| Citation |
BEP(F.762.054
8 Nov 1762:11 (1418)
London, August 16. The cause of the Cherokee chiefs coming
to England having been variously, but not truly represented,
it may not be amiss to inform the public, through the
channel of your paper, of their real motives for visiting
our court and Kingdom. Oatacite who is now in England, is
not the King of the Cherokees, but only one of their
principal warriors, & in English his name signifies A man-
killer. There is at this time no King of the Cherokees; and
for some time their affairs have been principally under the
direction of Attakullakulla [the son of the famous
Kullakulla, which signifies a Carpenter, because he built
several towns; and Atta, which as been added to his son's
name, signifies Pretty or Little, because he is whiter than
any of the Indians of his country] commonly called the
Little Carpenter who was here in 1730, and has been ever
since created with particular respect by our court, and
considered as the principal and most sagacious person of the
Cherokees. A jealousy of the particular honor paid to
Attakullakulla has prompted Outacite to come to England,
imagining that the Little Carpenter owes all his power and
influence to his having visited King George. Outacite, in
order to conceal his project of coming to England from the
Little Carpenter, did not come through Carolina, which was
the nearest way, but travelled though Virginia, and there
embarked. Thus we see that even among the Indians there are
jealousies, and differences about who shall be great, and
undermining and monopolizing the power of each other.
The intemperance of his Cherokee Majesty, and his chiefs,
and the selfish views of the proprietors of our public
gardens, in so plentifully treating them with strong
liquors, give occasion to the considerate sincerely [sic] to
wish them safely shipp'd off for their own country. At
Vauxhall, one evening, it is supposed that not less than ten
thousand persons crouded thither to obtain a sight of those
Indians. At the same time a songstress of the grove
attempted the honour of traversing the walks with the
swarthy monarch dangling on her arm; but the press was so
much, as to oblige him to retire, with his chief, (and many
ladies of the town) into the orchestra, where they
entertained themselves and the gaping multitude, by
soundeing the keys of the organ, scraping upon the strings
of a violin, clapping their hands in return for the claps of
applause bestowed upon them, and swallowing, by wholesale,
very large bumpers of frontiniac wine. Between two and
three in the morning their Cherokeeships began to think of
departing, and, being duly supported, made shift to reach
their coach for that purpose.---. . . [4 more paras]
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