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Ketagustah delivered the Cherokee reply to BOT's treaty proposal
Source: The Southern Frontier #86
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The [treaty] scene was repeated on September 9, when the Indian reply was made. 54 [Note 54 Ibid., October 7, 1730; C.O.; JBT, September 8, 9, 1730.] The speech of the Ketagustah had the authentic ring of aboriginal eloquence: ‘We are come hither from a dark Mountainous Place, where nothing but Darkness is to be found; but [we] are now in a place where there is light. ‘There was a Person in our Country with us, he gave us a Yellow token of Warlike Honour, that is left with Moytoy of Telliko, and as Warriours we received it; he came to us like a Warriour from you; a Man he was, his talk was upright, and the token he left preserves his Memory amongst us. ‘We look upon you as if the Great King George was present: and We love you, as representing the Great King, and shall Dye in the same Way of Thinking. ‘The Crown of our Nation is different from that which the Great King George wears, and from that which we saw in the Tower, but to us it is all one, and the Chain of Friendship shall be carried to our People. ‘We look upon the Great King George as the Sun, and as our Father, and upon ourselves as his Children; for tho' we are Red, and you are white, yet our Hands and Hearts are join'd together. ‘When we shall have acqainted our People with what we have seen, our Children from Generation to Generation will always remember it. ‘In War we shall always be as one with you, the Great King George's Enemies shall be our Enemies, his People and ours shall be always one, and [shall] dye together. ‘We came hither naked and poor, as the Worm of the Earth, but you have everything: and we that have nothing must love you, and can never break the Chain of Friendship which is between us. ‘Here stands the Governor of Carolina, whom we know; this small Rope which we shew you, is all we have to bind our slaves with, and may be broken, but you have Iron Chains for yours; however, if we catch your Slaves, we shall bind them as well as we can, and deliver them to our Friends again, and have no pay for it. ‘We have looked round for the Person that was in our Country, he is not here, however, we must say, that he talked uprightly to us, and we shall never forget him. ‘Your White People may very safely build Houses near us, we shall hurt nothing that belongs to them, for we are the Children of one Father, the Great King, and shall live and Dye together.’ Then laying the feathers upon the table, he added, ‘This is our Way of Talking, which is the same thing to us, as your letters in the Book are to you; and to you, beloved Men, we deliver these Feathers, in Confirmation of all that we have said.’ The Cherokee reply had pointedly objected to the exclusion of Cuming from the negotiations, and had omitted all mention of three articles of the pact. In a memorial 55 submitted to the Board on September 15, Cuming asserted that these omissions were intentional and the result of his absence, but the Indians had requested him to convey their answer on these points. [Note 55 c.o.]
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