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KING HENDRIK.

This celebrated sachem of the Mohawk canton of the Iroquois confederacy and distinguished war chief of the Six Nations, was born during the latter part of the 17th century,

ence and self-reliance. The sachem, standing in front of the governor who was seated, addressed him as follows:

"Yonnondio, I honor you, and the warriors that are with me honor youyour interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears; harken to them, Yonnondio. You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so overflown their banks that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them; yes, truly, you must have dreamed so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you, that the Cayugas, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessors received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet, that has so often been dyed with the blood of the French. Hear! Yonnondio; I do not sleep! I have my eyes open, and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lakes to smoke on the great calumet, with the Onondagas. But Garangula says he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio roving in a camp of sick men, whose hairs the great spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them. Hear, Yonnondio! our women had taken their clubs; our children and old men had carried their bows and arrrows into the heart of your camps, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messengers came to our castles. It is done; I have said it.

"Hear, Yonnondio! we plundered none of the French, but those that carried guns, powder and balls to the Twightwies and Chictagicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beavers enough to pay for all those arms they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of war.

"This belt preserves my words.

"We carried the English into our lakes, to trade with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacks brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither

not very near the close of it, however, as he was called "old King Hendrik," at the time of the old French war. He was in the vigor of manhood and at the hight of power

depend on Yonnondio or Corlear; we may go when we please, and carry with us what we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no others but your people. "This belt preserves my words.

"We knock the Twightwies and Chicagicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beaver on our lands, they have acted contrary to the customs of the Indians, for they have left none of the beavers alive; they killed both male and female; they brought the Satanas into their country, to take part with them after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French, that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country.

"This belt preserves my words.

"Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer-open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Mohawks, say that when they buried the hatchet at Cadaraqui, in the presence of your predecessors, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved; that in the place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandise only should enter there.

"Hear, Yonnondio! take care, for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet till their brother Yonnondio, or Corlear, shall either jointly or separately endeavor to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors.

"This belt preserves my words, and this other the authority which the Five Nations have given me."

Then addressing himself to the interpreter, he said:

"Take courage, you have spirit, speak, explain my words, forget nothing, tell all that your friends and brethren say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garangula, who loves you and desires you to accept this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations."

The Indian orator in using the name Corlear, in his address, intends to designate the English or colonial governor of New York.

when the upper section of the Mohawk valley was opened for settlement.

From his long association with the Europeans and particularly with Sir William Johnson, whom he highly regarded, and who found but little difficulty in directing the actions of the chief as he thought best, Hendrik had adopted and wore the English costume, and become accustomed to live in

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a house. He resided much of the time at the upper Mohawk castle, in the town of Danube, his dwelling being located upon the elevated ground not far from the Indian Castle Church, commanding an extended view of the surrounding country. He is spoken of as a man of great sagacity and vigor of mind, inflexibly brave and of "unmovable integrity."

The French authorities of Canada, with all their intrigues, were never able to move him and his faithful Mohawks from their allegiance to the British crown. Dr. Dwight says, "a gentleman of very reputable character, who was present at a council held with the Six Nations by the governor of New York and several agents of distinction from New-England [this was in 1754], informed me that his figure and countenance were singularly impressive and commanding; that his eloquence was of the same superior order, and that he appeared as if born to control other men, and possessed an air of majesty unrivaled within his knowledge." He fell at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th of September, 1755, winning glory, a fortune and a title for his friend, Major General William Johnson.

The anecdote illustrated by the following dialogue between Sir William, before he was knighted, and the old king, should be repeated, although quite as unreal as most dreams are.

Scene.-Sir William's parlor; the knight seated in deep thought. Enter King Hendrik giving a searching glance round the room as he approached and saluted his friend. King Hendrik (addressing Sir William), "I dream." Sir William. "Well, what did you dream?"

King Hendrik. "I dream you give me one suit of clothes." Sir William. "Well, I suppose you must have it." The scene changes, and Sir William and Hendrik meet in their sylvan excursions.

Sir William (addressing Hendrik with a bland smile on his face). "I dreamed last night."

King Hendrik. "Did you? What you dream?"

Sir William. "I dreamed you gave me such a tract of land" (describing the outlines of it).

King Hendrik (pausing). "I suppose you must have it, but" (raising and shaking his finger significantly), "you must not dream again."

The petition of Sir William and thirty-nine other persons for a license to purchase the Indian title to 40,000 acres of

land lying between the two Canada creeks, was presented to the governor and council on the 8th of July, 1761, six years after Hendrik's death. This was the first step taken to obtain the title to the royal grant.

Although a stern and rigorous warrior, Hendrik was kind to the white population of the valley, and was highly regarded by them. He well understood the extent of his mission that he must guard and protect the liege subjects. of his sovereign to the extent of his power against the attacks of the hostile French and Indians, and he did not fail to execute it. If he was not the most distinguished for courage and strategy of all the native war chiefs, known to the Europeans, after the settlement by them of the country, history has dealt too favorably with his fame, and he still wears an undeserved crown of immortality.

NOTE. I have collected the following notices of Hendrik from the "Documents relating to the Colonial History” of this state. July 8, 1697, he is recognized as a chief of the Mohawk canton. In 1698, he is described as a chief, a "convert to the Christian faith, of eight years' standing," and as being of full age. In 1699, he was examined before the mayor, recorder and justices at Albany, in regard to what he had said about Dom. Dellius's going away, and is spoken of as a married man. 1710, he visited England. 1711, October 9th, at a conference with Gov. Hunter, he gave the governor a letter addressed by the chiefs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and desired him to thank the Queen of Great Britain for the care taken by her to convert the Indians to the Christian religion. September 3d, 1720, Hendrik, the Maquaes, having been suspended four years before from being a sachem in the tribe, was restored and installed as a chief, at the request and in presence of the commissioners of Indian affairs. In 1753, he attended a conference between Sir William Johnson and the Mohawks, and in 1754 he was at the Congress of the Commissioners from the six northern provinces, held at Albany, to consult on Indian affairs. He was the chief speaker at both of these conferences. Judge Harring, now living, who came to Johnstown in 1795, and at an early day was quite familiar with the inhabitants, old and young, then on the stage, says, that Sir Williain dreamed for the land known as the Kingsborough patent, where he built his own family mansion, and not for the royal grant.

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