Father: You sent me a Belt from the Miamis, & as soon as I received it, I set off to meet you here, on my way I heard what had past between you & the several Tribes that met you here, you have had pity on them, & I beg in behalf of myself & the people of Chicago that you will have pity on us also. ’tis true we have been Fools, & have listened to evil reports, & the whistling of bad birds, we red people, are a very jealous and foolish people, & Father amongst you White People, there are bad people also, that tell us lyes & deceive us, which has been the occasion of what has past, I need not say much on this head, I am now convinced, that I have been wrong for some years past, but there are people who have behaved worse than I & my people, they were pardoned last year at this place, I hope we may meet with the same, that our Women & Children may enjoy the blessings of peace as the rest of our Bretheren the red people, & you shall be convinced by our future conduct that we will behave as well as any Tribe of Indˢ in this Country.—A Belt.
He then said that the St. Joseph Indians would have come along with him, but the English Prisoner which their Fathers want from them, was some distance off a hunting, & as soon as they could get him in, they would deliver him up and desire forgiveness.
14ᵗʰ—I had a private meeting with the grand Sautois when he told me he was well disposed for peace last Fall, but was then sent for to the Ilinois, where he met with Pondiac, & that then their Fathers the French told them, if they would be strong to keep the English out of possession of that Country but this Summer, That the King of France would send over an Army next Spring, to assist his Children the Indians, and that the King of Spain would likewise send troops to help them to keep the English out of their Country, that the English were a bad people, & had a design to cut off all the Indian Nations in this Country, & to bring the Southern Indians to live & settle there, this account made all the Indians very uneasy in their minds, & after holding a Council amongst themselves, they all determined to oppose the English, & not to suffer them to take Possession of the Ilinois, that for his part he behaved as ill as the rest to the English Officers that came there in the Spring, but since he had been better informed of the goodness of the English, & convinced the French had told lyes for the love of their Beaver, he was now determined with all his people to become faithfull to their new Fathers the English, & pay no regard to any stories the French should tell him for the future.
Sepʳ 15ᵗʰ—Colᵒ Campbell & I had a meeting with the Grand Sautois, at which we informed him of every thing that had past with the several Nations & Tribes & told him that we accepted him and his people in Friendship, & would forgive them as we had the rest of the Tribes, & forget what was past provided their future conduct should convince us of their sincerity, after which we gave them some presents, for which he returned thanks & departed very well satisfied.
19ᵗʰ—I received a letter by express from Colᵒ Reed acquainting me of Capt Sterlings setting out from Fort Pitt, with 100 men of the 42ᵈ Regᵗ to take possession of Fort Chartres in the Ilinois Country.
20ᵗʰ—I sent of[f] Huron Andrew Express to Capᵗ Sterling[131] at the Ilinois, & with messages to the several Nations in that Country & those on the Ouabache, to acquaint them of Capᵗ Starling’s departure from Fort Pitt for the Ilinois Country.
25ᵗʰ—The Chiefs of the Sᵗ Joseph Indians arrived and addressed themselves to Colᵒ Campbell & me as follows,
Fathers: We are come here to see you, altho’ we are not acquainted with you, we had a Father formerly, with whom we were very well acquainted, & never differed with him, you have conquered him some time ago, & when you came here first notwithstanding your hands were all bloody, you took hold of us by the hands, & used us well, & we thought we should be happy with our Fathers, but soon an unlucky difference happened, which threw us all in confusion, where this arose we don’t know but we assure you, we were the last that entered into this Quarrel, the Indˢ from this place solicited us often to join them, but we would not listen to them, at last they got the better of our foolish young Warriors, but we never agreed to it, we knew it would answer no end, & often told our Warriors they were fools, if they succeeded in killing the few English in this Country, they could not kill them all because we knew you to be a great People.
Fathers: you have after all that has happened, received all the several Tribes in this Country for your Children, we from St. Joseph’s seem to be the last of your Children that come to you, we are no more than Wild Creatures to you Fathers in understanding therefore we request you’l forgive the past follies of our young people & receive us for your Children since you have thrown down our former Father on his back, we have been wandering in the dark like blind people, now you have dispersed all this darkness which hung over the heads of the several Tribes, & have accepted them for your Children, we hope you will let us partake with them of the light, that our Women & Children may enjoy Peace, & we beg you’l forget all that is past, by this belt we remove all evil thoughts from your hearts.—A Belt.
Fathers, When we formerly came to visit our late Fathers the French they always sent us home joyfull, & we hope you will have pity on our Women & Young Men who are in great Want of necessarys, & not let us return home to our Villages ashamed.