DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED ON THE ANNIVERSARY
OP THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN,
JUNE 4, 1830
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST,
BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
Detroit:
PRINTED BY GEO. L. WHITNEY
1830.September IB, 1820.
On motion of the Corresponding Secretary—
Resolved, That Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq. be requested to prepare and deliver an Address, before the Society, at its next annual meeting.
June 4, 1830.
On motion of the Recording Secretary,—
Resolved, That Messrs. H. Whiting, A. S. Porter, and E. P. Hastings, be a Committee to present the thanks of this Society to Mr. Schoolcraft, for his appropriate and instructive Discourse, and to request of him a copy for publication.ADDRESS.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Society ;
A deep solicitude has been manifested in the history and fortunes of the Indian race. Of the various topics which the discovery of America presented for philosophic discussion, there is none which has so long sustained its interest with the public, or produced conclusions which are more largely the result of gratuitous assumption, or ingenious speculation. Two centuries have but little abated the curiosity with which we regard a people, whose origin is involved in mystery, and whose prominent traits, of features and character, are so widely different from our own. They are identified with the history of our settlement, with the policy of our internal legislation, and with the growth and expansion of our moral and political institutions. American scenery owes to them, one of its most permanent moral associations. Their mythology has peopled our lakes and forests with an invisible creation of super human existences. And their fate and fortune has interwoven throughout our history, many of the most attractive scenes of peril and achievement, which mark its pages,While the continent itself was supposed to be a groupe of islands contiguous to, or a prolongation of northern Asia, the identity of the population was not doubted. But the moment this error was exploded, and the progress of discovery proved the total separation of the two continents, the attention of the learned was directed to their origin, and the probable time and mode of their migration. On these subjects, ingenuity and research have been exhausted. And the question remains, per-haps> as enigmatical now, as it was at the commencement of the inquiry.
Taking manners and customs, as the tests of comparison, they have been assimilated to various nations of Europe and Asia. But in these comparisons, too great a bearing to certain pre-conceived theories of migration, has impaired the value of the results. Writers have proceeded on the erroneous principle of establishing an identity of race, from such resemblances as could be found, without bringing forward the numerous points of disagreement. The resemblances alone have been employed as proofs, and the dissimilarities overlooked.
It would not, perhaps, be difficult, did the purposes of literary disputation require it, to exhibit twenty discrepancies where one coincidence has been pointed out. By pursuing the course of proof, which is here reprobated, it would be an easy task, to array as strong a body of facts, indicating a Gaelic, a Hindoo, or a Magyar origin, as have ever been adduced to prove their descent from the tribes of Palestine or Tartary.
No great stress should be laid 011 a resemblance in the mere external manners and customs of barbaric tribes, situated in distant parts of the earth, without a concurrence in language and religion. Similarity of situationand resources may be supposed to lead to striking resemblances in customs, dress, and domestic economy, without necessarily implying affiliation. The fertility of human invention is not so great, but that most men will adopt the same resources, under like circumstances. Place separate tribes of the same stock of men in distant portions of a tropical country, in which cane and bananas are indigenous, and they will continue to subsist on bananas, and cover their lodges with cane. But if one of these tribes migrate to a latitude where the hark of the betula must serve as their shelter, and the northern rice plant supply their food, they will soon reconcile themselves to the substitutes. What dependence, therefore, is to be placed upon the permanency of customs, which are the result of external and accidental causes ; which must change with every change of climate, and vary with every mutation of fortune ?
Language furnishes a more stable and sure guide, in the comparison of distant branches of the human race. But even here, the same tendency is found to employ as testimony the resemblances only, and to withhold all notice of the discrepancies. To render this means effectual, grammars and vocabularies should be formed both of the indigenous and foreign languages. And when this has been accomplished by a uniform system of alphabetical notation, philologists may hope to contribute their share of intellectual light on the difficult, and for the present, abandoned question of the proximate origin of the Indian race. Even with such materials, great caution will be required to avoid the labyrinth of etymology. The principles of concordance, and of inflection and combination, furnish more certain evidences of remote affiliation, than even sound. Change of accent,which is in slow progress in all languages, will alone constitute a difference in unwritten idioms. But the syntax of a language may be supposed to remain, when the words themselves have undergone considerable, and even complete changes.
A comparison of personal features and peculiar institutions, involving their opinions in medicine and religion, is important. And these topics have been generally employed with less danger from theory and hypothesis. An ancient writer mentions the blue eyes, yellow hair, and identity of form and features of the Germanic tribes, during the first century, as a proof of their being an unmixed and indigenous race. The question is one, rather of physiology than geography. But we may perhaps, with equal reason refer to the prevalence of hazel eyes, black hair and prominent cheek bones, among the North American tribes. Stature is liable to considerable variations from climate. But we do not know that any writer has noticed the slightest characteristic difference in the color of the eyes and hair, and the expansion of the cheek bones, between the tribes situated within the arctic circle, or under the tropics.
History can be applied only to what is known of the Indian tribes, within a comparatively recent era. Oral tradition is important as an auxiliary species of information ; but it is nearly useless when unsupported by written or monumental history. From the tendency of the Indian tribes to exalt themselves in prowess and original consequence, and to supply the lapses of history by stretches of the imagination, a continual caution is required in recording traditionary information; and a constant reference to cotemporary authorities, both oral and printed. All unwritten tradition, extending beyond theera of Columbus, may be considered as entitled to little credit. It is not in the nature of their institutions to preserve the memory of events beyond a few generations. And were they more prone to exercise their intellectual faculties, the rigour of their situation has, at all times, absorbed their principle care. Without letters, without syllabic signs, and with only a partial use of hieroglyphics, there never could have been much reliance upon their ancient traditions. Their monuments, if they can in strictness be said to have any, are equally unsatisfactory. They generally indicate a people in the rudest state of society, who made stone clumsily answer the various purposes of iron, and buried their dead above ground, probably for the simple want of a shovel to dig a grave. They piled one body upon another, for reasons obvious in erratic nations, and they chose high places of burial, to be out of the reach of the periodical floods. This we consider the most reasonable explanation of the mounds which have been referred to, as evidences of their skill in geometry, of their idolatry, populousness ;—and in short, of any thing, but what they appear, in reality, to have been, rude barrows of the dead !
The accumulation of facts and materials on all, and each of the points which serve to illustrate their history and character, is an object of enlightened research. And it is a species of research which commends itself particularly to our attention,—situated as we are, in the vicinity of numerous, and some of them, populous tribes, who preserve the living languages, and the traditions, customs and institutions of their ancestors. Other societies are favorably located to preserve the materials of our national history. It is our province to glean upon the frontiers.
oAs yet, no attempt at a general history of the North American Indians, has been made. There are some accounts of particular tribes, several tracts on their languages, occasional papers, reports, and other materials, either in tlie evanescent form of pamphlets, or scattered through a variety of publications—all of which, it would be important to collect and preserve. By consulting the best informed chiefs, and some of our elder inhabitants, interesting facts might be gleaned from local tradition, and from unpublished letters and manuscripts. All that relates to the languages, is still within our grasp. But every season is narrowing the circle from which the information is to be drawn. Much of what is most desirable to be known, has already perished with the prominent actors wTho have appeared on the scene. Much, however, still remains. To rescue, both what is written, and what is unwritten, is an appropriate and laudable object of literary research.
