European arms furnished them, by foreign rivals for American. dominion, in their more recent contests with one another and with our own countrymen. This made them a much more formidable foe to the western pioneers, than the natives proved to our forefathers, who had battled with them on the Atlantic border. These tribes were an insignificant enemy, in comparison with the wellarmed and often provisioned forces, which defended the western country from the intrusion of the white man. They formed, in the opinion of our own most experienced military men, a corps of light troops, unexcelled in the world. They neither wanted roads nor baggage. The formidable character of these troops is established by the slaughters rather than defeat, of the finest armies of Europe, and even of our own country. This signal superiority of the more modern Indians in war, to their primitive ancestors, and in the northwestern region of our country more particularly, was, in no small degree, derived, as has been observed, from foreign assistance. Still to the Indian must be freely allowed great personal bravery on his own system of tactics for saving native life, demanded by the slow course of population. Unexampled hardihood, indomitable perseverance and fortitude in pursuing the object of his craft, or his vengeance to the direst extremity, are undeniable characteristics of the Indian race. Added to those qualities, their systematic aversion to work, on a principle of honor, and they would almost seem doomed to utter extermination, before the sure and solid progress of agricultural society-it is socially the contest of spirit with strength-genius with judgment. That the experiments under the benevolent policy of our own government on our western waters, may prove the fallacy of this inference, must be the prayer of every good man.

These aids of foreign arms and provisions seem first to have been received by the Indians, in the wars which took place between Canada and the British provinces. With these exceptions, and some traffic in peltries, the country, west of the great mountain chain of the Alleghany, was, in its aboriginal condition, as late as the middle of the last century.

This state of occupation and barbarian independence was not long permitted to continue, owing to the conflicting claims of France and England to this desirable region. Both these powers had peculiar claims to this great central region of North America. France certainly preceded Great Britain in exploring the northwestern country of North America. The missionaries of France had penctrated the far Northwest-the entrance to Lake Superior, Detroit, Michillimackinac; the waters of the Mississippi to their mouth had been explored by the French, early in the sixteenth century. France had erected a fort at Detroit, Le Boeuf, Presq' Isle, and at Venango; at Vincennes, on the Wabash, and Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. Still the British government claimed these northwestern regions, or at least set up, what has recently been

termed a protectorate over them, by virtue of ancient conquests of these regions by the Six Nations; who became the fast friends of Great Britain; and acknowledged by treaty in 1701 a species of dependence upon her, more nominal than real. The truth is, the covenants of treaties, beyond simple peace and war, are not likely to be well understood, or critically examined by a race of savages. Presents, immediate gratification of wants, and promises for the future, are the most efficacious instruments of influence in negotiations with barbarians. Mere faith, independent of its immediate fruits, has but little influence on the minds of a people in a savage state of society. Yet the settlements of the British colonists were not only incomparably superior in population; but they were more immediately contiguous to the disputed country lying adjacent to the provinces of Pennsylvania and Virginia. And although between the native proprietors of the soil and the European colonists of either France or England, this might be immaterial; not establishing any title against them: yet between the European rivals for dominion in America, it might have some reasonable weight. While the French were confined to the banks of the St. Lawrence, or had only explored, not settled the region on the Ohio river, the English had crossed the Blue Ridge, and were ready to climb the Alleghanies.

NOTE. The above is a preliminary portion of the History of the Valley of the Ohio. It is significant of the body of the work of which the author has already collected a vast amount of materials. During his preparation of the History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, he gleaned, from conversation and correspondence with the old and leading men of the West, many incidents of historical importance, and also discovered among the archives of Virginia many documents pertaining to the History of the West, which could not with propriety be introduced in that work. Also the journals and private papers of distinguished pioneers in the West, which were placed in his hands, afforded a rich resource for an extensive history of its settlement by the Americans. His former work will therefore be but the nucleus around which the immense treasures of this work will be gathered.

MR. BUTLER is peculiarly fortunate, in having enjoyed the advantages of deriving the most reliable and multifarious data for the work he has undertaken. And in this respect he may be considered as the man most pre-eminently capable of giving accurate annals of the history he narrates. But he has a still stronger claim on the consideration of the public. Mr. BUTLER is a man of letters. Familiar with the literature of modern and ancient ages he is also gifted with that comprehensive faculty which enables the philosophic historian, to promote the civilization of the people, by indicating with liberal conservatism the Law of the Progress of Humanity.-Editors.

ILLINOIS.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

BY BLUFFDALE,

"My native country! thee, Land of the noble free,

Of THEE I sing."

NO. I.-THE PAST.

The charter of the great Central Railroad of Illinois, by the Legislature of that State, was a measure, the importance of which, few of the present generation can justly estimate. It is one of those events which occur at rare intervals, in the history of nations and States, that exert an influence over the destinies of the people, for centuries. We regard the charter of that road as one of the most important Epochs in the annals of Illinois. Let no one smile at the term we have just employed, nor at the importance we attach to the affairs of that State. With a territory of fiftyfive thousand square miles, nearly every acre of which is susceptible of profitable cultivation, the Ohio and the Mississippi, sweeping along the whole extent of the southern and western borders, leaning her head upon the inland seas of the North-we ask, can the destiny of such a State be unimportant? If to this, we add the inexhaustible mineral treasures of that territory, which human industry will one day develope-its mines of lead, iron, and coal, extending over entire counties: can we be mistaken in believing that Illinois, its past, present and future prospects will be acceptable to the readers of a periodical that has done more to advance the permanent interests of the valley of the Mississippi, than any other, of similar design, that has yet appeared. You will pardon this involuntary compliment, for it is sincere ;-a tribute justly due to the arduous, and I fear, unrequited labors of many

years.

