I was instructed not to speak in the royal presence, unless in answer to your majesty’s questions.  But my feelings overpower me.  My heart is full.  I am amazed at such unexpected grace and condescension, and cannot doubt that I shall be pardoned for expressing my gratitude.  The sun is shedding his genial rays upon our heads.  He reminds us of the great Creator of the universe—­of Him who can make alive and who can kill.  Oh! may that gracious and beneficent Being, who promises to answer the fervent prayers of his people, bless abundantly your majesty.  May He grant you much bodily health, and, for the sake of your happy subjects, may He prolong your valuable life!  It is not alone the four individuals, who now stand before your majesty, who will retain to the end of their lives a sense of this kind and touching reception—­the whole of the nations, whose representatives we are, will ever love and be devoted to you, their good and great father.

His majesty felt deeply every word of the speech, when interpreted by the chief of the warriors.  The king answered, that he derived high satisfaction from the sentiments they had expressed, and assured them that he should always be much interested in the happiness of his North American subjects, and would avail himself of every opportunity to promote their welfare, and to prove that he was indeed their father.  After acknowledging in gracious terms the pleasure which the speech of the grand chief had afforded him, he mentioned, in an easy and affable manner, that he had once before in his life seen some individuals of the Indian nations, but that was fifty-five or fifty-six years ago.  He inquired of their passage to this country, the name of the ship and of the master, and was persevering in his questions as to the treatment they had experienced at his hands, whether they had been made comfortable in all respects, and if he had been polite and attentive.

While the grand chief was delivering his speech in the Huron language, it seemed as if it would never end, and, observing the king look a little surprised, I informed the Marquess Conyngham, in a loud whisper, that this was the mode in which they expressed their sense of any honor conferred, and that the chief of the warriors would interpret the speech in the French language.  The king asked me to repeat what I had been saying, and George and Irving conversed for some time.  His majesty, on another occasion, asked me under what circumstances the Indians had been introduced to me.  I answered that they were recommended to my notice, because they had been invested with the medallions of his late majesty by my brother.