[378] Ibid., Whistler to Kingsbury, December 12, 1809.
Kingsbury's letter books, whose contents relate to the several northwestern posts in general, are the best source of information upon the conditions that prevailed at Fort Dearborn in this period. In October, 1804, Kingsbury writes from Mackinac to an eastern correspondent urging him to reply immediately, in which case the answer will reach Mackinac by the first vessel in the spring, which will probably arrive in May or June.[379] The answer is to be directed to Detroit, the postmaster there having agreed to forward his mail to him at Mackinac. A year later, when Kingsbury is at Fort Belle Fontaine, a St. Louis friend sends him a bundle of newspapers, but requests him to preserve them in order that the writer may have a file of "Steady Habits" to peruse in a "Hypochrondichal hour."[380] How the inmates of Fort Dearborn sometimes received their mail is shown by a letter of William Burnett, the St. Joseph trader, to his Detroit correspondent in January, 1804, in which, among other things, he mentions the receipt of the letters and newspapers for "the doctor at Chicagou" and promises to forward them at the first opportunity.[381]
[379] Ibid., Kingsbury to Benjamin Ellis, October 16, 1804.
[380] Ibid., E. Hempstead to Kingsbury, October 17, 1805.
[381] Michigan Pioneer Collections, VIII, 547.
The observations of the frontier officers upon the public news of the outside world constitute an interesting part of their correspondence. In August, 1805, Kingsbury is informed by a Mackinac correspondent that the French and English fleets have not met, "which we consider an Unfortunate Circumstance," as no doubt is felt of the triumph of the British in the event of a combat.[382] The French have captured a rich American ship near Charleston, and the public prints are full of complaints against the President for suffering such depredations upon American commerce. Bonaparte has gone to Italy "to extort much money from the Italians." Another correspondent of Kingsbury sends news late in February, 1805, of the election of Jefferson to the presidency.[383] An item which has a familiar ring relates that "Congress have done nothing since in Session worth mentioning that have come to our knowledge."[384]
[382] Kingsbury Papers, David Mitchell to Kingsbury, August 24, 1805.
[383] Kingsbury Papers, Clemson to Kingsbury, February 24. 1805.
[384] Ibid.
Thus the public news items run. Bonaparte has been proclaimed "Emperor of the Gauls";[385] the death of Hamilton is announced, with regret. Burr has fled from New York, fearing assassination. The probabilities of a war with Spain and of a revolt in Louisiana are gravely discussed. The traders, too, had their disputes. Shortly before Kinzie removed to Chicago, he became involved in a business dispute with an associate named Pattinson. The latter addressed an acrid letter to him "dictated in such terms of impertinency that he pointly brings in question Kenzie's character, relative to their concerns. In a word he calls him everything but a gentleman."[386] Burnett of St. Joseph who, though not directly implicated in the Pattinson-Kinzie quarrel, seems to have sympathized with the latter, also became involved in the dispute. Pattinson claimed that Burnett had insulted him by speaking disrespectfully to his brother of his government, and by calling his house a "hog-sty." Burnett replied that it was not his intention to have "hurted their tender feelings," but that in the course of an argument over the relative greatness of Great Britain and America, in which Pattinson had made extravagant claims for the former, he took it upon himself to contradict "this high flier." It is refreshing to discover that at a time when our government was humiliating itself before those of Great Britain and France, the honor of America was thus valiantly upheld in an obscure corner of the northwestern frontier.