ncil. Tecumseh replied that he would be governed by the conduct
of the white people; if they came armed, his warriors would be armed
also; if not, his followers would come unarmed. The governor informed
him that he would be attended by a troop of dragoons, dismounted, with
their side arms only, and that the Indians might bring their war clubs
and tomahawks. The meeting took place in a large arbour, on one side of
which were the dragoons, eighty in number, seated in rows; on the other
the Indians. But besides their sabres, the dragoons were armed with
pistols. The following incident is said to have occurred at this
interview. Tecumseh looked round for a seat, but not finding one
provided for him, he betrayed his surprise, and his eyes flashed fire.
The governor, perceiving the cause, instantly ordered a chair. One of
the council offered the warrior his chair, and, bowing respectfully,
said to him: "Warrior, your father, General Harrison, offers you a
seat." "My father!" exclaimed Tecumseh, extending his hand towards the
heavens, "the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother; she gives me
nourishment, and I will repose on her bosom." He then threw himself on
the ground. When the governor, who was seated in front of the dragoons,
commenced his address, Tecumseh declared that he could not hear him, and
requested him to remove his seat to an open space near himself, The
governor complied, and in his speech complained of the constant
depredations and murders which were committed by the Indians of
Tippecanoe; of the refusal on their part to give up the criminals; and
of the increasing accumulation of force in that quarter, for the avowed
purpose of compelling the United States to relinquish lands, which they
had fairly purchased of the rightful owners. Tecumseh, in his answer,
denied that he had afforded protection to the guilty, but manfully
admitted his design of forming a confederacy of all the red nations of
that continent. He observed, that "the system, which the United States
pursued of purchasing lands from the Indians, he viewed as a _mighty
water_, ready to overflow his people, and that the confederacy which he
was forming among the tribes, to prevent any tribe from selling land
without the consent of the others, was the _dam_ he was erecting, to
resist this mighty water." And he added, "your great father, the
president, may sit over the mountains and drink his wine, but if he
continue this policy, you and I will ha