The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-03-29
THE MOHAWK INDIANS.
Their Form of GOvernment-TheA At
tack on schenectady In I69O-The
French JesuIIs.

tack on Schenectady In I69O-The
French JesuIIs.
Anything pertaining to National glory
brings forth in bold relief the deeds and
actors of world renowned Greece and
Rome as the basis upon which we may
form our opinions of good or bad gov
ernmeut. We may justly do 80, for in
the history of these nations we find
much worthy of the highest considera-
tiOn.
AT the time our ancestors came to this
country they found a form of govern
ment adopted by our Mohawk Indians
differing from any form that had ever
before existed. 1t became an object of
study. They found that it embodied all
the essential of the best governments OF
Greece and Rome. In the adoption of
the principles contained in this form OF
government, we find the origin of our
constitution.
A race, though savage we may say,
able to establish and enforce such prin-
ciples, is deserving of study.
At the advent of the whites the south.
eastern part of New York was inhabited
by several subordinate tribes of Indians
belonging to the Algonquin race, and
the remaining part of the State by the
celebrated Five Nations of the Iroquois
stock The names of places, bequeathed
by the various tribes, indicate to what
race they belonged; the Algonquin
words being harsh and full of gutturaIs,
while the lrOquOis names are usually
smooth, soft and musical. The five ma
tions included the Oneidas to the south
east of Oneida lake, the Onondagas to
the south of Onondaga lake, the Cayugas
on the eIst bank of Cayuga lake, the
Senecas west of Senaca lake, and the
Mohawks upon the lower Mohawk river.
The Mohawks were the eldest people in
the league of the Five Nations. They
believed that they were liberated from
subteranean confinement by Tareya-
wagon, who guided them into the valley
of the Mohawk; thence they passed to
the Hudson and the sea; but the valley
in which they at first established them
selves was the seat Of their power from
the discovery of the country until the
American revolution. Their dominion
extended from Lake Champlain to the
headwaters Of the Susquehanna and the
Delaware. Renowned above all other
nations for their skill as warriors they
carried terror wherever they went.
The confederacy to which they be-
longed was the most permanent and
powerful of the savage governments
found in North America. Seeing the
other tribes destroying themselves by
internal discOlds, the IroquOIs formed
themselves into a confederacy in which
the principles of military glory and tri-
bal union were carried to the highest
npFTprtinn Thpy Fnrcnp1 and
bunting but returned to their fixed VII
lagos, where their families followed
agricultural pursuits. In the IrnquOis
nation, we see the action of the prInci-
pies afterwards embodied in the COnsti-
tuition of the United States. Each tribe
was independent. and each was bound
to the Others Of the cOnfederaGy by ties
of general interests and honor. very
much in the same manner as the United
States of America are held together;
each had voice in the general councils.
and possessed a kind of veto power,
Matters of common interest were decid-
ed in general meeting of the sachems
OF all the nations, commonly held at
Onondaga. They followed the maxims,
used by the ancient Romans, of encour-
aging other nations to incorporate with
them. and adopted captive people into
their confederacy; in this way their
strength became such that in the early
part OF the nth century they had con-
quered all the neighbOring tribes, and
doubtless in hundred years, had the
whites not cOlOniZed America, would
have absorbed all nations from Canada
to the Gulf of Mexico. Their snchems
were constituted by the general voice,
admitting their courage and wisdom
they lived in true Roman simplicity, &C
cepting no salary, disregarding profit,
and giving away their share of the plum.
der of war, or the peTquisltes, Of peace !;
they despised everyun worthy action, and
thought themselves fully rewarded by
the love and respect Of the people. Feel
ing themselves by nature, and by their
political system superior to other ma
tions, they possessed courage which
made them the terror of other tribes /;
the time has been when single Mohawk
was enough to put to flight hundred
OF the New England Indians, and when
an old chief in the forest costume, issued
his orders to trlbut try nations With un-
questionable authority of Roman die
tator. AS among all brave nations the
chief was more respecteds among the
lroquois than in any other Indian tribe.
The lroquois matrons possessed con.
servatIve power in the State, being rep.
resented in the public councils, and ex.
erclslng a veto influence in the declara
tion of peace and war; this was certain.
ly very remarkable in a government
founded on military principles Slavery
was unknown to them. AS in other Re.
| nnhlIran TO o,A
person has power to control, the arts OF
persuasion were highly cultivated; the
lroquois were celeb ated for their elo-
quence.
Their language though gutteral was
sonorous. Their orators studied eupbO-
ny in their words and in their arrange
ment Their graceful attitudes and ges.
lures and their flowing sentences, rem
dered their discourses, if not always
eloquent, at least highly impressive. An
erect and commanding figure with a
blanket thrown loosely over the shoul-
der, with his naked arm raised, and ad-
dressing in impressive strains group
OF similar persons sitting upon the
ground around him, would give no faint
picture of Rome in her early days. BY
way of illustration we need only men .
tion the Cayuga Logan, the Seneca Red
Jacket, the Odeida Shenandoah, the
lOnondagua Garangula and the famous
Mohawk Brandt.
In 16OS the first efficient settlement
was made in Canada by Samuel Cham
plain, the French navigator, who found
ed Quebec. On July the 4th, 1909. with
two white attendants and company of
Canadian Indians, he entered the lake
which bears his name, and on the 30th
fought battle on the west shore, with
a band Of Mohawks and defe lted them
At this time the lrO1uois were waglng a
desperate war with the HurOns and Al
gOnquins, who inhabited part of that
province. Champlain entered into an
alliance with the AlgonquIns and by
furnishing them with men and fire arms
enabled them to gain the ascendency.
The lroquois, who had always been VIC
tociOus and who considered the Hurons
and Algonquins as little better than vas
sails, could not brook this pfeat. They
applied to and courted the friendship Of
the Dutch, who on the 9th Of Sept. 1909,
found their way up the Hudson river
and established themselves at Albany.
From them they obtained arms and am
munitioD, and soon regaIned the iufiu-
enCe which they had lost. This oppor-
tune arrival and assistance Of the Dutch
together with their mild, conciliatory
manners, ,endeared them to the Iroquois
who afterwards looked up to them for
advice and direction in their own affairs,
and protected and fought for them with
promptness and cheerfulness. But the
interference Of the French aroused the
indignation of these naughty warriors
for almost a century they harrassed
their infant colonies. and visited with a