APPENDIX.

[Contents]APPENDIX.THE LANGUAGE OF THE IROQUOIS.If the Indian should be entirely banished from our borders, the memory of him cannot die. For, as I have elsewhere quoted,“Their names are on our waters,We cannot wash them out.”The dialects of the Six Nations bore a strong resemblance to each other, though there were still differences which marked them as distinct. Those who understood one were able to converse in each of the others, and in council the representatives of each nation had no difficulty in interpreting what was said by all. The Mohawk and Oneida strongly resembled each other, and the Seneca and Cayuga were the same. The Onondaga “was considered by the Iroquois as the most finished and majestic,” while to our ears it is the most harsh, and the Oneida the most musical.They used nineteen letters, having no labials or liquids, except occasionally is heard among the Mohawks the sound of L and among the Tuscaroras the sound of F. The Senecas and Cayugas talk all day without shutting their lips, and there are no oaths in their language. Before an Indian can be profane he must learn French or English, and his language is so constructed too, that evasion is almost impossible. Metaphors are in constant requisition in Indian speeches and conversation. If one comes in when the weather is very cold, he says, “It is[299]a nose-cutting morning.” If he wishes to reflect upon a proposition before deciding, he says, “I will put the matter under my pillow, and let you know.” He says of an emaciated person, “He has dry bones.” A steamboat is called “The ship impelled by fire.” A horse is a “log carrier,” a cow a “cud chewer,” and a goat a “scented animal.”In ancient times when the hunters encamped in the woods, they kept warm by covering themselves with boughs of hemlock, and now if an Indian is about to repair his cabin, he says, “I will surround it with hemlock boughs,” meaning I will make it warm and comfortable. When a chief has made a speech at the opening of a Council, he finishes with saying, “the doors are now open, you can proceed.” The messenger of the Six Nations to the Senecas was called “the man who carries the fire or smoke,” meaning that he had charge of the Council-fire and kept it bright.The Iroquois call themselves thereal people; and in speeches or conversation, if allusion is made to white people, they say invariably “our younger brethren.” The President of the United States is called “the city-eater,” and Washington, “the residence of the city-eater.”The Iroquois had the masculine, and feminine, and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine were denoted, sometimes by giving the same animal different names, in the way we say buck and doe, and sometimes by prefixing words which signify male and female. All inanimate objects were placed in the neuter gender. They had not the indefinite articleaoran, but usedthe, and the usual varieties of adjective and adverb. They abounded in interjections, but had no participles. As a substitute for the infinitive mood they used the wordthat. Instead of saying, “DirectHe-moto come and give us rain,” they said, “Direct thatHe-mocome and give us rain.”They could count by one, two, three, nearly to a hundred, and used the numerals, firstly, secondly, thirdly, &c.The following are specimens of names, with the Lord’s prayer and a hymn in Seneca.[300]O-hee-yu,The beautiful river.Os-we-go,Flowing out.On-yit-hah,Bird of the strong wing.Ga-no-so-teA house.O-on-do-teA tree.O-yaFruit.Je-da-doA bird.O-ya-hanApples split open.Ga-no-gehOil on the water.Ga-osé-haBaby frame.THE LORD’S PRAYER.Gwä-nee′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh che-de-oh′; sä-sa-no-do′-geh-teek; gä-o′ ne-dwa na′ sa-nunk-tä; na-huk′ ne-yä-weh′ na yo-an′-jä-geh ha′-ne-sä-ne-go′-dā̆ ha ne-de-o′-dā̆ na′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh. Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-sā̆-gwus na′ ong-wi-wä-na-ark-seh′ na′ da-yä-ke′-wä-sā̆-gwä′-seh na′ onk-ke-wä-na′-ä-ge. Dä-ge-o′-na-geh′-wen-nis′-heh-da na′ ong-wä-quä′. Sā̆-nuk′ na-huh′ heh′-squä-ä ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′ na-gwä′ na′ dä-gwä-yä-duh′-nuh-onk ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′; na′ seh-eh′ na ese′ sä-wā̆ na′ o-nuk-ta′ kuh′ na′ gā̆-hus-ta-seh′ kuk′ na′ da-gä-ā̆-sä-uh′. Na-huh′-ne-yä-weh.1[301](Specimen of Indian Hymn.)GAA NAH 8. L. M.O gwe nyoo′ gā̆h′, a ga deā̆h′seekHeh syah daa deh, lis′ ne Je sus;Tā̆h′ā̆h; tā̆h ā̆h deh o gwe nyooh′,Neh huh′ noo′wak ni gooh′da aak.Iis, sā̆h ā̆h, ji sa′yah daa gwā̆h′,Na gat hwa is hā̆h; aa′gā̆ noh,Gih shā̆h′, deh sa′yah da geh hā̆h,A yò dā̆s′theh oh, naeh, ne neh.Deh oi′wa yā̆s doh na′ga deā̆h,Iis ne gā̆h sa dyā̆ nohk′dah ohHe yoan jadeh, kuh, he goh heh;Iis, kuh, des gā̆h′nya doh dyòt gont.Deī oi wah′gĕh na ga deā̆h seek;Tā̆h ā̆h, waeh, Nais, heh sa deā̆h oh,Oi wa neā̆′gwat ni ya′wah oh,Sgie′yah seeh heh, de ga yah sont.Da gyah′da geh′hā̆ aak′, dih′ sho,Ne′ dyòt gont neh ā̆ ges′ nyet haak′,He ni sah′sanno′nā̆ ā̆ gwat,Kuh′ he ni sa da ni daā̆ oh.The number of Senecas at the last census was 2,449.The three Reservations which now remain to the Indian in Western New York, are called Tonawanda, Cattaraugus, Alleghany, containing in all about sixty-six thousand acres. No white family is allowed to settle upon these lands, and the law forbids the trusting of an Indian or the selling him intoxicating drinks.There are at present 14 Schools, 16 Teachers, 480 Scholars, one Boarding School with 50 scholars, 8 Missionaries, 47 Church members.[302][Contents]NO. II.During the winter of 1855 a bill was passed by the Legislature of New York, incorporating an Orphan Asylum, and appropriating two thousand dollars ($2000) for a building, and ten dollars a year for each child received and retained under the care of the managers. This is one of the most important benefits conferred upon the Indians. By it a home will be provided for the destitute little ones of this scattered people. And by beginning early, an opportunity will be afforded of securing to them a proper course of moral and physical training, and more surely than by any other way preserve them from destruction.The experiment was first tried by taking a few into the family of a benevolent lady residing on the Reservation, which, proving successful, an earnest appeal for aid was made to the State.The institution is incorporated under the name of the “Thomas Asylum for orphan and destitute Indian Children,” as a tribute of acknowledgment to the individual whose name it bears, for his long and earnest efforts to assist and benefit the Seneca nation.It is located upon the Cattaraugus Reservation, but is intended to receive children from all the Reservations in the State of New York. As the appropriation of ten dollars a year for the support and education of each child, is quite insufficient for the purpose, it is hoped that if the attempt to preserve from destruction this noble race should promise success, that the State of New York—the only State on the Atlantic borders of this Confederation, in which an organized body of the once numerous aborigines of our country has been permitted to remain—will hereafter further extend towards this institution its fostering care and aid.[303][Contents]NO. III.The following documents from theIndian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, andthree fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman[304]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly namedHai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the[305]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.Sec. 1.Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.Sec. 2.The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.Sec. 3.The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.Sec. 4.The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.Sec. 5.All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts[306]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.Sec. 6.The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.Sec. 7.There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.Sec. 8.Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.Sec. 9.There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 10.All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.Sec. 11.Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 12.The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 13.The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday[307]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.Sec. 14.The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.Sec. 15.All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 16.The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.Sec. 17.This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.Sec. 18.The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.Sec. 19.The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined[308]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.New York,December 5, 1848.RESOLUTIONS,Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; thereforeResolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to[309]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative orChargéd’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change[310]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, nowconvenedat Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.Cattaraugus Reservation,}Erie County, N. Y.December 5, 1848.Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, EnvoyExtraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of[311]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.S. W. McLane,President.William Jemerson,Clerk.Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,December 5th, 1848.To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)Ambassador, &c., &c.,Baltimore, Maryland.[Contents]NO. IV.The following extracts from the proceedings of the yearly meetings of the Friends of Baltimore, in the year 1850, will give some idea of the present condition of the women, and the understanding they have of governmental as well as domestic affairs:“Thus we see the Seneca nation with a government ‘calculated,’ to use their own language, ‘to answer the purpose for which all governments should be created.’ We find their women mostly withdrawn from the field, and occupying their[312]proper station in their families,—their children suitably cared for at home, and at school, having the benefit of literary and scientific learning. We have, for several years past, had among them an Institution for the instruction of their daughters in the duties of housewifery, and other appropriate domestic employments. They are provided with good dwelling-houses and barns—are the undisputed owners of a fertile, productive soil, of ample extent for all their purposes, yielding more than the nation can consume; and in addition to these advantages, they are in receipt of annuities more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of their government.