1808.] Observations made during 
of latitude above mentioned, and of course 
most of the valuable islands in Lake 
Erie. 
At the close of the revolutionary war 
Connecticut become a free, sovereign, 
and independent State, resolved to ren- 
der this tract, called the Connecticut le- 
Serve, valuable to her citizens. With 
this view, with an honourable diligence 
She demanded fiom her citizens an exact 
return of the injuries they had sustained 
from the wanton ageressions of the Bri- 
tish, who, not satisfied with burning New 
London and other towns, burnt private 
dwellings, barns, stables, &c. within her 
domains. The returns bemg made, the 
total of the mischief done was found to 
amount to about 500,000 dollars. She 
next formed the sufferers into a com- 
pany, called the Fire or Sufferers’ Com- 
pany, and vested therein as many acres 
of land, situate principally on the eastern 
shore of Sanduski Riverand Bay, as the 
losses amounted to in dollars, so 
that each sufferer had for every dollar of 
loss sustained one acre of land made over 
tohim. This Company was represented 
at the treaty by a gentleman whose 
fiame I cannot immediately recollect. 
The remainder of the Reserve was sold to 
the Connecticut Land-Company for 
1,200,000 dollars*. This Company was 
fepresented at Cleveland by Judge Phelps, 
a member of Congress from the State of 
New York. General Champion re- 
presented the State of Connecticut; Mr, 
South was United States-avent ; and Gi. 
deon Granger, post-master general, car- 
* 
* This money produced a formidable 
echism in Connecticut. The question was, 
how should it be employed? ‘lhe reverend 
the clergy, the meek and unambitious preach- 
érs of the doctrine of Christ and their asso- 
Ciates, contended that the interest thereof 
should be divided among the clergy of the 
State. The democrats, on the other hand, 
asserted, that no particular set of men ought 
to fatten on the property which belonged to 
all, and that those only who employed the 
priests ought to support them. ‘They con- 
tended, that in every parish of the State one 
or more schools should be opened, at which 
¢ach child of every citizen of Connecticut 
should have the right of being educated, 
without expence, for five years in the princi- 
ples of the English language, writing, arith- 
metic, and geography. This question every 
Year, for seven yéars, divided the legislature, 
and at last wascarried in favour of the schools, 
Principally by the zeal, influence, and elo. 
quence of Gideon Granger, a citizen of that 
State. 
» Monrury Mac., No, 177. 
a Tour in the United States. 335 
ried with him, and was to have opened, 
the commission, signed hy the president 
of the United States, for opening the 
treaty. When the sale and grant. above 
alluded to were made, the Indian title to 
the property in the Reserve was not ex- 
tinguished, and therefore could not be 
improved by the holders; and it was not 
until 1794 that the Indians surrendered 
by Wayne’s treaty to the United Statea 
all that part of the Reserve east of the 
Cayahoga, now divided into 115 town- 
ships, of five miles square each. Cone 
tending claims now arose between the 
holders under the State of Connecticut 
and the United States, which were not 
finally settled untjl the year 1800, when 
the United States confirmed to the Land 
and Sufferers’ Companies, their title to 
the lands they held under the State of 
Connecticut ; and the State of Connec- 
ticut resigned to the United States all 
her claims to lands west of the Pennsyl- 
vania line. This difficulty being remov- 
ed, it became the interest of the land- 
holders to extinguish the Indians’ claims 
to the lands west of the Cayahoga, and 
east of the Miami of the Lake. This was 
also désirable to the United Sates, as the 
Canadian smugglers, British agents as 
they are called, ran large quantities of 
goods into the Indian country, south of 
the Lake, from whence they were car- 
ried into the territories of the United 
States, and this occasioned a less to their 
revenue, which was estimated at 70,000 
dollars annually. It being thus the in- 
terest ofall partiesin the United States 
to extinguish the Indian title, it was, af- 
ter some effort, agreed to by the chiefs 
of the red men,'that a treaty should he 
held at Cleveland, and to which place it 
was expected all parties would repair, 
A very small assemblage of Indians met 
there; and we understood, with much 
anxiety, that the interest of the British 
agents detained the great body, nearly 
1,000, at Miami bay, and that they were 
distributing expensive presents, particu- 
larly copper kettles, with a very liberal 
hand, with a view to prevent the consum- 
mation of the contemplated treaty. We 
knew that our conduct was watched, and 
regular communications made to their 
employers by persons even on the eastern 
side of the Cavahoga, and three horses 
were kept on the west side completely 
ready to start at a minute’s notice, with 
any intelligence which might tend to des 
feat our object. On the 4th of June, 
twelve Indians of the Seneca tribe, whe 
reside in the State of New York, ac. 
Uu companied 
