ceptable, my principal object in addressing you, Honorable Sir, is to humbly beg you to present our case to the honorable board of commissioners of which you are a distinguished member. Should means be accorded for the undertaking of our contemplated mission, it shall be gratefully received and conscientiously applied in accordance with the views of the Government and in favor of the Indians.
Allow me to make the observation, that our Catholic missions among the Potawatomies and Osages, during their whole existence for over twenty years, have always been in a flourishing condition and have merited the approbation and praise of the various superintendents and agents of the Government. The usefulness and good done by our missions in the Rocky Mountains (Montana and Idaho) are highly svoken of in late letters I received from General Sully.
Should reference be necessary, allow me to name General Sherman, Commissioner Parker, Generals Stanley, Harney, Terry and Sully.
With sentiments of profound respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, etc.
St. Louis University, Sept. 15, r870
Honorable Sir:
I received your very kind favor of the 9th instant. Please accept my most sincere gratitude. Your letter has been for two days on my table, but [has been delayed] owing to bodily indisposition and very urgent matters to attend to, and hoping the return of my Superior to confer with him on the subject in question. He is still absent, but I can no longer defer my answer.
A simple statement of our intention to erect a mission among the Upper Missouri Sioux tribes early next spring may here be necessary. I passed the months of June and July in visiting the various military posts and Indian reser