GRADUAL EXTINCTION OF THE INDIAN TRIBES IN THE EASTERN STATES, &c.
We have already recognised the fact--that the aboriginal tribes of
North America have been compelled to retire before the encroachments
of the European occupants of their ancient territories. The district
of New England, comprehending all that part of the American Union,
which lies east of Hudson river, except a narrow strip of territory,
falling within the state of New York, was originally found tenanted
by these tribes. But where are they now? They were once numerous
and formidable--they were even rivals in political importance,
and in war. A few scores of the Mohecans, are yet to be found in
Montville, Connecticut; and are seen wasting away, and will probably
soon disappear, like many other tribes of New England, whose names
are almost forgotten. The Narragansetts, of Rhode Island, and some
relics of the Peguods, once the terror and scourge of the colonists
under their politic and famed chieftains, Sassacus and Philip,[8] are
lingering out an expiring existence. Some little and insulated hordes
are yet found in the State of Maine. Besides these, there are a few
other remnants, scattered here and there, but scarcely known.--In all
now remaining in New England, there are only--2,573! Alas! they have
had their day--they had their importance--they were a proud race,
and believed themselves the best. But where are they now? The high
Providence of heaven will justify himself--but will he not also require
their blood at the hands of their extirpators? Could they not have been
saved? Undoubtedly they could.
The State of New York, which it should be recollected lies immediately
on the west and south borders of New England, still retains in its
bosom some important relics of these ancient tribes: a few at Montauk
Point, on the east end of Long Island;--some considerable bodies in
the heart of the State, near Utica;--some on the line of Genessee
River;--the Tonewantas, in Genessee County;--the Tuscaroras, at
Lewiston, near Niagara;--and the Senecas, a part of whom are near
Buffalo, and others farther up the Lake;--in all throughout the
State:--5,184! As I shall have occasion to notice the numerous tribes
in other States, and in the Western Territories, in another place, I
purposely overlook them here, for the sake of coming more directly to
the field, which is destined to occupy the remainder of this volume.
The Indian tribes of New York, like those of other States, retain what
are called “_Reservations_” of territory, under an assumed guardianship
of the commonwealth. These “Reservations” consist of certain lands,
which have been found in the actual possession of the Indians, in
their last retreats before the incursions of the white man. In the
progress of the white settlements, as they have gradually encircled
these tribes, it has been found necessary to make surveys and fix the
exact boundaries, beyond which the citizens of the State should have
no right to trespass--leaving the Indians in possession of territories
and privileges, defined by special statutes. So far the parental
guardianship of the State over the Indians, has been kind. But it
has also happened, in the progress of events, and by the indomitable
cupidity of land-jobbers, anticipating the final and thorough ejectment
of the Indians, that the _pre-emption right_ of their territories,
under a general supervision of the State, and in consideration of which
the State has realized a certain _bonus_, has fallen into the hands
of corporate companies--as before recognised--which necessarily and
for ever excludes the Indians from a fair and open market of their
lands. No private citizens can negotiate for their territories, as
citizens negotiate with one another. It has moreover happened, that the
Indians, being good judges of land, have always been found upon the
best;--and consequently, that their reservations are most covetable.
Hence, from the cupidity of these pre-emption companies, no pains
have been spared to multiply the causes, and hasten the occasions of
their removal. Inconveniences, restrictions, and annoyances, naturally
resulting from their insulated condition, and aggravated by the
devices of these interested corporations, have been made to bear upon
the tribes so habitually, and so severely, that they have long since
began to feel strong inducements to remove into regions, where they
might be exempt from these vexatious molestations; and where they
might enjoy privileges more congenial to their tempers and habits.
The attachments of the aboriginal Americans to the graves of their
fathers is proverbial. “But a perpetual dropping weareth a stone.” It
was impossible, that even this strong and undying passion, an innate
principle, a religious virtue in man, should not ultimately yield to
the almost innumerable and the aggravated discomforts of life, of which
they have found themselves the subjects in the State of New York, by
the causes already adduced. The time had not come, when they could
amalgamate with the citizens. The law allowed them no common rights of
citizenship. They are to this moment a proscribed race--liable indeed
to the force of special statute, if they offend;--but for ever barred
from the protection of common law, and excluded from the common rights
of the community. Their certain doom, therefore, in remaining on their
ancient territories, thus surrounded and thus proscribed, must be a
final and inevitable extinction of their tribes.
