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PAPERS RELATING TO THE SIX NATIONS.

Colour of a title thereto, Tho I am Confident they have no pretensions to Lands North of that River or beyond certain Mountains which I heard both the Cherokees and 6 Nations many years agodeclare to be the true boundary between them. The Indians were for Continuing the Line fromCanada Creek in a manner which wo d have been judged very disadvantageous to this Province andtherefore we agreed to stop at the Mouth of Canada till his Majestys pleasure wo d be known, when,as it is an affair in which only Two Nations are concerned I apprehend I can settle it reasonablyand perilaps on much more advantageous terms.

It will be impossible for you to Judge in the least of my Trouble and the difficulties I had toovercome from the Extracts I have sent or indeed from a Copy of the whole, for the most MaterialPoints are settled at private Congresses with the Chiefs of wch no minutes can be taken, and theseI was engaged in Night & Day, for as we came to Argue the Continuation of the Boundary North-ward from Fort Pitt, we had sev 1 disputes & the difficulties encreased in proportion as we went tothe Northward and Came near the Settlements of the Six Nations or their depend 18 and to add to allthis Two N. England Missionaries came up the one of whom was strongly recommended to me byD r Wheelock of Connecticut and did all in their power to prevent the Oneidas (whose property partof the Susquehannah &c is) from agreeing to any Line that might be deemed Reasonable They hadeven the face in opposition to his Majestys Commands & the desire of the Colonies to Memorial mePraying that the Ind s might not be allowed to give up far to the North or West but to reserve itfor the purposes of Religion,—and publickly declared to sev 1 Gentlemen there, that they had takeninfinite pains with the Ind 3 to obstruct the Line & would Continue to do so. The New Englanders have had Missionaries for sometime amongst the Oneidas & Oghquagaes and I was not ignorantthat their old pretensions to the Susquehanna Lands, w r as their Real, tho’ Religion was theirassumed object, but knowing that any steps I could take with these Missions 8 would from the Ind 3conceptions be deemed violent I treated them with silent contempt, Tho I think you shouldknow these Circumstances, & the Government & public in Gen 1 should see in what manner theirfavors & Indulgences are made use of by these Gentry of which I co d give many Instances beingpossessed of their secret instructions & many other very extraordinary papers.

The Reservations the Ind 3 have made and every thing else necessary will I hope be confirmed& secured by Colony Laws, I have only at this time to add my Wishes that the Transactions at thelate Treaty may be agreeable to you, & to assure you that I am with the greatest Truth & Regard.

Dear Sir &c

My last Letters were of the 18 ll i & 20 th of this month.

DR. SHUCKBURGII TO SIR WM. JOHNSON,

TOUCHING THE INDIAN PRAYER-BOOK.

N. York 28 Nov r 17C8.

Sir As I had often visited M r Gaine ab l the Ind n Prayer Books I was w th him this Day, he saysall that he lias to do w th them will be finishd in a few Days then will send them to theBinders so that in less than a fortnight you may have some of them up. I have made bold to tellhim not to let any go out of his hands till you have the whole that you want, for he spoke as if M rOgilvie would Expect some to send to his friends in England. M r Gaine desir’d me to inform yonthat those that you woud have bound in Moroco Leather had better be sent in Sheet to England &hound there as ’twill be difficult to get that sort of Leather, Expensive, & the work not so neatly