“When the present joint committees first visited the Reservations, in the years 1839 and 1840, a very large portion of the Indians lived in wigwams, or poor log huts—covered with bark, boards, or other materials, hardly sufficient to shield them from the weather. Many of them had earth floors, on which they slept in buffalo skins and blankets. They set no table, had no regular meals—used no plates, nor knives and forks. An iron pot was generally found placed over the fire, into which they put beans and hominy, and a piece of some sort of meat—either pork or venison. When any one of the family was hungry, he helped himself to what he wanted, putting it in a small wooden vessel, and feeding himself with a wooden or iron spoon. The interior of the dwellings generally presented to the eye a spectacle by no means calculated to warm the imagination in favor of Indian life. The truth is, that woman had been driven from her proper sphere, and no domestic happiness could enter the dwelling in her absence.“The Manual-labor School was established as one of the means of restoring woman to the station evidently designed for her, in the benevolent order of her Creator, an order which cannot be broken with impunity. This school was held in the dwelling erected for the use of Friends at Cattaraugus. The average number of pupils was about twenty-eight,generallyundertwenty years of age. They were boarded in the family, at the expense of the committee, and were taught to card and spin wool, knit stockings, cut out and make garments, &c. A part of their number was daily admitted into[313]the family of the Superintendent, where they were taught to wash and iron clothes, &c., make bread, do plain cooking, and every other branch of good housewifery, pertaining to a country life. In this department all were admitted by turns, generally four at a time, and continued until the necessary proficiency was attained. As such left the school, others took their places, by which arrangement, a large number of young women became qualified to take charge of families, and extend to succeeding generations the comforts and blessings of domestic life.”Memorial of the Seneca Women to P. E. Thomas.[Original sent to the Indian Bureau.]Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct. 13, 1848.To our Respected Friend, Philip E. Thomas:The women of Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the more cheerfully, because the Friends are always laboring to promote the welfare of the females among the Indians, and to improve their condition. We would also request you to secure the influence of the Society of Friends, so that our words may be strengthened, and become sufficiently powerful to be heard by the Secretary of War, that we women have an equal right to our annuities, with the men, and with the chiefs. We are all on the same footing as to the amount we are entitled to receive—chiefs and warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent, to pay the annuities for this year to the heads of families. We see no other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to confirm his former instructions, for we were greatly perplexed and troubled, when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on the ground that the chiefs insisted on the observance of the old custom in regard to it.We ask for our just rights and nothing more; but we repeat it, thatwe do not feelthat our rights will be safe, if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay[314]a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will manifest a due regard to our rights. Only we beg leave to repeat our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, and that of your Society, to bear upon this question, that he may be willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian woman, and child, no less than others, the apportionment which of right belongs to each.And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered greatly from the proceedings of the chiefs, through whose instrumentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to entreat that we may never again, hereafter, be exposed to be deprived by them of our rights, but that we and our children, from time to time, may be permitted to receive the full and proper share which rightfully belongs to us. We are fully sensible that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the chiefs, but we feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice and pride, and we believe the things they have said in justification of themselves are not true. It is by our pain and sorrow that children are brought into the world, and we are, therefore, interested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party who are laboring to bring about an equal division of the whole of our annuities, are the party really striving for the best interests of our children.We have taken the same view of the matter which was taken by the old men long since dead, who first entered into these arrangements. They decided that every individual man, woman, and child, had an equal right to our moneys, and to our lands—in short, to all our national property; that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly desire the President and Secretary of War to secure to us now, and to our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original stipulations, thatas long as wood should grow, or water run,[315]or a Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these annuities should be faithfully paid and righteously distributed.With great respect, your friends,TheirBetsey+Snow.}On behalf of the Seneca women.Julia+Ann Snow.Jane+Scott.Ganna+Hoh.Polly+Johnson.Martha+Phillips.marks.Done in the presence ofJoseph S. Walton,Asher Wright.Memorial of the Seneca Women to the President.To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America:The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives, and grown up daughters of the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in Western New York, respectfully represent to our Father the President, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated young man from among our sons and brothers is at Washington, importuning the President to undo the good which has been done for our people by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, as far as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation, that a portion of all the Indian annuities should be distributed just at seedtime, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious—to be in the field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as the fruits of God’s blessing upon their own honest exertions: not leaving it for the women to raise corn, as did their hunting, fishing, and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and fishing, and we trust, also, of Indian fighting, are gone by for ever, and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and one, too, who, if he would consult the well-being of his people, might be so smart and useful, should now be trying, either of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they had sought the[316]public good, we should have rejoiced to call our chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pursuits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability of the counsels of the United States Government for the relief of their necessities. We have many and to us weighty reasons why our Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, whom we did not send to speak for us to the President; but lest it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never tire, we only add that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Seneca nation, that the recognition of the new Government may be permitted to stand; and that we may be paid our annuities according to the rule adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the tribes receiving annuities from the government, i.e., during the current month; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.Signed,Gua-na-ea, andNineteen other females.April 4, 1849.Reply of Philip E. Thomas to these Women.Baltimore,4 mo., 8th, 1849.My Respected Sisters:—Your address to the President of the United States has reached me, and has received my careful attention. I am glad to inform you that all you ask in regard to the manner of paying your annuities, and the acknowledgment of your new Government, has been decided as you wish. The annuities hereafter will be paid by the United States Agent to the heads of families—to the women as to the men, and none will again be paid to the chiefs except their own respective portions.By the acknowledgment of your new Constitution, the Government of the United States recognizes that excellent article in it, which provides that no sale of Land can hereafter be made without the consent of three fourths of all the[317]mothers in the nation. This wise provision assures to you the security of your homes; for I have too much confidence in my Indian Sisters to believe they will ever be prevailed on to take the land from their children, and send them away to perish in the wilderness.It gave me pleasure to read your address to the President. It proved to me that you were beginning to understand your rights, and were disposed to exercise them. I hope you will remember the good advice the committee gave you in the year 1845, and as some of you may not have heard it then, I now send you a copy of it under care of my brother Joseph S. Walton.Bear this advice in your minds; it is good counsel, and endeavor to practise it.Whenever you may desire to make any communication to me, you are at liberty to do it.—You will find me your faithful friend and brother,P. E. Thomas.[319]1If an attempt should be made to give a literal translation of each word, or phrase, it would render transposition necessary, and change the formation of the words in some respects, as the following will exhibit.Gwä-nee′,Our Father,che-de-oh′which art ingă-o′-ya-geh,heaven,gä-sa-nuh′,hallowed be thy name,ese′thysä-nuk-tä′kingdomgä-oh′come,ese′thysne′-go-ehwillne-ya-weh′be doneyoonan-jä′-gehearthha′asne-de-o′-dehit isgă-o′-yä-geh.in heaven.Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-să-gwusForgive usourong-wä-yeh′-his-heh′debtsas weda-yä-ke′-a-wä-să-gwus-seh′forgive ourho-yeh′his.debtors.Dä-ge-oh′Givene′usna-geh′thiswen-nis′-heh-dehdaye′ourna-hä-da-wen-nis′-heh-gehdailyo-ä′-qwa.bread.Hă-squä′-ahLeade′ussă-no′notha′intowä-ate-keh′,temptation,na-gwä′butdä-gwä-yä-dan′-nakedeliver fromne′uswä-ate-keh′,evil,na-seh′-ehfornees′thineis theo-nuk′-täkingdom,na-kuh′andnathegä-hus′tes-heh,power,na-kuh′andda-gä-ă-sä-oh′.the glory.Na-huh′-se-yä-weh.↑