In calling your attention to one of the principal Indian stocks, whose wars and migrations are identified with the history of the Upper Lakes, and the extreme North Western portions of the Union, it may be proper to advert, for a few moments, to the great era, in which our acquaintance with the race of red men commenced. Whether we refer to that era to acquire a correct knowledge of their former condition and character, or to trace the early events of their mournful history, it must ever be a subject of regret, that the first voyagers to America had not evinced, either more care in observing, or more discrimination in recording the interesting facts before them.
The age of the discovery, fruitful as it was in daring enterprise, was not characterised by severe scrutiny ordeep research. Still less was it marked by liberal and exalted sentiments in politics, philosophy or religion. Columbus himself suffered his better reason to be swayed by the splendid fallacies of visionaries, such as Man-deville and Marco Polo. And he narrowly escaped the charge of heresy for advancing some of the modern doctrines in geography and astronomy. Monarchs held, that the accident of discovery gave them a right, not only to the sovreignty of the new world, but also over the personal liberty of the natives, who were wrested from their homes to be exhibited as spectacles in the courts of Europe, or sold as slaves in their markets. And learned and pious men gravely deliberated whether the new found people were to be treated as brethren of the same species.
The spirit of maratime adventure was, however, at its height. Sovereigns vied with each other in the glory of discovery, and the thirst for foreign dominion. Portugal, and the cities and little republics of Italy, took the lead in the splendid career of adventure. And at the same time that they set the example to the rest of Europe, they furnished them with experienced nautical commanders. Unfortunately too, they set the example of enslaving the native inhabitants of the countries they discovered, and of causing every nobler aspiration to give way to the thirst for wealth, and the rage for political aggrandisement. The natives of both the East and West Indies, after their strange looks and dress had been scanned, and their stranger languages listened to, were, in reality, regarded in scarcely any other light than as furnishing the ready means of accumulating “barbaric pearl and gold.”
All that related to their intellectual character, inter-nal polity, political divisions and subdivisions, distinctive languages, and the agreement or disagreement of their traditions, respecting their origin and dispersion over the two continents, was looked upon, either as matter of minor importance, or left to the chance of future observation. In perusing the collections of these early voyages, it is surprising to see in how purely a mercantile spirit they were executed ; the dry minuteness with which unimportant incidents are described ; and the great paucity of exact, comprehensive or discriminating views. And it can therefore create but little disappointment, if the inquirer into this portion of our aboriginal history, should often be a gleaner in a barren field.
Cabot is admitted to have been the discoverer of the Atlantic coast of North America from Newfoundland to the latitude of the capes of Virginia, or possibly, the Corolinas. (1497.) He was followed, twenty seven years later, by Verrizani, who, making the land in about the latitude of the present capitol of Georgia, ran along the coast to the 56th degree of north latitude. Neither of these discoverers made extensive observations upon the coast, or the native inhabitants. They landed in but few places, and of those few, there is scarcely one, that, from their descriptions, can be certainly identified. It has been conjectured that Verrizani entered the straits between the highlands of Neversink and Long Island, where he had an interview with the natives. And if so, he preceded Hudson, in his discovery, eighty three years.
In the interim between the dates of these two voyages, the Portuguese pavigator, Cortereal, visited some of the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic ; and discovered and named the coast of Labrador. (1500.)About this epoch fishing vessels began to resort to the Grand Banks, giving rise to a branch of commerce in which the French and Portuguese appear to have first taken the most active part. Jean Denis, a native of Rouen, who had sailed on one of these fishing voyages, (1506) is said to have laid down and published the first chart of the coast. Two years afterwards Thomas Au-bert, another of these private adventurers, brought the first natives from Newfoundland to Paris : and claimed to have made certain discoveries on the gulf and river, since named St. Lawrence, which have been generally deemed apocryphal. As little credit has been awarded by historians to the reported visit of Velasco, and the etymological proofs of the Spanish origin of the word “Canada.”
It remained for Cartier, sailing under commission from Francis I. to discover and name the St. Lawrence, which he ascended in one of his ships, to lake St. Peters, and his boats, to the rapids above Montreal. And from this period (1535) the chain of northwestern discovery remains unbroken and undisputed. The French were not slow in availing themselves of the advantages the country presented for settlement. But their first efforts were unsuccessful, and they encountered the most determined opposition from the Iroquois, or Five Nations, whom it was the fate of Cartier to have offended, by ascending the river against their declared will, and by carrying off one of their principal chiefs, who died in France. To dissuade him from ascending the river above the island of Orleans, they made him profuse presents of maize and fish. One of the chiefs then drew a circle in the sand, and waving the multitude to retire, took Cartier and his followers within it. He then com-menced speaking, and at separate intervals, presented him three children, two males and one female, to divert him from his object. The multitude, at each presentation, setting up a loud shout. Finding him still resolute > they then resorted to the influence of a conjuror, who, after certain ceremonies, announced to the French, that the Indian God had uttered his maledictions against them ; and that there was so much ice and snow in the country, that whoever entered it, must die. They opposed the discovery by every means in their power : and when the French had got a footing, they omitted nothing to dispossess them. With more than Carthagenian hatred they resisted the progress of their growth and settlement, nor did they cease to resist, while the French had a fortress to defend.
To oppose this confederacy the French courted the alliance of the Algonquins ; a nation, who, in the time of Champlain, were settled along the north banks of the St. Lawrence between Quebec and lake St. Peters, extending north, by the Utawas, to lake Nepissing. Their power and influence were however spread, by the ties of affinity, among a very extensive circle of tribes, towards the north and west. From the head of lake Erie, they advanced under various names, along both banks of the great chain of communication through the lakes, extending north to lake Winnipic and Hudson’s bay, and south, to the mouth of the Ohio. They were also connected by ties, less closely drawn, but not less indicative of a common origin, with the principal tribes of New England, and of the mountainous passes east of the St. Lawrence. The latter were collectively called Abenakis, or Eastlanders.
