This is a small tribe, comprising four or five hundred
persons, residing at the head of Cape Cod, in Barnstable
County. They have long been under the guardianship of the
State, treated as paupers, and subjected to the control of a
Board of Overseers. A memorial from them was presented to
the Legislature last week, (written entirely by one of their
number,) in which they set forth the grievances which are
imposed upon them, the injustice and impolicy of the laws
affecting their tribe, the arbitrary and capricious conduct of
the Overseers, and the manner in which they are defrauded
of the fruits of their labor; and earnestly beseech the
Legislature to grant them the same liberty of action as is
enjoyed by their white brethren, that they may manage their
own concerns, and be directly amenable to the laws of the
State, and not to their present Overseers.
A delegation from this tribe is now in this city, consisting
of Deacon Coombs, Daniel Amos, and William Apes. The use of
the Hall of the House of Representatives having been granted
to them, they made a public statement of their situation
and wants to a crowded audience on Friday evening last,
principally composed of members of the House; and were
listened to most respectfully and attentively.
Deacon Coombs first addressed the assembly, in a brief but
somewhat indefinite speech; the purport of which was, that,
although by taking side with the Overseers, he might have
advanced his own interests, he nevertheless chose to suffer
with his people, and to plead in their behalf. Their condition
was growing more and more intolerable; excessive exactions
were imposed upon them; their industry was crippled by
taxation; they wished to have the Overseers discharged.
Daniel Amos next addressed the meeting. He said he was aware
of his ignorance; but although his words might be few, and his
language broken, he as deeply sympathized with his suffering
constituents, as any of his tribe. He gave a short sketch of
his life, by which it appeared that he went at an early period
on a whaling voyage, and received some bodily injury which
incapacitated him from hard labor for a long time. He sought
his native home, and soon experienced the severity of those
laws, which, though enacted seemingly to protect the tribe,
are retarding their improvement, and oppressing their spirits.
The present difficulties were not of recent origin. He stated,
with commendable pride, that he had never been struck for
ill-behaviour, nor imprisoned for crime or debt; nor was he
ashamed to show his face again in any place he had visited;
and he had been round a large portion of the globe. The
memorial before the Legislature had been read to the tribe;
some parts had been omitted at their request; and nothing had
been sent but by their unanimous consent. After vindicating
the character of Mr. Apes, and enumerating some of the
complaints of the tribe.
He was followed by William Apes, who, in a fearless,
comprehensive and eloquent speech, endeavored to prove that,
under such laws and such Overseers, no people could rise
from their degradation. He illustrated the manner in which
extortions were made from the poor Indians, and plainly
declared that they wanted their rights as men and as freemen.
Although comparatively ignorant, yet they knew enough to
manage their own concerns more equitably and economically than
they were then managed; and notwithstanding the difficulties
under which they labored, their moral condition was improving.
There was not so much intemperance among them as formerly;
many of the tribe were shrewd, intelligent and respectable
men; and all that was necessary to raise up the entire mass
from their low estate, was the removal of those fetters
and restrictions which now bind them to the dust. Mr. Apes
described the cause and the extent of the disturbance
which took place last summer, and which resulted in his
imprisonment. The head and front of their offending was in
going into the woods, and unloading a cart, and causing it to
be sent away empty. The reason for that procedure was, that
they wished no more wood to be cut until an investigation of
their rights had been made. They used no violence; uttered no
oaths; made no throats; and took no weapons of defence. Every
thing was done quietly, but firmly. Mr. Apes wished to know
from whence the right to tax them without their consent, and
at pleasure, and subject them to the arbitrary control of a
Board of Overseers, was derived? He knew not himself; but he
feared it was from the color of their skin. He concluded by
making a forcible appeal to the justice and humanity of the
Legislature, and expressing his confidence that the prayer of
the memorialists would not be made in vain.
In several instances, the speakers made some dextrous and
pointed thrusts at the whites, for their treatment of the
sons of the forest since the time of the pilgrims, which were
received with applause by the audience. They were all careful
in their references to the conduct of the Overseers; they
wished to say as little about them as possible; but they
wanted their removal forthwith.
This is the first time our attention has been seriously called
to the situation of this tribe. It is a case not to be treated
with contempt, or disposed of hastily. It involves the rights,
the interests, and the happiness of a large number of that
race which has been nearly exterminated by the neglect, the
oppression, and the cruelty of a superior number of foreign
invaders.
In the enslavement of two millions of American people in the
Southern States, the tyranny of this nation assumes a gigantic
form. The magnitude of the crime elevates the indignation of
the soul. Such august villainy and stupendous iniquity soar
above disgust, and mount up to astonishment. A conflagration
like that of Moscow, is full of sublimity, though dreadful
in its effects; but the burning of a solitary hut makes the
incendiary despicable by the meanness of the act.
In the present case, this State is guilty of a series of
petty impositions upon a feeble band, which excite not so much
indignation as disgust. They may be, and doubtless are, the
blunders of legislation; the philanthropy of proscriptive
ignorance; the atoning injuries of prejudice, rather than
deliberate oppression. No matter who are the Overseers, (we
know them not,) nor how faithfully they have executed
the laws. The complaint is principally against the State;
incidentally against them. They may succeed, perhaps, in
vindicating their own conduct; but the State is to be judged
out of the Statute Book, by the laws now in force for the
regulation of the tribe. Fearing, in the plenitude of its
benevolence, that the Indians would never rise to be men, the
Commonwealth has, in the perfection of its wisdom, given them
over to absolute pauperism. Believing they were incapable of
self-government as free citizens, it has placed them under
a guardianship which is sure to keep them in the chains of
a servile dependance. Deprecating partial and occasional
injustice to them on the part of individuals, it has shrewdly
deemed it lawful to plunder them by wholesale, continually.
