I perceive that your paper has spoken a good word now and then
for the native Indians of Massachusetts. There is no class of
human beings in this State, who have more need of a candid and
humane advocate.
I do not know much about the remnants of a once noble and
hospitable race, and yet I know enough to make me grieve for
them, and ashamed of the State.
For about two hundred years, the laws have prohibited Indians
from selling their lands to whites, within this Commonwealth.
This restriction, designed originally to protect the natives
against fraud, has, upon the whole, had an unfavorable effect
upon their happiness. If they had been at liberty to dispose
of their land and depart with the proceeds, or even without
the proceeds, to seek some new location, they would in all
probability have been happier. Nor have these prohibitory laws
had even the poor effect to protect them from the rapacity
of their white neighbors. These have contrived to clip the
corners of those simple people, and to get hold of their
pleasant and fertile vallies in a very surprising manner,
considering the strictness of the law.
But the great ground of complaint is, that no native Indian,
or descendant, is allowed by us _to be a man, or to make
himself a man_, whatever may be his disposition and capacity.
They are all kept in a state of vassalage, under officers,
appointed sometimes by the Governor, and sometimes by
the Legislature. The spot of his own ground, which he
may cultivate, is annually rented out to the Indian by an
overseer; and provisions are doled out to the tribe according
to the discretion of _"Guardians," "Trustees,"_ &c. Their
accounts are presented to the Governor and Council, who allow,
and the Treasurer of the Commonwealth pays them as a matter of
course. I dare not say whether those accounts are in all cases
correct, or not. If they are, we ought to be thankful to
the honesty of the Trustees, &c. not to the wisdom of the
Legislature in providing checks upon fraud.
But the effect upon the _Indians_ is the great question. This
is decidedly bad. They are treated more like dogs than men. A
state of tutelage, extending from the cradle to the grave; a
state of utter dependence, breaks down every manly attribute,
and makes of human creatures, designed to walk erect, creeping
things.
But there is another very great evil, if I am rightly
informed, which calls loudly for the interposition of the
Legislature. The Marshpee and other Indian communities in
this State, are not included within the jurisdiction of any
incorporated town. The consequence is, that they are without
police, except what the Trustees and other officers appointed
by them, exercise. These officers never live among them;
and the consequence is, that the Indian grounds are so
many _Alsatias_, where the vagrant, the dissipated, and the
felonious do congregate. Nor is this the fault of the native.
It is the fault of their State; which, while it has demolished
Indian customs, has set up no regular administration of
municipal laws in their stead. Thus I am informed, that at
Gayhead, spirituous liquors are retailed without license, and
that _it is considered_ that there is no power which can reach
the abuse. There are many industrious and worthy people among
these natives, who are anxious for improvement, and to promote
the education and improvement of their people, but a degrading
personal dependence on the one hand, and the absence of nearly
all incentives and all power to do good on the other, keeps
them down.
The _paupers_ among these natives, who are at some seasons of
the year a majority or nearly all of them, are supported
by the State, and there must be a great opportunity and
temptation to the agents of the government to wrong these poor
people. The agents always have the ear of the government, or
rather they _are_ the government. The Indians have nobody to
speak for them. They are kept too poor to pay counsel. I think
it is not too much to say that almost any degree of injustice,
short of murder, might be done them without any likelihood of
their obtaining redress.
Why should not this odious, and brutifying system be put
an end to? Why should not the remaining Indians in this
Commonwealth be placed upon the same footing as to rights of
property, as to civil privileges and duties, as other men?
Why should they not _vote_, maintain schools, (they have
volunteered to do this in some instances,) and use as they
please that which is their own? If the contiguous towns
object to having them added to their corporations, let them
be incorporated by themselves; let them choose their officers,
establish a police; maintain fences and take up stray cattle.
I believe the Indians desire such a change. I believe they
have gone as far as they are allowed to introduce it. But they
are fettered and ground to the earth.
I am informed that many of the stoutest _whalers_ are produced
among our small Indian tribes. I am also informed, that they
are defrauded by the whites of a great part of their
wages, which would otherwise amount to large sums. If some
respectable men could be trained up and fostered among these
people, their intelligence and influence would be invaluable
to educate, protect and guide their seafaring brethren. Under
such auspices, they would, after the years of peril, return
and settle down with snug independence, be a blessing to their
brethren, and respectable in the sight of all. Now they are
so knocked about, so cheated, preyed upon and brutalized,
that they think of nothing, and _hope_ nothing, but sensual
gratifications; and in consequence, die prematurely, or live
worse than to die.
The Christian philanthropists of Massachusetts little know
the extent of evil, which there is in this respect. I entreat
them, I entreat the constituted authorities, to look to it.