of the two races as
far as possible so as to prevent the conflicts between them; he provided
for the payment of annuities for their support and so that they might
purchase horses and cattle and implements of husbandry, and thus enter
gradually upon the pursuits of peace. That the plan was not feasible
does not detract from the fairness and benevolence of the proposer. He
was but following the uniform custom which the government had at that
time adopted and which the best minds of that age endorsed. He could not
foresee, in the light of that day, that the red men of the forest would
not accept the ways of civilization, and that all attempts of the
government, however charitable, would be wasted and in vain.

The Governor set out for the council house at old Fort Wayne on the
first day of September, 1809, on horseback, and accompanied only by
Peter Jones, his secretary; a personal servant; Joseph Barron, a famous
Indian interpreter; a Frenchman for a guide, and two Indians, probably
Delawares of the friendly White River tribes. He travelled eastwardly
toward the western borders of Dearborn county, and thence north to the
Post. Joseph Barron, the interpreter, is thus spoken of by Judge Law:
"He knew the Indian character well; he had lived among them many years;
spoke fluently the language of every tribe which dwelt on the upper
Wabash, understood their customs, habits, manners and charlatanry well,
and although but imperfectly educated, was one of the most remarkable
men I ever knew."

The Governor arrived at the Post on the fifteenth of the month, at the
same time with the Delawares and their interpreter, John Conner.

To appreciate properly the hazard of this journey of two weeks through
an untamed wilderness, across rivers and through dense forests, camping
at night in the solitude of the woods, and exposed at all time to the
attacks of the savages, one must take into consideration that already
Tecumseh and the Prophet were forming their confederacy and preaching a
new crusade at Tippecanoe; that they were fast filling the minds of
their savage hearers with that fierce malice and hatred which was to
break forth in the flame of revolt in a little over two years hence;
that the British agents at Maiden were loading the Indians with presents
and filling their ears with falsification as to the intentions of
Harrison; that they were already arming them with guns, bullets, knives
and tomahawks, and that there were those am