Aided by allies thus widely dispersed, and favorablysituated, the French prosecuted the war against the Iroquois. The latter were supported by the English, and by such Indian auxiliaries as they could command. And this continued to be the state of affairs, till both the English and French outgrew their dependance upon Indian power. To this general state of alliance there were two notable exceptions, consisting of interchanges of hostility between affiliated tribes, which exposed each of them to the resentment of their parent stock. The Wyan-dots or Ilurons, who are not only of the Iroquois type of languages, but are placed by the French at the head of that family, joined the French. The Foxes who, on the contrary, speak a well characterised dialect of the Algonquin, adhered generally to the Iroquois. And this unnatural alliance had nearly proved the extermination of both these tribes. The Iroquois pursued the Ilurons with the inveteracy of a family quarrel, and drove them from the St. Lawrence to the banks of the lake, which has since taken their name. A band of them were settled, through the piety of Father Marquette, at Michil-limackinac. Others fled into lake Superior, and even took shelter, for a time, in the country west of it.
The Foxes, by attempting to keep terms with both parties, pleased neither. They soon drew upon themselves the enmity of their kindred tribes, and the execrations of the French, who heaped upon them, and their vascillating policy every term of reproach. They were driven from old Toronto, through the straits of Niagara, to Detroit, where they played a conspicuous part in the Pontiac war. They afterwards concentrated their remaining force at Green Bay; where they formed a close alliance with the Sauks, and, for a time, sustained themselves. But they were pursued by the French, withthe aid of the Chippewas and Monomonees. They were beaten in two sanguinary battles on the St. Croix and Fox rivers—fled to the Ouisconsin, and finally sought refuge west of the Mississippi.
The accounts which some writers have given of the ancient and firm alliance between the Iroquois and Al-gonquins, it is two late now to investigate, either for the purpose of disproving, or corroborating. The state of pupilage in which the Iroquois are represented as having been placed, without authority to hunt, or to exercise the usual privileges of savage freedom, is not, however, rendered probable by any thing we know of this warlike people, since the discovery. And the whole relation savors much of one of those ingenious fictions, by which one rude nation endeavors to acquire credit for exalted sentiments, at the expense of another. That these rival nations, were, at some remote period, on terms of amity, is not improbable; but if such amity was the result (as it seems) of the fear of overgrown power on the one side, it was in most imminent danger of being interrupted, the moment an increase of numbers, brought the weaker in a condition to cope with the stronger power. From whatever causes the disagreement arose, it is certain the league had been broken long before Roberval displayed the French flag upon the St. Lawrence, or Van Twiller hoisted that of the United Provinces upon the Hudson. And the successful ambuscade and decisive battle, in which the Iroquois were defeated by the Algonquins on the river Beckan-court in Lower Canada, shows that the war was prosecuted with a spirit of enterprise and determination, which owed no part of their efficacy, to either French or English counsels.It is due to the French character, in relation to these two celebrated tribes, to remark, that they found, but did not make them enemies. They turned the contest to their advantage, by forming a league with the party from whom they had most to hope, and most to fear. And the league thus early formed they never broke. They attended the Algonquins in their hunting parties and their war parties ; in their days of feasting and of fasting; in their councils and their battles. They followed them through every rigor of the country and the climate. They formed settlements in their re motest villages, and cemented their friendship by intermarriage. With but little change of expression, they seem to have adopted the protestation of the Moabitess ; “Whither thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people. And my God, shall be thy God.”
It was among the tribes and kindred of this nation that the French exercised that high power and influence, which has rendered their colonial history so celebrated. By gaining this ascendancy they succeeded—after a long and bloody contest, (in which the city of Montreal was once taken by storm and sacked,)—in repelling the attacks of the Iroquois, and curbing their power. They drew a line of forts from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and thus matured that daring plan for annihilating the British power in America, which was once the cause of well grounded alarm. But the final blow to French power was not given by the Iroquois tomahawk and scalping knife. It was the long and valorously sustained effort of the fleets, and armies of the illustrious nation, and the hardy colonists, from whom we are descended.In ceding the jurisdiction of the country, the French population did not, (like the Spanish in Louisiana at a later period,) withdraw from it. They remained in their settlements, and were tolerated in the enjoyment of their civil and religious privileges. With a numerous population, the government of France also left behind, the reputation of great enterprise in extending its authority, great bravery in defending its territorial rights, and unwearied devotion in reclaiming the Indian tribes. They carefully explored the geographical features of the country, and seized with much judgment upon the most commanding positions for forts and trading houses. They carried the Fur trade from Gaspe bay, where it may be said emphatically to have been commenced by Cartier in 1534, to the banks of the Saskatchawine. If they did not improve the system of agriculture practised in France, at the several eras of colonization, they at least, kept pace with it. We are indebted to them for some of the choicest natural fruit of Normandy and Brittany. In their intercourse with the Indian tribes they were kind and conciliating. A better exemplification of the paternal character of their government, and the impression it has left upon the northern tribes, cannot be given, than by quoting some passages of a speech delivered by a Chippewa Chief in 1826. “When the French arrived at these Falls, they came and kissed us. They called us children, and we found them Fathers. We lived like brethren in the same lodge, and we always had wherewithal to clothe us. They never mocked our ceremonies, and they never molested the places of our dead. Seven generations of men have passed away, but we have not forgotten it. Just—very just, were they towards us.” And their eventful history willlong remain conspicuous for the ardour of their discoverers, the devotion of their missionaries, and the heroic valor of their commanders.
When their commerce began to extend itself to the Upper Lakes, they found seated around the borders of these internal seas, the Three Brother Tribes—the Chip-pewas, Ottawas, and Pottawatamies. These tribes appear to have been originally, a single scion of the Algonquin stock. Their own traditions affirm, that they came from the east, and reached lake Huron together. Their separation into distinct tribes, took place in the vicinity of Michillimackinac, where the Ottawas, who were most inclined to agriculture, remained. The Pottawatamies pushed their fortunes southerly through lake Michigan, and after several mutations, both of name and place, finally established themselves about its head. The Chip-pewas, whom it is my intention more particularly to notice, extended themselves northwardly, through the straits of St. Mary, to Lake Superior, and westwardly, from that lake to the Mississippi, where they first came in contact with the Sioux. At what period this migration took place ; how long a time it occupied; and what were the particular incidents attending it, their traditions have failed to inform us. The French found them, where they now are, around the shores of lake Superior, and north and west of it. As they first encountered this tribe in fixed habitations at the Sault of Ste. Marie, they gave them the appellation of Saulteurs. They migrated by the southern shores of the lake, and kept their warriors in advance. This advanced party, who at a subsequent period acquired, and have retained the name ofMukkundwa, or Plunderers, proceeded west to the Mississippi, and established themselves around the ricelakes at its sources. Tradition is silent, also, as to the name and condition of the people whom they encountered on lake Superior. At Lapointe, near the west end of the lake, they were surprised to fall in with their own relations, the Ottagamies or Foxes, who had reached that place by an overland route, from Green Bay.
