654 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.ann.18 



Siiiiiekes Cayouges & oiinoiKlages) Katify Coufirme Submit and Grant unto Our 

 Most Sovereign Lord George by the grace of God King of Great Brittain France 

 and Ireland Defender of the Faith & his heirs and Successors for Ever, all the Said 

 Land and Beaver hunting to be Protected &. Defended by his Said Majesty his heirs 

 & Successors to and for tlie use of us our heirs &. Successors and the said Three 

 nations. Aud we Do allso of our own Accord free and Voluntary will Give Render 

 Submit and Grant and by these presents do for our Selves our heirs & Successors 

 Give Render Submit and Grant unto Our Said Sovereign Lord King George his heirs 

 and Successors for Ever all that Land Lyiug and being Sixty miles distance taken 

 Directly from the water into the Country Begiuuing from a Creek Call'd Cauahogue 

 on the Lake Osweego, all along the said lake and all along the narrow passage Ironi 

 the said Lake to the Falls of Oniagara Called Cahaquaraghe and all along the River 

 of Oniagara and all along the Lake Cadarackquis to the Creek Called Sodoms 

 belonging to the Seuekes aud froui Sodoms to the hill Called Tegerliunkserode 

 Belonging to the Cayouges, and from Tegerhunckseroda to the Creek Called Cay- 

 hunghage Belonging to the Onnondages all the Said Land being of the Breadth of 

 Sixty English miles as aforesaid all the way from the aforesaid Lakes or Rivei'S 

 Directly into the Country and thereby Including all the Castles of the aforesaid 

 Three nations with all the Rivers Creeks aud Lakes within the Said Limits to be 

 protected & Defended by his said Majesty his heirs and Successors for Ever To and 

 for Our USE our heirs &, Sucessors and the Said Three Nations In Testimony 

 whereof We have hereunto sett our Marks and Affixed our Scales in the city of 

 Albany this fourteenth Day of September in The thirteenth year of his Majestys 

 Reign Annorj" Domini 1726 



Although these concessions were made by the Indians solely for the 

 purpose of placing tliemselves under the sovereignty and i)rotection of 

 the English government, attempts were afterward made to construe 

 them as an absolute transfer of the Indian title, and grants were made 

 by the authorities for tracts in said territory. This claim, however, 

 was abandoned, although it does not ai)i)ear that the individual grants 

 were surrendered, notwithstanding this course was urged by Sir 

 William Johnson. This, as might have been foreseen, resulted in 

 serious trouble. 



It appears by a report of the Lords of Trade, read before the Coun- 

 cil at the Court of Saint James, November 23, 17C1, and approved, the 

 King being present, that the government had at last been aroused to 

 the necessity of paying regard to the Indians' rights, as shown by the 

 following quotation therefrom : '■ 



That it is as unnecessary as it would be tedious to enter into a Detail of all the 

 Causes of Complaint which, our Indian Allies had against us at the commencement 

 of the troubles in America, and which not only induced them tho reluctantly to take 

 up tho Hatchet against us aud desolate the Settlement on the Frontiers but encour- 

 aged our enemies to pursue tho.se Measures which have involved us in a dangerous 

 and critical war, it will be sufficient for the present purpose to observe that the 

 primary cause of that discontent which produced these fatal Effects was the Cruelty 

 and Injustice with which they had been treated with respect to their hunting 

 grounds, in open violation of those solemn compacts by which they had yielded to 

 us the Dominion, but not the property of those Lands. It was happy for us that we 

 were early awakened to a proper sense of the Injustice and bad Policy of such a 

 Conduct towards the Indians, and no sooner were those measures pursued which 



^ Colonial documents, number five, vol. vn, p. 473. ' 



