arriors, who
breathed nothing but war against the United States.[A]"

[Footnote A: Dawson's Historical Narrative.]

Governor Harrison, in his address to the legislature of Indiana, in the
month of November of this year, refers to the difficulties with the
Indians at Tippecanoe; and bears testimony to the fact, that the
Prophet and Tecumseh were instigated to assume a hostile attitude
towards the United States, by British influence. He says,

"It is with regret that I have to inform you that the harmony and good
understanding which it is so much our interest to cultivate with our
neighbors, the aborigines, have for some time past experienced
considerable interruption, and that we have indeed been threatened with
hostilities, by a combination formed under the auspices of a bold
adventurer, who pretends to act under the immediate inspiration of the
Deity. His character as a Prophet would not, however, have given him
any very dangerous influence, if he had not been assisted by the
intrigues and advice of foreign agents, and other disaffected persons,
who have for many years omitted no opportunity of counteracting the
measures of the government with regard to the Indians, and filling
their naturally jealous minds with suspicions of the justice and
integrity of our views towards them."

That our government was sincerely desirous of preserving peace with
these disaffected Indians, appears from the following extract of a
letter from the Secretary of War, to governor Harrison, written in the
autumn of this year. "It has occurred to me," said the Secretary, "that
the surest means of securing good behavior from this conspicuous
personage and his brother, [the Prophet and Tecumseh] would be to make
them prisoners; but at this time, more particularly, it is desirable
that peace with all the Indian tribes should be preserved; and I am
instructed by the President to express to your excellency his
expectations and confidence, that in all your arrangements, this may be
considered, (as I am confident it ever has been) a primary object with
you."

During the autumn, a Kickapoo chief visited Vincennes, and informed the
governor that the pacific professions of the Prophet and Tecumseh were
not to be relied on,--that their ultimate designs were hostile to the
United States. At the same time governor Clark, of Missouri, forwarded
to the governor of Indiana information that the Prophet had sent belts
to the tribes west of the Mississippi