History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 1

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818


USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 1


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ST. CLAIR COUNTY


MICHIGAN


EB 2 S136 H6 73


HISTORY 1


OF


ST. CLAIR COUNTY,


MICHIGAN,


CONTAINING


AN ACCOUNT OF ITS SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES; AN EXTENSIVE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES-THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES; ITS WAR RECORD, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS; THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF MICHIGAN, AND STATISTICS OF THE STATE.


ILLUSTRATED.


CHICAGO: A. T. ANDREAS & CO. 1883.


ulver Hage Moyne 2ª


PRINTERS 18 &120 MONROE ST


CHICAGO C


1


1


PREFACE.


I N these pages an effort has been made to treat the history of the county in a full and im- partial manner. With the exception of the first chapters-a concise history of Michigan -- the work is distinctively local. The story of the French and American pioneers is very fully treated; so also is that of the old and new settlers of the county.


The biographical history has been compiled from the most certain sources.


A large sum of money, much labor and time have been expended on this section of the work. Even after the notes were made by the township historians, they were rewritten, sub- mitted in many instances, again placed on the type-writer, and mailed for revision and appro- val to the parties interested.


The plan adopted in the arrangement of subjects and the minuteness of description pur- sued render the work a most valuable record book. All things relating to the State are dealt with in the chapters of Michigan history, which form, as it were, an introduction to the gen- eral history of the county. The latter is carried down from the earliest times, treating fully and impartially every item of interest connected with the county. In searching old documents and French pamphlets, the writer arrived at new facts which, on account of their connection with the St. Clair region, are introduced into the history of the county, rather than into that of the State.


The reminiscences of early settlement were compiled from writings in possession of the Pioneer Society, or from facts related by old settlers. The papers by Mrs. B. C. Farrand, Rev. O. C. Thompson, Moses F. Carleton, Samuel Carleton, William Grace, Judge W. T. Mitchell, Dr. Taylor, U. S. A., and Aura P. Stewart were of material assistance; while the offices of the County Clerk and the Register of Deeds yielded up a mine of facts of great value. The introduc- tion of anecdotes is to the personal history of the county just as important as that of legends is to the general history, and on that account they find a place in this work.


To the members of the Historical Committee of the Pioneer Society, and also to the editors of the Times, Commercial and St. Clair Republican, all of whom placed the files of their jour- nals at our disposal, we desire to extend our sincere thanks for the material aid rendered us in the compilation of this work. The manuscript copy of the general history was submitted to the Committee early in September, 1882, and on the 29th of that month the work of correcting er- rors in dates, names and events was completed.


Throughout the pages of the general history, a desire to deal fully and fairly with the sub- ject cannot fail to be evident. Regarding township and city history, much has been done to- ward rendering it a plain story of men and events. While the general history of the coun- ty contains almost every important item of township history, there are many facts and names, so identified with the townships, as to necessitate a sketch of each division of the county. In the compilation of such sketches, official records were solely relied upon, for the reason that in the accompanying biographies, the most interesting facts are brought to light, founded on the au- thority of the persons concerned.


WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY.


CHICAGO, JUNE, 1883.


£


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.


PAGE.


The Aborigines.


17


The First Immigration.


18


The Second Immigration 19


21


The Tartars


French Exploration and Settlement. 22


The Recent Discoveries of St. Ignace.


LaSalle's Travels


Detroit 35


The French and Indian War


38


National Policies


42


British Policy


44


American Policy 44


Ordinance of 1787 45


Pontiac's Siege of Detroit 48 50


Eclipse of the Moon, 1881.


164


Botany and Zoology


THE INDIANS.


The Otchipwe Invasion 177


The Miamis and Pottawatomies. 179


The Hurons .: 179


The Chippewas. 181


Death of the Indian Megish .181


Drowning of Indian Refugees. 181


182


Chief Wing.


183 184


O-Ge-Ma-Ke-Ga-to.


Black Duck Murders a British Indian,


187


Okemos


Indians in 1812.


