so this agreement declares we have the same right and privilege.

But, notwithstanding these things, the men about the Great King have persuaded him that he and the men in England, whom we never elected and appointed to make laws for us, have a right to take our money out of our pockets, without our consent, and to make laws to drag us away from our own Country, across the great water, and all this without asking us any thing about the matter, and violently against our consent and good-liking. And unjust and wicked as all this is, yet this is not the worst part of their usage to us. They have, by other laws, broken our agreement in whatever particular part they pleased; and these men about the Great King have so teased and persuaded him, that the Great King and the men in England, whom, as I told you before, we never appointed to make laws for us, have made one law which says the Great King and those men have a right to bind us, by laws of their making, in all cases whatsoever; which is as much as to say they have a right to treat us, and every thing belonging to us, just as they please; and this, you know, is as much as to say they have a right to take all our money, all our lands, all our cattle and horses, and such things; and not only all such things, but our wives and children, in order to make servants of them; and, besides all these things, to put us in strong houses,* and to put us to death whenever they please.

Friends and Brother Warriours:

Is it not now as plain as the sight at the end of your rifles, that these laws and proceedings are like so many hatchets chopping our agreement to pieces? Are not these unjust things enough to make us put on our shot-pouches? and especially when we find that our brothers over the great water will not only not hearken to the many good talks which we have sent them about these matters, but have really sent over people to take the hatchet up against us.

Oh, my brother warriours, it is a lamentable thing that our brothers beyond the great water should use us in this cruel manner. If they use us, their own flesh and blood, in this unjust way, what must you expect; you who are red people; you whom they never saw; you whom they know only by the hearing of the ear; you who have fine lands? You see, by their treatment to us, that agreements, even under hand and seal, go as nothing with them. Think of these things, my friends, and reflect upon them day and night.

Having told you that the men about the Great King persuaded him that he and the men in England have a right to take our money out of our pockets, without our consent, I must now tell you the contrivances they have fallen upon to take this money, whether we will or not. In order to take this money from us, they have ordered that we must pay a duty upon this and that thing, that we are accustomed to purchase; which is as much as to say that upon those things we purchase, we must pay to the Great King, against our consent, a sum of money above the real value of those things. And, in particular, they ordered that if we drink tea, we must pay so much money to the Great King. I must tell you this tea is somewhat like your black drink. But as we know that this order is contrary to our agreement, and also as we know the evil consequences of our paying this money, so your brothers, the white people in America, have resolved that they will not pay it; and therefore the men about the Great King have persuaded him to send soldiers to Boston; and we are told some are coming here to force the people here to give their money without their consent, and thereby to give up their rights and privileges, which are mentioned in the agreement.

Some foolish people say it is better to pay this money for the tea, than to go to war about it. But I tell you it is not about this money alone that we quarrel, for the money itself we do not regard as two corn-stalks, but we are afraid bad consequences will follow if we pay the money, as I will show you directly.

We find that the men in England talk among themselves, that they intend to make us in America pay to them a great sum of money every year. The way they intend to raise this money is, as I have told you already, by making us pay a duty upon this and that thing that we are accustomed to purchase. Now, this duty upon tea brings in but a very small part of that great sum of money they want to make us pay to them; and, therefore, we refuse to pay this money for the tea, lest, if we paid it, they would be encouraged to go on, time after time, to lay duties upon a great many other things which we are accustomed to purchase, in order that they may at last get from us that great sum of money which they want, and which, perhaps, is all we have. By which means, as your brothers, the white people, will be obliged to give more money than usual for those blankets, strouds, checks, linens, guns, powder, paint, and rum, with which you are supplied, so, if money is thus taken out of our pockets, without our consent and against our agreement, it is plain and certain that you and your people must pay two and three deer skins for those goods which you used to purchase of the traders for one deer skin. And thus you see that we do not quarrel only upon our own account, but that we have put on our shot-pouches not only to preserve our money, but also to preserve your deer skins.

Friends and Brother Warriours:

I have now told you the causes of our unhappy quarrel with the men over the great water. I hope your eyes are now opened, and that you see plainly that your interest is as much concerned in this quarrel as our interest; and that you also see that we have put on our shot-pouches, and have taken up our rifles, only to defend our rights and privileges according to the agreement, and, by so doing, to defend your deer skins against those who wish to rob you of them. Therefore, as your people and our people were born upon and live in the same land; as we are old acquaintances, and have thereby contracted a regard for each other; as our interest in this quarrel is the same, for the men over the great water cannot take our money, against our consent, without taking your deer skins also; as you see that no agreement is kept with us, so you cannot expect to be better treated by men who want all that you and ourselves have. I say, as all these things show you, that if we are hurt, you must be hurt also; if we lose, you must lose also; so I tell you, in time, that you and ourselves ought to join together, in order to save all of us from being hurt, or from losing, or from falling. Let us, therefore, exert ourselves—you at your end of the chain of peace, and we at our end—in order that we may keep this chain bright and shining. So shall we act to each other like brothers; so shall we be able to support and assist each other against our common enemies; so shall we be able to stand together, in perfect safety, against those evil men who in the end mean to ruin you, as well as ourselves, who are their own flesh and blood.

I am informed that you have been told that your brothers, the white people in Charlestown, used you ill when they seized some ammunition which your traders intended to have sent you. It is true, my friends, that we did seize this ammunition; and I tell you that your brothers, the white people, seized it with great concern, because they knew their seizing it would in some degree distress you. But I tell you, also, the men about the Great King are the only persons to be blamed in this affair; for, as we found that these men persuaded the Great King to send soldiers against us, and to stop all kinds of ammunition from coming to us as usual, in order that we should not be able to defend ourselves, so these men about the. Great King, by this proceeding, compelled us to seize such ammunition, for our defence, as came among us by accident; and accordingly we greedily seized the ammunition that was intended for your hunting, in order to have in our hands the means of defending our lives, our money, and your deer skins, as I told you before, against our oppressors. And this behaviour of ours was so natural and just, that we knew that when we came to talk to you on the matter, you would think we did nothing but what was just, and what you would have done had you been in our situation. However, the ammunition that was seized was intended to be sold to you; but, to show you that we regard you as brothers, we intend to make you a present of some. We wish we were able to give you as much as your occasions require; but as the Great King has so ordered it that we cannot get much for ourselves, and as we expect to fight our enemies, therefore we cannot afford to give you much of what we have. I know your good sense will inform you that this is perfectly reasonable, and that we ought not to give away so much ammunition as would leave us, and you also, exposed to

* Among Indians, strong houses mean prisons,