The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-05-27
" They heard his Voice."

Historical Society. A learned paper upon
the ancient trails and territorial boundaries
of the far famed lroquois, had enlisted the at
tention of the members so deeply, that the
usual hour for ad journment was nearly FOR.
gotten When the reader at length closed
his dissertation, a member ofthe Society rose
and stated that there was a yeritable lroquolS
of the full blood present; and, notwlthstanu-
ing the lateness of the hour, the Society would
perhaps be gratifed to hear any remarks he
might be willing to offer upon the paper just
read. The President Hon. Luther Bradlsh,
warmly welcomed the suggestion, and an In
dian, with all the characteristics of his race
strongly printed upon his trontispece, glided
from under the shadow Of the bookcases, and
planted himself upon the floor. The red-man
smiled and bowed with graceful self possession,
at the round of applause which greeted him;
and then, with remarkable address, he touch
cd upon point after point of the discourse
which had just been read, in language at once
choice and forcible, and delivered with just
that degree of hesitation which would charac-
terize speaker who was tranSlating his
thoughts At last he came to a sentence in
which his white predecessor upon the floor
had said, {" The Iroquois had left no monu-
ments." His response to this was most an
imated burst of eloquonce and from that mo-
inent, his Speech having now direct pur-
pose, became one of the most touching and
dgnified appeals we ever listened to; invok-
ing the Society to interpoSc between those
who survived of his people, and the influence
es which were at work to eXpel them from
the remnant of their ancient possessions in
this State He said:
The hon. gentleman has told you that the
IrocIIoic hoUo did bn
previously prove, that the land of Gano-no-o,
or the Empire State, as you love to call it,
was once laced by our trails from Albany to
Buffalo-trails that we had trod for centuries
trails worn so deep by the feet of the lro-
quois, that they became your roads Of travel,
as your possessions gradually eat into those Of
my people? Your roads still traverse those
same lines of communication, and bind one
part Of the Long House to another. The
land Of Gano-no-o-the Empire State-thcn,
is our monument and we wish its soil to rest
above our bones when we shall be no more.
We shall not long occupy much room IN hV-
ing; we shall occupy still less when we are
gone q single tree of the thousands which
sheltered our forefathers-one old elm under
which the representatives of the tribes were
wont to meet-will cover us all but we would
have our bodies twincd in death among its
roots, on the very soil whence it grew per-
haps it will last the longer from being fertil-
lied with their decay"
The deep and respectful silence with which
these words were listened to, was broken the
next moment by peal of laughter from the
audience, at some grotesquc touches Of irony
while mingled sarcasm and eloquent invectve
called out an involuntary munnur of plaudits,
as the Iroquois speaker proclaiming himself
" a native American" commended his white
brethren for their alacrity in helping the
Pole, the Greek, and the inhabitants Of the
British Islands" and recorded his approval of
philanthropy generally, provided the original
owners of the soil they lived on were not ex-
Guided from its wide embrace. He thought
it well, too, that the books of white men might
occasionally allow, that an Indian had some
feeling for his parent or his son, for the wife
of his bosom, and for the land of his BIRTH
ills gcsticulations in this part of his speech
were singularly characteristic, and added
much to its effect. Turning then to the pres
ident, he said
81 have been told that the first object of
this Society is to presorvo the history of the
State of New York You, all of you, know,
that alike in its wars and its treaties, the lro-
quois, long before the Revolution, formed a
part of that history; that they were then one
in council with you, and were taught to be-
leve themselves one in interest, In your
last war with England, your red brother
your elder brother-still came up to help you,
as of old, on the Canada frontier! Have VIC,
the first holders of this prosperous region, no
longer share in your history? Glad were
your forefathcrS to sit down upon the thrcsh-
old of the Long House rich, did they then
hold themselves in getting the mere sweep
ines from its door, Had our forefathers
spurned you from it when the French were
laundering at the opposite end, to get pas
sage through and drive you into the sea, what
ever has been the fate of other Indians, the
Iroquois might still have been nation; and
I-1-instead of pleading here for the privi-
lcge of lingering within your bordcrs-l-l
might have had-a country"
As the Iroquois thus spoke, his dark fea-
lures were compressed from strong internal
agitation; big tear gathered in his eye long
before he reached the close Of the sentence !;
but slowly uttering what he said, he held it
suspended there with such resolute frmness,
that it did not fall, while his eye became
glazed with the gathering emotion which
words alone could not relieve. We never
witnessed stronger sensation in any assem-
blage and VIC rejoice for the honor Of the
Historical Society, that it instantly took Or
der, as the first step for preserving the re-
mains of the Iroquois in this state, to raise a
sum of money to bring back the remnant Of
the families expatriated last summer one
half of whom have already persisted in the
swamps of Missouri. 1t would indeed seem
like the very mockery of the true interests of
humanity, for an institution of learning to give
its best energies to the Old Mortality" bu-
siness of deciphering inscriptions on the graves
of nations, and turn deaf ear to the last chap
ter of their living history, now enacting be-
fore their very eyes.
The name of this eloquent Iroquois orator
is WAo-wA-wANA-oNK or THEY heard his
voice ~. Y. Literary World.