ds along
the Wabash, there can be no doubt. Little Turtle was soon won over, but
the younger and more aggressive chiefs of the Miami villages were
hostile to him and openly expressed their disapproval of his conduct.
The Mississinewa chiefs were also violently opposed to the pretensions
of Winamac and the Potawatomi. They claimed that the Potawatomi were new
comers and usurpers and had no right to a voice in the sale of lands in
the Wabash valley. The Mississinewa chiefs prevailed. On the
twenty-fourth the Miamis, "declared their determination not to sell a
foot of land, observing that it was time to put a stop to the
encroachments of the whites who were eternally purchasing their lands
for less than the real value of them. That they had also heard that the
governor had no instructions to make any purchase, but was making it
upon his own authority to please the white people whom he governed." On
the twenty-fifth, the Governor, to overcome their opposition, made
another long appeal in open council, declaring that the British alone
were responsible for the feeling between the races. On that occasion he
gave expression to certain ideas that Tecumseh afterwards eagerly seized
upon as an argument in favor of the communistic ownership of all the
Indian lands, and as an argument against the sale of 1809. The governor
said: "Potawatomis and Miamis, look upon each other as brothers, and at
the same time look upon your grandfathers, the Delawares. I love to see
you all united. I wish to hear you speak with one voice the dictates of
one heart. All must go together. The consent of all is necessary.
Delawares and Potawatomis, I told you that I could do nothing with the
Miamis without your consent. Miamis, I now tell you that nothing can be
done without your consent. The consent of the whole is necessary."

This second appeal met with the same reception as the first. On the
twenty-sixth, the Miamis, again declared that they would never consent
to the sale of any more of their lands. "That they had been advised by
their Father, the British, never to sell another foot." At this moment
it was that the Potawatomi started a violent altercation, setting up a
shout of open defiance in the council house and threatening to resort to
force. On repairing to the Governor's headquarters, however, and
reporting their conduct, Harrison, "blamed them for their rashness and
made them promise not to offer the Miamis any further insults."

On the even