 Cherokee Phoenix logo  Cherokee Phoenix Thursday, March 6, 1828
Vol. I, No. 3 Page 2, col. 5b    Mr. Penn, when he first arrived
in Pennsylvania, in the year 1683, and made a treaty with them,
makes the following observations, in a letter he then wrote to
his friends in England.   "Every king has his council, and that
consists of all the old and wise men of his nation, which
perhaps are two hundred people.  Nothing of moment is
undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land, or traffic,
without advising with them. 'Tis admirable to consider how
powerful the chiefs are, and yet how they move by the breath of
the people.  I have had occasion to be in council with them upon
treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade.  Their
order is thus; the king sits in the middle of an half moon, and
hath his council, the old and the wise on each hand. Behind
them, at a little distance, sit the young fry, in the same
figure. Having consulted and resolved their business, the king
ordered one of them to speak to me.  H