n to the
grove, except that there were no seats in it for their accommodation.
Tecumseh replied, that constituted no objection to the grove, the earth
being the most suitable place for the Indians, who loved to repose upon
the bosom of their mother. The governor yielded the point, and the
benches and chairs having been removed to the spot, the conference was
begun, the Indians being seated on the grass.

Tecumseh opened the meeting by stating, at length, his objections to
the treaty of fort Wayne, made by governor Harrison in the previous
year; and in the course of his speech, boldly avowed the principle of
his party to be, that of resistance to every cession of land, unless
made by all the tribes, who, he contended, formed but one nation. He
admitted that he had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the
treaty of fort Wayne; and that it was his fixed determination not to
permit the _village_ chiefs, in future, to manage their affairs, but to
place the power with which _they_ had been heretofore invested, in the
hands of the war chiefs. The Americans, he said, had driven the Indians
from the sea coast, and would soon push them into the lakes; and, while
he disclaimed all intention of making war upon the United States, he
declared it to be his unalterable resolution to take a stand, and
resolutely oppose the further intrusion of the whites upon the Indian
lands. He concluded, by making a brief but impassioned recital of the
various wrongs and aggressions inflicted by the white men upon the
Indians, from the commencement of the Revolutionary war down to the
period of that council; all of which was calculated to arouse and
inflame the minds of such of his followers as were present.

The governor rose in reply, and in examining the right of Tecumseh and
his party to make objections to the treaty of fort Wayne, took occasion
to say, that the Indians were not one nation, having a common property
in the lands. The Miamis, he contended, were the real owners of the
tract on the Wabash, ceded by the late treaty, and the Shawanoes had no
right to interfere in the case; that upon the arrival of the whites on
this continent, they had found the Miamis in possession of this land,
the Shawanoes being then residents of Georgia, from which they had been
driven by the Creeks, and that it was ridiculous to assert that the red
men constituted but one nation; for, if such had been the intention of
the Great Spirit, he would not have put