192


Distinguished Early Visitors


193


Manners and Customs


194


The Game of La Crosse


195 196


An Indian Village


197


Gen. St. Clair's Letter


200 201


Treaty at Detroit


201


The State Public School. .111


Institution for Deaf, Dumb and Blind. 112 Asylums for the Insane. 113


Penal Institutions 113


The State Prison of 1880 114 State Reform School. 115


The Land Office-State Library.


116 State Fisheries. 118


Pioneer Society of Michigan 118


First State Historical Society. 126


State Agricultural Society 126 The Pioneer Funeral 210


State Pomological Society 126 State Firemen's Association 126


State Board of Public Health 127 Iron and Steel Industries 127


The Vessel Interest. 131


Growth of Forty Years 131


131 Leading the Van


HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.


EARLY HISTORY 133


Origin of the Name St. Clair.


139


TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 142


Lost Names of Western States. 144 Superficial Materials .. 146


Subterranean Channels 150 Retrospect ..


Marshes


PAGE. 152


Magnetic Wells ..


153


Mineral Waters. 153


The Salt Spring of 1797.


153


Soil


154


Archaeological 155


158


Climatology and Meteorology


Disease 162


163


The Black Days. 164


Inundation of 1827 164


Tornado of 1835.


The Meteor.


164


164


The Comet


Expeditions of Harmar, Scott and Wilkinson. 53 The Storm of July 6, 1879 165


Expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne


Gen. Wayne's Great Victory 54


Hull's Surrender


Perry's Victory Close of the War.


The Tecumseh War.


62


The Black Hawk War 66


The Toledo War.


The Patriot War


The Mexican War.


The War of 1861-65


79


Administration of Gen. Cass.


82


Gen. George B. Porter's Administration


89


Administration of Gov. Horner. 91 State Officers .. 97


Political Statistics 101


Fur Traders and Slave Owners. 103 Slavery in Michigan 103 Sale of Negro Man Pompey 106 Public School System. 106 State University 107


State Normal School. 108


Agricultural College .. .108


Other Colleges.


109


Charitable Institutions 111


201


Otchipwe Nagamon


202 203 203 204


Reign of the Cholera.


PIONEER MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. Pioneer Mothers.


207


The Old Whipping-Post ..


207 208 209


Evening Visits


209


Nuptial Feasts


210


The Old Post Office


Retrospect 211


FRENCH PIONEERS.


La Salle and Hennepin 212


215


Pioneer Land Buyers of St. Clair.


219


Squatters' Claims. 220


220


Private Claims in St. Clair.


225


Northern Claims


233


La Riviere du Vases and Maconce Reserves.


235 237 238


THE PIONEER SOCIETY


Assessment Roll in 1821


239


St. Clair Pioneer Society


244 Summer Meeting of 1882 245


Water Reservoirs. 150 MORAVIANS, MORMONS AND GERMANS 246


78 John Riley


184


Early Traders and Interpreters.


188 189 189


Joseph Reveur


The Small-Pox


200


Treaties with the Otchipwes.


Treaty at Washington


Cession of Lands


Indian Oratory


Seasons of Sickness


The Copper Product. 128 Private Claims


The Products of a Year 128 Michigan in 1805. 216


Land Board, Detroit District-1807.


221.


Claims Along St. Clair River to Milk River


161


Mounds of St. Clair County


29 34


The Big Snows. 163


167


Revolutionary War.


56 58 59 61


Political History


66 74 78


Cum-e-kum-e-non


vi


CONTENTS.


PAGE.


The Moravians.


PAGE. 247


Mormonism.


249


Conclusion ...


401


The German Immigration of 1845. 251


Hollanders ..


252


PIONEER REMINISCENCES AND SKETCHES


253


Roll of Attorneys


406


Trial of Abbott


408


Trial of Collins. 408


Judges of the Circuit 409


Reminiscences 409


THE PRESS.


The St. Clair Whig


413


The First Mill on Black River


263 263


Incidents of Early Settlement


263


Port Huron Times


418


Port Huron Journal.


