of an Indian war in
Florida, excited great sensation in all circles. I was at the Secretary
of War's domicil one evening, when he first received and read out the
shocking details. The same night troops were ordered to be put in motion
from every point in the Union, to be concentrated in that territory; and
the greatest activity pervaded the departments. Gen. Jackson expressed
himself with energy on the subject. He had formerly conducted a
successful campaign against the Seminoles, but he could not be persuaded
that there were more than five hundred of this tribe in the whole
territory. This led him to believe that the troops actually put in
motion for the field of action, were fully adequate to cope with the
enemy, and promptly to put them down.

_Jan. 4th_. The American Lyceum request me to prepare a paper for their
sixth anniversary.

_6th_. I received a letter from my former pastor, Rev. J. Porter, at
Peoria, Ill., denoting him to be in a new field of ministerial labor.

"I bade adieu to my dear people at Chicago, on the second Sabbath in
November, and commenced my labors here on the fourth Sabbath of the
same month--just four years from the day I first preached at the Sault.

"The town is on the north bank of Lake Peoria, which is an expansion of
the Illinois. The site is one of the first in our land. The ground rises
with a delightful slope from the water's edge for the distance of half a
mile--then there is table land for another half mile back to a high
bluff. The town began to be built about two years since; it has now a
population of eight hundred and fifty."

A descendant of the great theologian Edwards, it is pleasing to note
that this gentleman is destined to be employed in various fields, in
diffusing Christianity through the great valley.

_8th_. Mr. Thomas L. Winthrop, of Boston, transmits me "the first volume
of a new series of the Transactions of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. This volume, amongst other valuable matter, contains a
Dictionary of the Abinaki Language of North America, by Father
Sebastian Rasles."

_10th_. I addressed a memoir to the Secretary of War on the state of
Indian affairs in Oregon. My position at St. Mary's being on the great
line of communication between Montreal and the principal posts at
Vancouver, &c., north of the Columbia, has afforded me opportunities of
becoming familiar with the leading policy of the Hudson's Bay factors in
relation to that region. Th