In these unpleasant and hopeless circumstances, the Rev. Dr. Morse,
known to the world, not only as a most respectable and useful divine
of New England, and as a compiler of Universal Geography, in American
Literature--but more recently and still more publicly known, as the
author of a Report to the American Congress, on the condition and
statistics of the Aborigines; having been commissioned by that body
to travel and collect information on this subject--and returning from
his researches in the North-West Territory in 1820, suggested, in the
benevolence of his heart, to the chiefs and most influential men
of the New York Indians--whose removal at that time both policy and
benevolence seemed to recommend--that the territory above mentioned
would be a suitable retreat for the Indians of that State; and
recommended to them to open negotiations with the general Government
for that purpose. “_That_,” said the Rev. Doctor, “is in all respects
a country to be desired by Indians. It is a mild climate--the land is
good, the forests full of game, and the lakes and rivers abounding
with fish. The region itself is not only remote from the territories
claimed by the individual States; but it is in the exclusive occupancy
of Indian tribes, and destined in the plan of the national government
for that purpose. Besides, it is vast, and not only sufficient for the
tribes already there, but more than sufficient for all your purposes
and theirs. There you need not fear the encroachments of the white
man. Go--and look. Hold a council-fire with the wild nations, which
now occupy the territory. Tell them, you are their brothers, come
from the rising sun--and that you want a place among them; and when
they shall have agreed to receive you in peace, the government of the
United States will for ever guarantee to yourselves and your children
such possessions, as your brethren there may agree to award for your
inheritance. You will never again be disturbed. The white man will
never go there. He will never desire those lands. They are too far
off. And besides, there is a natural boundary, the great Lakes, to
defend you for ever from such incursions. Sell your lands here--take
what is necessary of the money to satisfy the native tribes of those
regions, for giving you a home, and put the rest in the hands of your
great Father, at the city of Washington, who will keep it safely for
your use. Here you can no longer live in comfort. Go yonder, and
prosper. The Government wish you to go there. As you have long been in
friendship with the President of the United States, and as you have
acquired much of the manners and arts of civilized life, your father,
the president, knows, that you will help him keep the peace with those
wild nations; and that you will there be a benefit to him, and he can
be a benefit to you. He will protect and defend you, and secure you
for ever in all your rights;--and you may be the means of raising
those nations, along with your own progressive improvement, under the
fostering hand of the President, to civilization and happiness.”[9]
The Reverend Doctor was sincere in his advice--he was honest--he gave
it out of the benevolence and fulness of his kind heart. He did not
even imagine, that in less than _ten_ years, even after these solemn
stipulations should have been consummated, and the parties entered upon
the possession of their inheritance, a plan would be laid to erect that
very territory into a member of the Federal Union, and to eject these
emigrant Indians, together with the ancient and native tribes, into
other and unknown regions!
Animated by these reports and representations from so venerable
and worthy a man, the authorities of the New York tribes opened
a correspondence with the official organs of the Government at
Washington; and Mr. Monroe, President of the United States, ordered the
proper authorities to execute letters of approbation, and to afford all
needful facilities to the chiefs of the Indians of the State of New
York:--first--in accomplishing a visit of inspection to the North-West
Territory, and in holding a friendly council with the tribes of those
regions, to open their designs, and to confer mutually on the great
purpose;--and next, if they should succeed in negotiating with the
native tribes, to supervise and facilitate the arrangements, so that
nothing on the part of Government should be wanting in the attainment
of their object.
It is proper here to observe, that the government of the United States
have ever been accustomed to recognise in principle and in form the
right of the Indian tribes over the territories, of which they are
found in actual possession and use. But as the Government asserts a
general jurisdiction within all the boundaries settled between itself
and other civilized powers, it claims a supervision in all negotiations
of territory between the Indian tribes themselves, and requires its own
approbation and seal to ratify them. The Government also disallows of
all negotiations of lands directly from Indians to private citizens,
and asserts the pre-emption right. These rules are alike applicable to
the claims of the general Government, in relation to Indian territories
_without_ the bounds of the several States, and to the claims of
the individual States, in relation to Indian territories _within_
their bounds;--except in such cases, where the supervision of Indian
territories within the States, still vests in the general Government by
the force of original right and unaltered covenants.
