Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/213

 to have occurred at this interview. Te-cum-seh looked round for a seat, but not finding one provided for him, he betrayed his sur- prise, and his eyes flashed fire. The governor, perceiving the cause, instantly ordered a chair. One of the council offered the warrior his chair, and, bowing respectfully, said to him : •■' Warrior, your father, General Harrison, offers you a seat." " My father ! " ex- claimed Te-cum-seh, extending his hand towards the Heavens, " the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother ; she gives me nourishment, and I will repose on her hosom." He then threw himself on the ground. When the governor, who was seated in front of the dragoons, commenced his address, Te-cum-seh de- clared that he could not hear him, and requested him to remove his seat to an open space near himself. The governor complied, and in his speech complained of the constant depredations and murders which were committed by the Indians of Tippecanoe ; of the refusal on their part to give up the criminals ; and of the increasing accumulation of force in that quarter, for the avowed purpose of compelling the United States to relinquish lands, which they had fairly purchased of the rightful owners. Te-cum-seh, in his answer, denied that he had afforded protection to the guilty, but manfully admitted his design of forming a confederacy of all the red nations of that continent. He observed, that " the system, which the United States pursued of purchasing lands from the Indians, he viewed as a mighty water, ready to overflow his people, and that the confederacy which he was forming among the tribes, to prevent any tribe from selling land without the consent of the others, was the dam he was erecting, to resist this mighty water." And he added, " your great father, the president, may sit over the mountains and drink his wine, but if he continue this policy, you and I will have to meet on the battle field." He also admitted, that he was then on his way to the Creek nation, for the purpose he had just avowed, and he continued his journey two days after, with twelve or fifteen of his warriors. Having visited the Creek and other southern tribes, he crossed the Mississippi, and continued a northern course as far as the river Demoins, whence he returned to the Wabash by land. But a sad reverse of fortune awaited his return ; he found his town consumed, his bravest warriors slain, and a large deposit of provisions destroyed. On his departure, the settlement at Tippecanoe was left in charge of his brother, the prophet, with strict injunctions to prevent all hostile incursions, as they might lead to extremities before his plans were matured. The

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