But in order that my people can enjoy every privilege of civilisation,
they must be thoroughly educated; they must become acquainted with the
arts and sciences, as well as the white man. Soon as the Indian youths
receive an education, they should be allowed to have some employment
among the whites, in order to encourage them in the pursuit of
civilization and to exercise their ability according to the means and
extent of their education, instead of being a class of persons
continually persecuted and cheated and robbed of their little
possessions. They should have been educated amongst the civilized
communities in order to learn the manners and customs of the white
people. If this method could have been pursued in the first instance,
the aborigines of this country would have secured all the advantages of
civilization, education and Christianity. This was my plan and my
proposition at the council of Detroit, in the treaty of 1855, as there
was quite a large sum of money set apart and appropriated by the
Government for the education of Indian youth of the Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians of Michigan, and I made the proposition at this council that
the sum for that purpose be retained in the hands of the Government
solely to pay for the education of those Indian youths who should be
educated in a civilized community, instead of committing this sum of
money to the hands of the preachers and teachers in the missions among
the Ottawas and Chippewas. If my plan could have been adopted, even as
late as thirty-two years ago, we should have had, by this time, many
well-educated Indians in this State, and probably some good farmers,
and perhaps some noted professors of sciences would have been
developed, and consequently happiness, blessings and prosperity would
have been everywhere among the aborigines of the State of Michigan.