The Count De Frontenac attacks Onondaga in Per- fon with the whole Force of Canada. The Five [1] THE INTRODUCTION, BEING A fhort View of the Form of Government of the Five Nations, and of their Laws, Cuftoms, &c. I' Tis neceffary to know fomething of the Form of Government of the People, whose History one is about to know, and a few Words will be fufficient to give the Reader a Conception of that of the Five Nations, because it ftill remains under original Simplicity, and free from those complicated Contrivances, which have become neceffary to the Nations, where Deceit and Cunning have increased as much as their Knowledge and Wisdom. The Five Nations (as their Name denotes) confift of fo many Tribes or Nations, joined together by a League or Confederacy, like the United Provinces, and without any Superiority of the one over the other. This Union has continued fo long, that the Chriftians know nothing of the Original of it: The People in it are known by the English under the Names of Mobateks, Oneydoes, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Sennekas. Each of these Nations is again divided into three Tribes or Families, who diftinguish themselves by three different Arms or Enfigns, the Tortoife, the Bear, and the Wolf, and the Sachems, or old Men of these Families, put this Enfign, or Mark of their B Family. Family, to every publick Paper, when they fign it. Each of thefe Nations is an abfolute Republick by itself, and every Caftle in each Nation makes an independent Republick, and is govern'd in all publick Affairs by its own Sachems or old Men. The Authority of thefe Rulers is gain'd by, and confifts wholly in the Opinion the rest of the Nation have of their Wisdom and Integrity. They never execute their Refolutions by Force upon any of their People. Honour and Efteem are their principal Rewards; as Shame, and being defpifed, their Punishments. They have certain Cuftoms, which they obferve in their publick Tranfactions with other Nations, and in their private Affairs among themselves; which it is fcandalous for any one among them not to obferve, and these always draw after them either publick or private Refentment, whenever they are broke. Their Leaders and Captains, in like Manner, obtain their Authority, by the general Opinion of their Courage and Conduct, and lose it by a failure in thofe Virtues. Their great Men, both Sachems and Captains, are generally poorer than the common People; for they affect to give away and diftribute all the Prefents or Plunder they get in their Treaties or in War, fo as to leave nothing to themfelves. There is not a Man in the Ministry of the Five Nations, who has gain❜d his Office, otherwife than by Merit; there is not the leaft Salary, or any Sort of Profit, annexed to any Office, to tempt the Covetous or Sordid; but, on the contrary, every unworthy Action is unavoidably attended with the Forfeiture of their Commiffion; for their Authority is only the Efteem of the People, and ceases the Moment that Efteem is loft. Here we fee the natural Origin of all Power and Authority among a free People, and whatever artificial Power or Sovereignty any Man may have acquired, by the Laws and Conftitution of a Country, his real Power will be be ever much greater or lefs, in Proportion to the Efteem the People have of him. The Five Nations think themfelves by Nature fuperior to the reft of Mankind, and call themfelves Ongue-bonwe; that is, Men furpaffing all others. This Opinion, which they take Care to cultivate into their Children, gives them that Courage, which has been fo terrible to all the Nations of North America; and they have taken fuch Care to impress the fame Opinion of their People on all their Neighbours, that they, on all Occafions, yield the moft fubmiffive Obedience to them. I have been told by old Men in New England, who remembred the Time when the Mohawks made War on their Indians, that as foon as a fingle Mohawk was discover'd in the Country, their Indians raised a Cry from Hill to Hill, A Mohawk! A Mohawk! upon which they all fled like Sheep before Wolves, without attempting to make the leaft Refiftance, whatever Odds were on their Side. The poor New England Indians immediately ran to the Chriftian Houfes, and the Mohawks often purfued them fo clofely, that they entered along with them, and knocked their Brains out in the Prefence of the People of the House; but if the Family had Time to fhut the Door, they never attempted to force it, and on no Occafion did any Injury to the Chriftians. All the Nations round them have, for many Years, intirely submitted to them, and pay a yearly Tribute to them in Wampum*; they dare neither make War nor Peace, with * Wampum is the Current Money among the Indians; It is of two Sorts, White and Purple; the White is worked out of the Infide of the great Conques into the Form of a Bead, and perforated, to ftring on Leather; the Purple is worked out of the Infide of the Mufcle Shell; they are wove as broad as one's Hand, and about two Feet long; these they call Belts, and give and receive at their Treaties as the Seals of Friendship; for leffer Matters a fingle String is given. Every Bead is of a known Value, and a Belt of a lefs Number, is made to equal one of a greater, by fo many as is wanting fastened to the Belt by a String. out the Consent of the Mohawks. Two old Men commonly go about every Year or two, to receive this Tribute; and I have often had Opportunity to obferve what Anxiety the poor Indians were under, while these two old Men remained in that Part of the Country where I was. An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor Blanket and a dirty Shirt, may be feen iffuing his Orders with as arbitrary an Authority, as a Roman Dictator. It is not for the Sake of Tribute however, that they make War, but from the Notions of Glory, which they have ever moft ftrongly imprinted on their Minds; and the farther they go to feek an Enemy, the greater Glory they think they gain; there cannot, I think, be a greater or ftronger Inftance than this, how much the Sentiments, impreffed upon a People's Mind, conduce to their Grandeur, or one that more verifies a Saying often to be met with, though but too little minded, That it is in the Power of the Rulers of a People to make them either Great or Little; for by inculcating only the Notions of Honour and Virtue, or those of Luxury and Riches, the People, in a little Time, will become fuch as their Rulers defire. The Five Nations, in their Love of Liberty, and of their Country, in their Bravery in Battle, and their Conftancy in enduring Torments, equal the Fortitude of the most renowned Romans. I fhall finish their general Character by what an Enemy, a Frenchman, fays of them, Monfieur De la Poterie, in his Hiftory of North America. "When we speak (fays he) of the Five Nations "in France, they are thought, by a common Mif"take, to be mere Barbarians, always thirsting af"ter human Blood; but their true Character is very "different. They are indeed the fierceft and most for"midable People in North America, and, at the fame "Time, are as politick and judicious, as well can "be conceived; and this appears from the Manage"ment of all the Affairs which they tranfact, not only with the French and English, but likewife with al "moft |