“Brother Corlaer, your sachem is a great sachem, and we are but a small people. But, when the English first came to this country, they were a small people, and we were great. Then, because we found you to be good people, we treated you civilly and gave you land. We hope, therefore, now that you are great and we small, you will protect us from the French. If you do not, we shall lose all our hunting and our beavers. The French will get all the beaver. The French are already angry with us because we carry our beaver to our brethren here at Orange.” – Thanohjanihta, Onondaga sachem to Colonel Thomas Dongan, lt. governor of New York, in council at Albany, July 1684
