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together with Colonel Pickering's speech to them of the 30th of April, will show the general aspect of this conference.

They arrived at Buffalo creek in the beginning of June, but, owing to their frequent counselling, and dilatory manner of conducting business, they did not set out from fort Erie for the hostile Indians until the middle of September, when they were accompanied by the firm friend of the United States, the Cornplanter.

The result of their interference is not yet known, but may, with the determination of the hostile Indians, be daily expected.)

EXHIBIT 35.

The Secretary of War to Captain Joseph Brandt.1

April 23d, 1792.

SIR: I have received your letter of the 27th of March, postponing your visit to this city until a period of thirty days after that date.

I regret exceedingly the existence of any circumstance which suspended your visit. But as the dispositions of the President of the United States remain the same, as to the objects mentioned in my formal letter, I can with great truth assure you, that your visit at the time you proposed, will be cordially received.

General Chapin, who is appointed an agent to the Five Nations, will either accompany you to this city, or he will obtain some other person for that purpose, as shall be agreed upon between you and him.

EXHIBIT 36.

The Secretary of War to General Chapin.2

23d April, 1792.

SIR: I have the pleasure to inform you, that the President of the United States, appoints you a deputy temporary agent to the Five Nations of Indians, until further directions, at the rate of five hundred dollars per annum.

1American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 230.

2Ibid., p. 231.

It will be necessary that you should take the oaths which are herein enclosed, before a magistrate, and transmit the same to me. I herewith transmit you, by the hands of Doctor Deodat Allen, the sum of four hundred dollars.

The main object in placing this sum in your hands at present, is to enable you to make a suitable provision for Captain Joseph Brandt, who it is expected will shortly make a visit to this city, and to request that you would either accompany him to this city, or that you would otherwise provide for his journey in a manner perfectly agreeable to him; and that you would give me due notice of his approach at least five days previously to his arrival here. I shall shortly transmit you particular rules for your conduct in this office.

In the meantime I observe that it is the firm determination of the President of the United States, that the utmost fairness and kindness shall be exhibited to the Indian tribes within the United States.

That it is not only his desire to be at peace with all the Indian tribes, but to be their guardians and protectors against all injustice. You will please to observe, that a due accounting of all moneys or goods, placed in your hands, will be rigidly exacted, and that you must always produce vouchers for every dollar expended.

EXHIBIT 37.

The Secretary of War to Doctor Deodat Allen.1

25th April, 1792.

SIR: I request that you will please to proceed with the letter herewith delivered to Captain Brandt, who is again invited to repair to this city.

I have written to General Israel Chapin, at Genesee, who is appointed deputy agent, to make a suitable provision for Captain Brandt's journey, and to accompany him to this city. If General Chapin should not be able to perform the journey, I should hope you will do it; for which I shall compensate, as well as for the performance of the business herein requested.

I have also delivered herewith, a letter to General Chapin, and a warrant for four hundred dollars, on which you will receive the money and deliver the same to General Chapin.

'American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 231.

EXHIBIT 38.

Message from the President of the United States to the Delegation from the Five Nations of Indians in Philadelphia, 25th April, 1792.1

MY CHILDREN OF THE FIVE NATIONS: You were invited here at my request, in order that measures should be concerted with you, to impart such of the blessings of civilization as may at present suit your condition, and give you further desires to improve your own happiness.

Colonel Pickering has made the particular arrangements with you, to carry into execution these objects, all of which I hereby approve and confirm.

And in order that the money necessary to defray the annual expenses of the arrangements which have been made, should be provided permanently, I now ratify an article which will secure the yearly appropriation of the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars, for the use and benefit of the Five Nations-the Stockbridge Indians included.

The United States having received and provided for you as for a part of themselves, will, I am persuaded, be strongly and gratefully impressed on your minds, and those of all your tribes.

Let it be spread abroad among all your villages, and throughout your land, that the United States are desirous not only of a general peace with all the Indian tribes, but of being their friends and protectors.

It has been my direction, and I hope it has been executed to your satisfaction, that during your residence here, you should be well fed, well lodged, and well clothed; and that presents should be furnished for your wives and families.

I partake of your sorrow on account that it has pleased the Great Spirit to take from you two of your number by death, since residence in this city. I have ordered that your tears should be wiped away according to your custom, and that presents should be sent to the relations of the deceased.

Our lives are all in the hands of our Maker, and we must part with them whenever he shall demand them; and the survivors must submit to events they cannot prevent.

1American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 231.

Having happily settled all your business, and being about to return to your own country, I wish you a pleasant journey, and that you may safely return to your families after so long a journey, and find them all in good health.

Given under my hand, &c.

GEO. WASHINGTON.

EXHIBIT 39.

The Secretary of War to General Chapin.'

INSTRUCTIONS TO GENERAL ISRAEL CHAPIN, DEPUTY TEMPORARY AGENT TO THE FIVE NATIONS OF INDIANS THE STOCKBRIDGE INDIANS INCLUDED.

28th April, 1792.

SIR: Having transmitted you the original of the enclosed duplicate on the 23d instant, by Doctor Deodat Allen, I now transmit you, by Mr. Joseph Smith, the following general rules and orders, for your government as deputy temporary agent for the Five Nations.

Enclosed you have a law of Congress relative to Indian affairs, and certain regulations which have been delivered to the superintendents; all of which you will observe, as far as the same shall be applicable to you as deputy agent.

Arthur St. Clair, Esq. the Governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, is the superintendent for the Northern district. You being, therefore, under him, will correspond with, and inform him of all general occurrences in your agency, and receive and obey his orders in all things relative thereto; and at the same time you will constantly correspond with me as Secretary of War, and receive and obey all orders I shall transmit to you, as the orders of the President of the United States.

It being important for the regular administration of the Departments of Government, that every transaction should be made with due form; you will, therefore, please to observe, that, for all sums and effects you receive, you must credit the United States, by the

1American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 231.

department through which you have received the said sums and effects. That for all your deliveries you will debit the United States, noticing the cause of such deliveries, and to whom; and in all practicable cases, you will take receipts for the articles and sums delivered; and for all other cases, you will have certificates of respectable witnesses, of the deliveries.

By adhering to these general principles, and keeping your accounts in a perspicuous manner, they will be passed with ease, and much perplexity prevented on your part.

That it is the most ardent desire of the President of the United States, and the General Government, that a firm peace should be established with the neighboring tribes of Indians, on such pure principles of justice and moderation, as will enforce the approbation of the dispassionate and enlightened part of mankind.

That it is the intention of the President of the United States, that an adherence to this desire, as to a well founded maxim, shall be the leading feature in the administration of Indian affairs, while he is at the head of the government.

That he shall lament, exceedingly, all occasions which shall either suspend or impede the operations of those principles, which he considers essential to the reputation and dignity of the republic.

That in pursuance of these ideas, he endeavored that a genuine state of their situation, and of the general dispositions of the United States, upon this subject, should be brought home to the minds of the Western Indians, before any coercion was attempted.

That, although the essays to this end were then ineffectual, yet it has been his directions, that similar intimations shall be continued.

That, therefore, every effort is making, in order to impress the hostile Indians with their past errors. That the United States require nothing of them but peace, and a line of conduct tending to their own happiness.

That all which is passed, shall still be buried in oblivion, provided they will immediately agree to a treaty of peace, in which they will obtain all they can possibly desire, and relinquish nothing; for we demand none of their lands.

That we are not sensible the hostile Indians, that is, the Miami and Wabash Indians, have any just claims to lands comprehended in the former treaties. But, notwithstanding, if they show

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