These two tribes lived on terms of mutual friendship for a time, the Chippewas occupying the lake border, and the Foxes living on the small rice lakes at the sources of the Ouisconsin and Ontonagon. Their hunting parties first came into collision. Disputes arose, which were exasperated by recrimination, and a general war, preceded by some personal conflicts, ensued. The French threw their weight into the scale against the Foxes, and having mustered a strong force of Indian auxiliaries, totally defeated them in a general action at the junction of the Wolf and Fox rivers. The strenuous efforts they made to exterminate this tribe, have been palliated on the plea of its insidious and treacherous character.
. The Chippewas of the Lake also prepared to inflict a decisive blow. War messengers were dispatched along the whole line of the lake coast from Lapointe to St. Mary's. Four hundred volunteers, from the different villages, obeyed this invitation. They assembled and united in the ceremonies of the war dance, on the open shore of the lake. They were headed by Waub Ojeeg, or the White Fisher, a bold and successful warrior, who had commanded in six previous expeditions, and acquired the respect and confidence of the surrounding bands.
While the mental discipline, by which a party of warriors is wrought up and prepared for war, is strongly calculated to excite reflection ; their departure from thesacred fire, around which they have sung their songs, recited their former exploits, and pledged their vows, cannot be contemplated, without mingled feelings of pity and admiration. No rolling of drums, no sounding of trumpets, no unfurling of ensigns, is there. They quit the scene with gestures of defiance, but at the same time, with a fixedness of purpose and spirit of heroic daring, beyond all that is known to the civilised soldier. When the yell of final onset is raised, there is a quick interchange of passionate sensations between the actor and the hearer, of which the ancient sound of defiance of the shield and javelin may furnish a coincidence, though not a parallel. Tradition has preserved another incident of the departure of this expedition. When the warriors filed through the village to enter the forest, they were met by the collected matrons of the place, carrying their infants in their arms, and uttering that wail, in the shrill tenor voice of the Indian female, which bespeaks affliction, and which, whoever has heard, will not soon forget. Such an appeal was unusual. The whole party stopped. One of the elder men then came forward, and addressed them in a short speech, in which he reminded them of the relative duties of warriors and women. They then proceeded, following a westerly course.
After this party reached the waters of the river St. Croix, they encamped six nights, on their downward passage, before they discovered signs of the enemy. They proceeded with great caution, keeping scouts in advance. On the seventh day the scouts discovered the Foxes encamped on a portage. But they came so suddenly upon them, that they could not give the alarm. Both parties fired at the same moment, and a general action commenced. The Chippcwas came up withgreat promptitude. They formed along the line of the portage path, hemming the Foxes in a peninsula formed by a bend of the river. The action was long contested, but terminated in the total defeat of the enemy, very few of whom escaped. Many were drowned in attempting to cross the stream, being precipitated over the falls. Among the slain were found several of the Sioux, who aided the Foxes on this occasion.
This action took place at the great falls of the river St. Croix. It put an end to the feud between the Chip-pewas and Foxes. The latter abandoned their villages at the rice lakes, and retired down the Ouisconsin. The sequel of their story may be told in a few words. After a separation of more than half a century, these two tribes again met, but under widely altered circumstances.— Time had effected a great revolution of feeling on the part of the Foxes. They had recovered their shattered fortunes, and in part, recruited their population, by an intimate union with the Sauks, and with the small tribe of lowas. But they had lost nothing of their warlike character and reckless spirit of adventure. They were engaged in fierce hostilities against the Sioux, their ancient allies, and were thus by the force of circumstances but without any purposed concert, brought into a state of political alliance with the Chippewas.
The meeting took place at Prairie du Chein in the summer of 1825, and was attended with more than ordinarily imposing circumstances. The Foxes, Sauks and lowas were here to meet, not only their allies the Chippewas, but their $pen enemies the Sioux. They came to discuss the# subject of a settlement of boundaries, willing to listen to terms of accommodation, but prepared for war. They ascended the channel of theMississippi in a flotilla of canoes, so arranged that they moved up the stream in a compact body. Not a woman, nor a child was with them. It was exclusively a party of armed warriors, painted and decorated in the most gorgeous manner, singing their war songs and beating their drums, with their barbaric ensigns displayed. In this attitude of warlike array, turning a point of land, they presented themselves in sight of the village, the whole male population of which, together with the assembled tribes of Indians present, rushed to the banks of the river, to witness the advance of this novel spectacle. As the flotilla approached, it became apparent, that the music and shouts were accompanied with dancing. The canoes were attached together, upon which a platform was erected. They passed slowly up against the strong current of the river, keeping the island shore, until they reached a position opposite the Sioux encampment at the upper part of the village, where their shouts and dancing became more than usually animated. They then wheeled slowly into the channel, keeping up their animated cries, and descended along the line of the village to an open plain below. To this point the throng of white and red men had followed, anxious to witness the debarkation of men thus flushed by their recent successes, and vain of their exploits. Keokuc, their war captain, led the way. Pointing with his lance to the crowd on shore, he motioned them to make way, to admit his landing. The crowd obeyed. He instantly leapt ashore, and was followed by his whole party. They marched directly into the plain, and halted in line. They then stacked their spears and rifles, and stood within grasp of them. All this was effected with the precision and alacrity of drilled troops. In the meantime the Chippewas had arranged themselves, in an irregular line, in front. After a short pause, some of their aged chiefs advanced into the open space. This was a moment of intense and painful interest. But it was soon relieved. They were met by the Fox Chiefs, with a friendly salutation, and taken by the hand. Nor has any thing since occurred to interrupt the harmony between these tribes.
In reverting to the early period of these intestine feuas, between brethren of the same genealogy, we are carried back to a very interesting era of our Indian and Colonial history, when the French still maintained their supremacy in the Canadas. The English settlements had not yet expanded beyond the sources of the streams, flowing into the Atlantic. They rested, in New-York, on the Mohawk—in Pennsylvania, on the Juniata, and in Virginia, in the valley of the Shenandoah. The summits of the Alleghany had not yet been crossed. Oswego and Niagara, Le Boeuf and Du Quesne still bore the Gallic flag. The names of the Ohio and the Wabash, the Mississippi and Missouri—and still more emphatically, those of Huron and Michigan, were listened to, as so many words calling up the idea of a distant wilderness of vast, but indefinite extent; bearing, in its geographical features, a giant outline, and filled with large and fierce quadrupeds, and savage tribes, whose very names were a source of terror.