APPENDIX.THE LANGUAGE OF THE IROQUOIS.

If the Indian should be entirely banished from our borders, the memory of him cannot die. For, as I have elsewhere quoted,“Their names are on our waters,We cannot wash them out.”The dialects of the Six Nations bore a strong resemblance to each other, though there were still differences which marked them as distinct. Those who understood one were able to converse in each of the others, and in council the representatives of each nation had no difficulty in interpreting what was said by all. The Mohawk and Oneida strongly resembled each other, and the Seneca and Cayuga were the same. The Onondaga “was considered by the Iroquois as the most finished and majestic,” while to our ears it is the most harsh, and the Oneida the most musical.They used nineteen letters, having no labials or liquids, except occasionally is heard among the Mohawks the sound of L and among the Tuscaroras the sound of F. The Senecas and Cayugas talk all day without shutting their lips, and there are no oaths in their language. Before an Indian can be profane he must learn French or English, and his language is so constructed too, that evasion is almost impossible. Metaphors are in constant requisition in Indian speeches and conversation. If one comes in when the weather is very cold, he says, “It is[299]a nose-cutting morning.” If he wishes to reflect upon a proposition before deciding, he says, “I will put the matter under my pillow, and let you know.” He says of an emaciated person, “He has dry bones.” A steamboat is called “The ship impelled by fire.” A horse is a “log carrier,” a cow a “cud chewer,” and a goat a “scented animal.”In ancient times when the hunters encamped in the woods, they kept warm by covering themselves with boughs of hemlock, and now if an Indian is about to repair his cabin, he says, “I will surround it with hemlock boughs,” meaning I will make it warm and comfortable. When a chief has made a speech at the opening of a Council, he finishes with saying, “the doors are now open, you can proceed.” The messenger of the Six Nations to the Senecas was called “the man who carries the fire or smoke,” meaning that he had charge of the Council-fire and kept it bright.The Iroquois call themselves thereal people; and in speeches or conversation, if allusion is made to white people, they say invariably “our younger brethren.” The President of the United States is called “the city-eater,” and Washington, “the residence of the city-eater.”The Iroquois had the masculine, and feminine, and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine were denoted, sometimes by giving the same animal different names, in the way we say buck and doe, and sometimes by prefixing words which signify male and female. All inanimate objects were placed in the neuter gender. They had not the indefinite articleaoran, but usedthe, and the usual varieties of adjective and adverb. They abounded in interjections, but had no participles. As a substitute for the infinitive mood they used the wordthat. Instead of saying, “DirectHe-moto come and give us rain,” they said, “Direct thatHe-mocome and give us rain.”They could count by one, two, three, nearly to a hundred, and used the numerals, firstly, secondly, thirdly, &c.The following are specimens of names, with the Lord’s prayer and a hymn in Seneca.[300]O-hee-yu,The beautiful river.Os-we-go,Flowing out.On-yit-hah,Bird of the strong wing.Ga-no-so-teA house.O-on-do-teA tree.O-yaFruit.Je-da-doA bird.O-ya-hanApples split open.Ga-no-gehOil on the water.Ga-osé-haBaby frame.THE LORD’S PRAYER.Gwä-nee′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh che-de-oh′; sä-sa-no-do′-geh-teek; gä-o′ ne-dwa na′ sa-nunk-tä; na-huk′ ne-yä-weh′ na yo-an′-jä-geh ha′-ne-sä-ne-go′-dā̆ ha ne-de-o′-dā̆ na′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh. Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-sā̆-gwus na′ ong-wi-wä-na-ark-seh′ na′ da-yä-ke′-wä-sā̆-gwä′-seh na′ onk-ke-wä-na′-ä-ge. Dä-ge-o′-na-geh′-wen-nis′-heh-da na′ ong-wä-quä′. Sā̆-nuk′ na-huh′ heh′-squä-ä ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′ na-gwä′ na′ dä-gwä-yä-duh′-nuh-onk ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′; na′ seh-eh′ na ese′ sä-wā̆ na′ o-nuk-ta′ kuh′ na′ gā̆-hus-ta-seh′ kuk′ na′ da-gä-ā̆-sä-uh′. Na-huh′-ne-yä-weh.1[301](Specimen of Indian Hymn.)GAA NAH 8. L. M.O gwe nyoo′ gā̆h′, a ga deā̆h′seekHeh syah daa deh, lis′ ne Je sus;Tā̆h′ā̆h; tā̆h ā̆h deh o gwe nyooh′,Neh huh′ noo′wak ni gooh′da aak.Iis, sā̆h ā̆h, ji sa′yah daa gwā̆h′,Na gat hwa is hā̆h; aa′gā̆ noh,Gih shā̆h′, deh sa′yah da geh hā̆h,A yò dā̆s′theh oh, naeh, ne neh.Deh oi′wa yā̆s doh na′ga deā̆h,Iis ne gā̆h sa dyā̆ nohk′dah ohHe yoan jadeh, kuh, he goh heh;Iis, kuh, des gā̆h′nya doh dyòt gont.Deī oi wah′gĕh na ga deā̆h seek;Tā̆h ā̆h, waeh, Nais, heh sa deā̆h oh,Oi wa neā̆′gwat ni ya′wah oh,Sgie′yah seeh heh, de ga yah sont.Da gyah′da geh′hā̆ aak′, dih′ sho,Ne′ dyòt gont neh ā̆ ges′ nyet haak′,He ni sah′sanno′nā̆ ā̆ gwat,Kuh′ he ni sa da ni daā̆ oh.The number of Senecas at the last census was 2,449.The three Reservations which now remain to the Indian in Western New York, are called Tonawanda, Cattaraugus, Alleghany, containing in all about sixty-six thousand acres. No white family is allowed to settle upon these lands, and the law forbids the trusting of an Indian or the selling him intoxicating drinks.There are at present 14 Schools, 16 Teachers, 480 Scholars, one Boarding School with 50 scholars, 8 Missionaries, 47 Church members.[302][Contents]NO. II.During the winter of 1855 a bill was passed by the Legislature of New York, incorporating an Orphan Asylum, and appropriating two thousand dollars ($2000) for a building, and ten dollars a year for each child received and retained under the care of the managers. This is one of the most important benefits conferred upon the Indians. By it a home will be provided for the destitute little ones of this scattered people. And by beginning early, an opportunity will be afforded of securing to them a proper course of moral and physical training, and more surely than by any other way preserve them from destruction.The experiment was first tried by taking a few into the family of a benevolent lady residing on the Reservation, which, proving successful, an earnest appeal for aid was made to the State.The institution is incorporated under the name of the “Thomas Asylum for orphan and destitute Indian Children,” as a tribute of acknowledgment to the individual whose name it bears, for his long and earnest efforts to assist and benefit the Seneca nation.It is located upon the Cattaraugus Reservation, but is intended to receive children from all the Reservations in the State of New York. As the appropriation of ten dollars a year for the support and education of each child, is quite insufficient for the purpose, it is hoped that if the attempt to preserve from destruction this noble race should promise success, that the State of New York—the only State on the Atlantic borders of this Confederation, in which an organized body of the once numerous aborigines of our country has been permitted to remain—will hereafter further extend towards this institution its fostering care and aid.[303][Contents]NO. III.The following documents from theIndian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, andthree fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman[304]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly namedHai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the[305]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.Sec. 1.Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.Sec. 2.The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.Sec. 3.The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.Sec. 4.The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.Sec. 5.All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts[306]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.Sec. 6.The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.Sec. 7.There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.Sec. 8.Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.Sec. 9.There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 10.All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.Sec. 11.Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 12.The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 13.The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday[307]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.Sec. 14.The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.Sec. 15.All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 16.The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.Sec. 17.This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.Sec. 18.The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.Sec. 19.The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined[308]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.New York,December 5, 1848.RESOLUTIONS,Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; thereforeResolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to[309]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative orChargéd’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change[310]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, nowconvenedat Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.Cattaraugus Reservation,}Erie County, N. Y.December 5, 1848.Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, EnvoyExtraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of[311]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.S. W. McLane,President.William Jemerson,Clerk.Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,December 5th, 1848.To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)Ambassador, &c., &c.,Baltimore, Maryland.[Contents]NO. IV.The following extracts from the proceedings of the yearly meetings of the Friends of Baltimore, in the year 1850, will give some idea of the present condition of the women, and the understanding they have of governmental as well as domestic affairs:“Thus we see the Seneca nation with a government ‘calculated,’ to use their own language, ‘to answer the purpose for which all governments should be created.’ We find their women mostly withdrawn from the field, and occupying their[312]proper station in their families,—their children suitably cared for at home, and at school, having the benefit of literary and scientific learning. We have, for several years past, had among them an Institution for the instruction of their daughters in the duties of housewifery, and other appropriate domestic employments. They are provided with good dwelling-houses and barns—are the undisputed owners of a fertile, productive soil, of ample extent for all their purposes, yielding more than the nation can consume; and in addition to these advantages, they are in receipt of annuities more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of their government.“When the present joint committees first visited the Reservations, in the years 1839 and 1840, a very large portion of the Indians lived in wigwams, or poor log huts—covered with bark, boards, or other materials, hardly sufficient to shield them from the weather. Many of them had earth floors, on which they slept in buffalo skins and blankets. They set no table, had no regular meals—used no plates, nor knives and forks. An iron pot was generally found placed over the fire, into which they put beans and hominy, and a piece of some sort of meat—either pork or venison. When any one of the family was hungry, he helped himself to what he wanted, putting it in a small wooden vessel, and feeding himself with a wooden or iron spoon. The interior of the dwellings generally presented to the eye a spectacle by no means calculated to warm the imagination in favor of Indian life. The truth is, that woman had been driven from her proper sphere, and no domestic happiness could enter the dwelling in her absence.“The Manual-labor School was established as one of the means of restoring woman to the station evidently designed for her, in the benevolent order of her Creator, an order which cannot be broken with impunity. This school was held in the dwelling erected for the use of Friends at Cattaraugus. The average number of pupils was about twenty-eight,generallyundertwenty years of age. They were boarded in the family, at the expense of the committee, and were taught to card and spin wool, knit stockings, cut out and make garments, &c. A part of their number was daily admitted into[313]the family of the Superintendent, where they were taught to wash and iron clothes, &c., make bread, do plain cooking, and every other branch of good housewifery, pertaining to a country life. In this department all were admitted by turns, generally four at a time, and continued until the necessary proficiency was attained. As such left the school, others took their places, by which arrangement, a large number of young women became qualified to take charge of families, and extend to succeeding generations the comforts and blessings of domestic life.”Memorial of the Seneca Women to P. E. Thomas.[Original sent to the Indian Bureau.]Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct. 13, 1848.To our Respected Friend, Philip E. Thomas:The women of Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the more cheerfully, because the Friends are always laboring to promote the welfare of the females among the Indians, and to improve their condition. We would also request you to secure the influence of the Society of Friends, so that our words may be strengthened, and become sufficiently powerful to be heard by the Secretary of War, that we women have an equal right to our annuities, with the men, and with the chiefs. We are all on the same footing as to the amount we are entitled to receive—chiefs and warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent, to pay the annuities for this year to the heads of families. We see no other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to confirm his former instructions, for we were greatly perplexed and troubled, when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on the ground that the chiefs insisted on the observance of the old custom in regard to it.We ask for our just rights and nothing more; but we repeat it, thatwe do not feelthat our rights will be safe, if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay[314]a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will manifest a due regard to our rights. Only we beg leave to repeat our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, and that of your Society, to bear upon this question, that he may be willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian woman, and child, no less than others, the apportionment which of right belongs to each.And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered greatly from the proceedings of the chiefs, through whose instrumentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to entreat that we may never again, hereafter, be exposed to be deprived by them of our rights, but that we and our children, from time to time, may be permitted to receive the full and proper share which rightfully belongs to us. We are fully sensible that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the chiefs, but we feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice and pride, and we believe the things they have said in justification of themselves are not true. It is by our pain and sorrow that children are brought into the world, and we are, therefore, interested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party who are laboring to bring about an equal division of the whole of our annuities, are the party really striving for the best interests of our children.We have taken the same view of the matter which was taken by the old men long since dead, who first entered into these arrangements. They decided that every individual man, woman, and child, had an equal right to our moneys, and to our lands—in short, to all our national property; that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly desire the President and Secretary of War to secure to us now, and to our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original stipulations, thatas long as wood should grow, or water run,[315]or a Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these annuities should be faithfully paid and righteously distributed.With great respect, your friends,TheirBetsey+Snow.}On behalf of the Seneca women.Julia+Ann Snow.Jane+Scott.Ganna+Hoh.Polly+Johnson.Martha+Phillips.marks.Done in the presence ofJoseph S. Walton,Asher Wright.Memorial of the Seneca Women to the President.To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America:The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives, and grown up daughters of the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in Western New York, respectfully represent to our Father the President, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated young man from among our sons and brothers is at Washington, importuning the President to undo the good which has been done for our people by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, as far as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation, that a portion of all the Indian annuities should be distributed just at seedtime, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious—to be in the field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as the fruits of God’s blessing upon their own honest exertions: not leaving it for the women to raise corn, as did their hunting, fishing, and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and fishing, and we trust, also, of Indian fighting, are gone by for ever, and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and one, too, who, if he would consult the well-being of his people, might be so smart and useful, should now be trying, either of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they had sought the[316]public good, we should have rejoiced to call our chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pursuits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability of the counsels of the United States Government for the relief of their necessities. We have many and to us weighty reasons why our Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, whom we did not send to speak for us to the President; but lest it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never tire, we only add that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Seneca nation, that the recognition of the new Government may be permitted to stand; and that we may be paid our annuities according to the rule adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the tribes receiving annuities from the government, i.e., during the current month; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.Signed,Gua-na-ea, andNineteen other females.April 4, 1849.Reply of Philip E. Thomas to these Women.Baltimore,4 mo., 8th, 1849.My Respected Sisters:—Your address to the President of the United States has reached me, and has received my careful attention. I am glad to inform you that all you ask in regard to the manner of paying your annuities, and the acknowledgment of your new Government, has been decided as you wish. The annuities hereafter will be paid by the United States Agent to the heads of families—to the women as to the men, and none will again be paid to the chiefs except their own respective portions.By the acknowledgment of your new Constitution, the Government of the United States recognizes that excellent article in it, which provides that no sale of Land can hereafter be made without the consent of three fourths of all the[317]mothers in the nation. This wise provision assures to you the security of your homes; for I have too much confidence in my Indian Sisters to believe they will ever be prevailed on to take the land from their children, and send them away to perish in the wilderness.It gave me pleasure to read your address to the President. It proved to me that you were beginning to understand your rights, and were disposed to exercise them. I hope you will remember the good advice the committee gave you in the year 1845, and as some of you may not have heard it then, I now send you a copy of it under care of my brother Joseph S. Walton.Bear this advice in your minds; it is good counsel, and endeavor to practise it.Whenever you may desire to make any communication to me, you are at liberty to do it.—You will find me your faithful friend and brother,P. E. Thomas.[319]

