among the whites or in civilized communities to be educated, and if it
need be, to be used for the collegiate education of those Indian
youths, but let the children at home be educated at home by taxation,
and giving fully my reasons in advancing such proposition. The Hon.
Commissioner was much taken up with my remarks on this subject, I being
the youngest member, and told the older members of the council that he
would like to hear some of them on this subject. "The young man who has
been making remarks on this matter has a very good idea with regard to
your educational funds; now let us hear farther remarks on this subject
by some other members of the council." But not one Indian stirred. And
again and again the next day, I tried to urge this matter to the Hon.
Commissioner and the Indians to cooperate with me, but they would not,
because my people were so ignorant they did not know the value of
education, or else they misunderstood the whole subject. On the third
day, as I was about getting up to make further remarks upon this
subject, one of the old members, who was the most unworthy of all the
company, as he got very drunk the day we arrived in Detroit and was
locked up in jail as disorderly two or three days, arose and said to
the Commissioner that I was not authorized by any of the council to get
up here and make such remarks. "We did not come here to talk about
education, but came expressly to form a treaty." Then burst into a
great laughter all the spectators of the council and some of the
members too. I was told afterwards that it was a put up job to prevent
any change by the persons who had been handling for years this Indian
educational fund, as there were a number of them in the council hall.
Thus was lost one of the most noble objects which ought to have been
first looked after.

After the council dispersed and came home, I sat down and wrote a
long article, giving the full history of the past in regard to this