![]() ![]() We are not starving yet-we wish you to permit us to enjoy the chase until the game of our country is exhausted-until the wild animals become extinct. It is too soon my Great Father, to send those good men among us. You have already sent us a father it is enough he knows us and we know him-we have confidence in him-we keep our eye constantly upon him, and since we have heard your words, we will listen more attentively to his. He saves the effusion of human blood, and restores peace and happiness of the land. ![]() He settles all differences between us and the whites, between the red skins themselves-he makes the whites do justice to the red skins, and he makes the red skins do justice to the whites. My father has a piece on which he lives, and we wish him to enjoy it-we have enough without it-but we wish him to live near us to give us good counsel- to keep our hearts and eyes open that we may continue to pursue the right road-the road to happiness. We have plenty of buffalo, beaver, deer and other wild animals-we have also an abundance of horses-we have everything we want-we have plenty of land, if you will keep your people off of it. I have grown up and lived this long without work-I am in hopes you will suffer me to die without it. Spare me then, my Father let me enjoy my country, and pursue the buffalo, and the beaver, and the other wild animals of our country, and I will trade their skins with your people. I love my people-I love the manner in which we live, and think myself and warriors brave. You love your country- you love your people-you love the manner in which they live, and you think your people are brave.-I am like you, my Great Father, I love my country. I will not tell a lie-I am going to tell the truth. My Great Father: Some of your good chiefs, as they are called, have proposed to send some of their good people among us to change our habits, to make us work and live like the white people. We, like animals, rove through the country, whilst you whites reside between us and heaven but still, my Great Father, we love the Great Spirit-we acknowledge his supreme power-our peace, our health, and our happiness depend upon him, and our lives belong to him-he made us and he can destroy us. ![]() We differ from you in appearance and manners as well as in our customs and we differ from you in our religion we have no large houses as you have to worship the Great Spirit in if we had them today we should want others tomorrow, for we have not, like you, a fixed habitation-we have no settled home except our villages, where we remain but two moons in twelve. We worship him, but we worship him not as you do. I believe there are no people of any color on this earth who do not believe in the Great Spirit-in rewards, and in punishments. He also intended that we should go to war-to take scalps-steal horses from and triumph over our enemies-cultivate peace at home, and promote the happiness of each other. He made the whites to cultivate the earth, and feed on domestic animals but he made us, red skins, to rove through the uncultivated woods and plains to feed on wild animals and to dress with their skins. The Great Spirit made us all-he made my skin red, and yours white he placed us on this earth, and intended that we should live differently from each other. I feel grateful to the Great Sprit for strengthening my heart for such an undertaking, and for preserving the life which he gave me. Him who made us and placed us on this earth. Yes, my Great Father, I have travelled with your chief: I have followed him, and trod in his tracks but there is still another Great Father to whom I am much indebted-it is the Father of us all. If I am here now and have seen your people, your houses, your vessels on the big lake, and a great many wonderful things far beyond my comprehension, which appear to have been made by the Great Spirit and placed in your hands, I am indebted to my Father here, who invited me from home, under whose wings I have been protected. The Great Spirit looks down upon us, and I call Him to witness all that may pass between us on this occasion. My Great Father: I am going to speak the truth. I have heard your words-they have entered one ear and shall not escape the other, and I will carry them to my people as pure as they came from your mouth. My Great Father: I have travelled a great distance to see you-I have seen you and my heart rejoices. ![]()
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