If the Indian should be entirely banished from our borders, the memory of him cannot die. For, as I have elsewhere quoted,

“Their names are on our waters,We cannot wash them out.”

“Their names are on our waters,

We cannot wash them out.”

The dialects of the Six Nations bore a strong resemblance to each other, though there were still differences which marked them as distinct. Those who understood one were able to converse in each of the others, and in council the representatives of each nation had no difficulty in interpreting what was said by all. The Mohawk and Oneida strongly resembled each other, and the Seneca and Cayuga were the same. The Onondaga “was considered by the Iroquois as the most finished and majestic,” while to our ears it is the most harsh, and the Oneida the most musical.

They used nineteen letters, having no labials or liquids, except occasionally is heard among the Mohawks the sound of L and among the Tuscaroras the sound of F. The Senecas and Cayugas talk all day without shutting their lips, and there are no oaths in their language. Before an Indian can be profane he must learn French or English, and his language is so constructed too, that evasion is almost impossible. Metaphors are in constant requisition in Indian speeches and conversation. If one comes in when the weather is very cold, he says, “It is[299]a nose-cutting morning.” If he wishes to reflect upon a proposition before deciding, he says, “I will put the matter under my pillow, and let you know.” He says of an emaciated person, “He has dry bones.” A steamboat is called “The ship impelled by fire.” A horse is a “log carrier,” a cow a “cud chewer,” and a goat a “scented animal.”

In ancient times when the hunters encamped in the woods, they kept warm by covering themselves with boughs of hemlock, and now if an Indian is about to repair his cabin, he says, “I will surround it with hemlock boughs,” meaning I will make it warm and comfortable. When a chief has made a speech at the opening of a Council, he finishes with saying, “the doors are now open, you can proceed.” The messenger of the Six Nations to the Senecas was called “the man who carries the fire or smoke,” meaning that he had charge of the Council-fire and kept it bright.

The Iroquois call themselves thereal people; and in speeches or conversation, if allusion is made to white people, they say invariably “our younger brethren.” The President of the United States is called “the city-eater,” and Washington, “the residence of the city-eater.”

The Iroquois had the masculine, and feminine, and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine were denoted, sometimes by giving the same animal different names, in the way we say buck and doe, and sometimes by prefixing words which signify male and female. All inanimate objects were placed in the neuter gender. They had not the indefinite articleaoran, but usedthe, and the usual varieties of adjective and adverb. They abounded in interjections, but had no participles. As a substitute for the infinitive mood they used the wordthat. Instead of saying, “DirectHe-moto come and give us rain,” they said, “Direct thatHe-mocome and give us rain.”

They could count by one, two, three, nearly to a hundred, and used the numerals, firstly, secondly, thirdly, &c.

The following are specimens of names, with the Lord’s prayer and a hymn in Seneca.[300]

O-hee-yu,The beautiful river.Os-we-go,Flowing out.On-yit-hah,Bird of the strong wing.Ga-no-so-teA house.O-on-do-teA tree.O-yaFruit.Je-da-doA bird.O-ya-hanApples split open.Ga-no-gehOil on the water.Ga-osé-haBaby frame.

THE LORD’S PRAYER.

