In 1854, the United States Government offered to buy two million acres
of Indian land in the Northwest. Below is a translation of Chief
Seattle's reply to President Franklin Pierce in December of that year.
It has been described as the most beautiful and prophetic statement on
the environment ever made.
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our
land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will.
This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our
friendship in return. But we will consider your offer.
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is
strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the
sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine
needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every
clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory of my people.
The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the
red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he
wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us.
This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he
is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to
himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you
have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace.
One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover our God
is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own
our land: but you cannot. He is the God of man; and his compassion is equal for the red man and
the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to
heap contempt on its creator. The white too shall pass; perhaps sooner
than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will
one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength
of the God, who brought you to this land and for some special purpose
gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is
a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all
slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the view of the ripe hills
blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the
Eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the
hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will
consider your offer to buy the land.
If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised.
There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the
last red man has vanished from the earth, and his memory is only the
shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests
will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as
a newborn loves its mothers heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love
it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your
mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And preserve it
for your children, and love it as God loves us all. One thing we know.
Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to him. Even the white
man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after
all.