The place in which we are now assembled, was among the number of these remote and solitary points, in the vast panorama of western woods and waters. It owed its early celebrity to its connexion with Indian affairs.— It then contained a feeble population, clustered around a military post, and living, rather upon the industry of thenatives, than upon their own. If they possessed some immunities in their seclusion, they were those of the aspirant under the sword of Dyonisius. They depended upon a thread. Surrounded by fierce and predatory tribes, they were agitated by the breath of every war party, who set out with vows of vengeance, and returned with shouts of victory. Happy would it have been, if these errant parties had returned with only the exultation of honorable warfare. But the pinioned prisoner, and the bloody scalp, filled up the melancholy spectacle.— That venerable receptacle of Indian trophies, the Government Council House, where the price of blood was so often paid, perished in the conflagration of 1805— and with it, it may be hoped, a policy, which in its whole scope and tendency, deserves to be mentioned, only in terms of the deepest reprobation. Other countries had set the example of binding victims on the rack, and burning martyrs at the stake. It remained for the representatives of Christian sovereigns, warring in the woods of America, to stimulate savage barbarity, by setting a price upon the heads of women and children, who were roused from their slumbers by the war whoop, and struck down by the war club. Nor is it undeserving of notice, that the weapons used in these murderous assaults, w ere solemnly dedicated to the work of plunder and massacre, by being passed, in public council, through the hands of the local commandant, that he might exclaim in the symbolical language of the Indian, “We take hold of the same tomahawk.”
It is enough to advert to this dark era, to awaken reflections of deep and painful interest. But there is no pleasure in dwelling upon its sanguinary cinidents. It is consolatory to reflect that when history and tradition
4have gleaned whatever can be recovered of those early times, the half of the tale of horrors will not be told.— They are only referred to, as constituting an era, in which the Indian population was strong, and the European weak. When they held vast possessions, and we little. When, in fine, the whole line of our inland frontier, from the Savannah to the Penobscot, quailed beneath the menaces of Indian power. Among the tribes, who struggled for supremacy, the Five Nations held the most conspicuous rank. They had not yet felt the pressure of causes, which were destined soon to arrest their course, and to leave them, like the tribes against whom they contended, feeble and dependant. They roved at will, from lake Champlain to the Illinois. They had imposed tribute upon the Mohegans, who inhabited the mouth of the Hudson, before the discovery. This tribute was paid yearly in shell-fish. They had humbled the Delawares, and placed them in a state in which they could neither make treaties, nor sell lands, without their consent. They exterminated the Eries. And they defended and brought off the Tuscaroras, and adopted them into their confederacy. They extended their war parties south, to the mouth of the Ohio. And they claimed, and actually sold the lands to the banks of Kentucky river.
They were not satisfied with carrying their conquests towards the south and west. They pushed their war parties north to Lake Huron, by the route of lake Sim-coe and Nadowasaking, where they found and subdued the mixed tribe of the Mississagies. They passed through this lake to the island of St. Joseph, in the river St. Mary, where a severe action took place, between them and the Hurons. This action was fought on the water, and in canoes They were not deterred by the partial dis-comfiture attending it. They passed deeper into the northern regions, and exhibited themselves, in a strong body, on the borders of lake Superior, at a prominent point, which perpetuates their name, and their defeat.
Point Iroquois, or (as it is called by the Indians) the place of Iroquois Bones,* is at least 900 miles from the general seat of the Iroquois Council fire at Onondaga. At this distant spot, in the career of their conquests, flushed with victory, and confident of success, they encamped. It is said a prisoner was sacrificed to stimulate the thirst of vengeance, and to swell the number of melancholy, but in general, doubtful instances, in which man has voluntarily polluted his lips with the flesh of man. But in the height of this infernal ceremony, retribution was at hand. Their passage through the river, and the audacious and reckless spirit which they had everywhere manifested, had been narrowly watched. The Chippewas hastily mustered their forces, and prepared to follow them.— When they had reached the head of the straits, opposite the Iroquois camp, the weather became threatening; and it was debated whether they should not defer their passage till the next day. In this dilemma their prophet or seer was appealed to, and he, after the usual ceremonies, declared a favorable omen. They awaited the approach pf night, and embarked in twTo divisions. The darkness of the night was extremely favorable to their enterprize. The parties landed at separate places, and formed a junction in the woods, in the rear of the Iroquois camp. The prophet here declared another favorable omen. They then sent forward some scouts to observe the condition of the enemy, who appeared totally unconscious of danger-, and were still singing their war songs. It was determin-
* N ado w aweguning.ed to remain in their concealed position, till the enemy had gone to sleep. It then commenced raining. They advanced in the rain and darkness, cautiously feeling their way to the edge of the woods. They then made the onset. The struggle was fierce, but of short duration. As had been concerted, each lodge was surrounded at the same moment, the poles lifted, and the tent precipitated upon the sleepers, who were despatched as they started up, bewildered and entangled in their tents. A great slaughter ensued. Very few of the Iroquois escaped to carry the news of the disaster; nor did this nation ever renew their inroad,
About the same time, (1680) some of the other northern tribes made a successful effort to repay the injuries, they had received from the Five Nations. A party of 400 Iroquois having, in one of their western excursions, reached the banks of the Maumee river, surprized the camp of the Miamis and Illinois, killed upwards of 30, and took 300 prisoners, among whom were a great proportion of women and children; witffthis trophy they commenced their return, confident in their strength, and the dread their name had inspired among the western tribes. The discomfited Miamis prepared to avenge their loss. They obtained the aid of some of the tribes in alliance with them, and made a hasty pursuit, keeping far enough in the rear to avoid premature discovery, and determined to improve the first opportunity to concert a stratagem. Fortune came to their aid. A rain storm commenced, and continued with such violence, that they were confident the Iroquois would stop. The rain fell incessantly from morning till evening. Conceiving this a favorable opportunity, they pushed on with such diligence, that they got in advance of the enemy.They concealed themselves on the sides of the trail in meadow grounds, where the grass screened them, and the make of the ground afforded a favorable position for attack. When the Iroquois had entered the defile, the Miamis started up, and pouring in from all sides, threw •them into confusion. The panic of the Five Nations was further increased, on discovering that the rain had rendered their fire-arms useless, and they were compelled to rely chiefly on their war clubs. In this contest the superior activity of the western Indians, in the management of their native weapons, became manifest. One hundred and eighty of the Iroquois fell, the rest retreated fighting, till night put a stop to the conflict. The Miamis recovered all their prisoners, and effected a safe retreat.
A very different result, however, generally attended the Iroquois expeditions towards the west and north.— Their track was literally marked in blood. But it was blood doomed to be atoned for, by future humiliation.— Their career has terminated as inauspiciously, as if they had never sacked villages, and exterminated tribes. No foresight could have anticipated that the lapse of time would bring back this proud and conquering people into the upper lakes, as supplicants to the north western tribes for a small tract of ground to raise their corn upon, and to serve as a refuge for their children. Yet such are the facts exhibited by the treaty of purchase made by the Iroquois delegates of the Menominees and Winnebagoes in 1821. This 'treaty took place at Green Bay, near which the Iroquois settlements have been gradually'accumulating. Four years later, at Butte des Morts, they formally smoked the pipe of peace with the northern Algonquins, after a war, which, without any formal cessa-tion, is known to have continued the better part of two centuries.
