ftain
primed his pistols and seemed ready at any moment to take Tecumseh's
life. The speaker went on to declare: "that if the government would not
give up the lands that were purchased from the Miamis, Delawares,
Potawatomis, etc., that those who were united with him, were determined
to fall upon those tribes and destroy them. That they were determined to
have no more chiefs, but in the future to have everything under the
direction of the warriors;" that the Governor would see what would be
done to the village chiefs who had sold the land, and unless he restored
it he would be a party to the killing of them.

The bold and defiant attitude of the speaker, and the tone of insolence
that pervaded all his words, astonished even the Governor. A weak or
corrupt man would have trembled in his place and been at a loss how to
answer. Not so with Harrison. All who knew him, says John Law, were
willing to acknowledge his courage, both moral and physical. He knew
that the treaty of Fort Wayne had been concluded under the instructions
of government; that his dealings with the tribes had been open-handed
and fair, even with the insignificant Weas of the lower waters; that the
"unwarranted and unwarrantable" pretensions of Tecumseh were made
largely for their effect upon the audience, and after Tecumseh's remarks
had been openly interpreted by Barron, he arose without tremor or
hesitation to deny the chief's assertions. He spoke no doubt with some
degree of force, for he undoubtedly understood by now that Tecumseh
would never have given utterance to many of his charges, without
entertaining a belief that they would meet the approval of some
traitorous faction of the assembly. He answered: "That the charges of
bad faith against our government, and the assertion that injustice had
been done the Indians in any treaty ever made, or any council ever held
with them by the United States, had no foundation in fact. That in all
their dealings with the red men, they had ever been governed by the
strictest rules of right and justice. That while other civilized nations
had treated them with contumely and contempt, ours had always acted in
good faith with them. That so far as he individually was concerned, he
could say in the presence of the "Great Spirit" who was watching over
their deliberations, that his conduct, even with the most insignificant
tribe, had been marked with kindness, and all his acts governed by
honor, integrity and fair dealing