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Show they a owed Tm m$ l V w 4 ' , ' ' ' 'S.V't ''"In) v SNAKE CARTOOrJ FRANMin v, H ; J - ( 1 1 o j 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON V N JULY 4 the American people will B v celebrate the one hundred sixty- 31 ll eighth anniversary of the event WWL which won them their liberty the HrtiiiZrj adoption of the Declaration of In- tri M tlePendeDce- 0n tliat day officially finnnnr called Independence day, but bet- U ter known as the "Fortl1 of Juy." gjUUIJU'w they will honor the memory of those "56 Immortals" who signed the document In which they held certain "truths to be self-evident," In which they did "solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent inde-pendent states" and in which "for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence," they did "mutually "mu-tually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes for-tunes and our sacred honor." We know the names of most of them the men who took the first decisive step toward winning independence and forming a new nation. But how many Americans know the names of other men who, many years before, had sowed the seeds of that liberty and of that new nation? How many of us know of Robert Livingston who, as early as 1701, was proposing colonial co-operation and a colonial union? And to how many of us does the name of Teoniahagarawe. or King Hendrick, a chief of the Mohawk Indians, In-dians, have any significance in the struggle for liberty? It is with these two men, but more particularly with King Hendrick, and with the events which foreshadowed the Declaration that this article deals. Although the British Crown encouraged the idea of a colonial union to aid in its struggle with France for mastery of North America, the colonies paid little heed to such an idea coming from the Mother country and either disregarded or evaded directly her appeals to them to contribute con-tribute to the conduct of the wars. So it seemed that the only possibility for co-operative effort lay in voluntary action on the part of the colonies. colo-nies. Sensing this fact, Robert Livingston, a leading merchant of New York who was much interested in opening up the rich resources of the back country, came forward with a flan of colonial union in 1701. Livingston realized that the colony of New York alone could not carry out his ambitious scheme of development so In a long letter, dated May 13, 1701, he laid before the British Council of Trade and Plantations his scheme for uniting the colonies in "one form of government," divided into three groups, a southern, a central and a northern. Each year there was to be raised from this government a certain sum of money which would be administered from Albany by a board of commissioners selected from eacti of the groups. ' The Crown was to send troops and equipment and the three groups were to supply labor, under a quota arrangement, for buildin and garrisoning forts which were to be built in the wilderness to protect settlers who were to be encouraged to take up lands In the West. Every two years the British government was to send out "two hundred youths" as replacements for 200 of the soldiers who were to be mustered out of service but who, if they would remain in the country, were to receive free land. It was an excellent scheme and the British Crown was quick to realize its advantages. But, as usual, a lack of co-operation among the colonies colo-nies prevailed and nothing came of Livingston's plan. For another half century they went their separate ways. By the middle of the Eighteenth century the menace of French expansion In the West and the tightening of their alliance with the Indians began to alarm the colonies seriously. seri-ously. In 1753 young George Washington, sent by Virginia to the Ohio country to wain the French away from this region claimed fy the British, returned with their flat refusal to go. Then Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent Captain Trent and his backwoodsmen to build a fort at the forks of the Monongahela, but before they could finish their woik the French drove Trent away. On May 9, 1754, the Pennsylvania Gazette of Philadelphia contained an account of Trent's surrender of the fort and predictet that unless something were done, the French would "kill, seize and imprison our Traders and confiscate their Effects at Pleasure (as they have done for several Years past), murder and scalp our Farmers, with their Wives and Children, and take an easy Possession of such parts of the British Territory as they find most convenient for them : which If they are permitted to do, must end in the Destruction of the British Interest, In-terest, Trade and Plantations In America." Along with this appeal for concerted action there appeared in the Gazette the first real i cartoon, drawn by the publisher of the Gazette, j Benjamin Franklin. It showed a disjointed snake, ! each part labeled with the Initals of one of the j colonies, and under it the motto "Join, or Die." i Later Franklin's graphic portrayal of the J urgent necessity for colonipl union wras reprinted i in other papers throughout the colonies, who soon had an opportunity to put into practical effect the lesson which it taught but who, as usual, muffed the chance. That was at the famous fa-mous Albany congress of 1754. For as George M. Wrong, author of the volume "The Conquest of New France" In "The Chronicles of America" series, says: "The English colonists showed a political blindness that amounted to imbecility. Albany was the central point from which the dangers on all sides might best be surveyed. Here came together in the summer of 1754 delegates dele-gates from seven of the colonies to consider the common peril. The French were busy in winning, win-ning, as they did, the support of the many Indian In-dian tribes of the West; and the old allies of the English, the Iroquois, were nervous for their own safety. "The delegates to Albany, tied and bound by instructions from their assemblies,, had to listen to plain words from the savages. The one Englishman Eng-lishman who, in dealing with the Indians, had tact and skill equal to that of Frontenac of old was an Irishman, Sir William Johnson. To him the Iroquois made indignant protests that the English were as ready as the French to rob them of their lands. . . ." Outstanding among these native orators who spoke such plain words to the delegates was Teoniahigarawe or King Hendrick of the Mohawks. Mo-hawks. Although he is not so well known to most Americans as that other Mohawk leader, Thay-endanegea Thay-endanegea or Joseph Brant, Hendrick was one of the most important Indian figures in colonial history. He was born about 1G72 