.ODcz.NTUyODE

straw whether the object of Gov't. is accomplished or not, & who are too often men of idle & dissolute habits - but from principles of benevolence, whose object is not gained unless they see the Indian bettered in his moral & phisical condition. Indeed it is a matter of fact, & susseptable of the clearest proff that Christianity, I mean than renovation of our natures commonly called conversion, civilises an Indian at once. Hence the great change in the Wyandotts, the Chippewas in Canada, the Cherokees, Chocktaws, &c in the South and several of the lessor tribes in the Western Territory. With such indisputable facts before them, it must be the policy of Gov't. wishing to civilize the Indian, to encourage & sustain the missionary, or at least use them where it can be, in preference, to accomplish its objects, in the premises. The splendid scheme, at this moment, being brought into opperation, by you, thro' Gov. Doty on the St. Peters, will no doubt do much in this matter, but whether the limits of the contemplated Territory, are struck out so as not to clash with the white settlements, or not, I am not apprised. The country east of the Mississippi to its sourse & thence to the British line, is claimed by Wiskonson under the Ordinance of 1787, dividing the Tery. N. W. of Ohio into 5 states, and should the Govt design to extend the St. Peters Ind. Tery. east of said River, some altercation might, at a future day, grow out of it, unless it was done by consent of the people, in accordance with the provisions of the said Ordinane of 1787. This consent of Wiskonson can be more readily obtained in one way, than in any other, if it can be obtained at all. That is, if Congress will take some measures to induce Michigan to recede that portion of her state which lies west of Green Bay, & south of Lake Superior. The people of Wis. feel not well pleased with the measure adopted, which took from our natural limits a district equil to some of the smaller states, & gave it to a state from which it is severed by natural boundaries, and to regain that country, I think, from what I learned in the Legislation the people would consent to lose that portion of the Tery. which lies west of a line drawn from the bend of the River 8 miles