* * * * *
The red children of the soil of America address themselves to the
descendants of the pale men who came across the big waters to seek
among them a refuge from tyranny and persecution.
We say to each and every one of you that the Great Spirit who is the
friend of the Indian as well as of the white man, has raised up among
you a brother of our own and has sent him to us that he might show us
all the secret contrivances of the pale faces to deceive and defraud
us. For this, many of our white brethren hate him, and revile him, and
say all manner of evil of him; falsely calling him an impostor. Know,
all men, that our brother APES is not such a man as they say. White
men are the only persons who have imposed on us, and we say that we
love our red brother, the Rev. WILLIAM APES, who preaches to us, and
have all the confidence in him that we can put in any man, knowing him
to be a devout Christian, of sound mind, of firm purpose, and worthy
to be trusted by reason of his truth. We have never seen any reason to
think otherwise.
We send this forth to the world in love and friendship with all
men, and especially with our brother APES, for whose benefit it is
intended.
Signed by the three Selectmen of the Marshpee Tribe, at the Council
House, in Marshpee.