[The Winning of the West, Volume Four by Theodore Roosevelt]@TWC D-Link bookThe Winning of the West, Volume Four CHAPTER II 9/79
The British officials circulated it everywhere among the tribes, reading it aloud to the gathered chiefs and fighting men.
"His Excellency Governor Simcoe has just now left my house on his way to Detroit with Lord Dorchester's speech to the Seven Nations," wrote Brant the Iroquois chief to the Secretary of Indian Affairs for Canada, "and I have every reason to believe when it is delivered that matters will take an immediate change to the Westward, as it will undoubtedly give those Nations high spirits and enable them by a perfect union to check General Wayne." [Footnote: Canadian Archives, Brant to Chew, April 21, 1794.] In April, Lieutenant Colonel John Butler, of the British army, addressed a great council of chiefs near Buffalo, beginning, "I have now a speech to deliver to you from your father Lord Dorchester, which is of the utmost consequence, therefore desire you will pay strict attention to it." [Footnote: Canadian Archives, Butler to Chew, April 27, 1794.] He then delivered the speech, to the delight of the Indians, and continued: "You have heard the great talk of our going to war with the United States, and by the speech of your Father just now delivered to you, you cannot help seeing there is a great prospect of it, I have therefore to recommend you to be all unanimous as one man, and to call in all your people that may be scattered about the Territories of the United States." McKee, the British Indian agent among the Northwestern tribes who were at war with the Americans, reported with joy the rapid growth of warlike spirit among the savages in consequence of Dorchester's speech, and of the building of the British fort on the Miami.
He wrote, "The face of the Indian affairs in this country, I have the greatest satisfaction in informing you, seems considerably altered for the better.
His Excellency Lord Dorchester's speech and the arrival here of speeches from the Spaniards induce me to believe that a very extensive union of the Indian Nations will be the immediate consequence.
The Lieutenant Governor has ordered a strong detachment of the 24th Regt.
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