419


The Tribune ...


420


Flugal's Reminiscences


The St. Clair Banner


420


Early Lake Navigators


299


The St. Clair Republican


421


Marine City Reporter


422


The Fort Gratiot Sun Other Papers.


428


RELIGIOUS HISTORY


424


MARINE OF THE LAKES


431


Ship-building


432


Lighthouses


442


FINANCES AND STATISTICS.


443


Decennial Census ..


445


Military Expenditures.


416


Dealers in Spirituous Liquors 447


Social Statistics


448


International Comparisons. 448


A Pair of Pioneer Letters 449


Poor-House and Farm. 449


Schools 450


COUNTY ASSOCIATIONS. .


Medical Society 452


Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance Society. 453


City Village Insurance Company. 454


Agricultural Society 454


FIRST INDUSTRIES. Fur Traders. 456


The Pinc. 458


Cutting the Key Log. 459


The Saw-Mill Changes 460


The Oil Well Boom 464


A Retrospect 467


ROADS AND RAILWAYS 469


Railroads 470


Reminiscences of the Northern Railroad. 475 Grand Trunk 480


Port Huron & Northwestern 480


Apportionment of State Taxes. 483


PORT HURON. Geology 484


Early Patents


486


Indian Reserve.


486


Supervisors 486


Justices of the Peace 487


Bounty for Wolf Scalps. 488


489


Early History


494 495


Port Huron in 1826.


497


Sale of Building Lots.


497


Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry 384


Twenty-eighth Michigan Infantry. 385


Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry 385


Thirtieth Michigan Infantry. 385


First Michigan Cavalry 386


Second Michigan Cavalry 386


Fourth Michigan Cavalry


Fifth Michigan Cavalry.


390


The Progressive Party of 1865 ..


507


The War of 1861-65. 508


The Cause of Temperance. 508


City Hall and Court House 509 511


The Custom House and Post Office


City Water-Works 519


Postmasters and Revenue Collectors 520


The P. H. & N. W. R. R. Depot. 521


The Iron Bridge 521


Telephone Exchange 522


522


The Port Huron Relief Committee


522


Our Country's Defenders. 400


The Guards.


400


Phil Sheridan's Horse. 401


COURTS AND BAR ..


402


The First Four Villages.


253


The Pioneers of Port Huron


257 259


Wheeler's Reminiscences


260


The Couriers' Settlement.


262


Soldier Settlers. 263


The Relief of Fort Gratiot by Brown.


The Port Huron Commercial


415


Reminiscences of Judge Bunce 265


Memoirs of Aura P. Stewart 272 297


303


ORGANIC HISTORY.


St Clair Township ..


Old Court House Grounds


321


Macomb County Erected ..


322 323


First County Seat War.


Acts of the Commissioners.


329


County Poor House Troubles.


332


Supervisors' Board. 333


County Commissioners. 334


Township and City Organization. 334


Prosperity of the County. 336


POLITICAL HISTORY. 337


340


County Elections.


MILITARY HISTORY.


The War for the Union 359


Military Statistics. 361


General Officers 361


Record of Commissioned Officers. 362


First Michigan Infantry


367


Second Michigan Infantry 367


Third Michigan Infantry. 367


Fourth Michigan Infantry


368


Fifth Michigan Infantry 369


Sixth Michigan Infantry 371


Seventh Michigan Infantry


371 371 372


Tenth Michigan Infantry


372


Eleventh Michigan Infantry


Twelfth Michigan Infantry. 373 374


Thirteenth Michigan Infantry.


374


Fifteenth Michigan Infantry 374


Sixteenth Michigan Infantry 375


Seventeenth Michigan Infantry 375


Eighteenth Michigan Infantry. 375


Nineteenth Michigan Infantry 375


Twentieth Michigan Infantry 376


Twenty-first Michigan Infantry 376


Twenty-second Michigan Infantry 377


Twenty-third Michigan Infantry 383


Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry 383


Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry 383


Twenty-sixth Michigan Infantry. 384


After the Crisis ..


