The account you have given me of the treatment of the Indians in two towns you have mentioned, and of the undisciplined state of the militia which made so large a portion of General Harrison's Army, is truly astonishing. The people who have treated these Indians in this savage manner, have debased themselves far below the savages. I have long been satisfied that the Indians are rarely, if ever, the first aggressors in their wars with the white people. Very little is to be expected from soldiers who are under no discipline; and this was probably very much the case with General Hull's army, and is still with the troops at Plattsburg, and near Niagara; nor will it ever be much otherwise until there is a Commander-in-chief who is fit for the station. Heaven has remarkably frowned upon all the attempts made to invade Canada. It is, however, no more than we might expect in carrying on a war so unprovoked, unnecessary, and abominably unjust. I was very sorry to find your son was one of the conscripts. I hope you will, at all events, provide a substitute.

It is to be extremely regretted that your state continues so Democratic. If you had united with New York and the four New England states, there would have been, very probably, a peace majority in the new Congress. As it is, if North Carolina and Tennessee do not elect their members before the extra session in May, the war party must be in the minority at that time. In this quarter, the distresses of the war are most sensibly felt. Commerce has almost totally ceased. Very little has been obtained by privateering. Double the amount of property has been taken in the ships that have been captured, since this vile business commenced, to what has been brought in by the privateers. I rejoice that scarcely a Federalist has been concerned in them. Almost every privateer from Massachusetts is taken. We have had the account of the capture of a number within a few days. The few that are in are afraid to go out.

But what has greatly increased the distress in our seaports, and the inland towns in this part of the country, is the almost total failure of the crop of Indian corn the last season. The spring was cold and late, which occasioned the corn to be

planted late; the summer was rather favorable, so that the corn obtained a pretty good growth; but, at the time it was full in the milk, we had repeated frosts, and some of them so severe as to freeze the grain to the cob. The husks did not open, and great quantities rotted in the fields, so as to be offensive on passing through them. Much of it even cattle would not eat, and for hogs it was useless. That which was planted early was the best. We should, probably, have had about two hundred bushels, but saved only twenty which would do to grind, and much of that, in common years, we should not have attempted to make into bread. We had one acre of pretty good rye, and this is all we expect to have until another crop is obtained. Numerous families live wholly without bread, using potatoes for a substitute. We had a good crop, about three hundred bushels, but we had to fatten our pork, and keep our store hogs upon them. We have not yet been without bread at table; but I believe I have not eaten much above a pound of bread for more than three months. Many more vessels than usual were sent to the South for corn and flour; a large number of them have been taken, and very few have yet arrived. We have just had news of a vessel taken by the Chesapeake Blockading Fleet, in attempting to run by from James River, the Captain of which was a near neighbor; and the black man I brought from Washington, and who has since lived with me, and on whom I depended for help, was taken in her.

Jervis is with us. This winter he has been employed mostly in engraving, and has work from Salem and Boston. A book has been published this winter, which goes to the world as his production, under the following title: "A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana. Comprehending the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and their principal tributary streams; The face of the country, soil, waters, natural productions, animal, vegetable, and mineral; Towns, villages, settlements, and improvements. And a concise account of the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi. To which is added an interesting Journal of Mr. Charles Le Raye while a captive with the Sioux nation on the waters of the Missouri River. By a late officer in the U. S.

Army." There is added an Appendix, which was not originally intended, containing some account of the Indian nations. within the United States. The materials for this work were very scanty. The account of the Indians west of the Mississippi, I happened to obtain from Mr. Jefferson, when I was at Congress. It was communicated to him by Captain Lewis and Mr. Sibley, and never has been published. From these accounts, and from several Journals of Officers, which Jervis obtained at New Orleans, this part is made out, and is, I believe, the best to be found. But the account of the Indians within the United States is deficient, taken mostly from old official accounts, the best we could obtain. Le Raye's Journal is interesting. He gave it to Jervis on his way, in the boat with him, down the Mississippi. There are five copperplates, well executed; a view of Cincinnati, a Flat-head man, woman, and child, the Mountain sheep, and an antelope. About one thousand copies are printed, of which two hundred are bound, and the others are in the hands of the book-binder. It appears to be quite popular, and all that are bound, I believe are sold. We shall send one to you as soon as we have opportunity.

