POLITICAL MANŒUVRES.
In the management of their national affairs, the Indians display as
much skill and dexterity, perhaps, as any people upon earth. When a
political message is sent to them from a neighbouring nation,[161]
they generally contrive to send an answer so ambiguously worded, that
it is difficult to come at their real meaning; they conceive this to
be the best way of getting rid of a proposal which they do not like,
because those who sent them the message are for some time, at least, at
a loss to comprehend the meaning, and not knowing whether the answer is
favourable or unfavourable, their proceedings are necessarily suspended
until they can discover its true sense; in this manner have operations
been sometimes entirely prevented, and matters have remained in the
same situation that they were in before.
It may be supposed, perhaps, that such an artful manner of treating
each other might be thought provoking, and cause jealousies and
disputes among the different parties; such is not, however, the case,
as nothing insulting is ever contained in those messages; and as
offence is not meant, it is not taken. The Indians consider it on all
sides as a kind of diplomatic proceeding, an exercise which tends
to invigorate the mind, of which they are very fond. It gives them
opportunities to reflect and think deeply on matters of importance, and
of displaying their genius, when they have found or discovered the
secret of an answer sent to them, or hit upon the true meaning of an
ambiguous message.
At the time of the Revolutionary war I witnessed a curious scene of
diplomatic manœuvres between two great men of the Delaware nation, both
of whom had in their time signalised themselves as brave and courageous
men, and had acquired the character of two great war chiefs. The war
that I speak of, which had but lately begun, had made it necessary for
the Indians to consult their present and future safety. Captain White
Eyes, of the Turtle tribe, who was placed at the head of his nation,
had its welfare much at heart. He was in favour of their following
the advice given them by the American Congress, which was to remain
neutral, and not to meddle in the quarrel between the Americans and
the parent country. He advised his people, therefore, to remain in
friendship with both sides, and not to take up arms against either, as
it might bring them into trouble, and perhaps, in the end, effect their
ruin.
On the other hand, Captain Pipe, of the Wolf tribe, who resided at
the distance of fifteen miles, where he had his council fire, was of
a different opinion, and leaned on the side of the British. He was an
artful, ambitious man, yet not deficient in greatness of mind, as I
have shewn in a preceding chapter. But his head at that time was full
of the wrongs which the Indians had suffered from the Americans, from
their first coming into the country; his soul panted for revenge, and
he was glad to seize the opportunity that now offered. He professed
his readiness to join in proper measures to save the nation, but not
such measures as his antagonist proposed; what his real object was
he did not openly declare, but privately endeavoured to counteract
all that was done and proposed by the other. White Eyes, however, was
a sensible upright man, and never was deficient in means to support
his own measures, and extricate himself from the snares with which he
was on all sides surrounded by Captain Pipe. Thus they went on for
upwards of two years, Pipe working clandestinely, and keeping his spies
continually on the watch upon the other, while White Eyes acted openly
and publicly, as though he knew nothing of what was machinating against
him.
At last, a circumstance took place which apparently justified Captain
Pipe in the measures he wished to pursue. In March 1778, a number of
white people, of those whom we called _Tories_, among whom were M’Kee,
Eliott, Girty,[162] and several others, having escaped from Pittsburg,
told the Indians wherever they came, “that they must arm and be off
immediately, and kill all the Americans wherever they found them, for
they had determined to destroy all the Indians, and possess themselves
of their country.” White Eyes, not believing what these men said,
advised his people to remain quiet, for this report could not be true.
Pipe, on the contrary, called his men together, and in a speech which
he addressed to them, pronounced every man an enemy to his country who
endeavoured to dissuade them from going out against the Americans, and
said that all such ought to be put to death. Captain White Eyes was
not disconcerted; he immediately assembled his warriors, and told them
“that if they meant in earnest to go out, as he observed some of them
were preparing to do, they should not go without him. He had taken
peace measures in order to save the nation from utter destruction. But
if they believed that he was in the wrong, and gave more credit to
vagabond fugitives, whom he knew to be such, than to himself, who was
best acquainted with the real state of things; if they had determined
to follow their advice, and go out against the Americans, he would
go out with them; he would lead them on, place himself in the front,
and be the first who should fall. They only had to determine on what
they meant to do; for his own mind was fully made up not to survive
his nation, and he would not spend the remainder of a miserable life
in bewailing the total destruction of a brave people, who deserved a
better fate.”
This spirited, and at the same time pathetic, speech of Captain White
Eyes, made such an impression on the minds of the audience, that they
unanimously declared that they would obey his orders, and listen to
no person but himself, either white or of their own colour. Indeed,
there was too much force, too much majesty in this address to be
resisted; when this was reported to Pipe by his emissaries, he was
absolutely confounded, and knew not what to do. A few days afterwards,
the council of the Delaware nation received the most friendly and
flattering messages from the commandant and Indian agent at Pittsburg,
cautioning them, “not to listen to those worthless men who had ran off
from them in the night, and to be assured of the steady friendship of
the Government of the United States.” Pipe was so put to the blush,
and took this matter so much to heart, that he soon after threw off
the mask, permitted his men to go out and murder the Americans, and
afterwards went off with them to Sandusky, under the protection of the
British Government. We have seen in a former chapter that he afterwards
saw how impolitic his conduct had been, and probably wished to retrace
his steps, but it was too late. He had suffered himself to be misled
by his passions, excited by the remembrance of former wrongs, and thus
was betrayed into his injudicious conduct. Perhaps also his jealousy of
Captain White Eyes, whose superiority his proud mind could not bear,
did not in a small degree contribute to it. Pipe was certainly a great
man, but White Eyes was, in my opinion, the greatest of the two. I was
present when he made the speech which I have related, and never shall
forget the impression it made upon me.
Thus Indian politicians work and manage matters against each other
without newspaper wrangles, abuse of character, personal quarrels, or
open insults. Their ingenuity, when joined to a good cause, generally
makes them come off victorious. In a bad cause, on the contrary, they
sure[163] to meet with detection and defeat, as Captain Pipe, for his
misfortune, sadly experienced.