THE WIFE OF LAFAYETTE. 497 They arrived at Fort Schuyler in due time — the mar- quis, Mr. Madison, the three commissioners, and other per- sons of note. But the Indians had no eyes and no ears except for the little Frenchman, twenty-seven years of age, whom they called Kayenlaa. The commissioners were nothing in their eyes, and although they did not enjoy their insignificance, they submitted to it with good grace, and asked the Indians to listen to the voice of Kayenlaa. He rose to speak, and soon showed himself a master of the Indian style of oratory. " In selling your lands," said he, " do not consult the keg of rum, and give them away to the first adventurer." He reminded them of his former advice, and showed them how his prophecies had come true. " My predictions," said he, have been fulfilled. Open your ears to the new advice of your father." He urged them strongly to conclude a treaty of peace with the Americans, and thus have plenty of the French articles of manufacture of which they used to be so fond. The leader of the war party was a young chief, equally famous as a warrior and as an orator, named Red Jacket, who replied to Lafayette in the most impassioned strain, calling upon his tribe to continue the war. It was thought, at the time, that no appeals to the reason of the Indians could have neutralized the effect of Red Jacket's fiery eloquence. It was the spell of the Marquis de Lafayette's rank and name which probably enabled the commissioner to come to terms with the red men. " During this scene," reports Mr. Madison, " and even during the whole stay of the marquis, he was the only conspicuous figure. The commissioners were eclipsed. All of them probably felt it." The chief of the Oneida tribe admitted on this occasion that " the word which Lafayette had spoken to them early in the war had prevented them from being led to the
