WARS AND THE CAUSES WHICH LEAD TO THEM.
It is a fixed principle with the Indians, that evil cannot come out
of good, that no friend will injure a friend, and, therefore, that
whoever wrongs or does harm to another, is his ENEMY. As it is with
individuals, so it is with nations, tribes, and other independent
associations of men. If they commit murder on another people, encroach
on their lands, by making it a practice to come within their bounds and
take the game from them, if they rob or steal from their hunting camps,
or, in short, are guilty of any act of unjust aggression, they cannot
be considered otherwise than as ENEMIES; they are declared to be such,
and the aggrieved nation think themselves justifiable in punishing
them. If murder has been perpetrated, revenge is taken in the same way.
If a lesser injury has been done, a message is sent to the chief of
the nation to which the wrong-doers belong, to enquire whether the act
complained of was authorised, if not to give them warning not to permit
the like thing to be done again. If theft or some other like offence
has been committed, restitution is at the same time demanded, or such
reparation as the case admits of, and the chiefs are desired to forbid
their “young people” to do so any more, or that they will have to abide
by the consequence.
There are tribes among the Indians, who claim the exclusive right of
hunting within certain bounds, and will not suffer others to intrude
and take _their_ game from them, as they call it; and there have
been instances, when such intruders, being found trespassing after a
fair warning, have had their ears and noses cut off, and have been
sent home to tell their chiefs that the next time they came again,
they should be sent home _without their scalps_. While the Christian
Indians of the Lenape nation were settled for a few years on the
land of the Chippeways beyond Detroit, where they had taken refuge
and were permitted to remain for their safety; though the Chippeways
professed reverence for them, and called them _Grandfather_, yet they
were continually complaining of their killing their game. They had no
objection to their tilling the ground, but every deer, raccoon, or
other animal which they killed or took, was a cause of displeasure to
their hosts; and in consequence of that, they pressed them so often to
remove from their lands, that they at last went off.
When the Indians have determined to take revenge for a murder committed
by another nation, they generally endeavour to make at once a bold
stroke, so as to strike their enemies with terror; for which purpose,
they penetrate into the hostile country as far as they can without
being discovered, and when they have made their stroke, they leave a
war club near the body of the person murdered, and make off as quick
as possible. This war club is purposely left that the enemy may know
to what nation the act is to be ascribed, and that they may not wreak
their vengeance on an innocent tribe. It is meant also to let them know
that unless they take measures to discover and punish the author of the
original aggression, this instrument will be the means of revenging the
injury, or, in other words, war will be forthwith declared against them.
If the supposed enemy is peaceably inclined, he will in such case send
a deputation to the aggrieved nation, with a suitable apology. In
general the chief sends word, that the act complained of was committed
without his knowledge, by some of “his foolish young men;” that it was
altogether unauthorised and unwarranted; that it was highly reprobated
by himself and his council, and that he would be sorry that on that
account a breach should be made between the two nations, but, on the
contrary, wishes for peace; that he is willing to make reparation for
the offence by condoling with the relations of the person slain and
otherwise satisfying them. Such an offer is generally accepted, and in
this manner all differences are adjusted between the parties, and they
are friends again as they were before. But should the offending nation
refuse to apologise and sue for peace, war is then immediately declared
and is carried on with the greatest vigour.