Secrion II., 1895. [45] Trans. R, S. C. 
Il.—An Iroquois Condoling Council. 
By Horatio HALE, M.A, (Harvard). 
(Read May 15, 1895.) 
The remarkable confederacy of Indian tribes which, under the name 
of the “ Five Nations” (and later the “Six Nations”), formerly bore sway, 
from their central abode in northern New York, over a large portion of 
what is now the United States and Canada, and who may be said to have 
held for a century the balance of power on this continent between England 
and France, possessed a form of government which, even while imper- 
fectly understood, excited the curiosity and admiration of many intelligent 
inquirers. The early Jesuit missionaries, and, after them, Cadwallader 
Colden, Sir William Johnson, De Witt Clinton and other observers and 
writers of equal note, had told much about them, all bestowing high 
praise on the consummate political ability manifested in their league, but 
all, as it finally appeared, with only a very imperfect understanding of 
the true basis and real nature, origin and objects of this league, It 
remained for our own time and for the genius of a scientific investigator 
of the first order of intellectual power, the late Hon. L. H. Morgan of 
Rochester, N. Y., to disclose the secrets of this wonderful system—a sys- 
tem so intricately wrought, so profoundly based, so far-reaching, and so 
beneficently purposed, that its details recorded in his famous book, “The 
League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois” (published in 1851), while 
awakening the admiration of all its readers, have in certain respects stag- 
gered the belief of some of the most eminent among them. Some justly 
esteemed historical writers, with large claims to philosophical insight, have 
been unable to accept the assurance that the primary object of the “high 
chiefs” representing the Iroquois tribes in their first council of alliance— 
“barbarians of the stone age” though they were—was to establish a form 
of government which should not only prevent strife among their own 
tribes, but might be so extended as to put an end to war among all 
nations, and to bring about universal peace. A greater philosopher, whose 
mental vision has been large enough to embrace all races, civilized and 
savage, and their known political systems, ancient and modern, has found 
no such difficulty. Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his recent volume, “The 
Principles of Ethics,” quotes Morgan’s statement on this point, accepts it 
without reserve, confirms it by other examples, and points out the facts 
of human nature on which they are all based. Every government reflects 
the character of the people who frame it or who willingly submit to it. A 
people, whether barbarous or civilized, who among themselves are peace- 
ful and united, will have a government tending to peace and unity, both 
