Jumper — Those of us who went to the West, consented; but the rest of the nation do not. The popular sentiment rejects it. We were called up to visit and view the land set apart for us. We went. The country is good, but the distance is great. Our present habitation is poor, but still we prefer it. We are used to it, and habit has made it dear to us. It was our home when the game was plenty, and the corn high. If the deer have departed, and the corn tassels not, it is still our home, and therefore we love, we prefer it.
Charles O. Mathla — My talk remains the same. Our Agent told us yesterday, we had not answered his talk, and what we gave as a reply, could not be received. If we intended to go, then it would be proper the points be proposed to us should be decided upon. But why quarrel about dividing the hind quarter, when we are not going to hunt. Why strain the water, when you are not thirsty. At Moultrie, I was not. At Payne’s Landing, I was. The treaty there, was one of the white people’s making. I agreed to go and see the country. I went. I got on board a strange vessel, where I had never been before. It made me sick, till my heart turned in me. I endured it, because my nation might be benefited by the result of the expedition; but how will not the women and children suffer in such a passage? When the men, the grown men and warriors, sunk, and their legs were as broken reeds. There were but few of us in the deputation. We were ill used by the Agent. We were abandoned when sick on the road. We were sometimes made to walk on foot. If the few on that expedition were exposed to such hardships and ill-usage on their journey, how much more suffering must there be, when the whole nation is moving in a body? If the heart is not big enough for tens, how can it contain hundreds?
Osceola — The sentiments of the nation have been expressed. There is little more to be said! The People in Council have agreed; by their Chiefs they have uttered: it is well, it is truth, and must not be broken. When I make up my mind, I act. If I speak, what I say, I will do. Speak or no speak, what I resolve, that I execute. The nation have consulted, have declared, they should perform—what should be, shall be! There remains nothing worth words! If the hail rattles, let the flowers be crushed—the stately oak of the forest will lift its head to the sky and the storm, towering and unscathed.
Osceola – Brothers! When the great spirit tells me to go with the white man, I go: but he tells me not to go— The white man says I shall go, and he will send people to make me go; but I have a rifle, and I have some powder and some lead. I say, we must not leave our homes and lands. If any of our people want to go west we won’t let them; and I tell them they are our enemies, and we will treat them so, for the great spirit will protect us.
Jumper — At the treaty of Moultrie, it was engaged that we should rest in peace upon the land allotted to us for twenty years. All difficulties were buried, and we were assured that if we died, it should not be by the violence of the white man, but in the course of nature. The lightning should not rive and blast the tree, but the cold of old age should dry up the sap, and the leaves should wither and fall, and the branches drop, and the trunk decay and die. The deputation stipulated at the talk of Payne’s Landing, to be sent on the part of the nation, was only authorized to examine the country to which it was proposed to remove us, and report to the nation. We went according to agreement, and saw the land. It is no doubt good, and the fruit of the soil may smell sweet and taste good, and be healthy, but it is surrounded with bad and hostile neighbors, and the fruit of bad neighborhood is blood, that spoils the land, and fire that dries up the brook. When in the West, I told the Agent, “you say our people are rogues, but you would bring us among worse rogues, to destroy us.” Even of the horses we carried with us, some were stolen, and their riders obliged to return with their packs on their back. The Government would send us among Tribes with which we could never be at rest. When we saw the land, we said nothing: but the agents of the United States made us sign our hands to a paper, which you say signified our consent to remove; but we considered we did no more than say we liked the land, and when we returned, the nation would decide. We had not authority to do more. Your talk is a good one, but my people cannot say they will go. We are not willing to do so. If their tongues say yes, their hearts cry no, and call them liars.
Charles O. Mathla — Our old speaker was [John] Hicks. He has died, and left us as a father his children; but we have not forgotten his counsels. I was not at the treaty of Moultrie, but it was not made by children. Great men were the actors in it. That treaty is sacred. It stipulated that we should receive the annuity for twenty years, and enjoy the land defined to us. The time has not expired—when it does, then we can make a new bar- gain. There may be some slight causes of complaint between the white man and red, but they are not enemies. The whites complain of depredations. We have a law to punish of- fenders, which I have always endeavored to enforce against the people of my own town. As to the subject of removal, my understanding was, that we were not to go till the end of the seven years remaining of the ten agreed upon at Moultrie. Then we may be ready. I am a full blood Indian, and never alter my mind. I adhere to my engagements, and will comply with them according to my understanding. When a man has a country in which he was born, and has there his house and home, where his children have always played about his yard, it becomes sacred to his heart, and it is hard to leave it. Our Father, the President, has repeatedly said, he views and regards us as his children—and doesn’t he know that when a man is settled, with his little stock around him, he has some assurance of support for his little ones? But break him up and remove him, and they must be exposed to suffer! I won’t complain of the Agent’s talk as a bad talk. I was not dissatisfied with it, but my people are around me, and they feel that while they remain here, they can be happy with each other. They are not hungry for other lands, why should they go and hunt them? The country is very distant. It was with difficulty we, with firm health, reached it. How then would it be with the sickly and infirm? If the sound tree is uprooted by the spirit of the storm, can the decayed branches stand upright? When we went there, Major Phagan was the Agent. He was a man of violent passion. We often quarreled on the way, and that has caused much of the difficulty. If I know myself, I have a good heart. My feelings are kind to all. I view you (the Agent) as a friend, but if we differ in opinion, I am a man, and have a right to express my sentiments. I feel gratified that you are our Agent. I am pleased with our first acquaintance, and hope there will be mutual satisfaction. I am done. We will meet in council to-night, and tomorrow we will talk again. May the Great Spirit smile, and the sun shine on us.
Holati-Mico ( Bowlegs)— As I said yesterday, we are children of the same Father. We are brothers, and should not quarrel, and say hard things. I am sick and unable to express myself as I would wish, but others will give the Talk of my people. I am not excited. Our way of doing business is to proceed coolly and deliberately, and in a friendly manner. We have to represent in our Talk a great many people, for which reason we must proceed with care and thoughtfulness. The people differ in their opinions, and they must be indulged with time to reflect. Time makes out of many little branching creeks that run different ways, one large river, the waters of which then flow smoothly all in one direction.
Micanopy — The Talk of yesterday is still the Talk of today. Our sentiments are unaltered. When the twenty years from the date of the treaty of Moultrie are ended, we may consent to remove. Now we cannot do so. If suddenly we tear our hearts from the homes round which they are twined, our heart strings will snap. By time, we may unbind the chords of affection—we cannot pluck them off, and they not break.