wrong practifed, that with fuch an exception, any remedy would be very partial. And we can never confent to purchase a partial remedy, by confirming a general evil, and by subjecting ourselves to our own reproaches, as well as to thofe of other nations. Third, It appears, as well by a letter from Mr. Thorntorn, in answer to one from me, of both which copies are enclosed, as from conversations with Mr. Merry, that the facility which would be given, particularly in the British channel, by the immunity claimed for American veffels, to the efcape of traitors, and the defertion of others whofe fervices in the time of war may be particularly important to an enemy, forms one of the pleas for the British practice of examining American crews, and will be one of the objections to - a formal relinquishment of it. This plea, like all others, admits a folid and fatisfactory reply. In the first place, if it could prevail at all against the neutral claim, it would authorize the feizure of the perfons described only, and in vessels bound to a hostile country only; whereas the practice of impreffing is applied to persons, few or any of whom are alleged to be of either defcription, and to veffels whitherfoever bound, even to Great Britain herself. In the next place, it is not only a preference of a fmaller object on one fide to a greater object on the other; but a sacrifice of right on one fide to expediency on the other fide. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNI- To the Senate and Houfe of Reprefen tatives of the United States. IN purfuance of a measure proposed to Congrefs by a meffage of January 18th, 1803, and fanctioned by their appropriation for carrying it into execu tion, captain Meriwether Lewis, of the firft regiment of infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to explore the river Miffouri, from its mouth to its fource, and, croffing the highlands by the shorteft portage, to seek the best water communication thence to the Pacific ocean; and lieutenant Clarke was appointed fecond in command. They were to enter into conference with the Indian nations on their route, with a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered the Missouri, May 14th, 1804, and on the first of November took up their winter quarters near the Mandan towns, 1609 miles above the mouth of the river, in latitude 47 deg. 21 min. 47 fec. north, and longitude 99 deg. 24 min. 45 fec. weft from Greenwich. On the 8th of April, 1805, they proceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding day, April 7, from captain Lewis, is herewith communicated. During his ftay among the Mandans, he had been able to lay down the Miffouri, according to courfes and diftances taken on his paffage up it, corrected by frequent obfervations of longitude and latitude; and to add to the actual furvey of this portion of the river, a general map of the country between the Miffifippi and Pacific, from the 34th to the 54th degrees of latitude. Thefe additions are from information collected from Indians with whom he had opportunities of communicating, dur ing his journey and refidence with them. Copies of this map are now prefented to both houfes of Congrefs. With these I communicate also a statistical view, procured and forwarded by him, of the Indian nations inhabiting the territory of Louifiana, and the countries adjacent to its northern and weftern borders; of their commerce, and of other interesting circumftances ref pecting them. In order to render the statement as complete as may be, of the Indians inhabiting the country weft of the Miffifippi, I add doctor Sibley's account of thofe refiding in and adjacent to the territory of Orleans. I communicate alfo, from the fame perfon, an account of the Red river, according to the best information he had been able to collect. Having been disappointed, after confiderable preparation, in the purpose of fending an exploring party up that river, in the fummer of 1804, it was thought beft to employ the autumn of that year in procuring a knowledge of an interefting branch of the river called the Wafhita. This was undertaken under the direction of Mr. Dunbar, of Natchez, a citizen of distinguished fcience, who had aided, and continues to aid us, with his difinterested and valuable fervices in the profecution of thefe enterprizes. He afcended the river to the remarkable hot springs near it, in latitude 34 deg. 31 min. 4 fec. 16, longitude 92 deg. 50 min. 45 fec. weft from Greenwich, taking its courfes and diftances, and correcting them by frequent celeftial obfervations. Extracts from his obfervations, and copies of his map of the river, from its mouth to the hot fprings, make part of the present communications. The examination of the Red river itself is but now commencing. TH: JEFFERSON. February, 19, 1806. Extract of a letter from Captain Meriwether Lewis to the Prefident of the Dear Sir, You will alfo receive herewith enclosed, a part of capt. Clarke's private journal; the other part you will find enclosed in a separate tin box. This journal will serve to give you the daily details of our progrefs and tranfactions. I fhall dispatch a canoe with three perhaps four perfons from the extreme navigable point of the Miffouri, or the portage between this river and the Columbia river, as either may firft happen. By the return of this canoe, I fhall fend you my journal, and fome one or two of the best of thofe kept by my men. I have fent a journal kept by one of the fergeants, to captain Stoddard, my agent at St.Louis, in order as much as poffible to multiply the chances of laving fomething. We have encouraged our men to keep journals, and feven of them do, to whom in this refpect we give every assistance in our power. I have tranfmitted to the fecretary at war every information relative to the geography of the country which we poffefs, together with a view of the Indian nations, containing information relative to them, on those points with which I conceived it important that the government should be informed. By reference to the muter rolls forwarded to the war department, you will fee the ftate of