Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-03-19

80 ~ al earnest wish 10 SIDE some &C.
.ouht OF the late conference of the In.
aians wllh the President, the inclosed
letter, intended for distant friend, Is al
your service. / regret that have moi
ieisureto make it more worthy the pub
lie eye. A SUBSCRIBER.
Washington, FEB. s, 1922.
NY Dear Friend :. Happening to
make morning visit to the President
s"o or three days ago, learnt that the
indians, now in Washington, would be
there in few minutes, for The purpose
OF having q faks with their Great Father,
and was tempted 10 wait and witness a
spectacle to me SO novel and interesting.
They accordingly soon arrived, and were
shown into the anti-chamber to the right
OF the drawing room. When I entered
| found the whole thirteen, that is twelve
men and one woman, seated round the
room, and Major O'Fallon, the officer
who has charge of them with four or
five other gentlemen, standing at the
fire place. They were all dressed in
blue cloth surtouts, with red cuffs and
capes, blue pantaloons and boots-in
short, in complete American costume,
except that they wore on their heads a
sort of coronet bedizened with red
and blue foil, and stuck all round with
feathers of the gayest co!ors. Their
faces, too, were painted though in a less
fantastic style than usual. The squaw
sat on a sofa near her husband, dressed
in scarlet pantaloons, and wrapped in
green camblet cloak, without any orna-
inent OH her long black hair. They con-
sisted, as l was told, of the Pawnees,
Kansas, Ottoes, Mahas, and Missonries.
The five chiefs were distinguished by
two silver epauletts, and the the two half
chiefs by one. They were evidently not
easy in their new habiments-,heir coats
seemed to pinch them about the shout
ders; now and then they would take off
their uneasy head dresses, and one sought
a temporary relief by pulling off his
hools. -s.4.2- 49,
Upon Major O'Fallon suggesting that
they left the presents intended for the
President, the young men were immedi-
ately despatched by their chiefs, and the
squaw by her husband, for their intended
token of friendship and good will. They
returned in few minutes with Buffalo
skins, pipes, moeasons, and feather head
dresses. The President entered, with
the Secretary of War, and taking his
seat, delivered to them, through the in
terpreters, an extempore address, from
notes held in his hand-and, as they used
two distinct languages, it was necessary
that every sentence should be twice in
terpreted The President told them he
was glad to see them-that when he had
met them before, he was too much en-
gagged in receiving his great council to
show them the attention he wished-and
that now he had more leisure, and he was
as pleased to see them in the dress of
their white brethren as he had been be-
fore in that Of their own country. He
adver,ed to the visit they had made to
orr large towns--to our arsenals, navy
yards, and the like, and told them that
as much as they had seen, it could but
give them faint idea Of our numbers
and strengthens the deer and the buffa-
10 they might chance to NEE, in passing
through their forests, bore small pro-
portion to those they did not see. That
they had met with few of our warriors,
because they were not wanted at the
seat of government, and because we
were at peace with all the world-but if
we were in a. state of war, all our citi-
zens would lake arms INTO their hands
and become brave warriors. He enjoin-
cd them to preserve peace with one ano-
Their, and to listen to no voice which
should persuade them to distrust the
friendship Of the United States. They
were told that they should receive some
presents, and be conducted safely back
to their wives and children by Major
O'Fallon, whose advice they were told
to consider as the advice Of their great
father, the President, and were earnestly
recommended to pursue.
This address was interpreted, sentence
by sentence, and at the end of each, first |
those who spoke one language, and then
those who spoke the other, gave, invari-
bly,, a sign of assent, which was a sort Of |
inarticulate sound or grunt. Before the
President had finished, the Judges of the |
Supreme Court, and some others, hap
pening to call on the President, increas-
ed the number of attentive auditors.
When the President had finished Ma !
ior OF. then told them their Great Fa-
Their was ready to hear what they had to
say, and he encouraged them to speak
with the same freedom that they would
use in their own village. The principal
Pawnee Chief then slept forward, and
having shaken hands with the President,
the Secretary of War, and Major ORAL