&c., the deer and buffalo having been created for their food; they must not make bread of wheat, but of Indian corn; they must not wear linen nor woollen, but dress like their fathers, in the skins and furs of animals; they must not drink ardent spirits; and I do not remember whether he extended his inhibitions to the gun and gunpowder, in favor of the bow and arrow.  I concluded, from all this, that he was a visionary, enveloped in their antiquities, and vainly endeavoring to lead back his brethren to the fancied beatitudes of their golden age.  I thought there was little danger of his making many proselytes from the habits and comforts they had learned from the whites, to the hardships and privations of savagism, and no great harm if he did.  We let him go on, therefore, unmolested.  But his followers increased until the British thought him worth corrupting, and found him corruptible.  I suppose his views were then changed; but his proceedings in consequence of them, were after I left the administration, and are, therefore, unknown to me; nor have I ever been informed what were the particular acts on his part, which produced an actual commencement of hostilities on ours.  I have no doubt, however, that his subsequent proceedings are but a chapter apart, like that of Henry and Lord Liverpool, in the book of the Kings of England.”

[Footnote A:  Jefferson’s Correspondence, vol. 10. p. 171.]

Mr. Jefferson’s account of the Prophet’s “budget of reform,” is correct as far as it goes:  it embraced, however, many other matters, looking to the amelioration of savage life.  Whatever may have been his original object, in the promulgation of his new code of ethics, there is enough, we think, in the character and conduct of this individual to warrant the opinion, that he was really desirous of doing good to his race; and, that with many foibles, and some positive vices, he was not destitute of benevolent and generous feelings.  That in assuming the character of a prophet, he had, in connection with his brother, ulterior objects in view, is not to be doubted.  It so happened, that the adoption of his doctrines was calculated to promote harmony among the tribes; and this was the very foundation of the grand confederacy, to which he and Tecumseh were zealously devoting the energies of their minds.

After the premature and, to the Indians, disastrous battle of Tippecanoe, the Prophet began to fall into obscurity.  The result of that action materially diminished the wide spread influence which he had attained over his countrymen.  The incantations, by means of which he had played upon their imaginations, and swayed their conduct, lost their potency.  The inspired messenger of the Great Spirit, as he openly proclaimed himself, had boldly promised his followers an easy victory over their enemies.  A battle was fought—­the Indians were defeated—­and the gory form of many a gallant, but credulous “brave,” attested that the renowned Prophet had lost, amid the carnage of that nocturnal conflict, his office and his power.