N° 18. Sir W. Johnson. Sir, Earl of Hillsborough to Sir William Johnson. [New-York Papers (Slate Paper Office) OCLVIII.] Whitehall, July 1" 1772 I have received Your dispatch N° 17 and have laid it before the King. Had anything of moment been transacted at the great Congress at Sioto, the deaths of the principal Indian Chiefs, upon whom you relied for a faithful Report of the Proceedings at that Congress, would have been important, but, if the accounts given by Nicaroondase are true very little of importance was transacted, and the whole seems to have ended as such meetings generally have done, with excuses on the part of the Indians for past irregularities, and with promises which are seldom or never kept of behaving better for the future. I must confess to you that, after the very full assurances I had received, that all the Indians concerned in the Treaty at Fort Stanwix had fully pledged themselves for the Cession to His Majesty of the lands in Virginia to the West and South West of the Allegany Mountains, it is a very great surprize to me now to find that the Shawanese are at least dissatisfied with, if not disposed to disavow, that cession, so far as it regards the lands on the Ohio above the Kanawah. Every day discovers more and more the fatal Policy of departing from the line prescribed by the proclamation of 1763, and the extension of it, on the ground of a cession made by the Six Nations of lands, their right to which is denied by other Nations, equally powerfull and more numerous, instead of being attended with advantage to this kingdom, & Security to the Colonies, is now likely to have no other consequence than that of giving a greater scope to distant settlements, which I conceive to be inconsistent with every true principle of policy, & which I clearly see, from Your last letter, will most probably have the effect to produce a general Indian War, the expense whereof will fall on this Kingdom. The King's commands have been already signified to General Gage for the removal of the French & other vagabond traders on the Ouabache & his Majesty having also approved of an Indian Officer being established in that part of the country, you will probably before this reaches you have received General Gage's Instructions to you for that purpose. You well know, Sir, what are my sentiments with regard to the regulation of the Indian Trade, but as the plan which I had the honor, in conjunction with the rest of my Bretheren at the Board of Trade to suggest for that purpose & which I am vain enough to think would have operated as a Remedy to the enormities which have been complained of, was not adopted, it must depend upon each Colony to take care of its own interests in that respect. I am, &ca HILLSBOROUGH. Circular. Earl of Dartmouth to the Governors in America. [New-York Papers (Slate Paper Office) CCLVIII. ] Whitehall, August 14th 1772 The King having been graciously pleased to appoint me to be one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and to commit to my care the dispatch of all such business as relates to His Majesty's Colonies I take the earliest opportunity of acquainting you therewith. It will give me great satisfaction to be able to fulfill His Majesty's gracious intentions in this appointment; and as it is His Majesty's pleasure that your dispatches should for the future be addressed to me, I shall not fail to lay them immediately before the King, and to transmit to you such orders as His Majesty shall think fit to give thereupon. I returned last week to this City after an absence of five weeks on an excursion to the Westward Frontiers of this Province. I passed some days at Sir William Johnson's, where I met near a Hundred of the Mohocks, and more than forty of the Onejda Indians. A copy of the Congress held with the Mohock Indians, I have the honor herewith to transmit to your Lordship, and have ordered copies of the Indian deeds, that were executed on the occasion, to be prepared in order to forward them to your Lord. My best endeavours shall be employed to satisfy the Mohocks in their request to me, to do them Justice, which I hope to obtain through the aid of the Legislature, as I consider their request truly equitable. It was with real satisfaction I viewed the credit and confidence, Sir William was held in by the Indian Tribes. Nothing less than manifest injury in my opinion, will drive the Mohocks from their steady attachment to His Majesty's Interest. They appear to be actuated as a community by principles of rectitude, that would do honor to the most civilized nations. Indeed they are in a civilized state, and many of them good Farmers. It is impossible any man can have more uniform zeal and attention than Sir William has in his Department, so much so, that it would be no great impropriety to style him the Slave of the Savages. In my journey up the Mohocks I reviewed three Regiments; the first in Johnstown, the second at Burnet's field, and the third in the German Flatts near