Gwä-nee′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh che-de-oh′; sä-sa-no-do′-geh-teek; gä-o′ ne-dwa na′ sa-nunk-tä; na-huk′ ne-yä-weh′ na yo-an′-jä-geh ha′-ne-sä-ne-go′-dā̆ ha ne-de-o′-dā̆ na′ gā̆-o-yä′-geh. Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-sā̆-gwus na′ ong-wi-wä-na-ark-seh′ na′ da-yä-ke′-wä-sā̆-gwä′-seh na′ onk-ke-wä-na′-ä-ge. Dä-ge-o′-na-geh′-wen-nis′-heh-da na′ ong-wä-quä′. Sā̆-nuk′ na-huh′ heh′-squä-ä ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′ na-gwä′ na′ dä-gwä-yä-duh′-nuh-onk ha′ gä-yeh na′ wä-ate-keh′; na′ seh-eh′ na ese′ sä-wā̆ na′ o-nuk-ta′ kuh′ na′ gā̆-hus-ta-seh′ kuk′ na′ da-gä-ā̆-sä-uh′. Na-huh′-ne-yä-weh.1[301]

(Specimen of Indian Hymn.)

GAA NAH 8. L. M.O gwe nyoo′ gā̆h′, a ga deā̆h′seekHeh syah daa deh, lis′ ne Je sus;Tā̆h′ā̆h; tā̆h ā̆h deh o gwe nyooh′,Neh huh′ noo′wak ni gooh′da aak.Iis, sā̆h ā̆h, ji sa′yah daa gwā̆h′,Na gat hwa is hā̆h; aa′gā̆ noh,Gih shā̆h′, deh sa′yah da geh hā̆h,A yò dā̆s′theh oh, naeh, ne neh.Deh oi′wa yā̆s doh na′ga deā̆h,Iis ne gā̆h sa dyā̆ nohk′dah ohHe yoan jadeh, kuh, he goh heh;Iis, kuh, des gā̆h′nya doh dyòt gont.Deī oi wah′gĕh na ga deā̆h seek;Tā̆h ā̆h, waeh, Nais, heh sa deā̆h oh,Oi wa neā̆′gwat ni ya′wah oh,Sgie′yah seeh heh, de ga yah sont.Da gyah′da geh′hā̆ aak′, dih′ sho,Ne′ dyòt gont neh ā̆ ges′ nyet haak′,He ni sah′sanno′nā̆ ā̆ gwat,Kuh′ he ni sa da ni daā̆ oh.

O gwe nyoo′ gā̆h′, a ga deā̆h′seekHeh syah daa deh, lis′ ne Je sus;Tā̆h′ā̆h; tā̆h ā̆h deh o gwe nyooh′,Neh huh′ noo′wak ni gooh′da aak.

O gwe nyoo′ gā̆h′, a ga deā̆h′seek

Heh syah daa deh, lis′ ne Je sus;

Tā̆h′ā̆h; tā̆h ā̆h deh o gwe nyooh′,

Neh huh′ noo′wak ni gooh′da aak.

Iis, sā̆h ā̆h, ji sa′yah daa gwā̆h′,Na gat hwa is hā̆h; aa′gā̆ noh,Gih shā̆h′, deh sa′yah da geh hā̆h,A yò dā̆s′theh oh, naeh, ne neh.

Iis, sā̆h ā̆h, ji sa′yah daa gwā̆h′,

Na gat hwa is hā̆h; aa′gā̆ noh,

Gih shā̆h′, deh sa′yah da geh hā̆h,

A yò dā̆s′theh oh, naeh, ne neh.

Deh oi′wa yā̆s doh na′ga deā̆h,Iis ne gā̆h sa dyā̆ nohk′dah ohHe yoan jadeh, kuh, he goh heh;Iis, kuh, des gā̆h′nya doh dyòt gont.

Deh oi′wa yā̆s doh na′ga deā̆h,

Iis ne gā̆h sa dyā̆ nohk′dah oh

He yoan jadeh, kuh, he goh heh;

Iis, kuh, des gā̆h′nya doh dyòt gont.

Deī oi wah′gĕh na ga deā̆h seek;Tā̆h ā̆h, waeh, Nais, heh sa deā̆h oh,Oi wa neā̆′gwat ni ya′wah oh,Sgie′yah seeh heh, de ga yah sont.

Deī oi wah′gĕh na ga deā̆h seek;

Tā̆h ā̆h, waeh, Nais, heh sa deā̆h oh,

Oi wa neā̆′gwat ni ya′wah oh,

Sgie′yah seeh heh, de ga yah sont.

Da gyah′da geh′hā̆ aak′, dih′ sho,Ne′ dyòt gont neh ā̆ ges′ nyet haak′,He ni sah′sanno′nā̆ ā̆ gwat,Kuh′ he ni sa da ni daā̆ oh.

Da gyah′da geh′hā̆ aak′, dih′ sho,

Ne′ dyòt gont neh ā̆ ges′ nyet haak′,

He ni sah′sanno′nā̆ ā̆ gwat,

Kuh′ he ni sa da ni daā̆ oh.

The number of Senecas at the last census was 2,449.

The three Reservations which now remain to the Indian in Western New York, are called Tonawanda, Cattaraugus, Alleghany, containing in all about sixty-six thousand acres. No white family is allowed to settle upon these lands, and the law forbids the trusting of an Indian or the selling him intoxicating drinks.

There are at present 14 Schools, 16 Teachers, 480 Scholars, one Boarding School with 50 scholars, 8 Missionaries, 47 Church members.[302]

[Contents]NO. II.During the winter of 1855 a bill was passed by the Legislature of New York, incorporating an Orphan Asylum, and appropriating two thousand dollars ($2000) for a building, and ten dollars a year for each child received and retained under the care of the managers. This is one of the most important benefits conferred upon the Indians. By it a home will be provided for the destitute little ones of this scattered people. And by beginning early, an opportunity will be afforded of securing to them a proper course of moral and physical training, and more surely than by any other way preserve them from destruction.The experiment was first tried by taking a few into the family of a benevolent lady residing on the Reservation, which, proving successful, an earnest appeal for aid was made to the State.The institution is incorporated under the name of the “Thomas Asylum for orphan and destitute Indian Children,” as a tribute of acknowledgment to the individual whose name it bears, for his long and earnest efforts to assist and benefit the Seneca nation.It is located upon the Cattaraugus Reservation, but is intended to receive children from all the Reservations in the State of New York. As the appropriation of ten dollars a year for the support and education of each child, is quite insufficient for the purpose, it is hoped that if the attempt to preserve from destruction this noble race should promise success, that the State of New York—the only State on the Atlantic borders of this Confederation, in which an organized body of the once numerous aborigines of our country has been permitted to remain—will hereafter further extend towards this institution its fostering care and aid.[303]

NO. II.

During the winter of 1855 a bill was passed by the Legislature of New York, incorporating an Orphan Asylum, and appropriating two thousand dollars ($2000) for a building, and ten dollars a year for each child received and retained under the care of the managers. This is one of the most important benefits conferred upon the Indians. By it a home will be provided for the destitute little ones of this scattered people. And by beginning early, an opportunity will be afforded of securing to them a proper course of moral and physical training, and more surely than by any other way preserve them from destruction.The experiment was first tried by taking a few into the family of a benevolent lady residing on the Reservation, which, proving successful, an earnest appeal for aid was made to the State.The institution is incorporated under the name of the “Thomas Asylum for orphan and destitute Indian Children,” as a tribute of acknowledgment to the individual whose name it bears, for his long and earnest efforts to assist and benefit the Seneca nation.It is located upon the Cattaraugus Reservation, but is intended to receive children from all the Reservations in the State of New York. As the appropriation of ten dollars a year for the support and education of each child, is quite insufficient for the purpose, it is hoped that if the attempt to preserve from destruction this noble race should promise success, that the State of New York—the only State on the Atlantic borders of this Confederation, in which an organized body of the once numerous aborigines of our country has been permitted to remain—will hereafter further extend towards this institution its fostering care and aid.[303]

The experiment was first tried by taking a few into the family of a benevolent lady residing on the Reservation, which, proving successful, an earnest appeal for aid was made to the State.

The institution is incorporated under the name of the “Thomas Asylum for orphan and destitute Indian Children,” as a tribute of acknowledgment to the individual whose name it bears, for his long and earnest efforts to assist and benefit the Seneca nation.

It is located upon the Cattaraugus Reservation, but is intended to receive children from all the Reservations in the State of New York. As the appropriation of ten dollars a year for the support and education of each child, is quite insufficient for the purpose, it is hoped that if the attempt to preserve from destruction this noble race should promise success, that the State of New York—the only State on the Atlantic borders of this Confederation, in which an organized body of the once numerous aborigines of our country has been permitted to remain—will hereafter further extend towards this institution its fostering care and aid.[303]

[Contents]NO. III.The following documents from theIndian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, andthree fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman[304]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly namedHai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the[305]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.Sec. 1.Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.Sec. 2.The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.Sec. 3.The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.Sec. 4.The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.Sec. 5.All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts[306]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.Sec. 6.The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.Sec. 7.There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.Sec. 8.Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.Sec. 9.There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 10.All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.Sec. 11.Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 12.The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 13.The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday[307]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.Sec. 14.The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.Sec. 15.All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 16.The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.Sec. 17.This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.Sec. 18.The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.Sec. 19.The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined[308]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.New York,December 5, 1848.RESOLUTIONS,Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; thereforeResolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to[309]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative orChargéd’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change[310]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, nowconvenedat Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.Cattaraugus Reservation,}Erie County, N. Y.December 5, 1848.Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, EnvoyExtraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of[311]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.S. W. McLane,President.William Jemerson,Clerk.Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,December 5th, 1848.To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)Ambassador, &c., &c.,Baltimore, Maryland.

