THE OLD NEW YORK FRONTIER
States much after the manner of those which Rome conquered two thousand years ago, or those which England subdues in our day. In diplomacy they matched the white man from Europe: they had self-control, knowledge of human nature, tact and sagacity, and they often became the arbiters in disputes between other peoples. Universal testimony has been borne to their oratory, of which the merit was its naturalness, and which bears the supreme test of translation. Convinced that they were born free, they bore themselves always with the pride which sprang from that consciousness. Sovereigns they were, and the only accountability they acknowledged was an accountability to the Great Spirit.
In war genius they have been equalled by no race of red men. The forts which they erected around their villages were essentially impregnable. An overwhelming force alone could enter them; artillery alone could destroy them. It was virtually an empire that they reared, and this empire of the sword, like the Empire of Rome, meant peace within its borders. Before the Europeans came, there had, unquestionably, for some generations, been peace among them. It was an ideal and an idyllic state of aboriginal life, all of which was to be overthrown by the white man when he arrived, bearing in one hand fire-arms, and in the other fire-water.
The period for which the province of New York had been occupied by the Iroquois,[1] or Five Nations, at the time of the Dutch discovery, is not known. Morgan[2] cites circumstances which show
- ↑ The origin of this word has been long discussed. Horatio Hale refers it to a native Huron word, ierokwa, indicating those who smoke.
- ↑ Lewis H. Morgan, author of "The League of the Iroquois," the best of all books relating to the institutions and customs of that people,
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