284 APPENDIX. 



approved by the American government, and that a continuance in 

 it will be visited upon them in measures of severity. 



Without indulging the expectation that my influence on the 

 tour will have the effect to put an end to the spirit of predatory 

 warfare, it may be asserted that this spirit has been checked and 

 allayed ; and that a state of feeling and reflection has been pro- 

 duced by it, which cannot fail to be beneficial to our relations 

 with them, and to their relations with each other. The messages 

 sent to the Sioux chiefs, may be anticipated to have resulted in 

 restoring a perfect peace during the present fall and ensuing win- 

 ter, and will thus leave to each party the undisturbed chase of 

 their lands. The meditated blow of Steenaba was turned aside, 

 and his war-party arrested and dispersed at the moment it was 

 ready to proceed. Every argument was used to show them the 

 folly and the insecurity of a continuance of the war. And the 

 whole tenor and effect of my visit has been to inform and reform 

 these remote bands. It has destroyed the charm of their seclu- 

 sion. It has taught them that their conduct is under the super- 

 vision of the American government ; that they depend on its care 

 and protection ; that no other government has power to regulate 

 trade and send traders among them ; finally, that an adherence to 

 foreign counsels, and to antipaciflc maxims, can be visited upon 

 them in measures of coercion. That their country, hitherto 

 deemed nearly inaccessible, can be penetrated and traversed by 

 men and troops, with baggage and provisions, even in midsum- 

 mer, when the waters are lowest ; and that, in proportion as they 

 comply with political maxims, as benevolent as they are just, will 

 they live at peace with their enemies, and have the means of 

 subsistence for an increased population among themselves. The 

 conduct of the traders in this quarter, and the influence they have 

 exerted, both moral and political, cannot here be entered upon, 

 and must be left to some other occasion, together with statistical 

 details and other branches of information not arising from par- 

 ticular instructions. 



It may be said that the Indians upon the St, Croix and Chip- 

 pewa Rivers, and their numerous branches, have been drawn into 

 a close intercourse with government. But it will be obvious that 

 a perseverance in the system of official advice and restraints, is 



