me; and after I had left for conference, with the chiefs whom the Church had sent to represent their nation, two others followed, with charges against me. These charges were investigated before Bishop Hedding, by the missionary committee, David Young, Jacob Young, and Jas, Quinn. They were found to be nothing but some tales that had been put into circulation by some fellows of the baser sort; and when I was there with the Bishop, the council voluntarily made the following communication to him, and without my saying a word in reference to the subject. I copy it from the Bishop's certificate, which lies before me:

"At the house of our friend, John Hicks, Sandusky, June 13th, 1827: Jonathan Pointer, the interpreter, informed me that Sum-mun-de-wat desired to have an interview with brother Finley and me. We retired, and Summun-de-wat informed us, through the interpreter, that the leaders who complained to the conference last fall, against brother Finley, had held a counsel on the subject, and had sent him to tell us their minds; and state, as the result of their deliberations, that their letter to conference was written in a dark hour, after brother Finley was gone; that they were influenced to write it, not from their own knowledge, but from evil reports. He said their minds had been uneasy ever since that letter was written. They thought the devil was at the bottom of it. They confessed they did wrong in writing the letter, and felt guilty for what they had done, asked his pardon, and hoped he would forgive them, and relieve their minds; and furthermore requested that I should inform the next conference of this communication, in order to remove improper impressions from their minds. Sum

mun-de-wat wished to say something for himself on this subject, and added, I put my mark to that paper, not from any thing I knew about it, but because others did So. I never had any thing against brother Finley. I never saw him do any thing wrong.' He concluded with some of the most pathetic expressions of Christian friendship.

"Instead of granting pardon, Finley assured them that he had never been offended. He had too much confidence in them to believe the thing originated with them. The business was concluded in a very affectionate manner. W. M'KENDREE.

"Ridgeville, June 25, 1827."

As I had been most bitterly persecuted, and many reports put in circulation respecting me-such as, that I had taken the chiefs to the eastern cities, and showed them for twenty-five cents a sight, and put the money into my own pocket; and that afterwards, when I left the mission, I had robbed it of valuable property to the amount of three wagon loads of goods, and made my escape to Kentucky-I now beg leave, for the sake of the cause I was engaged in, and to guard my own reputation from future defamers, to record here the following certificate, given voluntarily by the chiefs of the nation, without seeking for it, on my part:

"We, the chiefs and leaders of the Wyandott nation, have been acquainted with the Rev. James B. Finley for seven years-two years as presiding elder, and five years as missionary in our nation and as such, the chiefs thought proper to give him a name in the Wyandott tongue, which is Re-waw-waw-ah; and we do say, that

we, as a nation, have been much benefited by his labors as a minister of the Gospel; and he has done us much good, and we do not know that he has done wrong.

"Mr. Finley's conduct was good, as a minister and missionary among us. We, the chiefs and leaders, say this from our hearts: that the conduct of our friend, Mr. Finley, is that of an honest and good man; and he has done much good for us, and, we think, he cannot be guilty of a mean thing. We have all confidence in him. "Given under our hands at Upper Sandusky, January

31st, 1826

BETWEEN-THE-LOGS, his X mark.

JOHN HICKS, his X mark.
MONONCUE, his X mark.
ROHN-YEN-NESS, his X mark.
LITTLE CHIEF, his X mark.
BIG RIVER, his X mark.
JAMES BIG-TREE, his X mark.
JOSEPH WILLIAMS, his × mark.
J. HARRIHOOT, his × mark.
SUM-MUN-DE-WAT, his × mark.
SQIN-DA-TEE, his X mark.
Signed in presence of Isaac Walker, United
States Interpreter.

I think it due to the Young Ladies' Wyandott Missionary Society of Philadelphia, to record their lauḍable zeal for the promotion of the cause of God among these people. This will abundantly appear from the following letters addressed to me by that society:

"Philadelphia, August 17, 1827.

"I have the pleasure to address Mr. Finley on behalf of the Young Ladies' Wyandott Missionary Society."

In a former letter, we requested to be informed what description of goods were most needed, that we might make our purchases accordingly. The object of my writing, at present, is to reiterate this request. I preferred making our communication to Mr. Finley, as we consider him the father of the nation, and the one most deeply interested in their concerns. We wish to know the wants of the children for the ensuing winter. Mr. Finley would oblige us by writing immediately, as, by that time, our moneys will be collected, and we can send the goods, that some, at least, may be converted into comfortable clothing ere the winter season commences. We feel deeply interested in the situation of our 'red brethren; and to contribute, in the smallest degree, to their comfort, is a source of unfeigned pleasure to us. Their claims on us seemed to be brought nearer to our hearts by the visit of the chiefs with Mr. Finley, last year, than by the most eloquent appeals, unaccompanied by their presence. One of them has since entered into rest, and now an angel's wing,' a seraph's tongue are his, to soar through all the host of heaven, and to ascribe, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.'

6

"If Mr. Finley could spare the time, it would gratify us to have some account of the present situation of the mission and school. Many of our subscribers are entirely ignorant of the missionary exertions at Sandusky, except such accounts as we were able to give them; and it would add greatly to the success of our exertions, if we could give them some information on the subject from Mr. Finley. H. B. COMEGYs, Pres't. S. B. SARGENT, Sec'y.

"Rev. James B. Finley."

"Philadelphia, October 23, 1827: "We had the pleasure to receive your very interesting communication, dated September 11th; and the information contained in it, respecting the mission, has increased those feelings of zeal and interest with which our hearts have long been burning. We feel ourselves honored in being enabled, in some small degree, to contribute to the comfort of so interesting a portion of the Lord's vineyard. But it is a source of sorrow and mortification to us, that so little is in our power. Owing to unavoidable circumstances, our collections were not made as early this year as the last. Neither did we experience the same liberality of spirit among some of our contributors. Consequently, the goods will be later in reaching you, and the supply will not be so plentiful. We did hope to have had it in our power to have sent a supply of blankets with the clothing, but our funds were small. Perhaps another year will increase the number of our subscribers, or something may occur to give a fresh impulse to their benevolent feelings.

"We found it impossible to procure second-hand clothing. Almost every family has a little band of pensioners, to whom every thing in that line is given; and this is the season in which the poor of our city are looking out for their supplies, from the superfluities of their wealthy brethren.

"We have done what we could, and we feel a satisfaction in knowing that it is not in consequence of any negligence on our part, that we have sent so small a supply where we had hoped to have been most bountiful.

“Your Christian advice has made a deep impression on our minds; and we do hope and do pray that it may be of lasting benefit to us.