Illinois, upon the borders of Rock river.  These two tribes are usually mentioned in conjunction; because the Foxes, many years ago, having been nearly exterminated in a war with some of their neighbors, the remnant of the nation, too feeble to exist as a separate tribe, sought refuge in the Sac villages, and have remained ever since incorporated with the latter people.  They are a fine looking race of people, and are well disposed towards the whites.  They have long been divided, however, into two parties, one of which is friendly towards our government, while the other, called the British band, is under the influence of the British traders.  It has always been the policy of the latter, to keep the Indians upon the western frontier in a state of disaffection towards the American people, and by these means, to secure to themselves an undue proportion of the fur trade.  So long as it should remain difficult upon our part to gain access to the tribes, and our intercourse with them be liable to interruption, jealousy, and distrust, so long would the British trader possess an advantage over us in relation to this traffic.  The British fur companies, whose agents are numerous, intelligent, and enterprising, have always acted upon this policy, and the English officers in Canada, both civil and military, have given it their sanction.  Almost all the atrocities which have been committed on our frontiers by the Indians, within the last fifty years, have been directly or indirectly incited by the incendiary agents of that mercenary government.  The British band of the Sacs and Foxes have been in the habit of visiting Malden annually, and receiving valuable presents—­presents, which being made to a disaffected portion of a tribe residing not only within the United States, but within the limits of a state, could be viewed in no other light than as bribes,—­the wages of disaffection.  Black Hawk, though not a chief, is one of the most influential individuals of the British band.”

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In a late number of the American Museum, we find the following article.  It bears intrinsic evidence of coming from the same pen, and presents in a striking point of view the rapid extension of our settlements, and the consequent recession of the Indians.

Most of our readers have become familiarly acquainted with the name of the redoubted Black Hawk, whose adventures are detailed in this volume and whose fame has been spread from Maine to Florida.  There was a time when he shared the eager attention of the public with Fanny Kemble and the cholera, and was one of the lions of the day; and as regularly talked about as the weather, the last new novel, or the candidates for the presidency.  The war in Illinois, though of brief duration, and not marked by any stirring events, came suddenly upon us after a long series of peaceful years upon the northwestern border.  The savages, weary of fruitless conflicts, or quelled by the superior