In 1821 and 1822 successively, delegations of the New York tribes,
composed of the Rev. Mr. Williams and other chiefs, visited the
North-West Territory, and succeeded to their satisfaction in
negotiating with the native tribes, under the full authority and
approbation of the President of the United States--accompanied by
an agent of government to supervise the transactions. The New York
tribes entered into solemn treaties with the tribes of the North-West,
purchased of them specific territories for specific and valuable
considerations; and laid the foundation, as was hoped, for a general
and speedy removal of all the Indians of New York into that territory.
The President of the United States became a party to the engagements,
and ratified all the transactions, and duly certified copies were
deposited in the proper office at Washington, and left in the hands
of the parties. And it was officially and distinctly stated, as the
purpose of Government, and a pledge to that effect given--that white
men should be excluded from that territory. This pledge was given, as
a motive to induce the New York Indians to emigrate--inasmuch as the
Government had an interest in settling them there, that their good
example might have a happy influence on the native and more untutored
Indians. There were also political reasons for getting them out of the
State of New York--reasons, operating between the State and national
Governments--and reasons, such as the pre-emption companies, in the
way of influence, were able to wield.
The Stockbridge tribe sold their lands, and removed almost immediately.
The Oneidas, with Mr. Williams at their head, did the same. The
Brothertons began to make their arrangements to follow. And all proper
inducements were gradually operating on the minds of the other tribes,
who had not at first taken so deep an interest in the enterprise, and
who were more reluctant to engage in it. They were not so immediately
under the influence of Mr. Williams, who had been the main-spring of
the movement, and whose enlarged mind and foresight had thoroughly
comprehended all the disadvantages of their condition, and the destiny
to which they must be doomed in the State of New York. But under the
auspices of these arrangements, their prospects were now brightened.
A new and interesting field of Indian society and of Indian empire,
remote from the encroachments and defended against the incursions of
the white man, and under all the improvements of civilization and
the advantages of Christianity, opened before them. The government
of the United States was pledged to maintain the engagements between
the tribes themselves, to defend their rights against the cupidity of
citizens from the States, and to lend all convenient aid in promoting
their general improvement. It was indeed an interesting and a hopeful
vision. The day of their redemption seemed nigh at hand. A wide and
beautiful country, well suited to the nature and habits of the Indian,
far off beyond the inland seas, skirted on the east by the long and
wide bosom of Michigan, a good natural boundary between the Indian
and the white man; promised for ever by the faith, and for ever to
be defended by the arm, of a great nation, as the home and sanctuary
of the hitherto abused and persecuted children of the forest; their
great father, the President of this nation, engaging to keep the peace
among themselves, if any of them should quarrel, as their fathers in
their wild condition had been accustomed;--promising to send them
implements of agriculture and of all the useful arts of civilization,
and teachers of their children, and ministers of the religion of the
white man, to point them the way to the white man’s heaven;--and
promising to watch with parental tenderness over all their interests,
political and social, and to raise them as high in character and in
happiness, as their white brothers, who sit under the protection
and enjoy the privileges of the same good Government. Such were the
promises, and such the prospects held out to the chiefs and tribes
of the New York Indians, a little more than ten years ago, when they
consented to resign the home of their fathers, and began to remove into
the territories of the North-West. They had already began to plant
their villages and raise their cabins on the beautiful banks of the
Fox River;--they had formed interesting and friendly alliances with
the wilder and untutored tribes of their newly adopted country;--all
were agreed and resolved to cultivate the arts and manners of
civilization;--their confidence of future repose and exemption from
the incursions of white men was unbroken;--and all their prospects
were bright, as the sun which made their corn to grow, and refreshing
as the showers which softened the rich soil, in which it was planted.
The aged chief, smiling out of his care-worn and anxious countenance,
blessed his tribe for their goodly inheritance, and touched the harp of
joyous prophecy over the hopeful future, and dying, said--“Now is my
soul satisfied.” The father told his children--“Now we have a home--we
shall not again be driven away.” The mother smiled more sweetly on her
infant--and the stripling in sympathy caught the feeling of general
satisfaction, and went more joyously to his sports.
_But_--where is the faith, that can bind the selfishness, or restrain
the reckless and unprincipled enterprise of man? A Government may give
their pledges in all honesty, and their own citizens may undermine the
sacred foundations, and violently dissolve the ties--or another king
may arise in the land, that shall have forgotten Joseph.
