food and drink, that we may meet around our lodge-fires with comfort and rejoice in His goodness, even while he spreads his white robe upon the hills, and lays the couch of winter upon the plains.
"All these—all this country—everything that the Long-knife beholds are ours. The Yellow-hair7 said truly, —all, all belong to us; —we have them —the Great Spirit has given them to us, —they are ours! (Great applause.)
"Long-knife: You have come to trade with us:—it is good. Your people are wise, and make many things;—you bring them to us, and we take them; but we give you robes and horses in their stead;—we pay you for them all. Yet, the Long-knife pays not for all he takes from us.
"Do I say the Long-knife steals? No. The Long-knife will not steal. He says, none but bad men steal, and the Long-knife is not bad. But yet he takes our property without paying for it! He kills our game, he eats our meat, he burns our wood, he drinks our water, and he travels our country, and what does he give the red man in exchange for all this? (Unbounded applause.)
"Long-knife and friend: My people are generous, —they are brave, they are all soldiers. The Long-knife bears the fire-water in his roadtravellers, (waggons;)—we have heard of it and are glad.
7This is the name applied, by the Indians, to Gen. Clarke, one of the leaders of the first party of whites that ever crossed the mountains. An allusion is here had to an expression made use of in his talk to the Sioux on that occasion.
"My people would drink of the fire-water that their strong hearts may become stronger. It is good that they should drink it, —it is good that the Long-knife should give it to them; that we be twice glad to see him, and bless him in our hearts while we drink around our lodge-fires. (Applause.)
"Long-knife: Would you be our friend? Then give us the fire-water. My people are generous, but they are brave. The Long-knife has taken our property, let him refuse not the fire-water, lest they be angry and rise like the mountain bear, nerved for conflict. Then will they take it of themselves and avenge the wrongs of the red man!" (Great applause.)
Upon this, the Brave Bear resumed his seat, and the commandant began his reply, which was rendered into the Sioux language, by their interpreter. The purport of it was:
"It is true, the Great Spirit is good to His children. He made all things of which the Brave Bear speaks, and He has given them to his children. The white and the red man are alike his children; the buffalo, the elk, the deer, and the antelope, with the wood, the water, and the whole country around, equally belong to both.
"I and many people have come as friends, to trade with you. We have smoked with you before. The Long-knife takes nothing from you he pays not for. He buys the things he bears to you in a far distant country, and throws for them the white-iron8. He brings them to you and swaps them for robes and horses.
"He takes nothing without paying for it, unless it be that which the Great Spirit has given equally to his children, —the white and the red man.
