Fort Gratiot, Sault de St. Marie, at Green Bay and Mackinaw, are in but little better condition." He was able, however, to awaken but little attention or interest at this time, on the part of the general government, in providing a solid defense to the frontiers, where this would seem to have been most required.

As settlements extended, he saw the propriety of extinguishing Indian titles as fast and as far as possible. So far as the peninsula of Michigan was concerned, most of this work had been performed. There was still a tract lying south of Grand river, and in 1821 his services as Indian negotiator were again called into requisition; and in the summer of that year he again embarked at Detroit, in a birch canoe, for another journey over stream and portage. He ascended the Maumee, crossed the intervening country into the Wabash, and descending that river to the Ohio, went down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and from thence, striking the Illinois river, ascended it to Chicago. It was a long, circuitous and lonely voyage. For miles he saw no human beings save his boatmen, and for days was embowered in the primeval forest. It furnished him, nevertheless, an admirable opportunity to become acquainted with the character and locality of the immense country through which he so silently glided; and an abundance of time for reflection. He felt he was traversing a region of the world which one day would be the abode, under the ægis of our enlightened republican institutions, of millions of freemen yet unborn, and that the future benefit of the services which he was then rendering to his country would, in its advancement and prosperity, amply compensate all his personal hazard and efforts in its behalf.

Preliminary to the commencement of the negotiations at Chicago, the American commissioners, who were General Cass and Judge Sibley, of Detroit, ordered that no spirits should be issued to the Indians, and informed them, as they would say it, that the bungs were driven into the barrels. A deputation of chiefs waited upon the commissioners to remonstrate against this precautionary measure, and at its head was the hereditary chief Top-ni-be, really a respectable man, and high in the confidence of the Pottawatomie tribe, and approaching almost his hundredth year, but still in the possession of his mental faculties, and physically well preserved. Every argument was used by General Cass to convince them that the measure was indispensable; he told

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them that they were exposed to daily murders, and that while in a state of intoxication they were unable to attend to the business for which they were convened, and urged upon them not to drink the fire-water. All this was useless, and the discussion was only terminated by the peremptory refusal of the commissioners to accede to their request. "Father," said the hoary-headed chief, when he was urged to remain sober and make a good bargain for his people," Father, we do not care for the land, nor the money, nor the goods. What we want is whiskey. Give us whiskey."

At Chicago, then a mere trading post,-after several talks, in which it was necessary for him to take high and resolute ground, he made a treaty, on the twenty-ninth of August, with the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawatomies of Illinois, by which nearly all the country within the boundaries of Michigan, south of Grand river, and not before ceded, was granted to the United States.

General Cass, at this time on his return to Detroit, was called upon to exercise the pardoning power in two cases of murder, and here noticed for its novelty.

In the then

Two Indians,-named Ke-wa-bish-kim and Ke-taw-kah,-were arraigned at the September term, 1820, of the Supreme Court of the Territory; the former for the murder of a trader at Green Bay, and the latter for the murder of Dr. Madison, of the United States Army. Both were tried and found guilty. An application was made to the Governor to pardon them. present attitude of our Indian relations, and well aware that British agents were constantly at work to curry favor and hold fast the friendship of the Indians, as well as the consideration that higher or more certain evidence of malice aforethought, perhaps, should be required in the case of a savage, the Governor took the application into consideration. Some time elapsed before he made up his final decision adverse to the application. The evidence was too clear, and he deemed it to be his duty to let the law take its course. December twenty-seventh, 1821, was the day of execution; and from the current accounts of the event, these men met their fate with stoical indifference.

They prepared themselves in jail, after their own customs, to meet their fate. They laid aside, as an offering to the Great Spirit, all the tobacco, pipes, and such other articles as they could get. By drawing a piece of leather over the vessel which contained their drink, they made a drum, around which, having

painted themselves black, they danced their death-dance. With red paint, they drew upon the walls of the prison cell figures of men, beasts and reptiles; and on their blankets even painted the figure of an Indian suspended by the neck. The gallows was erected in a spot where it was visible to them; and although informed that it was made for them, it excited no expression of dread or apparent fear of death. Evidently they had resolved to die with Indian fortitude, admitting their fate to be just and their punishment deserved; and on the day of execution they ascended the fatal platform with firmness and composure. When the last moment arrived, they shook hands with their counsel and others. who stood near, and asked pardon of the citizens present for the crimes they had committed. Then shaking hands with each other, the officers of the law drew the caps over their faces, and these swarthy sons of the forest, as it were, hand in hand, passed into the spirit land.

