privilege has been extraordinary, and bears a striking analogy to that
of a plant, thrice plucked up by the roots, and watered, and nourished,
and set out again. It has been _twenty-nine_ years a territory, having
been first organized, I believe, in 1805, For the first seven years it
was under the government of Gen. Hull, by whom it was lost, and fell
under foreign conquest. It then had about a year of military government
under Gen. Brock, and, after being re-conquered in 1814, lived on,
awhile, under the rule of our own commanding generals. Gen. Cass was, I
think, appointed by Mr. Monroe, late in 1814, and governed it for the
long period of eighteen years. Geo. B. Porter succeeded, and, since his
death, there has been a confused interregnum of secretaries.

"Thrice plucked up" was it, by the total destruction of Detroit (which
was in fact the territory) by fire in 1806, by the terrible Indian and
British war in 1812, and by the Indian war of the Black Hawk of 1832. It
has suffered in blood and toil more than any, or all the other
north-western territories together. It has been the entering point for
all hostilities from Canada; and, to symbolize its position, it has
been the anvil on which all the grand weapons of our Indian scath have
been hammered. Its old French and American families have been threshed
by the flail of war, like grain on a floor. And it is no wonder that the
people are tired of waiting for sovereignty, and think of taking the
remedy into their own hands. On the 9th of September, the Legislative
Council passed an act for taking the census. The result shows a
population of 85,856, in the fourteen lower counties, and the first
steps for a self-called convention are in progress.

CHAPTER LIIII.

Indications of a moral revolution in the place--Political movements at
Detroit--Review of the state of society at Michilimackinack, arising
from its being the great central power of the north-west fur trade--A
letter from Dr. Greene--Prerequisites of the missionary
function--Discouragements--The state of the Mackinack Mission--Problem
of employing native teachers and evangelists--Letter of Mr.
Duponceau--Ethnological gossip--Translation of the Bible into
Algonquin--Don M. Najera--Premium offered by the French
Institute--Persistent Satanic influence among the Indian
tribes--Boundary dispute with Ohio--Character of the State Convention.

1835. _Jan. 10th._ The year opened with some bright moral gleams. The