Indians have
theirs, given them by the Great Spirit, under which they were happy. It
was not intended that they should embrace the religion of the whites, and
be destroyed by the attempt to make them think differently on that subject
from their fathers.

"It is true, these preachers have got the consent of some of the chiefs to
stay and preach amongst us; but I and my friends know this to be wrong,
and that they ought to be removed; besides, we have been threatened by Mr.
Hyde--who came among us as a schoolmaster and a teacher of our children,
but has now become a black-coat, and refuses to teach them any more--that
unless we listen to his preaching and become Christians, we shall be
turned off our lands. We wish to know from the governor, if this is to be
so? and if he has no right to say so, we think _he_ ought to be turned off
our lands, and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at
peace while he is among us.

"We are afraid too, that these preachers, by and by, will become poor,
_and force us to pay them for living among us, and disturbing us._

"Some of our chiefs have got lazy, and instead of cultivating their lands
themselves, employ white people to do so. There are now eleven families
living on our reservation at Buffalo; this is wrong, and ought not to be
permitted. The great source of all our grievances is, that the whites are
among us. Let _them_ be removed, and we will be happy and contented among
ourselves. We now cry to the governor for help, and hope that he will
attend to our complaints, and speedily give us redress."[21]

This melancholy hostility to the missionaries is not confined to a
particular tribe or nation of Indians, for all those people, in every
situation, from the base of the Alleghanies to the foot of the Rocky
mountains, declare the same sentiments on this subject; and although
policy or courtesy may induce some chiefs to express themselves less
strongly than Red-jacket has expressed himself, we have but too many
proofs that their feelings are not more moderate. On the fourth of
February, 1822, the president of the United States, in council, received a
deputation of Indians, from the principal nations west of the
Mississippi, who came under the protection of Major O'Fallon, when each
chief delivered a speech on the occasion. I shall here insert an extract
from that of the "Wandering Pawnee" chief, more as a specimen of Indian
wisdom and eloquence than as bearing particul