THE GREAT COUNCIL. lix 



While the sachems deliberated in the council-house, the 

 chiefs and old men, the warriors, and often the women, 

 were holding their respective councils apart ; and their 

 opinions, laid by their deputies before the council of sa- 

 chems, were never without influence on its decisions. 



The utmost order and deliberation reigned in the 

 council, with rigorous adherence to the Indian notions 

 of parliamentary propriety. The conference opened with 

 an address to the spirits, or the chief of all the spirits. 

 There was no heat in debate. No speaker interrupted 

 another. Each gave his opinion in turn, supporting it 

 with what reason or rhetoric he could command, — but 

 not until he had stated the subject of discussion in full, 

 to prove that he understood it, repeating also the argu- 

 ments, pro and con, of previous speakers. Thus their 

 debates were excessively prolix ; and the consumption of 

 tobacco was immoderate. The result, however, was a 

 thorough sifting of the matter in hand ; while the prac- 

 tised astuteness of these savage politicians was a marvel 

 to their civilized contemporaries. " It is by a most 

 subtle policy," says Lafitau, " that they have taken the 

 ascendant over the other nations, divided and overcome 

 the most warlike, made themselves a terror to the most 

 remote, and now hold a peaceful neutrality between the 

 French and English, courted and feared by both." ^ 



Unlike the Hurons, they required an entire unanimity 



1 Lafitau, I. 480. — Many other French writers speak to the same 

 effect. The following are the words of the soldier historian, La Potherie, 

 after describing the organization of the league : " C'est done la cette 

 politique qui les unit si bien, a peu pres comme tons les ressorts d'une 

 horloge, qui par une liaison admirable de toutes les parties qui les com- 

 posent, contribuent toutes unanimement au merveilleux effet qui en 

 resulte." — Hist, de I'Amerique Septentrionale, III. 32. — He adds: "Les 

 Fran9ois ont avoiie eux-memes qu'ils etoient nez pour la guerre, & quel- 

 ques maux qu'ils nous ayent faits nous les avons toujours estimez." — 

 Ibid., 2. — La Potherie's book was published in 1722. 



