12th.  Mr. Trowbridge writes:  “Mr. Richard is dead.  He was attacked by a diarrhoea, and neglected it too long.”  Mr. R. was the Catholic priest at Detroit, and as such has been a prominent man in the territory for many years.  He was elected Delegate to Congress in 1824, I think, and served two years in that capacity.  I once heard him preach nearly two hours on the real presence.  He finally said, “that if this doctrine was not true, Jesus Christ must be a fool.”  These, I think, were the precise words.  When attending, by rotation, as one of the chaplains for the Legislative Council while I was a member, he used to pray very shrewdly “that the legislators might make laws for the people and not for themselves.”  He spoke English in a broken manner and with a false accent, which often gave interest to what he said when the matter was not otherwise remarkable.

22d.  Rev. John Clark, of Northville, Montgomery Co., N.Y., of the Methodist Connection, writes:  “Should it please Divine Providence, I hope to be at your place in May or June next, for the purpose of opening a permanent mission and school among the Chippewas at such place, and as early as may be advisable.”

27th.  Rev. W. T. Boutwell, of the A. B. Commissioners for Foreign Missions, now at La Pointe, Lake Superior, writes:  “I could not, to a degree, help entering into all your anxieties about the cholera, which reports were calculated to beget, but rejoice, not less than yourself, that the Lord has spared those who are dear to us both.  My fears, I rejoice to say, have not been realized, in relation to my friends at Mackinack and the Sault, when I heard of the disease actually existing at Mackinack.  Were it not that the Lord is righteous and knoweth them that are his, the righteous even might fear and tremble, when judgments are abroad in the land.

“I was happy indeed to learn that you remain at the Sault, the present winter.  Happy for brother Porter’s sake, and for the sake of those whose hands you may and will strengthen, and hearts encourage.  I never think of the Sault but I wish myself there.  ’It is now a happy spot—­a place favored of heaven,’ said one of my Mackinack friends to me once in conversation; ’I once felt as though I could never see that place, as I always associated with it everything wicked, but now I should love to go there—­the Lord is there.’”

Oct. 5th.  Dr. Torrey writes from N.Y.:  “I rejoice to learn that you have returned in safety from your fatiguing and perilous journey to the north-west.  Dr. Houghton wrote me a letter which I received a few days ago, dated Sault de St. Marie, stating the general results of the expedition, but I have read, with great satisfaction, the account which was published in the Detroit Journal of Sept. 26th.  A kind Providence has preserved you during another absence, and I hope He will cause the results of your labors to prove a blessing to our Red brethren, as well as the United States at large.”