498


Organization of the Village. Organization of the City.


498 499


City Officers from 1858.


500


Financial


The Saw-Mill ('ity


The Press


International Spelling Match.


506


388 Fire of 1854.


506


Seventh Michigan Cavalry. 390 Fire of April 21, 1866


Eighth Michigan Cavalry 390


Ninth Michigan Cavalry. 391


Tenth Michigan Cavalry. 391


Eleventh Michigan Cavalry 392


First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics 392 First Light Artillery 392


Other Military Organizations. 395


First Michigan Colored Infantry 396 Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention. 396 Veterans. 397


The Soldiers' and Sailors' Reunion 400


The Congregational Church 523


The Baptist Church 526


412


The Port Huron Observer.


413


Pioneer Sketches


320


4222


321


Establishment of St. Clair County


The Division of the County into Townships 324


324


Eighth Michigan Infantry ..


Ninth Michigan Infantry


373


Fourteenth Michigan Infantry


Port Huron City 488


Topographical


Fur Traders.


503 505


Third Michigan Cavalry. 387 388


501


Sixth Michigan Cavalry.


508


Societies


St. Clair County Court ..


403


St. Clair Militia, 1805-11


vii


CONTENTS.


PAGE. 529


The Catholic Church. Grace Episcopal Church. 531


Methodist Episcopal Church .. 532


Other Churches. 533 Justices of the Peace.


Schools 533


Ladies' Library Association.


535


The Lotos Club 539


Shakesperian Class. 541


The Port Huron Literary Club. 542 Tremble Creek


542


The Opera House


542


Hospital and Home Society.


542


Good Templars


542


Masonic .. 543


Odd Fellows. 543


Knights of Honor. 543 Early Land Buyers 732


A. O. U. W


544


Other Societies


545


Boat Club.


545


Fire Department 546


546


Manufacturing Industries.


546


Meteorological


549


Biographical


FORT GRATIOT TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE.


Organic


Land Buyers 606


Fort Gratiot 60G Biographical Sketches.


History of the Post


War of 1812


The Fort in 1832.


613


Military Reservation


614


Gratiot Light.


616


Establishment of the Village


617 619 625


Charles P. Edison


St. Paul's Mission


626


Biographical Sketches.


629


ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP AND CITY ..


636


Organic ...


Supervisors.


Justices of the l'eace.


Early History 638


St. Clair City


639 641


Pioneer History


643


St. Clair Militia


644


Historical Reminiscences


The First Newspaper


The Fire Department


647 648


The War Period


649


Congregational Church.


650 657


Episcopal Church


657


Methodist Church


658


Catholic Church


659


The Protestant Methodist.


659


Schools 660


Social, Benevolent and Commercial Societies. 661


Secret Societies 662 Business Organizations 664


The Oakland House 664


Biographical Sketches. 667


COTTRELLVILLE TOWNSHIP AND MARINE CITY.


Early Land Buyers 687


Reminiscences 687 Justices of the Peace


The Division of Cottrellville. 691 Supervisors.


692


Justices of the Peace. 692


Marine City. 693


Salt Well


694


Biographical


786


Newspapers 694


Religious 694


Centennial Year.


696 697


Stave Manufacturing 697 Biographical Sketches 697 CLAY TOWNSHIP.


First Land Buyers 709


Justices of the Peace. 710


Biographical Sketches 714


CHINA TOWNSHIP 717


The Pioneers 718


Early Land Buyers 719


Justices of the Peace 720 H. Whiting


Biographical Sketches


EAST CHINA TOWNSHIP.


Supervisors. 725


725


Biographical Sketches.


726


IRA TOWNSHIP.


728


Indian Reserve


729


Justices of the Peace


729


Biographical Sketches 730


CASCO TOWNSHIP. Early Land Buyers 731


Supervisors. 731 Justices of the Peace 731


COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP.


733


Biographical Sketches.