In looking to the causes which gave the Iroquois such a preponderance over the other tribes, the advantages of a close union, and their local position at the sources of so many important streams, have been mentioned by their eloquent historian.* But it is quite evident that the great and efficient cause of their success existed, in their having early acquired the use of fire arms, while the western tribes adhered with obstinacy to the bow and club. Even after the Lake tribes had obtained a supply of fusils, they still hankered after their ancient arms. And twice, within half a century (from 1702 to 1812) they formed confederacies against the whites, based on a total renunciation of the use of European manufactures.
But little can be said in corroboration of the opinion which has been advanced, that the Iroquois were a superior race of men, to other of our tribes: and in support of which, their valour and exploits, and particularly their skill as diplomatists and orators, have been adduced. Brave they undoubtedly were, according to the Indian idea of bravery. As far as mere brute force could triumph, they triumphed. But with all their achievements, they never acquired the moral courage to spare the vanquished after battle. They never elevated themselves above the savage principle, which does not distinguish between* a public and a private foe. They did not separate, in their border w^ars, the idea of re-nown acquired in open battle, from that of secret murder. The scalp, torn away with stealthy footsteps at midnight, was as honorable a trophy as that taken on
^Clinton.the contested field in open day. In what, therefore, were they distinguished above the other tribes ? Among the cruel, they were the most cruel. Among the treacherous, the most treacherous. It is true they were gifted with a bold and enterprizing spirit. They were skilful to * plan, and quick to execute. They suffered with astonishing fortitude the pains they expected to inflict upon others. When taken in battle they asked nothing, and they expected nothing. The whole history of martyrdom may be challenged for a parallel to the almost superhuman courage and constancy exhibited by the Iroquois captain put to the torture at Fort Frontenac, as described by Charlevoix. In him, the glory of trinmph had apparently extinguished all sense of physical suffering. But apart from this species of heroic endurance, their traditional history is relieved by few instances of high mindedness, or mental abstraction. Still less do we find those instances of clemency which throw a charm over history. They could bear, but not forbear. The strong traits of savage character were mingled, as in other instances, with savage virtues or savage magnanimity. But they were perpetually veeriug between the extremes of human passion. For one Logan, or Garangula, they produced an hundred inferior orators. For one friendly Gyantwa,* twenty sanguinary Brandts.
Republicans themselves, and a confederacy of republics, they fought against the only two nations, of modern times, who have exhibited plans of governmental improvement—the French and the Americans. And they only became our friends, at that point, when they could no longer remain our enemies. For their aid, as friends, we can perhaps point to Fort Stanwix and the Niagara
*Cornplanter.frontier. For their ire, as enemies, we can point, and history will forever point, to Oriskany and Cherry Valley, Wyoming and Schoharie. In our own times, they have produced a Skenandoah and an Oyawatta,* (better known as Red Jacket) the one an eminent example of the triumph of social and Christian principles—the other, as noted for his inveterate adherence to the maxims of savage life. Many of them have nominally professed Christianity, and renounced paganism. But under very favorable circumstances for acquiring knowledge, and practising the arts, they have made but few permanent acquisitions. Their population has dwindled away in a state of profound peace, on the best corn and wheat lands in America. Learning, in the select youth, has produced despondency. Ardent spirits, has relaxed their courage and constancy, and annihilated their enterprize. Danger, the strong bond of their union, by being withdrawn, has left their confederacy to fall into harmless fragments, and exhibited them, like the fictitious hero of a modern tale of genius.
u Link’d with one virtue, and a thousand crimes.”
The war between the Chippewas and Sioux forms a conspicuous figure in the history of the northern tribes. But it has been a war of detail, conducted by separate Chiefs and separate bands, without general concert, and without producing, at any one period, general calamity. There have been 110 great battles—no formidable expeditions—no bloody ambuscades. Petty skirmishes, sudden inroads, affrays of hunting parties, the surprise of a few lodges, 01* personal rencontres, make up its common incidents. Occasionally, something more formidable has been attempted, but, in general, their !ajrge parties have
*Saggoyawatta.effected but little, one party or the other, frequently both, giving way after the first onset. It is the policy of .Indian warfare to operate by surprise. Parties are hastily mustered, strike the blow, return and disperse, before their opponents have time to rally. This produces retaliation. Surprise is repaid by surprise. Robbery by robbery. Murder by murder. And when no other cause disposes the parties for hostilities, a vow made during sickness, the loss of a friend, a dream, or the desire of personal distinction, supplies new actors on the scene.
A hundred years of this species of warfare, between the Chippewas and Sioux, interspersed with seasons of partial and insecure peace, has rendered the hatred between them hereditary. No one knows certainly when the war commenced, how it originated, and what have been its principal incidents. Tradition is not agreed on these points. In some accounts, it places the origin in 1726. Generally, it attributes it to disputes respecting hunting grounds. Sometimes to the deceitful policy of the Sauks and Foxes. Sometimes to domestic incidents of a romantic character. All these causes have probably operated, and each exasperated the effects of the other. In modern times, peace has often been concluded, and as often broken. Temporary causes have led to these hasty arrangements, but no hearty reconciliation appears ever to have taken place. The peace-pipe has scarcely been smoked on one part of the lines, before the war-club has been raised on another. The treaties they have made under the auspices of our government, have been assented to, more to show their friendship for us, than for one another. One cause of the difficulty of effecting a firm peace, is probably to be found in the great extent of their frontier, being upwards of five hundred miles on
5the line of the Mississippi. Each band has some1 separate quarrel or interest. Each chief claims for himself and his followers the highest powers of sovereignty, taking up and laying down arms, whenever convenient, without submitting the question to a general council of the nation. This is the radical defect of Indian government.
In a war carried on in this loose and desultory manner, nothing else could be expected, but that the lives and fortunes of the white men,, whom accident placed in their power, should become the sport of whim and caprice.— A few years ago, Cheanacquot, a noted war leader from the Leech Lake sources of the Mississippi, conducted a small war-party against the Sioux. When they had reached the vicinity of Dickson’s Trading House, he determined to direct his attack against that post. The party approached the house with great circumspection, creeping among the grass, till they came within a few hundred yards of the enclosure. They here concealed themselves behind a fallen tree. While thus hid, Mrs. Dickson and her eldest daughter approached from another part of the scene, and stopped in earnest conversation within reach of their guns. It was a moment in which life and death were at stake. The warriors cocked their pieces. Revenge and clemency struggled for a moment in the breast of Cheanacquot. He wavered— beckoned his party not to fire, and springing from his concealment, offered Mrs. Dickson his hand. Transported with this act of magnanimity, where magnanimity had not been looked for, she invited the chief and his followers into the house, where they were regaled and dismissed with presents.
