ke creditable to his
love of country and his sense of justice. He pourtrayed, in living
colors, the wrongs inflicted upon the Indians by the colonists, and
placed in strong contrast the former and present condition of his
nation, the one being happy and prosperous, the other degraded and
oppressed. He spoke in a strain of manly boldness of the repeated
perfidy of the white people; and especially, of the unblushing
dishonesty of the traders; and, finally concluded by proposing as one
of the fundamental provisions of the treaty, that no commerce with the
Indians should be carried on for individual profit, but that honest men
should be sent among them by their white brother, with such things as
they needed, to be exchanged, at a fair price, for their skins and
furs: and still further, that no "fire-water," of any kind, should be
introduced among them, inasmuch as it depraved his people and
stimulated them to aggressions upon their white brethren.

As an orator, the fame of Cornstalk stands high. Colonel Benjamin
Wilson, an officer in Dunmore's campaign, in 1774, who was present at
the interview (at camp Charlotte) between the chiefs and the governor,
in speaking of Cornstalk, says, "when he arose, he was in no wise
confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice, without
stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks, while
addressing Dunmore, were truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and
attractive. I have heard the first orators in Virginia,--Patrick Henry
and Richard Henry Lee,--but never have I heard one whose powers of
delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk."

The treaty at camp Charlotte did not bring much repose to the frontier.
In the course of the two years succeeding it, new difficulties arose
between the Indians and the inhabitants of western Virginia. Early in
the spring of 1777, several tribes joined in an offensive alliance
against the latter. Cornstalk exerted all his influence to arrest it,
but in vain. Sincerely desirous of averting war, he resolved to
communicate this condition of affairs to the Virginians, in the hope
that they might dissipate the impending war-cloud. This information he
determined to give in person. Taking with him Red Hawk, and one other
Indian, he went secretly to the fort at Point Pleasant, with a flag of
peace, and presented himself to the commander of that post. After
stating to him the object of the mission, and fully explaining the
situation of