TO MR. NICHOLAS.
Washington, December 22, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I always consider it as the most friendly office which can be rendered me, to be informed of anything which is going amiss, and which I can remedy. I had known that there had been a very blamable failure in the clothing department, which had not become known so as to be remedied till the beginning of October; but I had believed that the remedy had then been applied with as much diligence as the case admitted. After the suggestions from General Smith and Mr. Giles the other day, I made inquiry into the fact, and have received the enclosed return, which will show exactly what has been done. Can I get the favor of you to show it to General Smith and Mr. Giles, to whom I am sure it will give as much satisfaction as to myself, and to re-enclose it to me? I salute you and them with sincere friendship and respect.
TO GOVERNOR HARRISON.
Washington, December 22, 1808.
Sir,—By the treaty of 1803, we obtained from the Kaskaskias the country as far as the ridge dividing the waters of the Kaskaskias from those of the Illinois River; by the treaty of 1804, with the Sacs and Foxes, they ceded to us from the Illinois to the Ouisconsin. Between these two cessions is a gore of country, to wit, between the Illinois River and Kaskaskias line, which I understand to have belonged to the Piorias, and that that tribe is now extinct; if both these facts be true, we succeed to their title by our being proprietors paramount of the whole country. In this case it is interesting to settle our boundary with our next neighbors the Kickapoos. Where their western boundary is, I know not; but they cannot come lower down the Illinois River than the Illinois Lake, on which stood the old Pioria fort, and perhaps not so low. The Kickapoos are bounded to the south-east, I presume, by the ridge between the waters of the Illinois and Wabash, to which the Miamis claim, and north-east by the Pottewatamies. Of course it is with the Kickapoos alone we have to settle a boundary. I would therefore recommend to you to take measures for doing this. You will of course first endeavor with all possible caution to furnish yourself with the best evidence to be had, of the real location of the south-west boundary of the Kickapoos, and then endeavor to bring them to an acknowledgment of it formally, by a treaty of limits. If it be nothing more, the ordinary presents are all that will be necessary, but if they cede a part of their own country, then a price proportioned will be proper. In a letter to you of February 27th, 1803, I mentioned that I had heard there was still one Pioria man living, and that a compensation making him easy for life should be given him, and his conveyance of the country by a regular deed be obtained. If there be such a man living, I think this should still be done. The ascertaining the line between the Kickapoos and us is now of importance, because it will close our possessions on the hither bank of the Mississippi from the Ohio to the Ouisconsin, and give us a broad margin to prevent the British from approaching that river, on which, under color of their treaty, they would be glad to hover, that they might smuggle themselves and their merchandise into Louisiana. Their treaty can only operate on the country so long as it is Indian; and in proportion as it becomes ours exclusively, their ground is narrowed. It makes it easier too for us to adopt on this side of the Mississippi a policy we are beginning on the other side, that of permitting no traders, either ours or theirs, to go to the Indian towns, but oblige them all to settle and be stationary at our factories, where we can have their conduct under our observation and control. However, our first object must be to blockade them from the Mississippi, and to this I ask the favor of your attention; and salute you with great friendship and respect.
TO MR. BARLOW.
Washington, December 25, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I return you Doctor Maese's letter, which a pressure of business has occasioned me to keep too long. I think an account of the manufactures of Philadelphia would be really useful, and that the manufactures of other places should be added from time to time, as information of them should be received. To give a perfect view of the whole, would require a report from every county or township of the United States. Perhaps the present moment would be premature, as they are, in truth, but just now in preparation. The government could not aid the publication by the subscription suggested by Doctor Maese, without a special law for it. All the purposes for which they can pay a single dollar, are specified by law. The advantage of the veterinary institution proposed, may perhaps be doubted. If it be problematical whether physicians prevent death where the disease, unaided, would have terminated fatally,—oftener than they produce it, where order would have been restored to the system by the process, if uninterrupted, provided by nature, and in the case of a man who can describe the seat of his disease, its character, progress, and often its cause, what might we expect in the case of the horse,—mute, &c., yielding no sensible and certain indications of his disease? They have long had these institutions in Europe; has the world received as yet one iota of valuable information from them? If it has, it is unknown to me. At any rate, it may be doubted whether, where so many institutions of obvious utility are yet wanting, we should select this one to take the lead. I return you Gibbon, with thanks. I send you, also, for your shelf of pamphlets, one which gives really a good historical view of our funding system, and of federal transactions generally, from an early day to the present time. I salute you with friendship and respect.