A different result attended the expedition of Kewano-quot. This chief, during the summer of 1824, mustered a party of twenty-eight men from the Chippewa villages, at the sources of the Ouisconsin and Ontonagon. They embarked in canoes on the river Saulteur, which they descended to the junction with the Mississippi. They concealed themselves behind an eminence which commands a wide prospect of the Mississippi and the shores of lake Pepin. No enemy could, however, be discovered. They remained in this position two days, and began to give up the hope of achieving any thing. Towards the evening of the second day, a canoe of w hite men was descried ascending the Mississippi. It was the ill-fated Finlay, an inhabitant of Prairie du Chien, with three canoe-men, on his way to St. Peters. He encamped at the foot of lake Pepin, pitched his tent, and planted his flag in front of it. All this wras seen by the Indians from their places of concealment. Kewanocquot and his followers visited the tent for the purpose of gaining some knowledge of the Sioux. They were received with the customary civilities, presented with some tobacco, and departed. Not, however, before they had witnessed striking evidences of fear, on the part of the canoe-men. This was a fatal weakness.
When the party had got some distance from the tent, one of the warriors in the rear, said—“ when I go out hunting I do not like to return without killing something.” “ Nor I,” replied several voices around him. An immediate rush took place towards the tent, and several shots wrere fired in quick succession. The details of this massacre may be easily imagined. The three canoe-men, were killed on the beach. Finlay, although wounded, attempted to escape by plunging in the wrater, and for a time evaded the shots fired at him. But he too, was fa-ted to die. Ail the bodies were then scalped, and the tent plundered.
Of’ this scene Kewanacquot, with twenty of his followers, remained a silent spectator, sitting in his canoe—a leader without decision, and without authority. At last he said to the murderers.—“ Why do you so ! Had they not given us tobacco and vermiliion ? ” Fear immediately fell upon the whole party. They cut their canoes, turned them adrift, and proceeded home by land.
About this time the slumbering war between the Chip-pewas and Sioux, broke out with fresh vigor, on the borders west of the Mississippi. A strong party of Cliip-pewas were treacherously fired upon, while peaceably encamped under the walls of Fort Snelling, and under the protection of its flag. Four persons were killed and eight wounded. The assailants then fled. But they were demanded by the proper authorities, and an equal number of Sioux given up, to satisfy the justice of Indian law.— These men were accepted by the Chippewas, by whom they were shot down as they walked, without apprizing them of their fate. It was hoped the affair would here drop. But there is no point at which the Indian law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of one of the parties.
The following year a small party of Chippewas were seized at Lac Qui Parle, while returning from a visit to the post of St. Peters, and six persons put to death. Reparation was demanded for the injury; but the messengers were treacherously killed. The Chippewas prepared to avenge the loss, and sent out a numerous war party, who however returned without finding the enemy.
Meantime the Yanktons, who had been the authors of these atrocities, had become desirous of peace, and sentmessengers to open a ntfgociation. It was unfortunate for these messengers that they arrived in the Chippewa camp, in the midst of preparations to renew their expedition. They were detained, and after a deliberation of the Chiefs, were put to death. A second Sioux deputation shared the same fate. The numbers killed on each side were now nearly equal. But the state of angry feeling had been inflamed to the highest pitch. Both parties prepared for active war. They encountered on the waters of the river De Corbeau. The Sioux were descending, the Chippewas ascending, one of the southern branches of that stream. As the Sioux approached the pass of the Narrow Meadows, they were discovered by the Chippewa scouts. The latter immediately gave notice to the Chippewa warriors, who concealed themselves in the grass along the margin, and at a considerable elevation above the stream. When the Sioux had entered the defile in their canoes, they were suddenly assailed with a most destructive and deadly fire. A scene of panic and horror ensued. But a single Sioux is reported to have escaped, to carry the news of this disaster.— The Chippewas returned with a hundred and two scalps, having themselves lost but seven men. They were headed by Cheanacquot and the Gueule Plat. These transactions embrace a period of five years.
Time will not permit me to add further details of a war, as hopeless in its termination, as it is inglorious in its results. Of the general state of the contest, it may be observed, that the advantage has generally been with the Chippewas, whenever the parties have encountered each other in the woods. The reverse has happened in contests in the prairies:—the peculiar skill and expertness of local habit, producing these differences. TheChippewas appear to have been first led into the Mississippi Valley, in pursuit of the larger animals, whose flesh is used as food. They are undoubtedly conquerors of the territory they possess in that quarter. But the conquests must have been made at an early day, as they appear to have been terminated prior to the arrival of the French. The border population on both sides has long been stationary. Whatever advantages the northern bands have possessed, as being better woodsmen, and perhaps earlier habituated to the use of the fusil, the density of the Sioux population has proved a counterpoise. The struggle would long have remained doubtful, had not the Sioux found a new, and most formidable enemy on their southern border, in the modern confederacy of the Sacs, Foxes and lowas.
These numerically small bands, after having been nearly annihilated in previous wars, appear to have been resuscitated in the genial plains of the Mississippi. By acting in close union, and adopting the use of the rifle; keeping a public magazine of powder ; and making their inroads on horseback—for which the nature of the country is favorable, they have within a short period, wrested from the Sioux a large extent of territory. And they bid fair, in martial exploits, to become the Iroquois of the Mississippi. Hemmed in between these tribes on the south, the Chippewas on the north, and with no powerful allies on the line of the Missouri to flee to, the Sioux bands are in danger of being still further curtailed of their territory. The natural effect must be, a diminution of the supply of animal food, and a declension of numbers.
But not they only,—our entire Indian population appears fated to decline:—Not so much, it is apprehended, from the want of external sympathy, as from their fallingunder the operation of a general principle, which'spares neither white nor red man, but inevitably dooms all, who will not labor, to suffering and want. Accustomed to live on game, they cannot resolutely make up their minds to turn agriculturalists, or shepherds, or mechanics.— They have outlived the true hunter state of the country, yet adhere, with a fatal pertinacity, to the maxims of a wandering life. They pursue their intestine feuds with as determined a rancor, as if they still had ample stores of animal food, and unbounded ranges of territory to flee to. They oannot be persuaded that there is any better mode of living than that pursued by their forefathers; or any species of freedom superior to the state of savage independence. This is the whole mystery of their decline; however, other secondary causes may have hastened, and may still continue to accelerate it.
They have been taught, from early life, that tilling the earth is dishonorable. That war is the true path of glory. That happiness consists in sensual enjoyments.— That forecast is distrust of providence. The acquisition of property degrading, and generosity the test of greatness. But their generosity often degenerates into extravagance, and their trust in providence into an excuse for indolence. Their aversion to labor, is often to be traced to the fear of ridicule. Their contempt of wealth, to the * for popularity. The desire of personal distinction is frequently indulged at the expense of private rights, and of national faith. Bravery is often another term for assassination. And riot a milder word for homicide.