the party; in addition to which we have two interpreters, one negro man, fervant to capt. Clarke; one Indian woman, wife to one of the interpreters, and a Mandan man, whom we take with a view to restore peaee 1 H between the Snake Indians, and those in this neighborhood, amounting in total with ourselves to 33 persons. By means of the interpreters and Indians, we shall be enabled to converse with all the Indians that we shall probably meet with on the, Missouri. I have forwarded to the secretary at war my public accounts, rendered up to the present day. They have been much longer delayed than I had any idea they would have been, when we departed from the Illinois; but this des lay, under the circumstances which I was compelled to act, has been unavoidable. The provision peroque and her crew, could not have been dismissed in time to have returned to St. Louis last fall, without evidently, in my opinion, hazarding the fate of the enterprize in which I am engaged; and I therefore did not hesitate to prefer the censure that I may have incurred by the detention of these papers, to that of risking in any degree the success of the expe dition. To me the detention of these papers has formed a serious source of disquiet and anxiety; and the recollection of your particular charge to me on this subject, has made it still more poignant. I am fully aware of the inconvenience which must have arisen to the war department, from the want of these vouchers, previous to the last session of congress, but how to avert it was out of my power to devise. From this place we shall send the barge and crew early to-morrow morning, with orders to proceed as expeditiously as possible to St. Louis; by her we send our dispatches, which I trust will get safe to hand. Her crew consists of ten able bodied men, well armed and provided with a sufficient stock of provision to last them to St. Louis. I have but little doubt but they will be fired on by the Siouxs; but they have pledged themselves to us that they will not yield while there is a man of them living. Our baggage is all embarked on board six small canoes, and two peroques; we shall set out at the same moment that we dispatch the barge. One, or perhaps both of these peroques, we shall leave at the falls of the Missouri, from whence we intend continuing our voyage in the canoes, and a peroque of skins, the frame of which was prepar ed at Harper's ferry. This péroque is now in a situation which will enable us to prepare it in the course of a few hours. As our vessels are now small, and the current of the river much more moderate, we calculate upon travelling at the rate of 20 or 25 miles per day, as far as the falls of the Missouri. Beyond this point, or the first range of rocky mountains, situated about 100 miles further, any calculation with respect to our daily progress, can be little more than bare conjecture. The circumstance of the Snake Indians possessing large quantities of horses, is much in our favour, as by means of horses the transportation of our baggage will be rendered easy and expeditious over land, from the Missouri to the Columbia river. Should this river not prove navigable where we first meet with it, our present intention is, to continue our march by land down the river, until it becomes so, or to the Pacific ocean. The map, which has been forwarded to the secretary of war, will give you the idea we entertain of the connection of these rivers, which has been formed from the corresponding testimony of a number of Indians, who have visited that country, and who have been separately and carefully examined on that subject, and we therefore think it entitled to some degree of confidence. Since our arrival at this place, we have subsisted principally on meat, with which our guns have supplied us amply, and have thus been enabled to reserve the parched meal, portable soup, and a considerable proportion of pork and flour, which we had intended for the more difficult parts of our voyage. If Indian information can be credited, the vast quantity of game with which the country abounds through which we are to pass, leaves us but little to apprehend from the want of food. We do not calculate on completing our voyage within the present year, but expect to reach the Pacific ocean, and return as far as the head of the Missouri, or perhaps to this place, before winter. You may therefore expect me to meet you at Monticello in September, 1806. On our return we shall probably pass down the Yellow Stone river, which, from Indian information, waters one of the fairest portions of this continent. I can see no material or probable obstruction to our progress, and entertain, therefore, the most sanguine hopes of complete success. As to myself, individually, I never enjoyed a more perfect state of good health than I have since we commenced our voyage. My inestimable friend and companion, cap. tain Clarke, has also enjoyed good health generally. At this moment every individual of the party is in good health and excellent spirits, zealously attached to the enterprize, and anxious to proceed; not a whisper of discontent or murmur is to be heard among them; but all in unison act with the most perfect harmony. With such men I have every thing to hope, and but little to fear. Be so good as to present my most affectionate regard to all my friends, and be assured of the sincere and unalterable attachment of TH: JEFFERSON, President of the United States Your most obedient servant, MERIWETHER LEWIS, Capt. of 1st U S. regiment of infantry. We very much regret, that it is not in our power to insert the communication from Captains LEWIS & CLARK; it is extremely long and is quite as unintelligible without the assistance of a map: besides it would be very uninteresting to almost every reader, and therefore we shall proceed to the documents from Dr. SIBLEY and Mr. DUNBAR, which are mentioned in the President's message. These may gratify a variety of readers, besides the student of geography, and may assist the makers of maps in correcting the boundaries, divisions, &c. of the province of