18th. Lieut. J. Allen, U.S.A., way topographer on the recent expedition, sends me maps of Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Itasca Lake, to be used in my narrative of the journey to the source of the Mississippi River. Correspondents appear solicitous for a published account of this expedition, and frequently allude to it, and to the opportunity it gave for extending our knowledge of the geology and natural history of the country.
April 8th. Dr. J.B. Crawe, of Waterton, N.Y., proposes an interchange of specimens in several departments of science. Hon. Micah Sterling, of the same place, commends to my notice Dr. Richard Clark, who is ordered on this frontier, as a "young man of merit and respectability." My correspondence with naturalists, in all parts of the Union, and my list of exchanges, had, indeed, for some years been large and active, and was by no means diminished since my last two expeditions. But new sympathies have been awakened, particularly during the last two years, with philanthropists and Christians, which added greatly to the number of my correspondents, without taking from its gratifications.
12th. Rev. Ansel R. Clark of Hudson, Ohio, an agent of the Education Society, writes on the importance of that cause, on the state and prospects of American society, the spread of vital morals in neighborhoods on the great line of the frontiers, Indian civilization, &c. In connection with the last topic, he acknowledges the receipt of the proceedings published by the Algic Society, and expresses his interest in its objects.
This society, by its standing committee here, received Elder John Sunday in the autumn, furnished him with lodgings while at the place, and an outfit for his missions to the Indians at Keweena Bay in Lake Superior. It also furnished John Cabeach and John Otanchey--all converted Chippewas from the vicinity of Toronto, U.C., with the means of practical teaching and traveling among various bands of the Northern Chippewas. It sent an express in the month of January to La Pointe, L.S., to communicate with the mission family there, with their papers, letters, &c. Regular monthly meetings of the St. Mary's committee were held, and the proceedings denote the collection of much information of high interest to the cause of the red man.
15th. I was anxious now to extend the sphere of my observation to Europe. I had been engaged twelve consecutive years out of a period of fifteen (omitting 1823, 1828, 1829 and 1830) in journeys chiefly in the great Valley of the Mississippi, the vast flanks of the Rocky Mountains, the Upper Lakes, and the north-western frontiers. And I began to sigh for a prospect of older countries and institutions. The time seemed favorable, in my mind, for such a movement, and I wrote to a friend high in influence at Washington, on the subject. In a reply of this date, he throws, with adroitness, cold water on the subject. He weighs matters in scales which will only keep their equipoise at the place of the seat of government; and, if I may say so, require their equipoise to be kept up by casting on the golden weights of political expediency. Like those seemingly mysterious charms which produce the variations in the compass, the effects are always instantly visible, we see the dip and intensity of the needle, while the causes are in great measure out of sight.
A correspondent at Washington writes--"The President" talks of a tour to the East. He will probably leave here about the last of May. He will go to Portland, then through New Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain, and thence through the western part of New York to Buffalo. This was originally the programme of Gen. Jackson's tour to New England in 1833.
16th. Charles Cleland, Esq., of Detroit, writes: "My partner, Franklin Sawyer, Jr., has, for some months past, been collecting materials to enable him to publish a history of Detroit, and he has this moment requested me to solicit your friendly aid. You might have in your possession many interesting facts, and much information which might give great value to the work."
The true history of Detroit lies scattered abroad in the public archives of Paris and London, and in the Catholic College of Quebec. It is inseparable in a measure, not only from the history of Michigan, but New France.
17th. George L. Whitney, of Detroit, writes me respecting the printing of the narrative of my expedition to Itasca Lake.
19th. Rev. John Clark writes from New York, that the Methodist Society have determined to establish a mission among the Chippewas at Sault St. Marie--that he is pleased to hear the "native speakers" (Sunday, Cabeach and Tanchay) have wintered in the county, and that he expects to reach St. Mary's by the 10th of June.