the footstep of the savage,) I cannot persuade myself that it will remain long in so uncultivated a state; especially, when I consider that to people fully this earth was in the original plan of the benevolent Deity. I am confident that sooner or later there will be a full accomplishment of the original system; and that no men will be suffered to live by hunting on lands capable of improvement, and which would support more people under a state of cultivation. So that if the savages cannot be civilized and quit their present pursuits, they will, in consequence of their stubbornness, dwindle and moulder away, from causes perhaps imperceptible to us, until the whole race shall become extinct, or they shall have reached those climes about the great lakes, where, from the rocks and the mountainous state, the footsteps of the husbandman will not be seen. Here they may find an asylum fitted to their use, in the enjoyment of which none will envy them. I am strengthened in this belief, when I carefully examine the first laws given to man by his kind and watchful Creator, and the consequences which resulted from their being kept or rejected.

The first injunctions from Heaven to man were, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Had it not been for the last injunction "subdue," and man had been left to no other course of life for obtaining his bread than that of seeking it from the lap of nature, the world would soon have been filled with inhabitants; few, indeed, compared with its present numbers, would have filled it. When Adam was placed in the garden of Eden, he was not fixed there to be an idle spectator of the spontaneous productions of the earth, though surrounded with "every tree pleasant to the sight," but he was directed "to dress the garden and keep it." Feeling the power of these injunctions, he taught them to his children, and assigned a different employment to each. One was "a keeper of sheep," while the other was "a tiller of the ground."

In the family of Abraham, in which all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, and whose seed was to be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and as the sands on the sea-shore, the blessing descended on Isaac, the younger branch. This being the case, the progress of the family of Ishmael, the elder branch, of consequence must have been limited; it was therefore left to the natural effects of their own choice. He was declared to be a wild man, to be at war with all, and had

his dwelling in the wilderness, where, as necessary to his support, he became an archer. In a state similar, wild and uncultivated, the family remains to this day, limited to the deserts of Arabia.

We find in the account of Esau and Jacob, that the former was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was represented as a plain man, dwelling in tents. From the different employments adopted by each, the younger was able to supply the wants of his brother, to which he was exposed from the nature of his pursuits, at a moment when he was willing to barter all future prospects for a temporary relief. Under these circumstances Jacob contracted with him, and gave the compensation stipulated for his birth right. Hereby he obtained, by the free consent of his brother, a right to that blessing which seems to have been obtained from Isaac by fraud. However hard the terms which Jacob imposed on Esau, and how little we know of the whole transaction at this day, yet he secured by contract a right which God designed he should afterwards enjoy; for in the branch of his family the blessings promised to Abraham were to descend. The pursuits of the other, though a cunning hunter, were such as forbade his entailing on his posterity that happiness which seems to be reserved to men of different ideas.

If the general complexion of these recitals shall appear to be such as will strengthen the opinion that a cultivation of the earth was in the original constitution established as the duty of man, I shall have answered my design in adducing them.

I think it was also in the original constitution, that this earth should be fully peopled. The benevolent Creator of the world early counteracted a different idea, which was taking place among men. When a plan was formed by the inhabitants of this globe of their becoming one great people, an attempt was made to arrest their minds, and to contract their views to the same objects. This they supposed would effectually secure them from scattering abroad through the whole earth. But the God of nature, who will cause his plans to be fully executed, at a moment when they were flushed with the hope of success, put an end to a design, arrogant and vain, in a manner miraculous, kind, and important; so that at once. a period was put to their follies, and the tribes placed in a situation which perfectly forbade a continuation of their mad

and unwarrantable project. No longer speaking one common language, they separated themselves, and became different nations, each pursuing its own views.