Fort Herkemer, amounting in the whole to upwards of fourteen hundred effective Men; an industrious people, and not less seemingly pleased with the presence of their Gov' than he was with them. I heartily wish the Eastern parts of the Province were as peaceably settled. The Land on the Mohock River is extremely fertile, and under the highest cultivation, producing as good wheat and peas as any in the old Countries. The Towns of Albany and Schenectady are both flourishing, and will continue to do so, in proportion as the back settlements are extended. Proceedings at a Congress held with the Canajohare Indians at Johnson Hall on Present—His Exceller Wm Tryon Esqre Governor ettc of N. York. The Honhle Sir Wm Johnson Bar' his Maju' Superintend The Honble Oliver de Lancey } Esq" of the Council. The Honble Henry White Guy Johnson Esqre Dep,y Agent for Indian Affairs Edm Fanning EsqTM private Secr: to his Excellcy Rich Shuckburgh EsqTM Secy for Indian Affairs and several other Decarihoga Speaker stood up and addressed his Excelly the Gov', saying that they were happy to find that the great spirit above had permitted him to come in safety to their Council fire; that the Ind"' had ardently wished to see him, and now congratulated him on the occasion, he then proceeded as follows: Brother. We mean to take this opportunity of laying before you the grievances under which we labour, and the ill treatment we have received from several White people, who endeavour to defraud us of our Lands; this we several times laid before his Majty's former Gov" of New York, and have waited with the utmost impatience hitherto for redress, but to no purpose. At length, our old people tired with delay, have come to a resolution of putting the business into the hands of the young Warriors, who will speak to you upon it. Whereupon Joseph stood up and said: Brother. We are extremely happy to see you here this day, as we have long desired it, and hope that thro' your means we shall obtain redress. We have been often deceived, and defrauded of large Tracts; but that which at present gives us most concern, is, the little Tract which surrounds us, on which we live, and of which we hear, we are now likely to be deprived. This fills us all with such concern, and is of so alarming a nature, that whether we are in our beds, or ranging the woods in quest of game, it still occurs to us, and deprives us of rest. Brother. The reason of our having been so anxious to see your Excell of late was from the hopes we conceived of obtaining redress through your love of Justice, and from the great character, which we recd of you both, before and since your arrival; we therefore have the strongest hopes of meeting with that justice from you, which hitherto we have in vain applied for. Brother, By the many sales we have from time to time made of large Tracts to accommodate your people, we are now reduced to very scanty limits, and have only one little spot left, which we can call our own. This very piece, we are told daily, by sundry people will be taken from us, which fills us with great concern, neither can we by any means account for it, having always lived in the strictest friendship with the English, & faithfully served and assisted them in all their Wars against their Enemies; we therefore cannot but think it extremely hard to suffer such treatm' in return for our friendship and past services. We have seen that those Officers and Soldiers who served in this Country during the late War, have been rewarded with Tracts of Land in return for their services, and as we were aiding and assisting in the same cause, we must deem it a peculiar hardship in case we are not permitted to hold this little Remnant undisturbed. We shall not at present give your Excells the trouble of attending to a particular detail of the circumstances relative to this matter, especially, as our Brother Sir William Johnson, now present, is well acquainted with every thing concerning it, and can lay the same before you. We shall only observe that this Tract on which we live was fraudulently obtained and surveyed in the night by moonlight, and a patent procured for it by Mr Livingston and others without our knowledge. Of this we complained many years since, & particularly in 1763, when we found that possession was going to be taken of our very village, but still desirous to live peaceably, we at length agreed with the parties to take a release of that part of the Tract, which we occupied, in which we apprehended there was no fraud; nevertheless, we have since found, that there were still designs to deceive us, for George Klocke one of those concerned, refused to sign the release, and on being summoned before the late Sir Henry Moore in 1768, he persisted in his refusal, and said that he had been so advised by Mr Livingston at New York, who told him, that his (Mr Livingston's) signing it, could be of no effect, if Klocke did not sign it, and that therefore Klocke should not sign it, so that we