It is difficult for any, who know not how by actual observation, to
appreciate the rapidity, with which the western territories of the
United States have been entered and possessed by emigrants from the
East. It is not twenty years, since the great value and importance of
the peninsula of Michigan, lying between the sea of the same name on
the west and Huron on the east, was generally unknown. And if we have
been rightfully informed, a Committee of Congress, in less than that
time since, having been appointed for the express purpose of inquiring
into the value of that territory, and taking their evidence on common
rumour, reported, that it was not worth giving away;--and that it
would be an imposition and a cruelty, to bestow upon the disbanded
soldiers of the army, as was proposed, a bounty of lands in such a
worthless tract. And yet at this moment, that very peninsula is crowded
with a population sufficient to claim admission, as a separate and
independent member of the Federal Union;--and is destined doubtless
soon to make one of the most flourishing of the United States.
The _North-West Territory_, consecrated, as already recognised, to be
the home of the Indian, the sanctuary of his rights, and the place of
experiment for Indian society and Indian empire, is but one step beyond
the territory of Michigan. And that same spirit of enterprise, which
found out the latter to be a desirable country, has also discovered the
former to be such.
As I cannot imagine, that those, who have taken the lead, in disturbing
the condition and blighting the prospect of the Indians at Green
Bay, could be ignorant of the understanding that existed, or of the
arrangements, that had been made, with the general Government--I shall
take the liberty of supposing, that their reasonings and purposes were
substantially as follows:--
“What right had the President of the United States to award this
country to the Indians--and thus shut up the door to this desirable and
beautiful region against the enterprise of our citizens? Is this wide
and rich territory, which in twenty years might make one of the first
of these Confederate Republics, to be doomed to the possession of
those indolent savages, who will never use it for the proper purposes
of human society? There is no reason in it. God designed, that the
earth should be cultivated, and that man should make the most of it;
and those, who will not use it, as was intended by the Creator, must
give place to those, who have more virtue. And besides, there is no
difficulty in managing these Indians. They are a simple and credulous
people. We can sow dissensions among them. We can make the wild tribes
quarrel with their adopted neighbours; and bring them all together
before their great father--(as they call him)--the President--and make
at least one party say: ‘We are dissatisfied. We wish the agreement
to be broken up. We do not like our brothers from New York. And we
wish our great father to send them back again.’ And moreover, there
have been some improprieties and informalities, committed in their
engagements, which may be impeached, and render them null and void. We
can show, that the New York Indians have been guilty of overreaching,
in their bargain with the natives, and have acquired more land, than
the value of the considerations rendered. The transactions will not
bear investigation. We can use this, first, to awaken jealousy and
irreconcileable feeling in the one party;--and next, to disturb and
invalidate the rights of the other. And having once reduced the
quantity of land, claimed by the New York Indians to a small patch,
such as they had before they removed, by threatening them with the
loss of the whole;--and having brought our own settlements around them
and hemmed them in--they will be reduced to their former necessity of
removing again for existence. And as for these wild tribes, there will
be no difficulty in getting rid of them. We can at any time persuade
them for a trifle to sign a _quit claim_ to their territories.”
I have here summed up, in a few words, what I suppose to have been
the _substance_ of the reasons, which have operated to blast the
prospects of the associated Indian tribes of the North-West Territory,
within the last ten years; and which have opened and destined that
region of country shortly to make _another_ of the Independent States
of the American Union. I do not pretend to say, that any number of
particular individuals can be named who have all the responsibility
of this procedure. Who can find the conscience, that shall be held
answerable for a deed, which has been done by so many hands? And yet
it has been done--and the responsibility must attach somewhere; and
there are many conspicuous individuals, who have had a large share in
it. Heaven forefend, that the whole community of the United States
should be held answerable for this! The entire plan, comprehended in
the supposititious argument of the last paragraph, has been actually
executed;--that is, so far as time and circumstance would allow. And
the rest may easily be anticipated. The New York Indians and the
native tribes have been brought to quarrel with each other, through
the influence of persons interested in the removal of both;--their
covenants have been impeached, and set aside, as unworthy of respect;
the pending controversy has been embarrassed in every possible
form;--it has gone up to the city of Washington, again and again, and
received judgments from _ex parte_ testimony;--advantage has been
taken of the ignorance of one president in respect of the doings of
his predecessor, and false informations carried to his ear and made to
influence his decisions;--Commissions of investigation, and clothed
with authority to institute new and final arrangements, have been sent
upon the ground, which have disregarded and trampled upon the rights
of the Indians,--and their reports and recommendations have been
respected. And now another president, and a new administration have
come to power, whose avowed policy is to remove _all_ the Indian tribes
west of the Mississippi; and who are using all possible endeavours
to accomplish it. And it was under this administration, that the
Commissioners from the general Government, on board the _Sheldon
Thomson_, in August 1830, as before mentioned, were on their way
with instructions to investigate and with authority to settle these
controversies;--in other words--to get rid of the Indians, and to
satisfy those, who wanted their lands. I do not mean by this to impeach
the Commissioners _personally_, as having such a design. But such was
the nature of their instructions, that whatever they should do in
obedience to them, must tend to that result. Indeed the whole matter
had been previously settled on the premises, by other Commissions,
and got into such a condition and such shapes, and so much regard was
paid to the final object--that the Commission of 1830 was rather a
mere pretence and mockery, than any thing else. It was keeping up the
show of justice, while no justice was intended by those, who moved the
wires behind the scenes. Indeed, it was then too late to do justice.
