we
desire to be placed under his immediate care, and to be delivered
from the rule of the trading Chief who only wants our furs, and cares
nothing for our welfare.

"Brethren! Some of your kinsmen visited us lately; they asked neither
our furs nor our flesh; their sojourn was short; but we could see
they were good men; they advised us for our good, and we listened to
them. Brethren! We humbly beseech your Great Chief that he would send
some of those good men to live amongst us: we desire to be taught
to worship the Great Spirit in the way most pleasing to him: without
teachers among us we cannot learn. We wish to be taught to till the
ground, to sow and plant, and to perform whatever the good white
people counsel us to do to preserve the lives of our children.

"Brethren! We could say much more, but we have said enough,--we wish
not to weary you.

"Brethren! We are all the children of the Great Spirit; the red man
and the white man were formed by him. And although we are still in
darkness and misery, we know that all good flows from him. May he turn
your hearts to pity the distress of your Red Brethren! Thus have we
spoken to you."

Such are the groans of the Indians. Would to Heaven they were heard by
my countrymen as I have heard them! Would to Heaven that the misery
I have witnessed were seen by them! The poor Indians then would
not appeal to them in vain. I can scarcely hope that the voice of a
humble, unknown individual, can reach the ears, or make any impression
on the minds of those who have the supreme rule in Britain; but if
there are there men of rank, and fortune, and influence, whose hearts
sympathise with the misery and distress of their fellow-men, whatever
be their country or hue--and, thank God! there are not a few--it is to
those true Britons that I would appeal in behalf of the much-wronged
Indians; the true and rightful owners of the American soil.

If I am asked what I would suggest as the most effective means for
saving the Indians, I answer: Let the Company's charter be abolished,
and the portals of the territory be thrown wide open to every
individual of capital and enterprise, under certain restrictions; let
the British Government take into its hands the executive power of
the territory, and appoint a governor, judges, and magistrates; let
Missionaries be sent forth among the Indians;--already the whole
of the Chippewayan tribes, from English River to New Caledonia, are
disposed to adopt o