NO. III.

The following documents from theIndian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, andthree fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman[304]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly namedHai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the[305]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.Sec. 1.Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.Sec. 2.The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.Sec. 3.The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.Sec. 4.The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.Sec. 5.All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts[306]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.Sec. 6.The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.Sec. 7.There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.Sec. 8.Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.Sec. 9.There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 10.All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.Sec. 11.Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 12.The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 13.The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday[307]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.Sec. 14.The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.Sec. 15.All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.Sec. 16.The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.Sec. 17.This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.Sec. 18.The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.Sec. 19.The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined[308]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.New York,December 5, 1848.RESOLUTIONS,Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; thereforeResolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to[309]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative orChargéd’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change[310]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, nowconvenedat Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.Cattaraugus Reservation,}Erie County, N. Y.December 5, 1848.Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, EnvoyExtraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of[311]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.S. W. McLane,President.William Jemerson,Clerk.Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,December 5th, 1848.To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)Ambassador, &c., &c.,Baltimore, Maryland.

The following documents from theIndian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:

The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, andthree fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”

Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman[304]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly namedHai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”

Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:

We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.

It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.

It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.

It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.

It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.

It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.

It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.

Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.

We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.

But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the[305]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.

Sec. 1.Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.

Sec. 2.The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.

Sec. 3.The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.

Sec. 4.The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.

Sec. 5.All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts[306]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.

Sec. 6.The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.

Sec. 7.There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.

Sec. 8.Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.

Sec. 9.There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 10.All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.

Sec. 11.Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 12.The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 13.The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday[307]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.

Sec. 14.The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.

Sec. 15.All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 16.The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.

Sec. 17.This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.

Sec. 18.The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.

Sec. 19.The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.

I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined[308]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.

William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.

New York,December 5, 1848.

RESOLUTIONS,

Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.

Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.

Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; therefore

Resolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to[309]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.

Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative orChargéd’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)

Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change[310]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.

Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, nowconvenedat Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.

Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.

Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.

I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.

William Jemerson,Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.

Cattaraugus Reservation,}Erie County, N. Y.December 5, 1848.

Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, EnvoyExtraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of[311]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.

You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.

You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.

By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.

S. W. McLane,President.

William Jemerson,Clerk.Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,December 5th, 1848.

To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)Ambassador, &c., &c.,Baltimore, Maryland.

[Contents]NO. IV.The following extracts from the proceedings of the yearly meetings of the Friends of Baltimore, in the year 1850, will give some idea of the present condition of the women, and the understanding they have of governmental as well as domestic affairs:“Thus we see the Seneca nation with a government ‘calculated,’ to use their own language, ‘to answer the purpose for which all governments should be created.’ We find their women mostly withdrawn from the field, and occupying their[312]proper station in their families,—their children suitably cared for at home, and at school, having the benefit of literary and scientific learning. We have, for several years past, had among them an Institution for the instruction of their daughters in the duties of housewifery, and other appropriate domestic employments. They are provided with good dwelling-houses and barns—are the undisputed owners of a fertile, productive soil, of ample extent for all their purposes, yielding more than the nation can consume; and in addition to these advantages, they are in receipt of annuities more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of their government.“When the present joint committees first visited the Reservations, in the years 1839 and 1840, a very large portion of the Indians lived in wigwams, or poor log huts—covered with bark, boards, or other materials, hardly sufficient to shield them from the weather. Many of them had earth floors, on which they slept in buffalo skins and blankets. They set no table, had no regular meals—used no plates, nor knives and forks. An iron pot was generally found placed over the fire, into which they put beans and hominy, and a piece of some sort of meat—either pork or venison. When any one of the family was hungry, he helped himself to what he wanted, putting it in a small wooden vessel, and feeding himself with a wooden or iron spoon. The interior of the dwellings generally presented to the eye a spectacle by no means calculated to warm the imagination in favor of Indian life. The truth is, that woman had been driven from her proper sphere, and no domestic happiness could enter the dwelling in her absence.“The Manual-labor School was established as one of the means of restoring woman to the station evidently designed for her, in the benevolent order of her Creator, an order which cannot be broken with impunity. This school was held in the dwelling erected for the use of Friends at Cattaraugus. The average number of pupils was about twenty-eight,generallyundertwenty years of age. They were boarded in the family, at the expense of the committee, and were taught to card and spin wool, knit stockings, cut out and make garments, &c. A part of their number was daily admitted into[313]the family of the Superintendent, where they were taught to wash and iron clothes, &c., make bread, do plain cooking, and every other branch of good housewifery, pertaining to a country life. In this department all were admitted by turns, generally four at a time, and continued until the necessary proficiency was attained. As such left the school, others took their places, by which arrangement, a large number of young women became qualified to take charge of families, and extend to succeeding generations the comforts and blessings of domestic life.”Memorial of the Seneca Women to P. E. Thomas.[Original sent to the Indian Bureau.]Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct. 13, 1848.To our Respected Friend, Philip E. Thomas:The women of Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the more cheerfully, because the Friends are always laboring to promote the welfare of the females among the Indians, and to improve their condition. We would also request you to secure the influence of the Society of Friends, so that our words may be strengthened, and become sufficiently powerful to be heard by the Secretary of War, that we women have an equal right to our annuities, with the men, and with the chiefs. We are all on the same footing as to the amount we are entitled to receive—chiefs and warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent, to pay the annuities for this year to the heads of families. We see no other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to confirm his former instructions, for we were greatly perplexed and troubled, when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on the ground that the chiefs insisted on the observance of the old custom in regard to it.We ask for our just rights and nothing more; but we repeat it, thatwe do not feelthat our rights will be safe, if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay[314]a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will manifest a due regard to our rights. Only we beg leave to repeat our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, and that of your Society, to bear upon this question, that he may be willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian woman, and child, no less than others, the apportionment which of right belongs to each.And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered greatly from the proceedings of the chiefs, through whose instrumentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to entreat that we may never again, hereafter, be exposed to be deprived by them of our rights, but that we and our children, from time to time, may be permitted to receive the full and proper share which rightfully belongs to us. We are fully sensible that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the chiefs, but we feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice and pride, and we believe the things they have said in justification of themselves are not true. It is by our pain and sorrow that children are brought into the world, and we are, therefore, interested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party who are laboring to bring about an equal division of the whole of our annuities, are the party really striving for the best interests of our children.We have taken the same view of the matter which was taken by the old men long since dead, who first entered into these arrangements. They decided that every individual man, woman, and child, had an equal right to our moneys, and to our lands—in short, to all our national property; that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly desire the President and Secretary of War to secure to us now, and to our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original stipulations, thatas long as wood should grow, or water run,[315]or a Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these annuities should be faithfully paid and righteously distributed.With great respect, your friends,TheirBetsey+Snow.}On behalf of the Seneca women.Julia+Ann Snow.Jane+Scott.Ganna+Hoh.Polly+Johnson.Martha+Phillips.marks.Done in the presence ofJoseph S. Walton,Asher Wright.Memorial of the Seneca Women to the President.To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America:The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives, and grown up daughters of the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in Western New York, respectfully represent to our Father the President, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated young man from among our sons and brothers is at Washington, importuning the President to undo the good which has been done for our people by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, as far as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation, that a portion of all the Indian annuities should be distributed just at seedtime, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious—to be in the field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as the fruits of God’s blessing upon their own honest exertions: not leaving it for the women to raise corn, as did their hunting, fishing, and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and fishing, and we trust, also, of Indian fighting, are gone by for ever, and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and one, too, who, if he would consult the well-being of his people, might be so smart and useful, should now be trying, either of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they had sought the[316]public good, we should have rejoiced to call our chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pursuits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability of the counsels of the United States Government for the relief of their necessities. We have many and to us weighty reasons why our Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, whom we did not send to speak for us to the President; but lest it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never tire, we only add that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Seneca nation, that the recognition of the new Government may be permitted to stand; and that we may be paid our annuities according to the rule adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the tribes receiving annuities from the government, i.e., during the current month; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.Signed,Gua-na-ea, andNineteen other females.April 4, 1849.Reply of Philip E. Thomas to these Women.Baltimore,4 mo., 8th, 1849.My Respected Sisters:—Your address to the President of the United States has reached me, and has received my careful attention. I am glad to inform you that all you ask in regard to the manner of paying your annuities, and the acknowledgment of your new Government, has been decided as you wish. The annuities hereafter will be paid by the United States Agent to the heads of families—to the women as to the men, and none will again be paid to the chiefs except their own respective portions.By the acknowledgment of your new Constitution, the Government of the United States recognizes that excellent article in it, which provides that no sale of Land can hereafter be made without the consent of three fourths of all the[317]mothers in the nation. This wise provision assures to you the security of your homes; for I have too much confidence in my Indian Sisters to believe they will ever be prevailed on to take the land from their children, and send them away to perish in the wilderness.It gave me pleasure to read your address to the President. It proved to me that you were beginning to understand your rights, and were disposed to exercise them. I hope you will remember the good advice the committee gave you in the year 1845, and as some of you may not have heard it then, I now send you a copy of it under care of my brother Joseph S. Walton.Bear this advice in your minds; it is good counsel, and endeavor to practise it.Whenever you may desire to make any communication to me, you are at liberty to do it.—You will find me your faithful friend and brother,P. E. Thomas.[319]

NO. IV.

