The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-06-22

military policy of the English was overshad-
owed in Importance by another of Hendricks
speeches at the congress. 1t was delivered on
July 4, 1854 and in it he anticipated by % years
to the day some of the ideas expressed in the
Declaration of Independence. He said:
Brethren, it is very true, as you told US, that
the clouds hang heavy over us and it is not very
pleasant to look up; but we give this belt to
clear away all the Clouds that we may all live
in bright sunlight and keep together in strict
union and friendship. Then we shall become
strong and nothing can hurt us.
Brethren, will just tell you what people
we were formerly If any enemies arose against
us, we had no occasion to lift up our whole
hand against Them for our little finger was sufi-
cient; and as we have now made a strong con-
federacy If we are truly in earnest therein. we
may retrieve the ancient glory of the Five
Nations"
It is easy to imagine how attentively one
delegate to that congress listened to the words
of the Mohawk chieftain as he told Of the an
cient power of the Iroquois confederacy, power
gained so many years before because these "sav-
ages" realized that sin union there is strength
and put that realization into practical effect
That delegate was Benjamin Franklin of Penn
sylvania, who had in his pocket plan for a
union of the colonies which he had brought from
Philadelphia with him.
His plan provided for the appointment of a
president-general for the colonies, appointed by
the Crown, and the election by the various
colonial assemblies of a legislative body to be
called the grand council The powers which they
were to exercise resembled in many ways those
conferred upon the President and congress by
our federal Constitution. The delegates to the
Albany congress unanimously adopted Franklin's
plan, but 1t was defeated when brought to a vote
in the colonial assemblies.
CO tha ho Mother ntrvt
deaf ears to the wisdom that came from the
lips Of such men as King Hendrick of the Mo-
hawks and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania
and went back to their policy of. "blundering
through" They Numbered seriously several
times in the campaign against Crown Point the
next year. One of their blunders was in disre-
garding the advice of King Hendrick who had
led his Mohawks to aid his friend, Sir William
johnson, who commanded the expedition.
When it was proposed to send detachment
of 1000 troops and 300 Indians to the aid of
besieged Fort Edward, the Mohawk chief OBJ
jected. "If they are to fight, they are too few"
he said. "If they are to die, they are too many"
But the council of war OVERRIDE him. Then when
1t was proposed to send the detachment against
the enemy in three parties Hendrick again
preached his message of sin union there is
strength" Picking up three sticks from the
ground, he said: '''Put these together and you
cannot break them; take them one by one and
you will do it easily"
But again his advice was disregarded and the
detachment started against the gallant and able
commander, Dieskau. The result was the ambush
at Bloody Pond, the defeat of the colonials with
the loss of 100 men, including the leader of the
detachment, Col Ephraim Williams, and stout
old Hendrick His horse was shot down at the
first volley and before he could extrcate him
self French bayonet pierced his heart.
So the great Mohawk died before he could see
his English allies blunder through the French
and Indian war to successful conclusion But
his oft-repeated sin union there is strength was
not utterly lost. Another man who had preached
the same message at the Albany congress con-
tinued to preach it-through his snake cartoon,
through his writings and in his speeches in the
Continental congress. So Benjamin Franklin
lived to see it become an accomplished fact. He
helped write a pledge to such a union in the
Declaration of Independence and even though
during the dark days of the Revolution the bonds
of that union seemed about to be broken. they
survived long enough to win American liberty
But before he died he saw that union imper
ishably preserved in the Constitution of the
United States of America.
oby Western Newspaper Union.