Nova Scotia Archives

Mi'kmaq Holdings Resource Guide

Letter from Thomas Irwin of Charlottetown, PEI, to Joseph Howe regarding a book in Mi'kmaq written by Irwin as a grammar/textbook and urging Howe to purchase copies for use among the i'kmaq of NS.
view page 1 2 3 view transcript 1 2 3

close

note: transcription publicly contributed - please contact us with comments, errors or omisions

159
equally great. The object having been gained, of showing
that the Indians were amenable to the law, the matter
was allowed to drop.
---
From Mr. Irwin
-------
Charlottetown, P E Island
March 20th. 1843.

Hon Sir,

By the public papers, I have seen the reports
you laid before the Executive on the Indian Affairs, And I was
very much rejoiced to see the praise worthy efforts you have made
for the purpose of ameliorating the Condition of those too-long
abandoned people. During the present Session of our Legislature,
I petitioned the House of Assembly to grant me pecuniary aid
in order to enable me to publish a Manuscript of an Elementary
book in Micmac, in order to lay the foundation of their
future education. These are one hundred and forty
closely written pages of foolscap, it consists of the usual, elementary
matter found in all elementary book's then progressive reading
lessons &c. A committie [committee] was appointed a few days ago to
whom was referred my petition together with the report
of the Board of Education and a recommendation from the Catholic
Bishop of the Diocess, [Diocese] both recommending the work.
The Committie reported to the House that they would


Date: 1843

Retrieval no.: Commissioner of Public Records — Mi'kmaq and Government Relations series Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 432 pp. 159-161

Nova Scotia Archives — https://archives.novascotia.ca/mikmaq/archives/?ID=433

Crown copyright © 2024, Province of Nova Scotia.