apprehend, an advantage is intended to be taken of us, the rather as some Surveyors have lately attempted to survey it. Now Brother, we rely on your justice for relief, and hope we may obtain it, so as to continue to live peaceably, as we have hitherto done. We are sensible that we are at present but a small number, but nevertheless our connections are powerful, and our alliances many, & should any of these perceive that we who have been so remarkable for our fidelity and attachment to you, are ill used and defrauded, it may alarm them, and be productive of dangerous consequences. We shall only add, that our reliance is upon your Excellcy and that as our cause of complaint is well founded, and that we have repeatedly applied for redress, we may now as soon as possible obtain such relief, as our case deserves; and we are the more anxious to urge it at present, as we may apprehend it may be in your Excelley'" power to compel Klocke to execute the release without further delay. Brother, We think it necessary to add, that at the Great Treaty held at Fort Stanwix in 1768 in the presence of several of His Majty's GovTM, when we joined with the rest of the Confederacy in making a great cession of Territory to the King, we particularly expected1 such parts as were in the neighborhood of our Villages. These Tracts we were directed to get surveyed, in the doing of which we discovered that there is a piece of Land patented by Mr ■ Sic. excepted. New-York Colonial Manutcriptt. — Ed. Colden, with which we were never before acquainted, neither was it ever sold. This Brother, is the sum of those grievances with which we mean to trouble you at present, and on which we hope for redress. To which his Excell was pleased to make the following answer: Brothers. I have given due attention to all that you have said, which I shall take into serious consideration, and deliver you an answer so soon as I am prepared. At a Congress held, at Johnson Hall with the Mohock Indians on Tuesday July the 2S,k 1772. Hendrik Speaker arose, and spoke as follows: addressing His Excellency the Governor. Brother, We give thanks to the Great Spirit for your safe arrival at this our Council fire, where we have long wished for the pleasure of seeing you. We have heard so much of your wisdom and good conduct in the Colony wherein you last presided, that we cannot, but be very much prejudiced in your favour, and we flatter ourselves that your Excellc*'' love of Justice, will incline you to afford us redress of those grievances under which we labour, and which we shall now relate to you. We therefore beg you will give attention to them. Brother, We have been very much wronged & imposed upon with regard to our Lands, particularly by the Albany people, who lay claim to the very lands on which we dwell, and from whence we draw our principal support. This they endeavour under colour of a deed, which they pretend conveys our Flatts to the corporation of that City, but in truth, was only intended by our forefathers to be in trust for us, and our posterity, judging the people of that City to be their friends, and that they would prove as guardians of the same for our use. When under the Administration of Govr Cosby we discovered their fraudulent intention, we desired to see this deed, which with difficulty was at length produced and was burnt by Aria one of our Sachems in the Gov" presence; but we have still reason to apprehend that they mean to support their unjust claim, and therefore we beg to have your Excell**'' protection, and that you will secure these small remains of property to us, whch, from your Excellcy* known character we have the strongest reason to expect. Brother, As we have no doubt but that your Excell" has sufficient authority to secure these lands to us and our posterity, and as it is notorious that we have ever been faithful friends and Allies to the English, to whom we have likewise sold all the Lands they possess here, and as we made a particular exception of the lands round us at the great Treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1768. we hope that your Excell will afford us relief, in order to which we think it would be necessary to order, that the same be forthwith surveyed, that we may know the exact quantity of our possessions, and may be secured in the enjoym' of them; for as we have ever assisted the English in their Wars, and thereby so far weakened ourselves that we are now reduced to an inconsiderable number, we think ourselves entitled to the protection of Govern'. His Excellc* then desired they might be asked whether any of the principal Inhabitants or Members of the Corporation of the City of Albany had spoke to them concerning such claims, or whether it arose from the talk of their neighbours. To which the Speaker answered, that they had not been particularly applied to by the Corporation of late but that they frequently heard of it from many other persons.- His Excelley then told them that he had attended to all |