733


KIMBALL TOWNSHIP. Early Land Buyers 734


Supervisors


735


Justices of the Peace 735


735


551


CLYDE TOWNSHIP


738


The First Land Buyers


739


605 Supervisors


739


Justices of the Peace


740


BURTCHVILLE TOWNSHIP


746


Supervisors


Justices of the Peace


747


Biographical Sketches 747


GRANT TOWNSHIP. Early Land Buyers. 748


Supervisors 748


Justices of the Peace


748


Personal Sketches


749


BROCKWAY TOWNSHIP


Supervisors 755


Justices of the Peace 755


Biographical 756


EMMETT TOWNSHIP.


Supervisors 760


Justices of the Peace 760


Personal Sketches


760


RILEY TOWNSHIP


Early Land Buyers.


763


Supervisors


763


Justices of the Peace.


763


Memphis


763


Biographical.


BERLIN TOWNSHIP.


Supervisors 767


Justices of the Peace 767


Biographical Sketches .. 768


MUSSEY TOWNSHIP. Supervisors 769


Justices of the Peace 769


Capac Swamps 769


Capac Village 770


Biographical


771


LYNN TOWNSHIP. Supervisors. 779


Justices of the Peace. 779


Personal History 780 WALES TOWNSHIP.


Supervisors


781


782


Biographical


782


KENOCKEE TOWNSHIP


Supervisors


786


Justices of the Peace


782


GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP.


Justices of the Peace


787


Biographical


787


PORTRAITS.


James Beard


513


Z. W. Bunce. 561


William Jenkinson


577


C. McElroy 657


C. G. Meisel 529·


G. C. Meisel. 529


Nelson Potter


753


William Stewart.


5935


Supervisors


719


673.


644


First County Seat War.


644 646


Official Roster


First Baptist Church


637 637 698


Nomenclature


607 611


747


Official Roster.


Hotels.


Personal Sketches


730


The Musical Society


Samuel L. Boyce. 496. Supervisors 710


John Howard 545 Religious 710


785


Schools 694 Supervisors 787


Shipping Interests.


762


740.


Thomas A. Edison


PAGE. 720


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FOIDOPOW 19.


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1


HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.


CHAPTER I.


THE ABORIGINES.


Scientists have ascribed to the Mound Builders varied origins, and though their divergence of opinion may, for a time, seem incompatible with a thorough investigation of the subject, and tend to a confusion of ideas, no doubt whatever may exist as to the comparative accuracy of conclusions arrived at by a few of the investigators. Like the vexed questions of the Pillar Towers and Garden Beds, it has caused much speculation, and elicited opinions from so many antiquarians, ethnologists, and travelers, that little remains to be known of the prehistoric peo- ples of America. That this continent is co-existent with the world of the ancients can not be questioned. Every investigation, made under the auspices of modern civilization confirms the fact and leaves no channel open through which the skeptic can escape the thorough refutation of his opinions. China, with its numerous living testimonials of antiquity, with its ancient, though limited, literature and its Babelish superstitions, claims a continuous history from antediluvian times ; but although its continuity may be denied with every just reason, there is nothing to prevent the transmission of a hieroglyphic record of its history prior to 1656 Anno Mundi, since many traces of its early settlement survived the Deluge, and became sacred objects of the first historieal epoch. This very survival of a record, such as that of which the Chinese boast, is not at variance with the designs of a God who made and ruled the universe ; but that an antediluvian people inhabited this continent, will not be claimed ; because it is not probable, though it may be possible, that a settlement in a land which may be considered a portion of the Asiatic continent, was effected by the immediate followers of the first progenitors of the human race. Therefore, on entering the study of the ancient people who raised these tumulus monuments over large tracts of the country, it will be just sufficient to wander back to that time when the flood-gates of heaven were swung open to hurl destruction on a wicked world ; and in doing so the inquiry must be based on legendary, or rather upon many circumstantial evidences ; for, so far as written narrative extends, there is nothing to show that a movement of people too far east resulted in a western settlement.


1


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18


HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.


