ur religion as well as our customs, so that the
Missionaries' work is half done. Let those of them who manifest
a disposition to steady industry be encouraged to cultivate the
ground: let such as evince any aptitude for mechanics be taught
some handicraft, and congregated in villages, wherever favourable
situations can be found--and there is no want of them. Let schools be
established and supported by Government--not mere _common_ schools,
where reading, writing, arithmetic, and perhaps some of the higher
branches may be taught; but _training_ and _industrial_ schools. Where
the soil or climate is unfit for husbandry, other means of improving
their condition might be resorted to. In the barren grounds, bordering
on the Arctic regions, rein-deer still abound. Why should not the
Indians succeed in domesticating these animals, and rendering them
subservient to their wants, as the Laplanders do? I have been informed
that the Yellow Knives, and some of the other tribes inhabiting these
desert tracts, have the art of taming the fawns, which they take in
great numbers while swimming after their dams, so that they follow
them like dogs till they see fit to kill them.

Such, in brief, are the measures which, after much experience, and
long and serious consideration, I would venture to propose in behalf
of the Indians; and most happy shall I be if anything I have said
shall have the effect of awakening the public interest to their
condition; or form the groundwork of any plan which, by the blessing
of God, may have the effect of preserving and christianizing the
remnants of these unhappy tribes.

It may be objected, that the Company have had their charter renewed
for a period of twenty-one years, which does not expire till 1863;
and that Government is bound in honour to sustain the validity of the
deed. But if Government is bound to protect the _interests_ of the
Hudson's Bay Company, is it less bound to protect the _property_ and
_lives_ of their weak, ignorant, and wronged subjects? The validity of
the original charter, the foundation of the present, is, however, more
than questioned: nay, it has been declared by high authority to be
null and void. Admitting its validity, and admitting that the dictates
of honour call for the fulfilment of the charter in guarding the
_profits_ of the few individuals (and their dependants) who assemble
weekly in the old house in Fenchurch Street; are we to turn a deaf ear
to the still small vo