as in the
Indian Territory. The Mohawks are not mentioned in the list.
During the Revolutionary War, and just afterward, the Mohawks
migrated into Upper Canada (Ontario), for an account of which
the reader may consult the second volume of Stone's _Life of
Brant_. Portions of the other tribes also went to Canada. In
New York the Oneidas and Tuscaroras were converted to
Christianity by Samuel Kirkland and withheld from alliance with
the British during the Revolution; the others still retain
their ancient religion. They are for the most part farmers and
are now increasing in numbers. Their treatment by the state of
New York has been honourably distinguished for justice and
humanity.]

[Sidenote: Structure of the confederacy.]

Each of the Five Tribes retained its local self-government. The supreme
government of the confederacy was vested in a General Council of fifty
sachems, "equal in rank and authority." The fifty sachemships were
created in perpetuity in certain clans of the several tribes; whenever a
vacancy occurred, it was filled by the clan electing one of its own
members; a sachem once thus elected could be deposed by the clan-council
for good cause; "but the right to invest these sachems with office was
reserved to the General Council." These fifty sachems of the confederacy
were likewise sachems in their respective tribes, "and with the chiefs
of these tribes formed the council of each, which was supreme over all
matters pertaining to the tribe exclusively." The General Council could
not convene itself, but could be convened by any one of the five tribal
councils. The regular meeting was once a year in the autumn, in the
valley of Onondaga, but in stirring times extra sessions were frequent.
The proceedings were opened by an address from one of the sachems, "in
the course of which he thanked the Great Spirit [i. e. Ioskeha, the
sky-god] for sparing their lives and permitting them to meet together;"
after this they were ready for business. It was proper for any orator
from among the people to address the Council with arguments, and the
debates were sometimes very long and elaborate. When it came to voting,
the fifty sachems voted by tribes, each tribe counting as a unit, and
unanimity was as imperative as in an English jury, so that one tribe
could block the proceedings. The confederacy had no head-sachem,