To this end, one of the most influential of their chiefs, John Jones, of Dover Sound, offered to give up to his Indian brethren, free of all cost, a large tract of unceded land, that they might be gathered together as one nation.
In the council held at Sangeeny, where were convened Indian chiefs from lakes St.Clare, Samcoe, Huron, Ontario, and Rice, and other lakes, it was proposed to devise a plan by which the tract owned by the Sangeenys could be held for the benefit of the Ojebwas, to petition Government for aid in establishing a manual-labour school, and to ascertain the general feeling of the chiefs in relation to forming one large settlement at Owen's Sound.

At this meeting forty-eight chiefs were assembled.
There is much to admire in the simple, earnest, and courteous style of the oration delivered by Chief John Jones, and will give to my readers some idea of the intelligence of an educated Indian:-- "Brothers, you have been called from all your parts of Canada, even from the north of Georgian Bay.

You are from your homes, your wives, and your children.

We might regret this, were it not for the circumstances that require you here.
"Fellow-chiefs and brothers, I have pondered with deep solicitude our present condition and the future welfare of our children, as well as of ourselves.

I have studied deeply and anxiously, in order to arrive at a true knowledge of the proper course to be pursued to secure to us and our descendants, and even to those around us, the greatest amount of peace, health, happiness, and usefulness.