of signing this treaty, or soon after it had been put in pamphlet form
so that all persons could read it and know its terms, they were told by
their white neighbors that their reservations of land would expire in
five years, instead of being perpetual, as they believed. At the end of
this time, they would be compelled to leave their homes, and if they
should refuse they would be driven at the point of the bayonet into a
strange land, where, as is almost always the case, more than one-half
would die before they could be acclimated. At this most startling
intelligence more than half of my people fled into Canada; fled to the
protection of the British government; fled, many of them, even before
receiving a single copper of the promised annuities; fled to a latitude
like that in which they had been accustomed to live. The balance of
them determined to remain and await whatever the consequences might be,
and receive the annuities which they were promised for twenty years.
But fortunately their expulsion from the State was suddenly stayed, in
the years 1850 and '51. By the kindness of the people of the State of
Michigan, they were adopted as citizens and made equal in rights with
their white neighbors. Their voice was to be recognized in the ballot
box in every election; and I thought, this is what ought to be, for the
same God who created the white man created the red man of the forest,
and therefore they are equally entitled to the benefits of
civilization, education and Christianity.

At that time I was one of the principal ones who advocated this cause,
for I had already received a partial education, and in my understanding
of this matter, I thought that was the only salvation of my people from
being sent off to the west of the Mississippi. In laboring for the
object, I suffered very great hardship and many struggles, but was at
last successful.