French; Canassateego immediately observed: "In that great fight you must have taken a great quantity of rum, the Indians will therefore thank you for a glass." It was handed round to them in very small glasses, called by the governor French glasses. The Indians drank it, and at the breaking up of the council that day, Canassateego said, "Having had the pleasure of drinking a French glass of the great quantity of rum taken, the Indians would now, before separating be glad to drink an English glass, to make us rejoice with you in the victory." It was impossible to waive so ingenious a demand, and a large glass, to indicate the superiority of English liberality, was now handed round.
In this conference, the Indians again complained of the daily encroachments upon them, and of the inadequate price given for the lands they sold. The Governor of Maryland boldly told them that the land was in fact acquired by the English by conquest, and that they had besides a claim of possession of 100 years. To this injudicious speech the Indians replied with indignation, "What is one hundred years in comparison of the time since our claim began?—since we came out of this ground? For we must tell you that long before one hundred years our ancestors came out of this very ground, and their children have remained here ever since. You came out of the ground in a country that lies beyond the seas; there you may have a just claim; but here you must allow us to be your elder brethren, and the lands to belong to us long before you knew anything of them." They then reminded them of the manner in which they had received them into the country. In figurative language they