near the present pres-ent site of Westfield, Mass. Although he was the son of a Mohegan of the Wolf clan, his mother was a Mohawk woman, so he became a member of the latter tribe. Some time between 1690 and 1692 Teoniahigarawe was converted to Christianity Chris-tianity by a Dutch preacher named Godefridus Dellius and given the name of Hendrick Peters, later shortened to Hendrick. As a Christian preacher and a natural leader, Hendrick rapidly rose to a position of prominence promi-nence among the Mohawks as an orator and a councillor. After the failure of General Nicholson's Nichol-son's expedition against Canada during Queen Anne's war, the provincial authorities of New York became fearful that the Iroquois might join forces with the French. To prevent this ad to gain more active support from the Mother country coun-try in carrying on the war, Col. Peter Schuyler decided to make a journey to England and to take with him several Iroquois leaders. Hendrick was one of the five chosen to go and In April, 1710, Schuyler and his Iroquois delegation arrived ar-rived in London where they were received with great ceremony as "native kings" of the Five Nations of the Iroquois confederacy. Upon their return to America King Hendrick took an active part In the preparations for the campaign against the French, but the Treaty of Utrecht ended the war before any important results were accomplished. From that time on Hendrick was much in the limelight as a war leader of his people but more as an orator and a frequent speaker at councils with the provincial pro-vincial authorities in- Albany. For a time he was swayed toward the cause of the French but the influence of Sir William Johnson, with whom he later became such a firm friend kent him loyal to the English. ' During the negotiations with the Iroquois at the Albany congress Hendrick was the chief speaker for the Indians. In answer to charts that the Iroquois were leaning to the French he replied hotly: "You have asked us the reason of our being driven like leaves before the wind The reason is because of your neglect of us hese three years past. You have thrown s behind your back and disregarded us, the French are always turning this way and thnt w-Uh their eyes ever upon the trail, eve" t ng their utmost endeavors every day wall- softly like the wolf in winter to LducVand ir g our people over to them. 'Tis your f... t . ren, that we are not strengtUl L t for we would have gone and taken Crow, Toint' and ph,1tndwd We 'md oS and take It, but we were told It ,.,, , and that the Ice would not TL u te, '"t this, you burnt your own forts nt 5 f and run away from it, whlc I as a scandal to vou. Look ahot , 10 see You h.ve no 0 a"d not even to this city. Look at the Z,, l, ' are men. They are fortifving ever vw , we are ashamed to sav It J , J le' Ul,t-en-weak and defLsels 3 " '"'e a" "ke -t this stinging indictment of the fttU(frlns military policy of the English was over; , owed in importance by another of Ilemli:, : speeches at the congress. It was deliver : July 4, 1754, and in it he anticipated by 22 j? to the day some of the Ideas expressed it Declaration of Independence. He said: "Brethren, it Is very true, as you told us. ; : the clouds hang heavy over us and It Is not t : pleasant to look up ; but we give this Iti : clear away all the clouds, that we may all -in bright sunlight, and keep together In n union and friendship. Then we shall kn : strong and nothing can hurt us. "Brethren, 1 will just tell you what a f" we were formerly. If any enemies arose ar. us, we had no occasion to lift up our si : hand against them, for our little finger was' cient; and as we have now made a str)3 federacy If we are truly in earnest tlicrei:. may retrieve the ancient glory of the f Nations." It is easy to imagine how attentive!; : delegate to that congress listened to the ' of the Mohawk chieftain as he told of II- -cient power of the Iroquois confederacy, 1: : gained so many years before because these ! ages" realized that "in union there Is strr: and put that realization Into practical That delegate was Benjamin Franklin of I' sylvania, who had In his pocket a plan !' union of the colonies which he had brought -Philadelphia with him. His plan provided for the appointmet: president-general for the colonies, appite- : the Crown, and the election by the tr colonial assemblies of a legislative body : called the grand council. The powers which ') i were to exercise resembled in many war!" ; conferred upon the President and conpw ; our federal Constitution. The delegates Albany congress unanimously adopted to---plan, but It was defeated when brought to i; in the colonial assemblies. So the colonies and the Mother country!' deaf ears to the wisdom that came frc' lips of such men as King Hendrick of fc1 ; hawks and Benjamin Franklin of Pen5:-and Pen5:-and went back to their policy of ; through." They blundered seriously times in the campaign against Crown Pc next year. One of their blunders was to -. garding the advice of King Hendrick S: led his Mohawks to aid his friend, Sir If-..;; Johnson, who commanded the expedlti . When it was proposed to send a detac-- of 1,000 troops and 300 Indians to the besieged Fort Edward, the Mohawk clft , jected. "If thoy are to fight, they are tw . he said. "If they are to die, they are toot-But toot-But the council of war overrode him. Tte . it was proposed to send the detachment s.- . the enemy in three parties, Hendrick , preached his message of "in union t' strength." Picking up three sticks f -.. ground, he said: "Put these together s-- .. cannot break them ; take them one by lt you will do It easily." . - But again his advice was disregarded . detachment started against the gallant i-- . commander, Dieskau. The result wasting , at Bloody Pond, the defeat of the colo' the loss of 100 men, Including Hie IM"'', detachment, Col. Ephraim William a"1 old Hendrick. Ills horse was shot doi- first volley and before he could estnj self a French bavonet pierced his W'- .. r So the great Mohawk died l-,fore ' r his English nllles blunder thi'ou?'1 " ; and Indian war to a successful com' ' his oft-repeated "in union there is stro -not utterly lost. Another man who 1 ; the same message at the Alba"? f'"' ,j: . tinned to preach It through his sM;. ,,; through his writings and In hissing ; Continental congress. So renjj""' (Jii .' lived to see It become an accoinP115 " ,. j helped write a pledge to sm'li a '' ... Declaration of Independence ami t( - j during the dark days of the Keve hi " ; : of that union seemed about to 1,0 j " ,; survived long enough to win A1' ' But befor he died he saw that ,. Ishnbly preserved in flu- Const111 United States of America. f by Wosioir N.wvr v"' ' |