The following extracts from the proceedings of the yearly meetings of the Friends of Baltimore, in the year 1850, will give some idea of the present condition of the women, and the understanding they have of governmental as well as domestic affairs:“Thus we see the Seneca nation with a government ‘calculated,’ to use their own language, ‘to answer the purpose for which all governments should be created.’ We find their women mostly withdrawn from the field, and occupying their[312]proper station in their families,—their children suitably cared for at home, and at school, having the benefit of literary and scientific learning. We have, for several years past, had among them an Institution for the instruction of their daughters in the duties of housewifery, and other appropriate domestic employments. They are provided with good dwelling-houses and barns—are the undisputed owners of a fertile, productive soil, of ample extent for all their purposes, yielding more than the nation can consume; and in addition to these advantages, they are in receipt of annuities more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of their government.“When the present joint committees first visited the Reservations, in the years 1839 and 1840, a very large portion of the Indians lived in wigwams, or poor log huts—covered with bark, boards, or other materials, hardly sufficient to shield them from the weather. Many of them had earth floors, on which they slept in buffalo skins and blankets. They set no table, had no regular meals—used no plates, nor knives and forks. An iron pot was generally found placed over the fire, into which they put beans and hominy, and a piece of some sort of meat—either pork or venison. When any one of the family was hungry, he helped himself to what he wanted, putting it in a small wooden vessel, and feeding himself with a wooden or iron spoon. The interior of the dwellings generally presented to the eye a spectacle by no means calculated to warm the imagination in favor of Indian life. The truth is, that woman had been driven from her proper sphere, and no domestic happiness could enter the dwelling in her absence.“The Manual-labor School was established as one of the means of restoring woman to the station evidently designed for her, in the benevolent order of her Creator, an order which cannot be broken with impunity. This school was held in the dwelling erected for the use of Friends at Cattaraugus. The average number of pupils was about twenty-eight,generallyundertwenty years of age. They were boarded in the family, at the expense of the committee, and were taught to card and spin wool, knit stockings, cut out and make garments, &c. A part of their number was daily admitted into[313]the family of the Superintendent, where they were taught to wash and iron clothes, &c., make bread, do plain cooking, and every other branch of good housewifery, pertaining to a country life. In this department all were admitted by turns, generally four at a time, and continued until the necessary proficiency was attained. As such left the school, others took their places, by which arrangement, a large number of young women became qualified to take charge of families, and extend to succeeding generations the comforts and blessings of domestic life.”Memorial of the Seneca Women to P. E. Thomas.[Original sent to the Indian Bureau.]Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct. 13, 1848.To our Respected Friend, Philip E. Thomas:The women of Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the more cheerfully, because the Friends are always laboring to promote the welfare of the females among the Indians, and to improve their condition. We would also request you to secure the influence of the Society of Friends, so that our words may be strengthened, and become sufficiently powerful to be heard by the Secretary of War, that we women have an equal right to our annuities, with the men, and with the chiefs. We are all on the same footing as to the amount we are entitled to receive—chiefs and warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent, to pay the annuities for this year to the heads of families. We see no other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to confirm his former instructions, for we were greatly perplexed and troubled, when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on the ground that the chiefs insisted on the observance of the old custom in regard to it.We ask for our just rights and nothing more; but we repeat it, thatwe do not feelthat our rights will be safe, if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay[314]a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will manifest a due regard to our rights. Only we beg leave to repeat our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, and that of your Society, to bear upon this question, that he may be willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian woman, and child, no less than others, the apportionment which of right belongs to each.And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered greatly from the proceedings of the chiefs, through whose instrumentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to entreat that we may never again, hereafter, be exposed to be deprived by them of our rights, but that we and our children, from time to time, may be permitted to receive the full and proper share which rightfully belongs to us. We are fully sensible that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the chiefs, but we feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice and pride, and we believe the things they have said in justification of themselves are not true. It is by our pain and sorrow that children are brought into the world, and we are, therefore, interested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party who are laboring to bring about an equal division of the whole of our annuities, are the party really striving for the best interests of our children.We have taken the same view of the matter which was taken by the old men long since dead, who first entered into these arrangements. They decided that every individual man, woman, and child, had an equal right to our moneys, and to our lands—in short, to all our national property; that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly desire the President and Secretary of War to secure to us now, and to our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original stipulations, thatas long as wood should grow, or water run,[315]or a Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these annuities should be faithfully paid and righteously distributed.With great respect, your friends,TheirBetsey+Snow.}On behalf of the Seneca women.Julia+Ann Snow.Jane+Scott.Ganna+Hoh.Polly+Johnson.Martha+Phillips.marks.Done in the presence ofJoseph S. Walton,Asher Wright.Memorial of the Seneca Women to the President.To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America:The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives, and grown up daughters of the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in Western New York, respectfully represent to our Father the President, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated young man from among our sons and brothers is at Washington, importuning the President to undo the good which has been done for our people by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, as far as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation, that a portion of all the Indian annuities should be distributed just at seedtime, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious—to be in the field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as the fruits of God’s blessing upon their own honest exertions: not leaving it for the women to raise corn, as did their hunting, fishing, and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and fishing, and we trust, also, of Indian fighting, are gone by for ever, and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and one, too, who, if he would consult the well-being of his people, might be so smart and useful, should now be trying, either of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they had sought the[316]public good, we should have rejoiced to call our chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pursuits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability of the counsels of the United States Government for the relief of their necessities. We have many and to us weighty reasons why our Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, whom we did not send to speak for us to the President; but lest it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never tire, we only add that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Seneca nation, that the recognition of the new Government may be permitted to stand; and that we may be paid our annuities according to the rule adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the tribes receiving annuities from the government, i.e., during the current month; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.Signed,Gua-na-ea, andNineteen other females.April 4, 1849.Reply of Philip E. Thomas to these Women.Baltimore,4 mo., 8th, 1849.My Respected Sisters:—Your address to the President of the United States has reached me, and has received my careful attention. I am glad to inform you that all you ask in regard to the manner of paying your annuities, and the acknowledgment of your new Government, has been decided as you wish. The annuities hereafter will be paid by the United States Agent to the heads of families—to the women as to the men, and none will again be paid to the chiefs except their own respective portions.By the acknowledgment of your new Constitution, the Government of the United States recognizes that excellent article in it, which provides that no sale of Land can hereafter be made without the consent of three fourths of all the[317]mothers in the nation. This wise provision assures to you the security of your homes; for I have too much confidence in my Indian Sisters to believe they will ever be prevailed on to take the land from their children, and send them away to perish in the wilderness.It gave me pleasure to read your address to the President. It proved to me that you were beginning to understand your rights, and were disposed to exercise them. I hope you will remember the good advice the committee gave you in the year 1845, and as some of you may not have heard it then, I now send you a copy of it under care of my brother Joseph S. Walton.Bear this advice in your minds; it is good counsel, and endeavor to practise it.Whenever you may desire to make any communication to me, you are at liberty to do it.—You will find me your faithful friend and brother,P. E. Thomas.[319]

“Thus we see the Seneca nation with a government ‘calculated,’ to use their own language, ‘to answer the purpose for which all governments should be created.’ We find their women mostly withdrawn from the field, and occupying their[312]proper station in their families,—their children suitably cared for at home, and at school, having the benefit of literary and scientific learning. We have, for several years past, had among them an Institution for the instruction of their daughters in the duties of housewifery, and other appropriate domestic employments. They are provided with good dwelling-houses and barns—are the undisputed owners of a fertile, productive soil, of ample extent for all their purposes, yielding more than the nation can consume; and in addition to these advantages, they are in receipt of annuities more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of their government.