I have spoken of the "Epochs," or important events in the history of Illinois, upon which its future destiny was suspended. Several such have occurred. One of these was the discovery of Illinois, in 1680, by Lasalle and Father Hennepin, and the taking possession of that vast region, in the name of Louis XIV., of France. It was a scene, worthy of the pencil of a painter. None more interesting ever glowed upon the canvass of Claude Lorraine. When the boundless prairies of Illinois, in all the verdure of early spring, burst upon the view of these two men, the Warrior and the Priest, what visions of the long distant future must have risen up before them!

The Chevalier saw the proud banner of "France and Navarra" wave over an immense and lovely region, that would one day be densely populated with a race, speaking in the polished accents of his native language, and giving to the souvereigns of "La Belle France" an immense preponderance of power over North Amer

ica.

The Jesuit, prostrate in humble adoration before the cross which he had already planted, in this new soil, thought of the millions of souls that might here be, won for heaven. Perhaps, too, visions of new conquests for the "Sons of Loyola," rose up before his mind's eye-visions of countless savages, gathered into civilized communities, exceeding even the achievements of the Order, in the wilds of Paraguay.

The next "Epoch," which we shall notice, in the history of Illinois, may possibly startle many of our readers. It is the elevation of William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, in 1755, to the head of the "Coalition Ministry of Great Britain. France and England had been contending for the possession of the territories elaimed by each of those powers, in North America. Campaign after campaign had resulted in the signal defeat of the British arms. The French were victorious in nearly every engagements. Lakes Champlain and George were in their possession, giving that nation a passage into the very heart of New York. The principal English fort in that quarter, had capitulated to Montcalm. The army commanded by Gen. Braddock, upon which so much reliance was placed, both in England and in the colonies, had been utterly annihilated. The French had established a line of Forts, from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi. So long as she maintained these posts, France was secure of her possessions in the West. The English nation, oppressed with an almost insupportable weight of taxation, murmured, loudly, at the expense of prosecuting any further a fruitless contest, in which the people of Great Britain felt no personal interest. They demanded peace on almost any terms, and cared little for the colonies.

At this important crisis, Pitt was placed at the head of the Ministry. Instead of making a treaty of peace with France, and leaving her in quiet possession of her posts, till she had time to render them impregnable, he resolved to prosecute the war with vigor.

He remodelled the entire revenue system, replenished the exhausted treasury, and infused his own energy into every department of the government. An immense force, naval and military, was raised, and placed under the command of officers of the most efficient character. In opposition to all former practice, in the British army, important commands were given, in frequent instances, to young officers, who had their renown yet to earn. One of these was Wolf. But we will pursue that topic no farther. The talents of Pitt were victorious, and Canada, Illinois and other possessions of France, became British colonies.

Another "Epoch," in the history of Illinois, an event that might have changed all the subsequent history of that State, was the treaty of Great Britain with the United States, at the close of the Revolutionary war; usually denominated: "The Treaty of Paris."

The Commissioners, on the part of Great Britain, demanded, as a sine qua non, that the territory north-east of the Ohio river, should forever remain under the protection of England, who would hold it for their Indian allies, to whom it should be given in perpetuity, as a reward for their faithful services in the late war. The surrender of this territory was demanded with pertinacity. Unless it was conceded, the British Commissioners declared that the Convention must terminate.

At that period, the region in question was little known in the United States, and even Dr. Franklin, and John Jay, two of our Commissioners, regarded its surrender as a subject of secondary importance, compared with a renewal of the struggle with Great Britain. Our country was exhausted with the long continued war, and immediate peace was demanded with one voice, by the people, who were ready to make any sacrifice to obtain it, not incompatible with their rights. Nothing opposed the acknowledgement of the Independence of the United States, by England herself, but the surrender to Great Britain, for the Indians, of lands which the latter had always held, and of which we had no need. The territory of the United States was larger, without it, than would probably be occupied for centuries.

This is said to have been the first view which the two American Commissioners named, took of that demand, though confidently asserted in the secret history of that diplomacy, we do not vouch for its truth. It militates against neither their intelligence, nor their patriotism, that, for a time. in so important a crisis, they should have hesitated upon a question which threatened to plunge our impoverished country, again, into the evils of a long protracted

war.

John Adams, the third Commissioner on the part of the United States, refused, from the first, to sign a treaty surrendering that territory, and his colleagues soon adhered to the same determination.

Whatever may have been the true history of that diplomacy, in relation to the early views of Franklin and Jay, it is certain, that Great Britain, not only demanded that territory, but yielded the point, unwillingly.

Hardly a doubt exists in the mind of any one, acquainted with the condition in which our country was left, at the close of the war, that a vast majority of the people would have accepted such a treaty rather than renew the struggle.

Had that region been thus placed in the power of England, not the whole history of Illinois only, but that of the United States also, would have been different. The former, instead of being one of the most flourishing of the United States, would, at this hour, compose a part of the British Empire, upon which it is boastingly said that "the sun never sets." It must not be forgotten, that on the surrender of Canada to England, that nation took posession