The purpose had already been resolved, and the wound inflicted for
a plural number of years; and it was now well understood, that the
North-West Territory must become a separate and organized Government,
and a candidate for admission into the Union. It is not, therefore,
on account of the importance and eventfulness of the doings of this
Commission, in themselves considered, that I have chosen to notice
the scene of their labours;--but inasmuch as it presents a very fit
occasion for a general developement of this species of injustice done
to the American Aborigines, and is equally good for that purpose, as
any other;--and inasmuch as it offers a rare exhibition of Indian
character, cultivated and uncultivated, and discloses their habits,
manners, sympathies, and hopes, in ways and under modifications,
uncommonly lively and picturesque;--and more especially because I
happened to be an eye-witness of the events;--I have selected it, as
worthy of minute and circumstantial detail.[10]
I quote this article merely to show, that a plan like Dr. Morse’s had,
at so early a period, entered into the views of the Government.
“Should the expectation raised,” says the Doctor, “in regard to this
project be realized in a good degree, I should think this the place
(the North-West Territory) for the ultimate establishment of the Indian
College, which, in time, might be provided with Indian officers and
instructors, as well as students, and have their own trustees to manage
its concerns. And if our brethren in Canada shall be disposed to unite
with us in this grand and desirable object, and make the institution
common for the benefit of the Indians on both sides of the line, which
separates us, as one College might be sufficient for both--large funds,
I am informed by a letter received while I am writing this article,
exist in England, designed expressly for an object of this kind.[12]
“Should it be thought expedient, and be found practicable, to collect
the remnants of tribes now scattered and languishing and wasting away
among our white population, and to colonize them for the purpose
of preserving them from extinction, and of educating them to the
best advantage, and with the greater economy--some portions of this
territory (the North-West) will, I think, unquestionably be found
better suited to these objects, than any other in our country--_and as
such I deliberately recommend them to the attention of Government_.”
“This,” says Mr. Sargeant, a missionary among those Indians, “was a
plan of Dr. Morse’s.--(Their removal from the State of New York to
the North-West Territory.) We understand the general Government are
pleased, and have confirmed the title. Means will now be used to obtain
a law of Congress to exclude _spirituous liquors and white heathen_
from Green Bay.”
CHAP. XV.
THE DESIGN OF THE COMMISSION OF 1830 TO GREEN BAY, &c.
As Green Bay is to constitute an important scene of our observations,
it may be proper to remark, that the name designates the settlement
at the mouth of Fox River, at the head of the large bay, bearing
this name, and connected with Lake Michigan. It is also generally
understood, as comprehending an indefinite amount of territory in
that region. It constitutes the port, or opening from the east to the
north-west in that direction.
