the Marine in 1690, the Minister is assured that this unfortunate traffic proves the destruction not only of the Indians but of the French themselves, and of trade. "This," says the writer, " is established by the experience of many years, during which we have seen none become wealthy by that traffic, while the Indians are destroyed and the French become old and decrepit at forty. Even the women drink. Among the Indians it is the horror of horrors. There is no crime nor infamy they do not perpetrate in their excesses; a mother throws her child into the fire; noses are bitten off, and it is another hell among them during these orgies; their entrails are set on fire, and they beggar themselves by giving their peltries and their very clothes for drink." Thus, manfully, like true heralds of the cross, did the Jesuit Fathers fight against this great evil; and De la Motte charges them with adopting higher law opinions on the subject, and says that Father Carheil, in a sermon at Mackinaw, 1697, exclaimed: "There is neither divine nor human power that can permit the sale of this drink."

This controversy, in which the Jesuits never faltered, aroused against them the whole class of Indian traders, and many of the local officers did much to make their position uncomfortable, and their ultimate recall under the reign of Louis XV. ended for many years their toils among the savages of Canada.

In seeking to give to the Jesuits who distinguished themselves in the early annals of the Northwest their true place upon the page of history, we cannot place them beside the founders of New England. They were not in any sense the founders of empires. They did not lay foundations broad and deep for free institutions. And even as missionaries among the Indians they seem to have exerted but little permanent influence upon Indian life. and character.

"As from the wing no sear the sky returns,

The parted wave no furrow from the keel," so Indian character and destiny show us no distinct trace of the abundant and self-denying labors of these men. At least those traces are sadly disproportioned to the learning, the piety, the fervent zeal and the precious human life bestowed upon this field of labor. Doubtless some of the causes of this result lie

deep in Indian character and the unfavorable circumstances surrounding them; but there are, as we conceive, other causes, growing out of the fundamentally erroneous system of Jesuit Catholicism, still more effective-causes that must ever prevent that system from accomplishing any great permanent good for the race. There is no element of freedom in it. Unlimited, unquestioning obedience is of its very essence. To develop the human soul and intellect, it must, like the body, have freedom.

But if they were not founders of empires, if they did but little or nothing toward the elevation of the Indian race and character, these men still have a proud place upon the historical page, which all should readily concede. As discoverers and explorers they have had few superiors. Persevering, self-denying, toil-enduring, courageous, no obstacles discouraged, no privations disgusted, no hardships appalled, no dangers terrified. Contemptuous of threatened evil, they boldly placed themselves in the power of the untutored and unfriendly Indians, living with them in their dirty camps, partaking of their inconceivably filthy food, sleeping with them and their dogs, annoyed with. their vermin, poisoned with their stench, submitting meekly to the contumely of the haughty and the insults and brutality of the mean. Calmly, persistently they braved the forced toil of paddling the canoe, or over sharp stones of dragging its weight up foaming rapids, often wading waist deep in the water or plunging through ice and snow. Piercing winds, bitter cold, dire want and terrific danger were among their common trials, yet they persevered with a ceaseless assiduity and untiring energy that no suffering could subdue. Industriously they traveled, anxiously they inquired, carefully they observed, and minutely under every disadvantage by the light of the glimmering camp-fires they committed the result of their travels, inquiries and observations to writing. They opened to France and the world a knowledge of the great Northwest, of these mighty lakes and noble rivers, of these beautiful prairies and extensive forests.

They were not only discoverers, but they were pioneers in the pathway of civilization. Following in their footsteps came the trader, the voyageur, the soldier, and ultimately the mechanic, the farmer, the merchant, and the gentleman. Delightful French hamlets sprung

up by the side of the mission station, and there was reproduced in the forest recesses of the Northwest a new and delightful edition of rural life amid the sunny vales and vineclad hills of France.

But the chiefest claim to admiration lies in their personal character, their apostolic zeal, their sublime and heroic virtues. Actuated by no love of glory, inspired by no hope of selfaggrandizement, but panting with an earnest desire to save souls for whom Christ had died and open the pathway to heaven to benighted heathen, they faced the untold horrors of a

missionary life among wild, wandering, irreverent, brutal savages, and here developed, in the midst of trials the most severe, those Christian graces of character to which our attention has been called, and that entitle them to a rank among the Christian heroes of the world. Success could have added nothing to the rich fragrance of their virtues.

It becomes us who now occupy the soil, enriched and made sacred by their tears, their toil, their suffering and their death, not only to revere their memories but to perpetuate them.

IT

T is not generally known that Michigan was at a very early day the theater of some of the most extensive land speculations ever known. in this country. One which was brought to the attention of Congress in 1795 was so remarkable in some of its features that it is singular that it should be so generally unknown.

