lic manner in which
these proceedings were done. The blood-relatives of the Indian found
that the two nations, actuated by a sense of their kindness and real
friendship for years, had remembered them in the day of their
prosperity. The large number of Indian creditors, who had toiled and
suffered and lost property in a trade which is always hazardous, were
glad in seeing the ample provision for their payment.
The agents of the government also rejoiced in the happy termination of
their labors, and the drum, whose roll had carried away the troops who
had been present to preserve order, now converted to a symbol of peace,
was never more destined to be beaten to assemble white men to march in
hostility against these tribes. They were forever our friends. What war
had not accomplished, the arts of peace certainly had. Kindness,
justice, and liberality, like the "still small voice" at Sinai, had done
what the whirlwind and the tempest failed to do.
Fourteen years before, I had taken the management of these tribes in
hand, to conduct their intercourse and to mould and guide their
feelings, on the part of the government. They were then poor, in a
region denuded of game, and without one dollar in annuities. They were
yet smarting under the war of 1812, and all but one man, the noble Wing,
or Ningwegon, hostile to the American name. They were now at the acme of
Indian hunter prosperity, with every want supplied, and a futurity of
pleasing anticipation. They were friends of the American government. I
had allied myself to the race. I was earnest and sincere in desiring and
advancing their welfare. I was gratified with a result so auspicious to
every humane and exalted wish.
War, ye wild tribes, hath no rewards like this;
'tis peaceful labors that result in bliss.
_29th_. Baron de Behr, Minister of Belgium, presented himself at my
office. He was cordially received, although bringing me no letter to
apprize me of his official standing at Washington. He had been to the
Sault Ste. Marie, and visited the entrance into Lake Superior. He
presented me a petrifaction picked up on Drummond Island, and looked at
my cabinet with interest.
The troops under Major Hoffman embarked in a steamer for Detroit. Also
Major Whiting, the U.S. Paymaster, and Mr. Edmonds, my adjuncts in
official labor.
_Oct. 17th._ Old friends from Middlebury, Vermont, came up in a steamer
bound to Green Bay, among whom I was happy to recognize Mrs.
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