THE FIRST IMMIGRATION.


The first and most probable sources in which the origin of the Builders must be sought, are those countries lying along the eastern coast of Asia, which doubtless at that time stretched far beyond its present limits, and presented a continuous shore from Lapatka to Point Cambodia, holding a population comparatively civilized, and all professing some elementary form of Boodhism of later days. Those peoples, like the Chinese of the present, were bound to live at home, and probably observed that law until after the confusion of languages and the dispersion of the builders of Babel, in 1757, A. M .; but subsequently, within the following century, the old Mon- golians, like the new, crossed the great ocean in the very paths taken by the present representatives of the race, arrived on the same shores, which now extend a very questionable hospitality to them, and entered at once upon the colonization of the country south and east, while the Caucasian race engaged in a similar movement of exploration and colonization over what may be justly termed the western ex- tension of Asia, and both peoples growing stalwart under the change, attained a moral and physical eminence to which they never could lay claim under the tropical sun which shed its beams upon the cradle of the human race.


That mysterious people who, like the Brahmins of to-day, worshipped some transitory deity, and in after years, evidently embraced the idealization of Bood- hism, as preached in Mongolia early in the thirty-fifth century of the world, together with acquiring the learning of the Confucian and Pythagorean schools of the same period, spread all over the land, and in their numerous settlements erected these raths, or mounds, and sacrificial altars whereon they received their peroidical visiting gods, surrendered their bodies to natural absorption or annihilation, and watched for the return of some transmigrated soul, the while adoring the universe, which with beings they believed would be eternally existent. They possessed religious orders corresponding, in external show at least, with the Essenes or Theraputæ of the pre-Christian and Christian epochs, and to the reformed Theraputæ or monks of the present. Every memento of their coming and their stay which has descended to us is an evidence of their civilized condition. The free copper found within the tumuli; the' open veins of the Superior and Iron Mountain copper mines, with all the modus operandi of ancient mining, such as ladders, levers, chisels and hammer- heads, discovered by the French explorers of the Northwest and Mississippi, are conclusive proofs that those prehistoric people were highly civilized, and that many flourishing colonies were spread throughout the Mississippi Valley, while yet the mammoth, the mastodon, and a hundred other animals, now only known by their gigantic fossil remains, guarded the eastern shore of the continent, as it were, against supposed invasions of the Tower Builders who went west from Babel ; while yet the beautiful isles of the Antilles formed an integral portion of this continent, long years


19


HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.


before the European Northmen dreamed of setting forth to the discovery of Green- land and the northern isles, and certainly at a time when all that portion of America north of 45 deg. was an ice-incumbered waste.


Within the last few years great advances have been made toward the dis- covery of antiquities whether pertaining to remains of organic or inorganic nature. Together with many small but telling relics of the early inhabitants of the country, the fossils of prehistoric animals have been unearthed from end to end of the land, and in districts, too, long pronounced by geologists of some repute to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the collected souvenirs of an age about which so very little is known, are twenty-five vertebra averaging thir- teen inches in diameter, and three vertabræ, ossified together measuring nine cubical feet; a thigh-bone five feet long by twenty-eight in diameter, and the shaft fourteen by eight inches thick, the entire lot weighing 600 pounds. These fossils are presumed to belong to the cretaceous period when the Dino- saur roamed over the country from east to west, desolating the villages of the people. This animal is said to be sixty feet long, and when feeding in cypress and palm forests, to extend himself eighty-five feet, so that he may devour the bud- ding tops of those great trees. Other efforts in this direction may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the discovery of a tablet engraven by some learned Mound Builder, describing, in the ancient hieroglyphics of China, all those men and beasts whose history excites so much speculation. The identity of the Mound Builders with the Mongolians might lead us to hope for such a consum- mation ; nor is it beyond the range of probability, particularly in this practical age, to find the future of some industrious antiquarian requited by the upheaval of a tablet written in the Tartar characters of 1700 years ago, bearing on a subject which can now be treated only on a purely circumstantial basis.




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