-10-
as
we shall agree upon, I representing the Government and you the Red
Lake Chippewas. There is an old saying
used by the whites, that it requires two parties to make a bargain, and
in
justice to those interested both parties should have a voice in making
the
trade, and the Department desiring to allow you people to have a say in
this proposed
agreement has sent me here to talk with you and try and bargain with
you for
this piece of land. There are no people
who cheerfully accept a bargain forced upon them against their will,
some-thing
they have no voice in, and for that reason I have been sent here to
present
this matter and to consider it with you and to talk it over until we
arrive at
an agreement, and I will reason with you and give you a fair and
plain answer to all your questions. I will say further that my
negotiations
with you people is for that piece of land and I cannot include any past
grievances which you may have, but I would like to have you state fully
and
clearly what your grievances are and state the grounds upon which you
base the
same, and they will all appear in the minutes of our councils and will
become a
part of the printed document, if an agreement is entered into between
us.
Whilst I can only guarantee and pledge my word for the truth of every
statement
that I will make regarding the negotiations that we are engaged upon
for the
western portion of your reservation, I promise to faithfully submit
your
grievances in my report. As for any
agreement that we may enter into I know that it will be carried out to
the
letter, and as for the grievances that you speak of, I can only promise
that I
will do all that I can in presenting them properly, and if there is
merit in
them I have no doubt but that they will be adjusted in due time. Any agreement that we may enter into in
regard to this tract of land will not in any way conflict with your
claims;
those claims will have the same status with the Department and with the
Government, no matter what the outcome of our negotiations in this
matter may
be; each stand on their own basis, and anything that there is right in,
which
from what I have learned and heard you may have in
