HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



35 



At the negotiation which followed next day with the 

 Oneidas, Governor Clinton made an opening speeqji similar 

 to the one he had delivered to the Onondagas. This was 

 replied to by On-yan-ha, alias Beech-Tree, who said the 

 speech of the Governor should be replied to after the people 

 had consulted together. The next day, just as the council 

 had assembled, word came of the death of a young warrior 

 who had been drowned in Wood Creek, while in a state of 

 intoxication. The Indians refused to proceed with the 

 council till they had first attended to the funeral, which 

 over; the council was resumed. A-gwel-ton-gwas, alias 

 Domine Peter, or Good Peter, replied to the speech of 

 Governor Clinton. He reminded him of a remark made 

 by him at Fort Herkimer, in 1785, in substance that he 

 should not ask them for any more land. The chief reca- 

 pitulated in a long speech, with surprising accuracy, every 

 point in the Governor's speech, and observed, if anything 

 had been omitted it was because he had not " the advantage 

 of the use of letters." He then made an apology that he 

 was fatigued, and wished to sit down and rest, and that in 

 the mean time, according to ancient custom, another speaker 

 would arise and raise the spirit of their deceased sachem, 

 the Grasshopper. But before he sat down he informed the 

 Governor that the man bearing the name Oe-dat-segh-ta is 

 the first name known in their national council, and had long 

 been published throughout the confederacy ; that his friend, 

 the Grasshopper, was the counselor for the tribe, to whom 

 that name belonged, and therefore that they replaced the 

 Grasshopper with this lad, whom you are to call Kan-y-a- 

 dal-i-go (presenting the young lad to the Governor and 

 commissioners), and that until he arrives at an age to 

 qualify him to transact business personally in council, their 

 friend, Hans Jurio, is to bear the name of O-jis-tal-a-be, 

 alias Grasshopper, and to be counselor for this young man 

 and his clan until that period. 



The Governor disclaimed any desire on the part of the 

 State to purchase their lands, but strenuously urged upon 

 them that the State would not tolerate the purchase or 

 leasing by individuals. He told them that when they 

 chose to sell, the State would buy, more for their good than 

 anything else, as the State then had more land than it 

 could occupy with people. 



Good Peter followed, said the Governor's speech was ex- 

 cellent and to their minds. " We comprehend every word 

 of your speech ; it is true indeed, for we see you possessed 

 of an extensive territory, and but here and there a smoke.' 

 " But," said he, " we too have disorderly people in our na- 

 tion. You have a keg here, and they have their eyes upon 

 it, and nothing can divert them from the pursuit of it. 

 While there is any part of it left, they will have their eyes 

 upon it and seek after it, till they die by it. And if one 

 dies, there is another who will not be deterred by it, but 

 will still continue to seek after it. It is just so with your 

 people. As long as any spot of our excellent land remains, 

 they will covet it, and will never rest till they possess it." 

 He said it would take him a long time to tell the Governor 

 "' all his thoughts and contemplations." His mind, he said, 

 was " perplexed and pained, — it labors hard." In a short 

 digression he spoke of the Tree of Peace, and expressed 

 his fears that " by and by some twig of this beautiful tree 



will be broken off. The wind seems always to blow and 

 shake this beloved tree." Before sitting down, Good Peter 

 observed that th'ey had all agreed to place the business 

 of the council, on their part, in the hands of Col. Louis 

 and Peter Ostequette, who would be their " mouth and 

 their ears."* There was also appointed as their advisors a 

 committee of principal chiefs. 



The negotiations went on for days ; speeches were inter- 

 changed, propositions were made and rejected, until, finally, 

 a deed of cession was agreed upon and executed by the 

 chiefs. It conveyed all their lands, making reservations 

 for their own residence around the Oneida Castle, and a 

 number of other smaller ones for their own people and 

 such whites as had been interpreters, favorite traders, or 

 belonged to them by adoption. The consideration was two 

 thousand dollars in money, two thousand dollars m clothing 

 and other goods, one thousand dollars in provisions, five 

 hundred dollars in money for the erection of saw and grist- 

 mills on their Reservation, and an annuity of six hundred 

 dollars in silver forever. 



Rev. Samuel Kirkland was present at this treaty and 

 materially aided the commissioners. The Governor made 

 to the Oneidas a parting address replete with good instruc- 

 tion and fatherly kindness. The Oneidas, in return, assured 

 him of the satisfaction of their people with all that had 

 taken place. They thanked the Governor and his associates 

 for the fairness with which they had been treated. It 

 would be difficult to find a record of diplomacy between 

 civilized nations more replete throughout with decorum, 

 dignity, and ability, than is that of this protracted treaty. 

 The council had continued in session for twenty-five days. 



TREATY OF ALBANY. 



The next meeting of the commissioners was convened af 

 Albany, Dec. 15, 1 788. Governor Clinton read a letter from 

 Peter Ryckman and Seth Reed, who were then residents 

 at Kanadesaga, now Geneva, — Reed at the Old Castle, and 

 Ryckman upon the lake shore. The letter was forwarded 

 by '' Mr. Lee and Mr. Noble," who had been residing for 

 the summer at Kanadesaga. The writers say to the Gov- 

 ernor that the bearers of the letter will detail to him all 

 that has transpired in this locality, and add that, if required. 



* Col. Louis was a French and Oneida half-blood. He held a com- 

 mission under Governor Clinton in the Revolution. Peter Ostequette, 

 in a speech made at a subsequent stage of the council, said that he had 

 just returned from France, where he had been taken and educated by 

 Li Fayette. He said that when he arrived in France he " was naked 

 and the marquis clad him, receiving him with great kindness; that 

 for a year he A\ras restless, but when the light of knowledge flowed in 

 upon his mind he wns distressed at the miserable condition of his 

 countrymen, and he had returned for the purpose of enlightening and 

 reforming them. Thomas Morris says in his manuscript that "at 

 this treaty he became intimate with Peter Ostequette, who, when a boy, 

 was taken to France by the Marquis de La Fayette. He remained 

 seven years with the marquis, and received a very finished education." 

 Mr. Morris was receiving his education there at the same time, and 

 he says, " I would frequently retire with Peter into the woods and 

 hear him recite some of the finest pieces of French poetry from the 

 tragedies of Corneille and Racine. Peter was an Oneida Indian; he 

 had not been many months restored to his nation ; and yet he would 

 drink raw rum out of a brass kettle, take as much delight in yelling 

 and whooping as any Indian ; and, in fact, became as vile a drunkard 

 as any of them." 