The two great sections of territory falling under the jurisdiction
of the United States, known by the names of _Michigan_ and the
_North-West_, and which for many years have been comprehended under one
Territorial Government, of which Detroit is the seat, have gradually
assumed no inconsiderable political importance, actual and prospective,
in the American Union; and since it has been foreseen and resolved,
that each of them will make a conspicuous and important member of the
General Union, they have respectively claimed and realized their share
of influence at the City of Washington. In the management of those
territories, it has been a matter of necessity, in the first place,
that the Government should act upon the representations of their
commissioned agents in that quarter;--and next, those agents have been
compelled to yield to the influence of the interested individuals,
who have been tempted to lay the foundations of their future wealth
and importance in those distant regions. Notwithstanding, that
President Monroe had pledged Green Bay, as the home and sanctuary of
the Indians, which was not only the key of the North-West Territory,
but comprehended all its importance;--yet it was well known, that an
Act of Congress was necessary to secure that object. In the meantime
the Government has gone into other hands, and become wiser--at least
has blindly acted in obedience to the suggestions of the interest of
individuals. Men from the North-West have instructed the Government
how to instruct their agents, in the management of these Indian
affairs. It was hardly possible that men, sitting in their offices
at Washington, should understand the merits of these Indian claims;
especially if they did not take the trouble to look into the file of
public documents, which recorded and sealed them. As every government
has its numerous ramifications and distant props of dependency, they
might be more interested in gratifying citizens in that quarter,
than maintaining the rights of Indians, who are not citizens. And
besides, the Indians, simple and confiding in their nature, rested in
confidence on the public compacts, which had been executed in their
favour; while the citizens around them were alert and assiduous in
accomplishing their objects. The Indians never imagined, that there
was any thing lame, or informal, or improper in the instruments, on
which they relied, until they found themselves undermined by a train of
interested and political manœuvering. And by this time, it is vain to
sue for the redemption of the pledge of President Monroe, who is not
only out of power, but out of the world;--and which, it is asserted,
was only the pledge of an individual, that he had no warrant to give.
The North-West Territory must be a _State_, and these Indians, who had
possessed themselves, as they supposed, and as all concerned supposed
at the time, in a regular and rightful course, of the key and heart of
the country, must be got out of the way.
To consummate this object, the previous steps of which had been before
arranged, the Commission of 1830 was sent to Green Bay. It is due,
however, to the members of that Commission to say:--that their conduct
on the occasion sufficiently proved, that they had never understood
the real nature of the errand, before they entered upon it;--and that
they never manifested personally, or as a court, any willingness to
do injustice to the Indians. They found, indeed, on their arrival,
that they had got an unpleasant business upon their hands--a business
involved, and complicated, and embarrassed, beyond the possibility of
disentanglement--and yet claiming their efforts to try to do something.
They were not only embarrassed by the case itself, even if they had
been invested with a full and unlimited discretion; but they were
greatly embarrassed by their instructions, the forms and scope of
which had evidently received their shape in accordance with the plan
of an ultimate ejectment of the Indians. Nor is it to be inferred,
that the Government, _as such_, was privy to such a design. We do not
believe it was so, in moral intent. We cannot think it capable. It was
sufficiently apparent, that during the whole course of John Quincy
Adams’s administration, the Government at Washington did not understand
the case. But things in relation to this affair, were permitted to go
on, as recommended by the government agents in that quarter. And it was
hardly possible to do otherwise, so long as the Indians did not know
how to manage their own case, and were incapable of prosecuting it, so
as to thwart the purposes of their adversaries; or else were uninformed
of what was doing. Neither is it to be supposed, that the present
administration, notwithstanding their general policy is unfavourable
to Indian rights, understood the merits of this question. It was too
complicated, and too far beyond the field of their observation, to
make it possible. They had other, and to them more important concerns,
to occupy them. The instructions had evidently been dictated and
drawn up by a hand, which had previously had something to do with the
matter; and which was capable and disposed to give them a shape to
suit the purposes of those who are opposed to the Indians’ claims.
Nor was there any thing on the face of the instructions, calculated
to startle the moral sense of those unacquainted with the history of
the previous transactions. They even had the appearance of kindness,
and of impartiality. The Government of the United States, therefore,
may and ought to be acquitted of knowingly consenting to this injury,
even down to the time of the Commission of 1830. That they have not
had _opportunity_ since that time to know, can hardly be said--as
will appear in the sequel. We do not say, they were released from all
responsibility. That could not be. But it cannot be supposed, that they
would ever consent to such flagrant injustice, with their eyes upon it.
Such things are never done openly. It is easy to conceive, and there
is no doubt, that the faith pledged by President Monroe to the New
York Indians, when they agreed to remove to Green Bay, was carefully
kept out of sight, in the correspondence between the subsequent
administrations and their agents in the North-West; and that the public
documents, attesting it, were suffered to lie undisturbed upon the
files, to which they had been consigned.
