ative. The Cayugas, who had
suffered from the prowess and cruelty of the Onondaga chief, needed
little persuasion. They readily consented to come into the league, and
their chief, Akahenyonk, "the wary spy," joined the Mohawk and Oneida
representatives in a new embassy to the Onondagas. Acting probably upon
the advice of Hiawatha, who knew better than any other the character of
the community and the chief with whom they had to deal, they made
proposals highly flattering to the self-esteem which was the most notable
trait of both ruler and people. The Onondagas should be the leading
nation of the confederacy. Their chief town should be the federal
capital, where the great councils of the league should be held, and where
its records should be preserved. The nation should be represented in the
council by fourteen senators, while no other nation should have more than
ten. And as the Onondagas should be the leading tribe, so Atotarho
should be the leading chief. He alone should have the right of summoning
the federal council, and no act of the council to which he objected
should be valid. In other words, an absolute veto was given to him. To
enhance his personal dignity two high chiefs were appointed as his
special aids and counsellors, his "secretaries of state," so to speak.
Other insignia of preeminence were to be possessed by him; and, in view
of all these distinctions, it is not surprising that his successor, who,
two centuries later, retained the same prerogatives, should have been
occasionally styled by the English colonists "the emperor of the Five
Nations." It might seem, indeed, at first thought, that the founders of
the confederacy had voluntarily placed themselves and their tribes in a
position of almost abject subserviency to Atotarho and his followers.
But they knew too well the qualities of their people to fear for them any
political subjection. It was certain that when once the league was
established, and its representatives had met in council, character and
intelligence would assume their natural sway, and mere artificial rank
and dignity would be little regarded. Atotarho and his people, however,
yielded either to these specious offers or to the pressure which the
combined urgency of the three allied nations now brought to bear upon
them. They finally accepted the league; and the great chief, who had
originally opposed it, now naturally became eager to see it as widely
extended as possible. He