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that it was already ceded to them by the great king at the time of making peace with you, and was then their own; but they said that they would not take advantage of that, and were willing to pay us for it, after the manner of their ancestors. Our chiefs were unwilling to contend at that time, and therefore they sold the land up to the line, which was then sold them, as the line of that State. What the commissioners had said about the land has been ceded to them at the peace, they considered only to lessen the price, and they passed it by with very little notice; but since that time, we have heard so much from others about the right to our lands, which the king gave when you made peace with him, that it is our earnest desire that you will tell us what it means. Our nation empowered J.L. to let out a part of our lands __ he told us that he was sent by congress to do this for us and we fear he has deceived us in the writing he obtained from us: for since the time of our giving that power, a man named Phelps has come and claimed our whole country northward of the line of Pennsylvania under a purchase from that L. to whom he said he had paid twenty thousand dollars for it__ he also said that he had bought it from the council of the thirteen fires, and paid them twenty thousand more for the same__ and he also said that it did not belong to us, for that the great king had ceded the whole of it when you made peace with him. Thus he claimed the whole country north of Pennsylvania, and west of the Land belonging to the Cayugas. He demanded it __ he insisted on his demand, and declared to us that he would have it all. It was it impossible for us to grant him this, and we immediately refused it. After some days he proposed to run a line a small distance eastward of our western boundary, which we also refused to agree to. He then threatened us with immediate war if we did not comply. Upon this threat our chiefs held a council, and they agreed that no event of war could be worse than