The history of the whole affair is briefly this:--
Under the auspices of President Monroe and the Governor of Michigan
in the years 1821-22, the chiefs of the New York tribes entered
into friendly alliances with the tribes of the North-West, and made
purchases of territory, as agreed upon and defined by themselves in
mutual council, for certain valuable considerations, specified in the
articles of covenant, and in due time discharged. The real value and
the propriety of the considerations promised and rendered to bind
the sale and secure the purchase, cannot be estimated by the rules,
which govern a similar contract among the whites;--inasmuch as the
whites have one object and the Indians another in the use of land. The
value of land in the market of the whites is graduated by the probable
proceeds of its future occupation and culture, in their own way of
managing it. The same rule, applied to the habits of Indians, would
of course reduce the value, as represented by money, indefinitely and
very greatly. Indians make little money, and need little; and as it
was never expected, nor designed by the parties, that this land should
come into the market of the white man, the only fair rule of estimating
it in this contract, was its value among Indians. According to this
rule, there is nothing to show, that the New York Indians have not paid
the full value of the lands, which they claim to have purchased. They
satisfied the second party in the stipulation. It was all they asked;
and it was doubtless as much as it was worth, under the prospects,
and according to the policy of the contracting parties. Since the
territory has been _seized_ by the whites, and acquired the accidental
value, present and prospective, which all such property has in their
hands--the price stipulated and rendered by the New York Indians has
been adduced by their adversaries to invalidate the purchase, and prove
it a fraud;--than which nothing could be more unfair.
Besides--as it was an avowed policy of the newly associated tribes to
keep away the white man;--as the letters of Government had specifically
recommended, that the contemplated negotiations should have this
object in view;--and as the New York Indians were better acquainted
with the ways of white men, by having lived among them;--it was judged
expedient, that their deeds of purchase should include a much larger
territory, than what they wanted for themselves, or pretended to pay
for;--and that they should hold this additional quantity of land, not
as their own, but in _trust_ for common occupancy and use, and to
defend it from the whites. The wild tribes were liable to be imposed
upon. The New York Indians, having had a long school of experience, and
having become civilized, were more wary and competent. Nothing could
have been wiser than this arrangement. Those, who know any thing of
Indian character, know also, that the New York Indians were utterly
incapable of the dishonesty, which has been attributed to them in this
affair. Their faith was as sound and as pure, as the faith of angels.
Yet has this very measure, adopted at the suggestion of Government
authority, been employed to dissolve their covenants, and annihilate
their rights. Not only has it been employed, as a presumption of
dishonesty before the world, but, in conjunction with all other
possible and false occasions, it has been assiduously applied to awaken
jealousy, dissatisfaction, and bitter animosity, in the bosoms of
those tribes, who had wisely agreed to this expedient. ‘The New York
Indians have got your lands, and they’ll drive you away’--it was said
to them: ‘Demand a restoration, and we’ll give you a fair price for
what we want, and which is of little value to you--and you will still
have enough left for all your purposes of hunting and fishing. We are
your friends. The New York Indians are your enemies.’ And they were
persuaded; and the sequel is in a rapid progress of fulfilment. The
wild tribes of the North-West Territory will soon be thrown beyond the
Mississippi--and what will become of them there, remains to be proved.
The New York Indians, who had but just resigned their homes in the east
for a secure abode in the west, already reduced to a little patch of
territory, will soon be entirely surrounded and hemmed in, and vexed
and annoyed, as they were before they removed. And what will they do
then? Prophecy itself cannot divine--except, that their prospects are
by no means enviable.
And why, it is asked, does not Government prevent this? I have already
supposed, what I believe to be the fact: that Government has never yet
seen it in its true light. All governments of weighty cares are slow
to discern and redress the thousand petty, yet grievous oppressions,
that are done within their jurisdictions. The poor and simple cannot
find ways and means for a hearing; and they are always anticipated
by their oppressors--so that when their cause is admitted, there is
little chance of redress. And has this matter never gone to the ear
of Government? It has been attempted; and I have already intimated,
how uniformly the aggrieved have been foiled. Besides, a new and
general plan of removing all the Indians farther west, is in the way.
It is impossible in the present order of things--and probably in any
supposable order--that this injustice should be arrested. There may
possibly come in enactments of indemnification;--but the question is
decided--that the Indians can never inherit the North-West Territory.
It is too late. It is decreed to rise and stand an independent member
of the Federal Union.