These remarks may appear severe, but they are not intended to be so. They are conceived to be just, and we may appeal for their truth to every person of observation who has been long and intimately acquainted withour Indian tribes. No one can be insensible to the lier-oic traits of the Indian character.—To his open hospitality—his constancy in professed friendships—his filial piety—his resignation under suffering—his valor in battle, and his triumph at the stake. No nation, perhaps, ever felt a stronger love of country, or cherished a deeper veneration for their dead. And they linger around the places of their sepulture, as if conscious that the period of separation was limited, and the soul itself immortal.
There is a charm cast over the hunter's life, which it is easier to appreciate than describe. There is something noble in the situation and circumstances of the Indian, who, confident in his own skill, is buoyed up in his frail canoe, or trusting to his own prowess, plunges into the deepest forests, reckless alike of want and danger— roving at will, without the ties of property to embarrass, or the obligat ion of laws to restrain him. But it is the charm of poetry, and not of real life. It is sweet to the contemplation, but bitter to the taste. The pleasure arises from associations, which few will stop to analyse, but every heart can feel. It is a pleasure which will remain, and be cherished as a species of intellectual talisman, long after the people, who are the sources of it, shall have submitted to their probable fate.
To withhold them from that fate, is an object of high and disinterested attainment,—difficult to be accomplished, if we may judge from the results of all experience.— But it is a labor in which we cannot err on the side of clemency and magnanimity. In which treasure may be lost, but reputation must be acquired. Our character as a social and intellectual people, has often been judged, and we may say, prejudged, by our treatment of the Indians. Their condition has been referred to, in termscoupled with charges of delinquency in the great duties which a civilized owes to an uncivilized people. Remiss we may have been in some things; and in others, fallen short of the jealous expectations of philanthropy and religion. It was difficult, in every exigency, to reconcile the duties of self preservation, with simultaneous efforts of improvement. But the difficulties were no sooner removed, than the efforts were renewed. And there is no period of # our history, as a separate nation, in which their welfare and preservation has not entered largely into our internal policy. But in order to perceive how inadequate either the giving or w ithholding of extraneous aid has been, to produce some of the principal evils of their present condition, it is only necessary to advert to a few general facts.
In adjusting the ratio of population to the means of subsistence, it has been estimated that eight acres of ground will support an agriculturalist. But it may be doubted whether the range of 8,000 acres w ill support a hunter. Assuming this quantity, however, to be adequate, it would require a territory equal in extent to the state of Illinois, to subsist a tribe of 5,000 souls. And it may be doubted whether the whole area of North America, east of the Mississippi, was adequate, considered as the separate hunting ground, of the various tribes, to subsist the estimated Indian population at the era of the discovery.— However this may be, there can be little doubt that the native population was over-rated at that era. And it has been over-rated at every subsequent period. No one, who is conversant with the facts, but knows that it is over-rated now. It had reached its maximum before the settlement of Jamestown, or Plymouth; and it has declined under every varying aspect, since. But in a ratio
6so fluctuating and irregular, as to admit of no comparison with the rise or fall of any other people.
The use of European luxuries, and the contention of European armies, with whom they have usually allied themselves, have doubtless very injuriously affected particular tribes. But their general declension may be sought in causes more constant in their operation, or more widely spread and destructive in their effects.— Disease has swept away more than the sword or the # bottle. Ignorance of the rationale of medical treatment has exasperated their simplest maladies. Internal dis-sentions ; scanty and unwholesome food ; the effects of alternate abstinence and repletion ; violent transitions from heat to cold—from intense and sudden exertion, to listless indolence; contempt of regimen; a reliance on mystical medicines and superstitious rites, have alternately acted as cause and effect in reducing their numbers, and exasperating their condition. If we look closer to the constitution of the Indian mind, and their domestic habits,—to their proverbial indolence and improvidence ; their blind devotion to a dark and wild belief in sorcery and magic, and the paralysing effects of' the doctrine of fatalism, we shall see other causes of their abasement. And many of these causes are totally independent of the proximity of a white population.
But it is not to be concealed, that there exist causes of depression, which date their origin with our institutions. Nor to be denied that they present strong claims, both on our justice and our sympathy. The whole body of the Indian nations, east of the Mississippi, present themselves in the attitude of dependent tribes—looking up to us for measures, and sentiments and feelings becoming a prosperous and high minded people. No research isnecessary to inform us that they were once numerous, and are now feeble. That they once occupied a vast territory, which is now ours. That they were once rulers, where they are now subjects. Enough is before us to mark the great stages of their political mutations, and to show, by an appeal to the past, what may be anticipated for the future. All will be ready to concede, that their prospective fortune is gloomy. Not, because it does not promise to reinstate them in political power— for the sooner that was destroyed, the better for their own sakes—but because, after the experience and exertions of two centuries, there is, in reality, so little ground to hope for their speedy conversion and civilization ; because they have evinced, and continue to evince, so little aptitude for the useful arts, and are so slow in perceiving, and acknowledging, the superiority of the agricultural over the hunter state. Because they cling with such obstinacy to those habits and opinions, rites and maxims which constitute the strong features of the Indian character.
They neither desire our knowledge, nor our religion. They are not in a situation to appreciate our customs or institutions. They distrust our power, decry our refinements, and condemn our laborious industry. All the motives that can operate on unenlightened minds—pride of character, the hope of fame, the fear of evil, tend powerfully to oppose civilization and Christianity. The Jew is not more wedded to his peculiarities, nor the Musselman to his slothful habits, and erroneous faith.
We have no desire, however, by dwelling on the difficulties inherent in the task, to discourage renewed efforts. Far less, to cast them off from our sympathies. As a people, we still owe them a great moral debt, which be-gins to press more and more upon us, and will press heavier and heavier upon our children. This debt it was not for our ancestors, who incurred it, to cancel. They had other, and paramount duties to perform. Driven from the intolerance of the old world, they threw themselves upon the untried dangers of the new. They did first what was of most imperious necessity. And they left to us, to accomplish the unfinished labors and acquisitions of a new people. They left us to extend the benefits of moral and religious instructions, till they should embrace the remotest territory, and the humblest inhabitant. To aspire high in political wisdom, mechanical ingenuity, and nautical achievement. To excel in the exact and natural sciences, and to form and fashion a vernacular literature. Last, not least, in the bequest of national duties, they left us the native tribes to provide for; to strive by timely aids to smooth their passage through this life, and to prepare their minds for the realities of another. Let us fulfil the expectations of justice and humanity. But let us fulfil them with the understanding, as well as with the heart; neither leaving this people to struggle unaided against the evils of their situation, nor running the hazard, by attempting violent and sudden changes in their society and institutions, of plunging them still deeper in misfortunes. A noble, but persecuted race, are sending up their appeal. They have drank freely of the bitter cup of affliction. They are every year becoming fewer in numbers; more impoverished in means ; more degraded in character. Let us allay the malady, we cannot cure. Let us forgive the errors we cannot approve. Let us not despair of accomplishing, what man can accomplish, nor doubt in those things which are the province of God.