He
replied, that, that tract ought not to be settled
until his return; because a number of Indians would come
to settle at his town
this fall; that they intended to use that tract as a
hunting ground and that
the white people would probably lose their cattle and
hogs.
Stript
of the thin disguise with
which he attempted to cover his intentions, the plain
English of what he said
appeared to be this -- "In obedience to the orders of my
masters the British, I have now succeeded in uniting the
northern tribes of
Indians in a confederacy for the purpose of attacking
the United States, and I
am now on my way to stir up the southern Indians; I wish
you, however, to
remain perfectly quiet until I return -- do not attempt
to obtain any satisfaction
for the injuries you may sustain or for such as you have
already received; I am
not yet quite ready to resist you -- when I return I
shall be completely so, and
then you may do as you please." We hope,
however, the government will take immediate and
effectual measures for breaking
up this confederation.
The resolutions
of the citizens of the country, which we this day
publish, and the address to
the president which we also insert, will, we hope, have
the desired effect.
We must request our readers to correct a mistake which
occurred in our last, in our remarks upon Indian affairs,
we said, there was between 250 and 3000 -- it should have
been 250 or 300.
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