Louisiana. HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE SEVERAL INDIAN TRIBES IN LOUISIANA, SOUTH OF THE ARKANSA RIVER, ́AND BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND RIVER GRAND. CADDOQUES, live about 35 miles west of the main branch of Red river, on a bayau or creek, called by them Sodo, which is navigable for peroques only within about six miles of their village, and that only in the rainy season. They are distant from Natchitoches about 120 miles, the nearest route by land, and in nearly a north west direction. They have lived where they now do only five years. The first year they moved there the small pox got amongst them and destroyed nearly one half of them; it was in the winter season, and they practised plunging into the creek on the first appearance of the erup tion, and died in a few hours. Two years ago they had the measles, of which several more of them died. They formerly lived on the south bank of the river, by the course of the river 375 miles higher up, at a beautiful prairie, which has a clear lake of good water in the middle of it, surrounded by a pleasant and fertile country, which had been the residence of their ancestors from time immemorial. They have a traditionary tale which not only the Caddos, but half a dozen other smaller nations believe in, who claim the honour of being descendants of the same family: they say, when all the world was drowned by a flood that inundated the whole country, the great spirit placed on an eminence, near this jake, one family of Caddoques, who alone were saved; from that family all the Indians originated. The French, for many years before Louisiana was transferred to Spain, had, at this place, a fort and some soldiers; several French families were likewise settled in the vicinity, where they had erected a good flour mill with bur stones brought from France. These French families continued there till about 25 years ago, when they moved down and settled at Campti, on the Red river, about 20 miles above Natchitoches, where they now live; and the Indians left it about 14 years ago, on account of a dreadful sickness that visited them. They settled on the river nearly opposite where they now live, on a low place, but were driven thence on account of its overflowing, occasioned by a jam of timber choaking the river at a point below them. The whole number, of what they call warriors of the ancient Caddo nation, is now reduced to about 100, who are looked upon somewhat like knights of Malta, or some distinguished military order. They are brave, despise danger or death, and boast that they have never shed white man's blood. Besides these, there are of old men and strangers who live amongst them, nearly the same number, but there are 40 or 50 more women than men. This nation has great influence over the Yattassees, Nandakoes, Nabadaches, Inies or Yachies, Nagogdoches, Keychies, Adaize and Natchitoches, who all speak the Caddo language, look up to them as their fathers, visit and intermarry among them, and join them in all their wars. The Caddoques complain of the Choctaws encroaching upon their country; call them lazy, thievish, &c. There has been a misunderstanding between them for several years, and small hunting parties kill one another when they meet. The Caddos raise corn, beans, pumpkins, &c. but the land on which they now live is prairie, of a white clay soil, very flat: their crops are subject to injury either by too wet or too dry a season. They have horses, but few of any other domestic animal, except dogs; most of them have guns and some have rifles they and all the other Indians that we have any knowledge of, are at war with the Osages. : The country, generally, round the Caddos is hilly, not very rich; growth a mixture of oak, hickory and pine, interspersed with prairies, which are very rich generally, and fit for cultivation. There are creeks and springs of good water frequent. YATTASSEES, live on Bayau Pierre, (or stony creek) which falls into Red river, western division, about 50 miles above Natchitoches. Their vil lage is in a large prairie about half way between the Caddoques and Natchito. ches, surrounded by a settlement of French families. The Spanish government,at present, exercise jurisdiction over this settlement, where they keep a guard of a non-commissioned officer and eight soldiers. A few months ago, the Caddo chief with a few of his young men were coming to this place to trade, and came that way which is the usual road. The Spanish officer of the guard threatened to stop them from trading with the Americans, and told the chief if he returned that way with the goods he should take them from him: The chief and his party were very angry, and threatened to kill the whole guard, and told them that that road had been always theirs, and that if the Spaniards attempted to prevent their using it as their ancestors had always done, he would soon make it a bloody road. He came here, purchased the goods he wanted, and might have returned another way and avoided the Spanish guard, and was advised to do so; but he said he would pass by them, and let them attempt to stop him if they dared. The guard said nothing to him as he returned. This settlement, till some few years ago, used to belong to the district of Natchitoches, and the rights to their lands given by the government of Louisiana, before it was ceded to Spain. Its now being under the government of Taxus, was only an agreement between the commandant of Natchitoches and the commandant of Nagogdoches. The French formerly had a station and factory there, and another on the Sabine river, nearly one hundred miles north west from the Bayau Pierre settlement. The Yattassees now say the French used to be their people and now the Americans. But of the ancient Yattassees there are but eight men remaining, and twen ty-five women, besides children; but a number of men of other nations have intermarried with them and live together. I paid a visit at their village last summer; there were about forty men of them altogether: their original lan. guage differs from any other; but now, all speak Caddo. They live on rich, |