INDIANS

From the Savannah Mercury

At a Council of the chiefs, head men and warriors of the Creek Nation, convened by authority, the Talk of the President was communicated by the Agent. After a profound silence of many minutes duration, Speckled Snake, a warrior, whose head has whitened with the frosts of more than a hundred winters, and who-supported himself on the shoulders of two young men, it is supposed, arose, and spoke as follows:-

Brothen (sic)! we have heard the Talk of our great father; it is very kind; he says he loves his red children.

Brothers! I have listened to many talks from our great father. when he first came over the wide waters, he was but a little man, and wore a red coat. Our chiefs met him on the banks of the Savannah, and smoked with him the pipe of peace. He was then very little. His legs were cramped by sitting long in his big boat, and he begged for a little land to light his fire on. He said he had come over the wide waters to teach Indians new things, and to make them happy. He said he loved his red brothers; he was very kind.

The Muscogees gave the white man land, and kindled him a fire, that he might warm himself, and when his enemies, the pale faces of the South, made war on him, their young men drew the tomahawk, and protected his head from the scalping knife.- But when the white man had warmed himself before the Indian's fire, and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large. With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains and the vallies (sic)- His hands grasped the Eastern and the Western sea, and his head rested on the moon. Then he became our great father. He loves his red children, and he said, 'get a little farther, lest I tread on thee.' With one foot he pushed the red man over the Oconee, and with the other he trampled down the graves of his fathers, and the forests where he had so long hunted the deer. But our great father still loved his red children; and he soon made to them another talk, he said 'get a little farther, you are too near me.' But there were some bad men among the Muscogees, then, as there are now. They lingered around the graves of their ancestors, till they were crushed beneath the heavy tread of our great father, their teeth pierced his feet, and made him angry. Yet he continued to love his red children, and when he found them too slow in moving, he sent his great guns before him to sweep his path.

Brothers! I have listened to a great many talks from our great father.- But they always began and ended in this- 'get a little further, you are too near me.'

Brothers! Our great father says, 'where we now are, our white brothers have always claimed the land.' He speaks with a strait (sic) tongue, and cannot lie. But when he first came over the wide waters, while he was yet small, and stood before the great chief at the council on Yamacraw Bluff, he said-'give me a little land, which you can spare, and I will pay you for it.'

Brothers! When our great father made us a talk, on a former occasion, and said-'get a little farther; go beyond the Oconee, the Ocmulgee, there is a pleasant country-he also said, it shall be yours forever.' I have listened to his present talk; he says the land where you now live is not yours- go beyond the Mississippi; there is game, and you may remain while the grass grows or the water runs. Brothers, will not our great father come there also? he loves his red children. He speaks with a strait (sic) tongue, and will not lie.

Brothers! Our great father says that our mad men have made his heart bleed, for the murder of one of his white children. Yet where are the red children he loves, once as numerous as the leaves of the forest? how many have been murdered by his warriors; how many have been crushed beneath his won footsteps?

Brothers! Our great father says we must go beyond the Mississippi. We shall there be under his care, and experience his kindness. He is very good. We have felt it all before!

Brothers! I have done.