d to the Torch lake
Indians, by Black Hawk, or his counsellors, in 1830, and repeated in the
two succeeding years; and adds that similar communications were made to
other tribes. The message, continues Mr. Schoolcraft, was very
equivocal. It invited these tribes to aid the Sacs in fighting their
enemies. Whatever may have been the object, no success attended the
effort. Other motives than that of retaining possession of these lands,
may have prompted Black Hawk to seek this alliance. Being an ambitious,
restless man, he may have thought it expedient to do something to keep
himself in power with his people. A military campaign is occasionally a
fortunate circumstance for a politician, whether his skin be red or
white. Gunpowder-popularity is of equal importance to the chiefs of the
Sacs and the chiefs of the Illini. An "actual invasion" of a
state--which, in these modern times, is supposed to consist in
"levelling deadly weapons" at the inhabitants thereof, and "stealing
their potatoes," is quite a wind-fall to political aspirants.

That the British Band of Sac Indians cherished the feeling of active
hostility towards the whites, that has been attributed to them, may
well be questioned. That they were provoked to a feeble assertion of
their rights by the injustice of our government and the lawless conduct
of the white settlers among them, is unquestionably true. But it should
be recollected, that from the period of their treaty with the United
States, in 1816, to their capitulation in 1831, they had not killed one
of our people. For a number of years prior to 1831, the Americans had
constantly passed through their country, unarmed, carrying with them
large amounts of money and of goods, for the trade at the lead mines:
and yet not one of these travellers, sleeping in the woods and the
Indian lodges, had been molested in person or property. For several
years, the whites residing at and around the Sac village on Rock river
were trespassing upon these Indians, for the purpose of driving them to
the west side of the Mississippi, but still the tomahawk was not raised
for retaliation. If Black Hawk and his party, had really intended to
resort to arms, who that understands the Indian character, can doubt for
a moment, that they would have struck a decisive blow, and murdered
every white settler upon Rock river, before General Gaines ascended the
Mississippi? After our army reached Fort Armstrong and General Gaines
had been info