In the following year,-so great was the settlement of the country, it became necessary for the Governor to lay off and create six new counties, extending from the head of Lake Erie, parallel with Detroit river and Lake St. Clair, towards Saginaw Bay. Public travel also began to increase, insomuch that, for the first time in the Territory, a public stage was introduced and plied between Detroit and the seat of justice of Macomb county, in connection with the steamboat on Lake Erie. The name of the steamboat was Walk-in-the-Water, and named after the Wyandot chief. This boat had no competition from other steam vessels, being the only one which navigated the lake, and was deemed sufficient to transact the commercial business of the Territory. In the succeeding year, (1823,) General Cass, by the request of the Department of War, met the Delaware Indians, and concluded an arrangement with them, by which they ceded several valuable tracts of land lying on the Muskingum river, in the State of Ohio. In the winter of this year, General Cass recommended a change in the territorial form of government. The increase of population and business was such, that he felt the responsibility was too great to be vested in the governor and judges,-embracing, as it did, the legislative, judicial and executive functions of the government. He thought, too, that the people should have more voice, and should have a representation, revocable at stated periods. In his judgment, this would materially

contribute to the stable progress of prosperity, and in the end give more satisfaction. His views were presented to Congress by the delegate, and Congress, listening to the application, passed an act providing for the establishment of a Legislative Council, to consist of nine members. These members were to be appointed by the President of the United States, with the consent of the Senate, out of eighteen candidates elected by the people of the Territory; and, with the Governor, they were invested with the same powers which had been before granted by the ordinance of 1787 to the Governor, Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the North-western Territory. By this act, the legislative power and duties of the governor and judges were taken away; the term of judicial office was limited to four years; and eligibility to office required the same qualifications as the right of suffrage.

This action on the part of Congress invested the Territory of Michigan with a more compact and energetic government, and met the cordial approbation of the inhabitants. The election of councilors, to be presented to the consideration of the President, awakened an interest in the affairs of government among the people which they had not previously experienced, and naturally did they consider themselves more as part and parcel thereof. In some respects, they considered that they had changed their position from that of servant to that of principal, and that the acts of their local rulers were now to be passed in review by themselves. They also experienced that other sensation, which underlies the growth and peaceful prosperity of all civilized communities,-namely, that they were citizens, exercising the elective franchise guarantied by a republican constitution, and no longer occupying the position of a mere dweller or visitor in the land selected, voluntarily, for the homes of themselves and families.

CHAPTER XI.

First Session of Legislative Council-General Cass delivers his Message-His Recommendation-His Views of Political Power-Of Schools and Education-The Copper Mines-Treaty with the Chippewas Council of Prairie du Chien-General Cass' Prudence and Tact-The Gopher-Hunter's Narrative-Its Exposure-The Customs and Traits of the Indians-Their Language, Religion, and Depopulation-General Cass' Description.

In conformity with the Act of Congress, nine persons were appointed by the President, to constitute the Legislative Council of Michigan. It convened for the first time on the seventh day of June, 1824, at the Council House in Detroit. General Cass at that time delivered his message, in which he briefly reviewed the progress of the Territory, since his administration of its government commenced, and marked out what he considered the proper line of its policy, as well as its existing condition. In reference to the devastations during the war of 1812, he remarks: "The whole population was prostrated at the feet of the relentless savages, and with such atrocious circumstances as have no parallel in the annals of modern warfare; menaces, personal violence, imprisonment, and depopulation, were indiscriminately used, as either appeared best calculated to effect the object, which avowedly was to sever our citizens from the allegiance they owed to their country. Fortunately, their patriotism and energy resisted these efforts, and probably in no portion of the Union was more devotedness to the general cause manifested than here."

The proceedings of this Council attracted universal attention among the citizens. The members of the Legislature were guided by the Governor's message, which contained accurate information of the condition of the Territory, and indicated a thorough knowledge, on the part of the Governor, of its wants and capacities. He recommended the establishment of a system of township government, in which matters of local police might be regulated by the people in their primary meetings; the power of appointment and removal of territorial officers; a limitation of tenure to some of the offices, in order that a more faithful performance of the duties belonging to them might be secured; the necessity