TOWARDS THE INDIANS WAR WITH INDIANS. 443 



so successful, that a treaty, for the removal of the last body, 

 was concluded at Chicago in September, 1833, and in 1836 

 there will scarcely be a resident Indian to the east of the Mis 

 sissippi. 



The Indians are a quiet inoffensive race, and generally 

 conduct themselves well towards the white people. The 

 united tribes of Sacs and Foxes, which inhabit the banks of 

 the Mississippi north of Illinois, are an exception, being a 

 restless fierce people. They made war on the United States 

 in 1831, commencing hostilities in the neighbourhood of 

 Prairie des Chien. They created a good deal of alarm in 

 the northern part of Illinois and Michigan, but were easily 

 subdued. Their chief, Black Hawk, noticed at page 29, was 

 taken prisoner, and, after two years confinement, suffered to 

 depart. The Sacs and Foxes have retired beyond the Mis 

 sissippi, and even ceded some territory to the west of the 

 river. The chastisement they got, and the increase of popu 

 lation at Galena, will keep this tribe in subjection in time to 

 come. 



What the ultimate effect will be of removing the Indians to 

 the west of the Mississippi, I am at a loss to conjecture, and 

 doubt if it will be so beneficial as the United States Govern 

 ment seem to contemplate. Not being fully aware of the 

 causes alluded to in the report of the secretary of war, which 

 decrees the poor Indians residing amongst white men to cer 

 tain annihilation, it is unnecessary to speculate on their re 

 moval, or what effects may come into operation in their new 

 territories. I believe, however, it is a fact that the Indians 

 are decreasing in number in the Canadas, as well as in the 

 United States, even after considerable advances in civilisation 

 have taken place, and Christianity obtained a footing amongst 

 them. It is a common opinion that the Indian tribes were 

 extremely numerous in former times, but there is no very 

 good evidence of the fact. The French penetrated from De 

 troit to New Orleans between 1670 and 1719, establishing 

 trading ports and villages in many parts of the valley of the 

 Mississippi. At the commencement of the eighteenth cen 

 tury the Sacs and Foxes made a desperate effort to take the 

 fort at Detroit from the French, and for forty years subse- 