I received, not long ago, the Constitution of a Bible Society at Marietta. We have a Bible Society called the "Bible Society of Salem and vicinity." The object of this Society is, in the first place, to supply our own vicinity, in which are five seaports, containing many poor people. We were incorporated somewhat more than two years ago, and have purchased about one thousand Bibles, which I believe the managers have distributed, and which probably afford a pretty good supply to those poor people. We shall then, as our funds permit, send Bibles abroad. It is probable that a number may be sent, on application, to the Bible Society at Marietta. From the Bible Society at Philadelphia (who have been at the great expense of procuring stereotypes for printing the Bibles) we have ordered two hundred of the stereotyped Bibles to be forwarded, and shall, probably, have all our Bibles printed in Philadelphia, from whence they might be sent to Marietta. I believe I shall send you, with this letter, our Incorporating Act and Constitution. This Society was formed pretty much through

the exertions of Colonel Thorndike and myself. We organized ourselves before incorporation, but collected no money. Colonel Thorndike's name you have probably seen in the papers. He is a member of our Senate, and reputed the richest man, next to Mr. Gray, in Massachusetts. He was at first elected President, and myself Vice-President. We were the committee to secure the Act. He at that time moved to Boston, and after Incorporation I was chosen President, and so continue. At our annual meeting, in April, we are to have our first public exercises, and I am appointed to deliver the

sermon.

Your affectionate Parent,

[To Ephraim Cutler.]

M. CUTLER.

HAMILTON, August 27, 1818.

My Dear Son :-By Mr. Dana I received a letter from you wholly confined to the concerns of the College at Athens. It is a subject in which, I must confess to you, I do not feel myself much interested. When I reflect upon the exertion I was obliged to make, and the opposition I had to encounter in obtaining a grant from Congress of the two townships for the establishing of that institution, and consider the total neglect I have experienced respecting the founding the college, my feelings have been much hurt. The fact is, the people in the State of Ohio are wholly indebted to me for procuring the grant of those townships, and the ministerial and school lands in the Ohio Company's purchase, and, indeed, for similar grants in Judge Symmes' purchase.

When Mr. Sargent and myself applied to Congress for the purchase, no person, to my knowledge, had an idea of asking for such grants. On my mentioning it to Mr. Sargent and others friendly to the purchase, they were rather opposed, fearing that it would occasion an increased price for the lands. When the application was first made for the grants, a large majority appeared opposed. I had previously contemplated the vast benefit that might be derived from it in future time, and was determined to make every exertion to obtain it. Mr. Sargent, indeed, cordially united with me in endeavoring to VOL. II.-21

surmount the difficulties which appeared in the way, until the object was obtained. Judge Symmes was waiting the issue of our application with the intention to apply for his purchase, but had not thought of such grants until they were made to us. He then included similar grants in his application.

It is well known to all concerned with me in transacting the business of the Ohio Company that the establishment of a University was a first object, and lay with great weight on my mind. In view of the origin and exertions made to obtain the townships, I can not help considering myself, in some sense, as the donor, and that I have been entitled to some attention on that ground. You may charge it to my vanity, but such are my feelings, which I venture to confess to you. Mr. Dana gives a very flattering account of the present state and future prospects of the College. It is my earnest prayer that it may increase and flourish, and prove a great and permanent blessing in future time.

Mr. Dana has been very pressing that I should be a subscriber to the funds he is endeavoring to obtain, stating his apprehension that it would influence non-residents more readily to afford their aid. With much reluctance I have subscribed $20, not from want of disposition to promote the Institution, but from inability in my present circumstances to give any thing, and from a persuasion in my own mind that, all things considered, I have done as much as could be reasonably expected of me. It is not in my power to give any thing I possess here. I have assured him I can only depend on the sale of lands in your hands for the payment, and have given him an order to that amount. The order does not stand just as I should have chosen to have had it. It says funds now in your hands, or may be hereafter. I have told him I would not consent to have it paid out of the sum for which you have sold a mile square lot, and which I expected to have received a considerable time ago, and that I should so write to you. He fully declared that he did not desire to receive it out of that money, but was willing to wait any time until you could conveniently pay it.

Altho' I have written so long a letter, I will venture to mention one matter more, in which you and my other chil