not have discomfitted great Massachusetts. Nevertheless, the birth
place of American freedom was spared so great a disgrace; for the
governor, very wisely, remained at home.

Toward the close of the day Mr. Fiske desired the Hon. Mr. Reed
to explain to the Indians the laws, as they then stood, and the
consequences of violating them. He told us that merely declaring a law
to be oppressive could not abrogate it; and that it would become us,
as good citizens whom the government was disposed to treat well, to
wait for the session of the Legislature, and then apply for relief.[3]
"He went fully," says one reporter, whose name it may be well to
omit, "into the situation of the tribe, in a very forcible and feeling
manner, warning them against the rash measures they had already taken
or adopted."

Mr. Fiske then pathetically stated his opinions concerning the awful
consequences which would result from a violation of the laws, and
spoke much at large of the parental feeling of government for the
remnant of a once mighty and distinguished race. Wm. Apes replied
that the laws ought to be altered without delay; that it was perfectly
manifest that they were unconstitutional, and that, even if they were
not so, there was nothing in them to authorize the white inhabitants
to act as they had done. Being very anxious to learn what amount of
good his brethren might expect, he spoke with an energy that alarmed
some of the whites present considerably. The Hon. Mr. Reed questioned
him as to his right to interfere. He replied that he had obtained it
by the adoption of the tribe.

Mr. Reed, if I correctly understood him, answered that the Indians
had no right to do such an act; no power to confer such a privilege. I