said one of their orators.  “We are so hemmed in by you both that we have hardly a hunting-place left.  In a little while, if we find a bear in a tree, there will immediately appear an owner of the land to claim the property and hinder us from killing it, by which we live.  We are so perplexed between you that we hardly know what to say or think."[175] No man had such power over the Five Nations as Johnson.  His dealings with them were at once honest, downright, and sympathetic.  They loved and trusted him as much as they detested the Indian commissioners at Albany, whom the province of New York had charged with their affairs, and who, being traders, grossly abused their office.

[Footnote 174:  N.Y.  Col.  Docs., VI. 788. Colonial Records of Pa. V. 625.]

[Footnote 175:  N.Y.  Col.  Docs., VI. 813.]

It was to remedy this perilous state of things that the Lords of Trade and Plantations directed the several governors to urge on their assemblies the sending of commissioners to make a joint treaty with the wavering tribes.[176] Seven of the provinces, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the four New England colonies, acceded to the plan, and sent to Albany, the appointed place of meeting, a body of men who for character and ability had never had an equal on the continent, but whose powers from their respective assemblies were so cautiously limited as to preclude decisive action.  They met in the court-house of the little frontier city.  A large “chain-belt” of wampum was provided, on which the King was symbolically represented, holding in his embrace the colonies, the Five Nations, and all their allied tribes.  This was presented to the assembled warriors, with a speech in which the misdeeds of the French were not forgotten.  The chief, Hendrick, made a much better speech in reply.  “We do now solemnly renew and brighten the covenant chain.  We shall take the chain-belt to Onondaga, where our council-fire always burns, and keep it so safe that neither thunder nor lightning shall break it.”  The commissioners had blamed them for allowing so many of their people to be drawn away to Piquet’s mission.  “It is true,” said the orator, “that we live disunited.  We have tried to bring back our brethren, but in vain; for the Governor of Canada is like a wicked, deluding spirit.  You ask why we are so dispersed.  The reason is that you have neglected us for these three years past.”  Here he took a stick and threw it behind him.  “You have thus thrown us behind your back; whereas the French are a subtle and vigilant people, always using their utmost endeavors to seduce and bring us over to them.”  He then told them that it was not the French alone who invaded the country of the Indians.  “The Governor of Virginia and the Governor of Canada are quarrelling about lands which belong to us, and their quarrel may end in our destruction.”  And he closed with a burst of sarcasm.  “We would have taken Crown Point [in the last war], but