When General Wayne brought his Indian campaign to a successful termination he appointed a time for the tribes to meet him at Greenville, to conclude a definitive treaty. This council opened in June, 1795, and continued into August. It is well known that the hostilities were kept alive by the covert interference of the British, and that Detroit was the source whence this influence was exerted most powerfully. In spite of the treaty of peace at the close of the Revolution, the British, on one pretext or another, kept possession of the country, and it was not until Jay's treaty provided definitely for its cession that any steps were taken toward its possession. The British merchants, who were largely interested in the fur business, were very reluctant to see the American dominion established, and there is no doubt that, by this means, disaffection was long kept up among the Indians.

Immediately upon the conclusion of Wayne's treaty (which put an end to all private dealings with the Indians for the purchase of lands), an agreement was made between several prominent inhabitants of Detroit and several persons from Vermont and Pennsyl. vania, which, if it had proved successful, would have made an entire change in the destiny of this region.

Ebenezer Allen and Charles Whitney of Vermont, and Robert Randall of Philadelphia, who were professedly American citizens, entered into a contract with John Askin, Jonathan Schifflin, William Robertson, John Askin, jr., David Robertson, Robert Jones and Richard Patterson, all of Detroit, and all at

tached to Great Britain, the terms of which were in effect as follows: They proposed to obtain from the United States the title to all the land within the limits of the present peninsula of Michigan, then estimated at from eighteen to twenty millions of acres (excepting such parts as were appropriated along the settlements), upon the understanding that they would themselves extinguish the Indian title. They meant to secure the purchase from Congress at half a million dollars (or a million at the outside), by inducing that body to believe that the Indians had not really been pacified by Wayne, and that nothing but the influence of the Canadian merchants could bring them to terms or render the important interests of the fur-trade safe under the American rule.

But they relied upon a more potent method of persuasion in secret. Their enterprise was to take the form of a joint stock company, divided into forty-one shares. Five shares were allotted to the Detroit partners, twelve to the others, and the remaining twenty-four were to be divided among members of Congress to secure their votes. The connection of the Canadian proprietors with the scheme does. not appear to have been made public, and it is probable they were not intended to appear until the scheme was consummated.

Immediately after the plan was concocted, the three American partners set about operating upon the members of the next Congress. They associated with them Colonel Pepune and others; also Jones of Massachusetts, who aided them in the dishonorable work. Whitney first applied to Daniel Buck, a member from Vermont, and was indiscreet enough not only to inform him pretty plainly of the plan proposed, but also to show him the articles of agreement. He also applied to Theodore Sedgwick more cautiously, but allowed enough to be drawn from him to expose the true character of the plot. Mr. Sedgwick quietly put himself

in communication with the Vermont members to promote its progress.

In the meantime Randall approached the Southern members and laid open his views to William Smith of South Carolina, William B. Giles of Virginia and Mr. Murray of Maryland. These gentlemen, after consulting with the President and many other persons of character and standing, determined to throw no obstacle in the way of a presentation of a memorial to Congress, desiring to fix the parties where they would be sure of exposure.

The confederation, blindly imagining that they were on the highway to success, put into the hands of the members whom they approached the fullest information concerning all but the names of their Detroit associates, and assured Mr. Giles that they had secured a majority of the votes in the Senate and lacked only three of a majority in the House.

On the 28th of December, 1795, Messrs. Smith, Murray and Giles announced to the House of Representatives that Randall had made proposals to them to obtain their support to his memorial, for which support they were to receive a consideration in lands or money. Mr. Buck also stated that Whitney had made similar proposals to him, and he supposed him to be an associate of Randall. Randall and Whitney were at once taken into custody and an investigation had, in the course of which several other members came forward and testified to similar facts. Whitney made a full disWhitney made a full disclosure and produced the written agreement. Randall made no confession, but contented himself with questioning the witnesses. He was detained in arrest, but Whitney, who appears to have been less guilty, was discharged very soon after the investigation closed. The memorial never made its appearance.

The partners at Detroit had not been inactive. They, or most of them, had already, from time to time, obtained from the Indians large grants of land, in the hope, doubtless, that the purchase might be ratified by the authorities. Schifflin in particular had acquired enormous grants in this way. There is, however, much reason to believe these grants were not all obtained from the recognized Indian rulers.

An examination of the records shows that one of the largest was made under very peculiar circumstances. We have seen that the

council in Greenville was in session from June

till sometime in August. While this treaty of Greenville was in progress, and the tribes were represented there by their chiefs and head men, a private council was held at Detroit on the first day of July, 1795, by the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies, as high contracting parties on the one side, there being present, as witnesses, the Askins, Governor Hay, his oldest son, Henry, a British officer, and. some others of the principal British residents.

The purpose of the council was private in its nature, and under the treaties then existing the British authorities could not have well acted as principals on such an occasion. principals on such an occasion. Certain chiefs, purporting to act for their tribes there named, granted to Jonathan Schifflin, Jacobus Vizgar, Richard Patterson and Robert Jones, a large tract of land embracing thirteen or fourteen of the oldest and best counties in the present State, for the expressed consideration of twentyfive pounds sterling.

