of Charley," whose statements "were calculated to rouse the passions and prejudices of the friendly tribes against the United States." The Miamis were called upon to declare, explicitly, "whether they intended to join the United States or not;" and they were told that "if they thought proper not to join," "they might depart in peace." All the Indians present were then addressed by General Harrison, who observed to them "that it must be evident to all that the Miamis were endeavoring to excite, in the breasts of the friendly tribes, sentiments unfavorable to the United States." He said that "he was extremely sorry to find the Miamis appeared determined to harrow up every past transaction which was calculated to excite impressions and sentiments unfavorable to the United States, when he had hoped these things would be buried in oblivion, and a permanent peace and friendship established between them; that if they thought proper to pursue this course, he had no objection; but there were a number of Indians, now present, who could prove the falsehood of Charley's assertion."*

Captain Charley arose in the council, after the conclusion of the remarks by General Harrison, and, addressing the general, spoke as follows: "Father, you have said I told falsehoods. My council chiefs and war chiefs have told me to come forward again and speak. Listen to me, father Big Knife! I, Miami, am white all over. There is no spot in me. As I told you before, I tell you again, I can not take hold of any thing bad and fix it on myself. You know, father, that he who has created bad, or been the cause of bad, it will follow him; his works will show it. I tell you again, father, we Miamis have not scattered: we hold ourselves all together. Again, father, our conduct has proved to you that our intentions are not bad. We have brought our women and children with us, which will prove our intentions are not bad. I again repeat that I love you. I do not intend to take hold of the tip of your finger, but to take fast hold of your whole hand-the hand nearest the heart; but I now tell you I wish to remain at peace-I wish to remain neutral. Again, father, you told us to go away. I do not wish to do this. I wish to remain neutral

*Journal of the proceedings of the commissioners.

alongside of you. I have told you our sincere wishes and desires. If you do not approve of it, I can not help it. We wish to claim the ancient promise of remaining neutral. I have nothing more to say, father-I have told you all."*

Governor Cass then addressed the Miamis. He told them that their propositions of neutrality could not be accepted; that "the United States wished for none of their lands-they merely wished to be in friendship with them; but that if, after their own free offer and solicitations, they thought proper to treat on the terms proposed by themselves, which were to take up the tomahawk and strike our enemies, we would give them the friendship and protection of the United States, it was well; but if these were rejected, they (the commissioners) had no other terms to offer." In the course of the proceedings of the council, the deputations froin the Pottawattamies, Kickapoos, Ottawas, and Weas, and from other tribes, or bands, which had been regarded as enemies of the United States, expressed their willingness to engage in the war against the British; and the Miamis, with the exception of two chiefs, finally agreed to accept the terms of peace which were offered to them by the commissioners. A treaty was prepared, explained, sentence by sentence, to the Indians, and signed on the 22d of July, 1814, by "a number of chiefs of each nation therein named." About fourteen hundred and fifty Indian warriors were present at this treaty. On the 1st of August, a large number of these warriors set out for Detroit, in company with Gov. Cass, leaving their women and children at Greenville to be supported at the expense of the United States.

From this period until the close of the war, the Miamis, and the other Indian tribes of the northwest who were parties to the treaty of Greenville, professed to live on terms of peace and friendship with the United States. In the course of the year 1814, and in the spring of 1815, some small war parties, composed of fragments of different tribes, ventured, occasionally, to make predatory incursions into the frontier settlements of the Indiana and Illinois territories. A considerable number of horses were stolen from the settlers by these war parties. Seven white men were killed in the vicinity of Fort Harrison;

*Journal of the proceedings of the commissioners.

† Ib..

+Ib.

three residents of the Indiana territory were killed in the vicinity of Vincennes; and a detachment of sixteen men, under the command of Lieut. Morrison, were surprised by a party of Indians, at a place between Busseron creek and Fort Harrison, and dispersed with the loss of five men killed.*

In the month of December, 1814, a Kickapoo chief, accompanied by his squaw, visited Fort Harrison, where he was kindly received by the commanding officer, and furnished with a place of lodging. "The chief and his wife retired to rest, and, while they were asleep, a ranger fired his piece through an aperture in the house at them, and killed the squaw."† This murder was the cause of considerable excitement among the Kickapoos; but the injured chief, yielding to the advice of some white persons in whose friendship he had confidence, agreed to accept a present that was offered to him to satisfy him for the loss of his wife; and then the rising indignation of his tribe seemed to subside.

