In places it is difficult to discern the meaning of Dorchester's speech as the quaity of the document is not good. The gist seems to be that he is speaking to a group of Indians who are greatly disatisfied with the dispute with the Americans over the borderline. Dorchester appears to echo their own sentiments, commenting on his own disappointments with the United States and that they violated the agreed upon line as soon as it was established. He adds "I shall not be surprised if we are at War with them in the course of the present year and if so aline [sic] must then be drawn by the Warriors." Dorchester responds to a concern the Indians have of the sale of their lands, particularly of New York, by stating he consdiers all American encroachments and sales post-1783 on their side of the 1783 line to be "an infringement on the Kings rights" and that whether in peace or in war, "they must Lose all their improvements & Houses on our side of it." Importantly, he states "what belongs to the Indians will of course be returned & secured to them." This is interesting because although as between one another, the Indians and the British function as independent nations, with respect to the United States, it seems as though the Indians lose their international agency.

In Document: the Seven Villages of Lower Canada; the Chawanas; Miamis; Souks;