I am strengthened in these ideas by a late writer, who is of opinion that to cultivate the earth is a duty imposed on man by the laws of his nature; that the whole earth is assigned for the nourishment of its inhabitants; that every nation is obliged by the laws of nature to cultivate the ground which has fallen to its share; that there are some who to avoid agriculture would live by hunting; that although this might have been allowed in the first ages of the world, when the earth without cultivation produced more than was sufficient to feed its few inhabitants, yet at present, when the human race is so greatly multiplied, it could not subsist if all nations resolved to live in the same manner; that those who still retain this idle life, usurp more extensive territories than they would have occasion for were they to use honest labor, and have therefore no reason to complain, if other nations, more laborious and too closely confined, come to possess a part; that the establishment of many colonies in North America may, on their confining themselves within just bounds, be extremely lawful; that the people of these vast countries rather overran than inhabited them.

All I mean to suggest is an opinion that the present inhabitants of this country will become tillers of the ground, and sacrifice their present pursuits to that important and natural object; or they will become extinct, or retire, as before mentioned, and thereby make way for those who will subdue the earth and dress it.

July 21. We arrived at the west end of Lake Erie, where we landed, and the vessel pursued her course up the river to Detroit. The Commissioners could not obtain permission to visit it, although we were within eighteen miles of the garrison. Upon our landing we were conducted to the house of Captain Eliot, who received us with hospitality, and gave us the use of his house, garden, &c. The morning after our arrival, we had a full supply of boiled green corn, which was well grown. Eliot has the best farm I have seen in the country by far. He has in possession the grounds on which the Indians formerly lived, and where the French first sat down to open a trade with the natives. The savages afterwards cut off the the settlement, and the French then began

at Detroit, where they always maintained their ground, and which I hear is now a handsome settlement, within the limits of the United States. As the people have not settled far from the river, a full view is had of their improvements as you sail up, and the whole may be seen as you pass.

July 29. Captain Eliot arrived with a deputation of upwards of twenty Indians from the nations assembled at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami. He delivered us a letter from Col. McKee, acknowledging the receipt of one, &c. which we had sent him.

July 30. In council at Captain Eliot's, at the mouth of Detroit river. Present,

The Commissioners and other citizens of the United States, the deputation of Indians, and the British officers and inhabitants.

The deputation addressed the Commissioners as follows, viz. a Wyandot chief (whose name signifies Carry-one

about,") being their speaker.

Brothers, listen.

We are glad to see you here in peace, and thank the Great Spirit that has preserved us to meet again.

Brothers, we were sent to speak to you some time ago at Niagara. Some chiefs are now here who were then present. Brothers, we did not explain ourselves to each other, and we did not rightly understand each other.

Brothers, we desire that we may rightly understand each other. We have thought it best that what we had to say should be put into writing, and here is the meaning of our hearts, (presenting the paper to the Commissioners.)

The above speech was interpreted by Simon Girtie, a British interpreter.

The Commissioners received the paper, and told the deputation that they would consider the subject of it and return an answer in writing, and give them notice when they were ready to deliver it. The contents of the paper were as follows, viz.

To the Commissioners of the United States.

Brothers,

The deputies we sent you did not fully explain our meaning. We have therefore sent others to meet you once more, that you may fully understand the great question we have to ask you, and to which we expect an explicit answer in writing.

Brothers, you are sent here by the United States in order to make peace with us, the confederate Indians.

Brothers, you know very well that the boundary line which was run between the white people and us, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, was the river Ohio.

Brothers, if you seriously design to make a firm and lasting peace, you will immediately remove all your people from our side of that river.

Brothers, we therefore ask you, Are you fully authorized by the United States to continue and firmly fix on the Ohio river as the boundary line between your people and ours?

Done in general council at the foot of the Miami Rapids, 27th July, 1793. In behalf of ourselves and the whole confederacy, and agreed to in full council,

July 31. At the close of the afternoon, the Commissioners delivered the following answer to the deputation, viz.

Brothers,

You yesterday addressed us, mentioning a former deputation who met us at Niagara. At that meeting you said that we did not come to a right understanding; that your deputies did not fully explain your meaning to us, nor we ours to them; that you desired that we might rightly understand each other, and therefore thought it best that what you had to say should be put into writing; then handed us a paper. You said, Here is the meaning of our hearts.

Brothers, that paper is directed to the United States, and speaks to them these words, viz. (Here is repeated their written address, as mentioned on the preceding page.)

Brothers, the deputies here present,

We have now repeated the words contained in the paper