A few hours after my arrival a delegation of prominent chiefs called

on me and proposed a council, where they might discuss their

grievances, and thus bring to the notice of the Government the

alleged wrongs done them; but this I refused, because Congress had

delegated to the Peace Commission the whole matter of treating with

them, and a council might lead only to additional complications. My

refusal left them without hope of securing better terms, or of even

delaying matters longer; so henceforth they were more than ever