Columbia river are giving the greatest satisfaction and consolation to their missionaries, and I may say, have never behaved better," etc., etc. I could fill sheets of paper with extracts of the letters of the Fathers of Oregon, filled with praise of the Indians, and that for years after I had left them.
In the spring of 1851 the Flathead mission was abandoned. The why and the how I could, I think, pretty easily guess at. I left it in a flourishing condition in 1846; the testimonials and letters of Fathers Joset, Mengarini, Ravalli, Point, and Accolti, bear testimony to my asEertion. It is abandoned five years later and I am accused of being the cause of this " by my liberalities and promises to the Indians, which they have been unable to sustain." Liberal in
what? Promises of what? I am at a loss to imagine.
Let the above suffice. I have given you this little statement, because I have no doubt that Very Reverend FatherGeneral, for whom I have always had the highest esteem, respect and veneration, will allude to some of these points, and I ardently wished to acquaint you with it, " lest blame be imputed, where no blame is due." (The writing I took this from has wonderfully pleased us. Thank you.)
There is some appearance of my being sent to Europe as Procurator of the Vice Province. Should this come to pass, it will be a struggle for me to leave America, with many dear brethren and many happy recollections. The thought of being still useful to it, though at a distance, encourages me in the strict practice and observance of our holy rules, and in a perfect submission to the orders of my superiors. I feel and am sensible of the necessity of this, after having passed so many years in the wild and distant missions of America, in which all my thoughts and endeavors have, as it were, so long been centred, in the midst of great struggles and contradictions. The examples of the beautiful death of Father Hoeken, whom the Lord has deigned to crown on the very battle-field; and the death of our worthy Father Elet, so edifying to all, have made a