THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLEEY. 167 



selected to deliver the address of condolence. The speakers for Music 

 Hall ceremonies for the evening were announced as David Hill, a Sen- 

 eca ; Peter Powless, a Mohawk 5 John Buck, an Onondaga, and Henry 

 Clinch, an Oneida. 



"The casket of Red Jacket was then opened for the last time, and the 

 Indians present viewed the remains, and the council broke up. 



" When this council was proposed the Canadian Iroquois at first refused 

 to unite with their estranged brothers residing in New York, but after 

 conference thej' yielded." 



RED JACKET. 



Eemarks of Ex- Judge George W. Clinton, of Albany, 1:^. T., at re- 

 interment of Eed Jacket, at Buffalo, l!f. Y., October 9, 1884: 



I shall say little touchiug Red Jackat. Hie life has been written with an ap- 

 proach to fullness; and he has this day been spoken of with just appreciation, and 

 with an eloquence I cannot hope to reach. The written remnants of his speeches 

 which have come down to us hardly justify his fame as an orator; but their trpics 

 and matter shorn, by translation, as they are, of fancy and of all the graces of de- 

 livery, corroborate the assertion of the judicious white men who heard him that he 

 was, beyond compare, the most eloquent of all Indian orators. In Irsll De Witt Clin- 

 ton mentioned him as " an extraordinary orator who had arisen among the Senecas 

 and attained the first distinctions by his eloquence." If he had been as brave as 

 Farmer's Brother he would have been a giant indeed ; with the wisdom of his great 

 rival, the Cornplanter, he might have made his nation happy and secure in the paths 

 of industry and peace. But he had no military talent ; and, though he loved his na- 

 tion and was intensely devoted to what he deemed its interests, he utterly mistook 

 the paths that would have led it upward. Washington, in his speech of March, 1792, 

 to the delegates of the Five Nations, assured them that he desired a firm and lasting 

 peace, and that they should " partake of all the comforts of this earth which can be 

 derived from civilized life, enriched by the possession of industry, virtue, and knowl- 

 edge," and that he trusted that "such judicious measures would then be concerted, 

 to secure to them and their children these invaluable objects, as would afford them 

 cause for rejoicing while they lived." Eed Jacket, in liis response said : " W^e believe 

 that the Great Spirit let this island drop down from above. We also believe in His 

 superintendency of the whole island. It is He who gives peace and prosperity, and Ho 

 also sends evil. But prosperity has been yours. American brothers 1 all the good 

 which springs out of this island you enjoy. We, therefore, wish that we, and our 

 children and our children's children, may partake with you in that enjoyment." And 

 yet he inveterately opposed all measures, whether secular or holy, that could make 

 them prosperous and happy. 



His person was noble, his demeanor dignified, and the intonations of his voice and 

 the graces of his jesture and delivery gave impressiveness to his matter. Albert H. 

 Tracy, who saw him in council only after age and intemperance had enfeebled his 

 powers, applied to him these lines of Milton: 



" Deep on his front engraven, 

 Deliberation sat and public care, 

 And princely counsel in his face yet shone, 

 Majestic, though in ruins." 



[Paradise Lost, ii, 300. 



Two 8ome\shat varying accounts are given of his dying directions for his burial. 

 In both the substantial injunction is that he should be interred an ong his people, 

 and in conformity with their customs. The account approved by Mr. Furniss and 

 adopted by Mr. Conover is beautiful, and so accordant with the character of the man 



