Note V-13 — Chapter V · CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

The three whose answers to Pike's address are given in this article have already been sufficiently identified: see back, note7, p. 156, note10, p. 169, note13, p. 172. It is amusing to observe the unanimity with which they declined the polite invitation to visit General Wilkinson at St. Louis. Old Sweet's regrets strike me as the most ingenuous. What was the use of his going in person if he sent his pipe? If we send our card to a functionary in acknowledgment of an invitation, is not the etiquette of the occasion accomplished by that civil ceremony? Sucre's suggestion regarding the Sioux of the upper Minnesota r., whose intentions were doubtful, was eminently practical—if they wanted peace, let them so signify in the usual manner. Chef de la Terre seems to have been less resourceful in polite excuses than the other two. He could not go unless Sucre did; but some other day, perhaps, etc. Flat Mouth's remarks were the most astute. His excuse, whether feigned or not, was good; but as to his intention of burying the hatchet so far out of sight that he would let the Sioux strike him even once without digging it up, we may indulge a doubt.