We can readily imagine that if their plan had succeeded in Congress they would have had little difficulty in buying up the Indian claim to the whole peninsula.

It may not be out of place to state that in spite of their ill success, the four gentlemen named sold their Indian title just mentioned in 1797 for two hundred thousand pounds of York currency, amounting to half a million dollars. Whether the purchaser expected to claim against the treaty of Greenville, we are not informed.

This formidable title has never turned up since. Whether disgusted with the experience of republics, or from some other cause, the Detroit partners in the joint stock company all elected, under Jay's treaty, to become British subjects. The annals of our country have never shown a more extensive or audacious plan of bribery, and the public suffered no great detriment by their defection.

Had the plan of these confederates received the aid of Congress, it is difficult to imagine the importance of such an event or its bearing on the future of the peninsula. The circumstances render it highly probable that it was intended to retain a footing for the advancement of the British interests in the Northwest. Be this as it may, the evil effect of having so large a proprietary monopoly, covering the whole country, cannot well be estimated. Neither the

The important and singular facts referred to should not be lost sight of by the historian who may narrate the annals of our State.

Under Jay's treaty British subjects were at liberty to reside within the American borders if they saw fit, but if they did this, unless they declared their intention to retain their nationality within a year from the rendition of the posts, they were regarded as having chosen to become citizens of the United States. A large number of persons removed to Canada within the year, while many more remained in Detroit and vicinity, of whom a large number signified their desire to remain British subjects by notification addressed to Peter Audrian, Esq., at Detroit. Upon examining the list it appears that the feeling was very strong in favor of Great Britain, and any step tending to carry out the interests of that Kingdom would have met with favor from many if not from a majority of the men of substance. The neighborhood in Canada had been settled to a considerable extent by a population to whom the American name was an abomination. At the close of the Revolution the refugee tories were cast upon the care of the British, and lands were set apart in that portion of Canada lying along Lake Erie, Detroit River and Lake St. Clair for the benefit of these people, and their descendants of the Mohawk loyalists are still to be found in strength upon the lake shore in the districts east of Malden. They are in peculiarly bad odor among shipwrecked mariners.

The following names appear in the records as electing to retain their British character. Many of the number removed to Canada, and many who removed within the year now made a written election : Augustin Amelle. Lauret Maure. James McIntosh. Robert Innis.

John Little.
Ch. Poupard.
In. Robital.
Nicholas Boyer.

Richard Patterson.
Robert Grant.
Jonathan Schifflin.
John Martin.
D. McRae.
William Forsyth.
Francis Bertrand.
Pre. Gabarne.
Hugh Heward.
William Fleming.
Charles Chovin.
James Donaldson.
Louis Moore.
James Condon.
Pre. Dolorme.
Alexander Harson.
Thomas Smith.
John Askin, Sr.
Pierre Vallee.
John McKirgan.
James Smith.
Joseph Mason.
John Anderson.
Agnes Mackintosh.
Conrad Showler.
Charles Roque.
William Thorn.
Jonathan Nelson.
George Meldrum.
A. Iredell.

J. Bte. Barthe.

J. Bte. Barthe, Jr.
Robert Nichol.

John McGregor.
Joseph Borrelle, pere.
Robert Goine.
James Fraser.
William Hands.
Simon Druillar.
Pierre Rell.
Alexis Crait.
Alexis Borrell, fils.
Neel Delisle.
William Baker.
R. McDonell.
John McDonnell.
Amable Latour.
James Anderson.
Isaac Ganize, pere.
Bt. Telemaindit St.
Richard Donovan.
Isaac Gragnier, fils.
Dominique Druillard.

John Fearson.
Benoit Chapaton.
James Cartwright.
Gabriel Hewes.
Robert Forsyth.
Antoine Chanvin.
Jean Bt. Petre.
Jean Bt. Montroi.
Thomas Green.
Francis Primo.
Charles Petre.
Pre. Lanoux.
Redmond Condon.
Joseph Bernard.
John Grant.
George Sharp.
James Vincent.
Louis Barthy.
Alexander Duff.
Batiste Boete.
John Daine.
William Harfy.
Samuel Edge.
John Langloi.
James Guthrie.
Jno. Whitehead.
Alex. Maisonville.
Jean Bt. Bernard.
John Reul.
Mathew Dolson.
William Park.
William Smith.
Robert McDougall.
John Askin, Jr.
James McGregor.
John Clark.
J. Portier Benac.
Francis Rassette.
George Jacob Rudhart.

Basile Durocher.
Joseph Borrell, fils.
Richard Money.
William Mickle.
John Cain
John Wheaton.
Lewis Coutre.
William Mills.
Peter Blanch.
John Lagord.
Louis.

Bte. Monmerell.
Franc Lenaire.
Samuel Eddy.