ORDINANCE OF 1787-QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTERS - JUDICIARY BANKS HARMONISTS-ROBERT OWENS' SETTLEMENT.

THE well-known ordinance of congress, of the 13th of July, 1787, was designed for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio; and when, in 1800, this large territory was divided, in order to form the Indiana territory, congress declared that there should be established in the Indiana territory "a government similar in all respects" to that provided by the ordinance of 1787; and that the inhabitants of this territory should "be entitled to and enjoy all and

The date of this event is involved in some degree of uncertainty. The detachment was, probably, surprised on the 13th of May, 1815.

Western Sun, published at Vincennes, by E. Stout-file of Dec., 1814.

singular the rights, privileges, and advantages granted and secured to the people by the said ordinance."* I find, however, that these general terms did not confer upon the people of the territory a right to exercise any great degree of political power. The authority to appoint territorial governors, territorial secretaries, and judges of the superior court of the territory, was vested in the president of the United States and the national senate. The organization of a territorial legislature, or general assembly, depended upon the vote of a majority of the freeholders of the territory. Before the organization of such a legislature, the governor and the judges of the territory, or a majority of them, were invested with power to adopt and publish such laws, civil and criminal, of the original States, as might be best suited to the circumstances of the people; but laws thus adopted and published were subject to the disapproval of congress. A freehold estate, in five hundred acres of land, was one of the necessary qualifications of each member of the legislative council of the territory; every member of the territorial house of representatives was required to hold, in his own right, two hundred acres of land; and the privilege of voting for members of the house of representatives, was restricted to those inhabitants who, in addition to other qualifications, owned, severally, at least fifty acres of land. The people of the territory were not authorized, by the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, nor by any act of congress, to choose officers of the territorial militia, nor to elect judges of any of the inferior courts of the territory, nor clerks of the courts, nor justices of the peace, nor sheriffs, nor coroners, nor county treasurers, nor county surveyors. The power of choosing all these officers was vested in the governor of the territory. He also was invested with authority to divide the territory into districts-to apportion, among the several counties, the members of the house of representatives-to prevent the passage of any territorial law-and to convene, prorogue, and dissolve the general assembly of the territory, whenever, in his opinion, it might be deemed expedient to exercise such authority.

Although none of these extraordinary powers were ever exercised tyrannically, oppressively, or arbitrarily, by either

* Act of Congress, May 7, 1800.

of the governors of the Indiana territory, yet, during almost the whole period of the territorial government, the question of an extension of the right of suffrage was agitated among the people, and often pressed upon the attention of congress. In 1805, the members of the first legislative council of the ter ritory, in their reply to the first message of Governor Harrison, said: "Although we are not as completely independent in our legislative capacity as we would wish to be, yet we are sensible that we must wait with patience for that peroid of time when our population will burst the trammels of a territorial government, and we shall assume the character more consonant to republicanism. * * * The confidence which our fellowcitizens have uniformly had in your administration, has been such that they have hitherto had no reason to be jealous of the unlimited power which you possess over our legislative proceedings. We, however, can not help regretting that such powers have been lodged in the hands of any one-especially when it is recollected to what dangerous lengths the exercise of those powers may be extended."

The territorial legislature attempted, by one of the sections of an act of the 17th of September, 1807, to extend the right of suffrage in the Indiana territory, by giving a liberal construction to that part of the ordinance of 1787 which relates to the qualifications of certain electors; and, soon afterward, the right in question was, in fact, somewhat extended by the provisions of an act of congress, of February 26, 1808, which, in the words following, defined the qualifications of electors of representatives: "Every free white male person in the Indiana territory, above the age of twenty-one years, having been a citizen of the United States and resident in the said territory one year next preceding an election of representatives, and who has a legal or equitable title to a tract of land of the quantity of fifty acres, or who may become the purchaser, from the United States, of a tract of land of the quantity of fifty acres, or who holds, in his own right, a town lot of the value of one hundred dollars, shall be entitled to vote for representatives to the general assembly of the said territory."

The people of the Indiana territory continued to petition congress, not only for a more liberal modification of the law which prescribed the qualifications of voters, but also for such