“When the present joint committees first visited the Reservations, in the years 1839 and 1840, a very large portion of the Indians lived in wigwams, or poor log huts—covered with bark, boards, or other materials, hardly sufficient to shield them from the weather. Many of them had earth floors, on which they slept in buffalo skins and blankets. They set no table, had no regular meals—used no plates, nor knives and forks. An iron pot was generally found placed over the fire, into which they put beans and hominy, and a piece of some sort of meat—either pork or venison. When any one of the family was hungry, he helped himself to what he wanted, putting it in a small wooden vessel, and feeding himself with a wooden or iron spoon. The interior of the dwellings generally presented to the eye a spectacle by no means calculated to warm the imagination in favor of Indian life. The truth is, that woman had been driven from her proper sphere, and no domestic happiness could enter the dwelling in her absence.

“The Manual-labor School was established as one of the means of restoring woman to the station evidently designed for her, in the benevolent order of her Creator, an order which cannot be broken with impunity. This school was held in the dwelling erected for the use of Friends at Cattaraugus. The average number of pupils was about twenty-eight,generallyundertwenty years of age. They were boarded in the family, at the expense of the committee, and were taught to card and spin wool, knit stockings, cut out and make garments, &c. A part of their number was daily admitted into[313]the family of the Superintendent, where they were taught to wash and iron clothes, &c., make bread, do plain cooking, and every other branch of good housewifery, pertaining to a country life. In this department all were admitted by turns, generally four at a time, and continued until the necessary proficiency was attained. As such left the school, others took their places, by which arrangement, a large number of young women became qualified to take charge of families, and extend to succeeding generations the comforts and blessings of domestic life.”

Memorial of the Seneca Women to P. E. Thomas.

[Original sent to the Indian Bureau.]

Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct. 13, 1848.

To our Respected Friend, Philip E. Thomas:

The women of Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the more cheerfully, because the Friends are always laboring to promote the welfare of the females among the Indians, and to improve their condition. We would also request you to secure the influence of the Society of Friends, so that our words may be strengthened, and become sufficiently powerful to be heard by the Secretary of War, that we women have an equal right to our annuities, with the men, and with the chiefs. We are all on the same footing as to the amount we are entitled to receive—chiefs and warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent, to pay the annuities for this year to the heads of families. We see no other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to confirm his former instructions, for we were greatly perplexed and troubled, when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on the ground that the chiefs insisted on the observance of the old custom in regard to it.We ask for our just rights and nothing more; but we repeat it, thatwe do not feelthat our rights will be safe, if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay[314]a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will manifest a due regard to our rights. Only we beg leave to repeat our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, and that of your Society, to bear upon this question, that he may be willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian woman, and child, no less than others, the apportionment which of right belongs to each.

And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered greatly from the proceedings of the chiefs, through whose instrumentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to entreat that we may never again, hereafter, be exposed to be deprived by them of our rights, but that we and our children, from time to time, may be permitted to receive the full and proper share which rightfully belongs to us. We are fully sensible that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the chiefs, but we feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice and pride, and we believe the things they have said in justification of themselves are not true. It is by our pain and sorrow that children are brought into the world, and we are, therefore, interested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party who are laboring to bring about an equal division of the whole of our annuities, are the party really striving for the best interests of our children.

We have taken the same view of the matter which was taken by the old men long since dead, who first entered into these arrangements. They decided that every individual man, woman, and child, had an equal right to our moneys, and to our lands—in short, to all our national property; that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly desire the President and Secretary of War to secure to us now, and to our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original stipulations, thatas long as wood should grow, or water run,[315]or a Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these annuities should be faithfully paid and righteously distributed.

With great respect, your friends,

TheirBetsey+Snow.}On behalf of the Seneca women.Julia+Ann Snow.Jane+Scott.Ganna+Hoh.Polly+Johnson.Martha+Phillips.marks.

Done in the presence ofJoseph S. Walton,Asher Wright.

Memorial of the Seneca Women to the President.

To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America:

The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives, and grown up daughters of the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in Western New York, respectfully represent to our Father the President, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated young man from among our sons and brothers is at Washington, importuning the President to undo the good which has been done for our people by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, as far as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation, that a portion of all the Indian annuities should be distributed just at seedtime, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious—to be in the field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as the fruits of God’s blessing upon their own honest exertions: not leaving it for the women to raise corn, as did their hunting, fishing, and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and fishing, and we trust, also, of Indian fighting, are gone by for ever, and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and one, too, who, if he would consult the well-being of his people, might be so smart and useful, should now be trying, either of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they had sought the[316]public good, we should have rejoiced to call our chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pursuits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability of the counsels of the United States Government for the relief of their necessities. We have many and to us weighty reasons why our Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, whom we did not send to speak for us to the President; but lest it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never tire, we only add that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the Seneca nation, that the recognition of the new Government may be permitted to stand; and that we may be paid our annuities according to the rule adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the tribes receiving annuities from the government, i.e., during the current month; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

Signed,Gua-na-ea, andNineteen other females.

April 4, 1849.

Reply of Philip E. Thomas to these Women.

Baltimore,4 mo., 8th, 1849.

My Respected Sisters:—Your address to the President of the United States has reached me, and has received my careful attention. I am glad to inform you that all you ask in regard to the manner of paying your annuities, and the acknowledgment of your new Government, has been decided as you wish. The annuities hereafter will be paid by the United States Agent to the heads of families—to the women as to the men, and none will again be paid to the chiefs except their own respective portions.

By the acknowledgment of your new Constitution, the Government of the United States recognizes that excellent article in it, which provides that no sale of Land can hereafter be made without the consent of three fourths of all the[317]mothers in the nation. This wise provision assures to you the security of your homes; for I have too much confidence in my Indian Sisters to believe they will ever be prevailed on to take the land from their children, and send them away to perish in the wilderness.

It gave me pleasure to read your address to the President. It proved to me that you were beginning to understand your rights, and were disposed to exercise them. I hope you will remember the good advice the committee gave you in the year 1845, and as some of you may not have heard it then, I now send you a copy of it under care of my brother Joseph S. Walton.

Bear this advice in your minds; it is good counsel, and endeavor to practise it.

Whenever you may desire to make any communication to me, you are at liberty to do it.—You will find me your faithful friend and brother,

P. E. Thomas.[319]

1If an attempt should be made to give a literal translation of each word, or phrase, it would render transposition necessary, and change the formation of the words in some respects, as the following will exhibit.Gwä-nee′,Our Father,che-de-oh′which art ingă-o′-ya-geh,heaven,gä-sa-nuh′,hallowed be thy name,ese′thysä-nuk-tä′kingdomgä-oh′come,ese′thysne′-go-ehwillne-ya-weh′be doneyoonan-jä′-gehearthha′asne-de-o′-dehit isgă-o′-yä-geh.in heaven.Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-să-gwusForgive usourong-wä-yeh′-his-heh′debtsas weda-yä-ke′-a-wä-să-gwus-seh′forgive ourho-yeh′his.debtors.Dä-ge-oh′Givene′usna-geh′thiswen-nis′-heh-dehdaye′ourna-hä-da-wen-nis′-heh-gehdailyo-ä′-qwa.bread.Hă-squä′-ahLeade′ussă-no′notha′intowä-ate-keh′,temptation,na-gwä′butdä-gwä-yä-dan′-nakedeliver fromne′uswä-ate-keh′,evil,na-seh′-ehfornees′thineis theo-nuk′-täkingdom,na-kuh′andnathegä-hus′tes-heh,power,na-kuh′andda-gä-ă-sä-oh′.the glory.Na-huh′-se-yä-weh.↑

Gwä-nee′,Our Father,che-de-oh′which art ingă-o′-ya-geh,heaven,gä-sa-nuh′,hallowed be thy name,ese′thysä-nuk-tä′kingdomgä-oh′come,ese′thysne′-go-ehwillne-ya-weh′be doneyoonan-jä′-gehearthha′asne-de-o′-dehit isgă-o′-yä-geh.in heaven.Dun-dä-gwä-e′-wä-să-gwusForgive usourong-wä-yeh′-his-heh′debtsas weda-yä-ke′-a-wä-să-gwus-seh′forgive ourho-yeh′his.debtors.Dä-ge-oh′Givene′usna-geh′thiswen-nis′-heh-dehdaye′ourna-hä-da-wen-nis′-heh-gehdailyo-ä′-qwa.bread.Hă-squä′-ahLeade′ussă-no′notha′intowä-ate-keh′,temptation,na-gwä′butdä-gwä-yä-dan′-nakedeliver fromne′uswä-ate-keh′,evil,na-seh′-ehfornees′thineis theo-nuk′-täkingdom,na-kuh′andnathegä-hus′tes-heh,power,na-kuh′andda-gä-ă-sä-oh′.the glory.

Na-huh′-se-yä-weh.↑

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