THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 169 



effable scorn, " Difl I not tell you the last time we met that -whilst Red Jacket lived 

 you would get no more land of the Indians? How, then, while you see him alive and 

 strong," strikinghishand violently on his breast, "do you think to make him a liar?" 

 Often the fierceness of his temper, the righteous indignation that swelled hisbosom, 

 impelled him to hurl defiance at his foes, and to use language the possible conse- 

 quences of Avhich caused the more timid and abject of his followers to tremble with 

 apprehension. But Red Jacket would retract not a single word, although a majority 

 of the chiefs would sometimes secretly deprecate the severity of his utterances. 

 Again, on other occasions, &orely beset and almost despairing, he would essay to melt 

 the hearts of the pitiless pursuers of his people, and give utterance to such touching 

 words as these: "We first knew you a feeble plant which v/anted a little earth 

 whereon to grow. We gave it to you — and afterward, when wo could have trod you 

 under our feet, we watered and protected you, and now you have grown to be a mighty 

 tree, whose top reaches the clouds, and whose branches overspread the whole land; 

 whilst we, who were then the tall pine of the forest, have become the feeble plant, 

 and need your protection." 



Again, assuming the pleading tones of a suppliant, he said, " When you first came 

 here you clung around our knee, and called nsfatlicr. We took you by the hand and 

 called yon brothers. You have grown greater than we, so that we no longer can reach 

 up to your hand. But we wish to cling around your knee and be called your children." 

 Anon, pointing to some crippled warriors of the war of 1812, among the Indian por- 

 tion of his auditors, and, blazing with indignation, he exclaimed: * * * "It was 

 not our quarrel. We knew not that you were right. We asked not. We cared not. 

 It is enough for us that you were our brothers. We fought and bled for you. And 

 now [pointing to some Indians who had been wounded in the contest], dare you pre- 

 tend tbat our father, the President, while he sees our blood running yet fresh from 

 the wounds received while fighting his battles, has sent you with a message to per- 

 suade us to relinquish the jjoor remains of our once boundless possessions — to sell the 

 birthplace of our children and the graves of our fathers? No! Sooner than believe 

 that he gave you this message, we will believe that you have stolen your commis- 

 sion, and are a cheat and a liar!" 



In debate Red Jacket proved himself the peer of the most adroit and able men with 

 whom he was confronted. He had the provisions of every treaty between the Iroquois 

 and the whites by heart. On a certain occarsion, in a counsil at Avhich Governor 

 Tompkins was present, a dispute arose as to the terms of a certain treaty. "You 

 have forgotten," said the agent ; " we have it written down on paper." " The paper 

 then tells a lie," rejoined Red Jacket. "I have it written down here," he added, 

 placing his hand with great dignity upon his brow. "This is the book the Great 

 Spirit has given the Indian ; it does not lie!" A reference was made to the treaty in 

 question, when, to the astonishment of all present, the document confirmed every 

 word the unlettered statesman had uttered. He was a man of resolute, indomitable 

 will. He never acknowledged a defeat until every means of defense was exhausted. 

 In his demeanor toward the whites he was dignified and generally reserved. He had 

 an innate refinement and grace of manner that 8tamj>ed him the true gentleman, be- 

 cause with him these A-irtues were inborn and not simulated or acquired. Ho would 

 interrupt the mirthful conversation of his Indian companions by assuring their white 

 host that the unintelligible talk and laughter to which he listened had no relevancy 

 to their kind entertainer or their surroundings. 



At the outset Red Jacket was disposed to welcome civilization and Christianity 

 among liis people, but he was not slow to observe that proximity to the whites inevit- 

 ably tended toward the demoralization of the Senecas; that to preserve them from 

 contamination they must be isolated from the influence of the superior race, all of 

 whom, good and bad, he indiscriminately classed as Christians. He was bitterly op- 

 posed by the missionaries and their converts. He could not always rely upon his 

 constituency, torn as they were by dissensions, broken-spirited, careless of the future. 



