"All of them would be extremely useful, if properly placed and taken care of; but detached as they are from the agency, and unconnected with an establishment such as was originally contemplated at Fort Clark, they are at present of very little use. "These facts, concerning the Osage treaty, are stated merely to show that we have not dealt justly with the Osages, and to infer from them, that unless immediate steps are taken to recover that confidence and respect which those Indians once had in the United States, the inevitable consequence will be, their decided and active hostility against the settlements of the Missouri, and those back of the lead mines. British emissaries had repeatedly attempted to engage the Osages in their service previous to the evacuation of Fort Clark, but without effect. The leading men have often declared to me their determination 'never to desert their American Father as long as he was faithful to them.' At a time when we were under serious apprehensions of an attack on Fort Clark, the warriors of the Little Osages offered their services to me to defend the post. In less than two months after those declarations and offers of service Fort Clark was evacuated, and the Osage establishment abandoned, without any notice or apology for so very extraordinary and unnecessary an act. Thus were the Osages left (I may truly say) in the arms of the British agents. How far those agents have succeeded in weaning them from their growing attachment to the United States I am unable to say; they have had full scope for their arts, and it would be idle to suppose they have not made some progress. "Of all the Missouri Indians, the Osages were the least accessible to British influence, from their {113} strong attachment to the French. They had acquired a _French_ prejudice against the English, which, since my acquaintance with them, has rather increased than diminished. Such are the Osages, and such our relations and political standing with them. "To put an end to the difficulties now existing between the United States and those people, and to relieve our frontier from the additional weight and destructive effects of their hostility, I beg leave to propose the following plan:--