I will copy the admirable speech of Governor Everett on that occasion, as I think it the happiest attempt ever made to meet the Indian in his own way, and catch the tone of his mind.  It was said, in the newspapers, that Keokuck did actually shed tears when addressed as a father.  If he did not with his eyes, he well might in his heart.

EVERETT’S SPEECH.

Chiefs and warriors of the Sauks and Foxes, you are welcome to our hall of council.

Brothers! you have come a long way from home to visit your white brethren; we rejoice to take you by the hand.

Brothers! we have heard the names of your chiefs and warriors; our brothers, who have travelled into the West, have told us a great deal of the Sauks and Foxes; we rejoice to see you with our own eyes, and take you by the hand.

Brothers! we are called the Massachusetts.  This is the name of the red men that once lived here.  Their wigwams filled yonder field; their council fire was kindled on this spot.  They were of the same great race as the Sauks and Misquakuiks.

Brothers! when our fathers came over the great waters, they were a small band.  The red man stood upon the rock by the seaside, and saw our fathers.  He might have pushed them into the water and drowned them.  But he stretched out his arm to our fathers and said, “Welcome, white men!” Our fathers were hungry, and the red men gave them corn and venison.  Our fathers were cold, and the red man wrapped them up in his blanket.  We are now numerous and powerful, but we remember the kindness of the red man to our fathers.  Brothers, you are welcome; we are glad to see you.

Brothers! our faces are pale, and your faces are dark; but our hearts are alike.  The Great Spirit has made his children of different colors, but he loves them all.

Brothers! you dwell between the Mississippi and the Missouri.  They are mighty rivers.  They have one branch far East in the Alleghanies, and the other far West in the Rocky Mountains; but they flow together at last into one great stream, and run down together into the sea.  In like manner, the red man dwells in the West, and the white man in the East, by the great waters; but they are all one branch, one family; it has many branches and one head.

Brothers! as you entered our council house, you beheld the image of our great Father Washington.  It is a cold stone—­it cannot speak.  But he was the friend of the red man, and bad his children live in peace with their red brethren.  He is gone to the world of spirits.  But his words have made a very deep print in our hearts, like the step of a strong buffalo on the soft clay of the prairie.

Brother!  I perceive your little son between your knees.  God preserve his life, my brother.  He grows up before you like the tender sapling by the side of the mighty oak.  May the oak and the sapling flourish a long time together.  And when the mighty oak is fallen to the ground, may the young tree fill its place in the forest, and spread out its branches over the tribe like the parent trunk.