Lamenting that the current of vitality is not strong enough
to give them muscular vigor and robust health, it has fastened
upon them leeches to fatten on their blood. Assuming that they
would be too indolent to labor if they had all the fruits of
their industry, it has taken away all motives for superior
exertions, by keeping back a portion of their wages. Dreading
lest they should run too fast, and too far, in an unfettered
state, it has loaded them with chains so effectually as
to prevent their running at all. These are some of the
excellencies of that paternal guardianship, under which they
now groan, and from which they desire the Legislature to grant
them deliverance.
We are proud to see this spontaneous, earnest, upward movement
of our red brethren. It is not to be stigmatized as turbulent,
but applauded as meritorious. It is sedition, it is true; but
only the sedition of freedom against oppression; of justice
against fraud; of humanity against cruelty. It is the
intellect opposed to darkness; the soul opposed to
degradation. It is an earnest of better things to come,
provided the struggling spirit be set free. Let this tribe
have at least a fair trial. While they remain as paupers, they
will feel like paupers; be regarded like paupers; be degraded
like paupers. We protest against this unnatural order of
things; and now that the case has come under our cognizance,
we shall not abandon it hastily.
We are aware that another, and probably an opposite view of
this case is to be laid before the public, on the part of a
commissioner delegated by the Governor and Council, to inquire
into the difficulties which have arisen between the tribe and
the Overseers. We shall wait to get a glimpse of it before we
pass judgment upon it. Whatever may be alleged either against
the Indians or against those who hold a supervision over them,
or whatever may be said in favor of them both; we have felt
authorized to make the foregoing remarks, upon an examination
of the laws enacted for the government of these discordant
parties. An augmentation, diminution, or change of the Board
of Overseers, will not remedy the evil. It lies elsewhere;
in the absolute prostration of the petitioners by a blind
legislation. They are not, and do not aspire to be an
independent government, but citizens of Massachusetts.
Fortunately, there is a soul for freedom in the present
Legislature. A more independent House of Representatives has
never been elected by the people. The cries of the Indians
have reached their ears, and we trust affected their hearts.
They will abolish a needless and unjust protectorate. The
limb, which is now disjointed and bleeding, will be united to
the body politic. What belongs to the red man shall hereafter
in truth be his; and, thirsting for knowledge and aspiring to
be free, every fetter shall be broken and his soul made glad.
About this time the opposition of our enemies increased to a flood.
Yet we remained undismayed; for we knew that we had the right on
our side. So we endured the shots of their sharp shooters against us
patiently. The following, from the Boston Courier of January 28, 1834,
will show to what I allude.
Late in the month of June last, an extraordinary proceeding
was had by the Marshpee tribe of Indians, residing on their
plantation in Barnstable County, under the protection and
guardianship of this Commonwealth. Excited, as it has since
appeared, by the turbulent spirit of a stranger and intruder,
they assembled in what they termed a town meeting, and adopted
resolutions declaring their independence of the government
of Massachusetts, abjuring the authority of the laws, and
proclaiming that after the first day of July then next, they
should assume the management of their own affairs; and, _that
"they would not permit any white man from that day, to come
upon their Plantation to cut or carry off any wood, hay, or
other article, without their permission, under the penalty of
being bound and thrown from the Plantation."_
To allay the excitement which had been created among these
misguided people, and to ascertain and remove, as far and as
speedily as possible, any just cause of complaint, the most
prompt measures were adopted by the Executive. A discreet
and confidential agent was despatched to the plantation
with instructions to make thorough examination into their
grievances, real or supposed, and to become acquainted with
their condition, and what their interest and comfort required.
He was especially charged to represent to them the parental
feelings and regard of the government of the Commonwealth
towards them; to assure the head men, that, if the Overseers
appointed by the State, had been unjust or unkind, they should
forthwith be removed, and others appointed in their stead, and
the wrongs sustained at their hand amply redressed, but
that the guardianship, originally imposed for their security
against the frauds and wicked devices of unprincipled white
men, and continued under frequent assurances, _by the Indians
themselves_, of its necessity, could not be suspended by the
authority of the Governor and Council. That this rested with
the Legislature, to which, after careful investigation of
their complaints, a proper representation would be made by
the Executive. He was also directed to caution them against
heeding the counsels of those who would excite them to
disquiet in their present situation, and to admonish them,
that disorder and resistance to any rightful authority would
meet with immediate and exemplary correction, through the
civil tribunals.
On reaching the plantation, the agent found these deluded
people in a state of open rebellion against the government of
the State, having with force, seized upon the Meeting-house,
rescued from the Overseers a portion of property in their
possession, chosen officers of their own, and threatened
violence to all who should attempt to interfere with them,
in the measures of _self-government_ which they had assumed.
These threatenings and outrages had already created great
alarm among the white inhabitants in the neighborhood, and
induced to apprehensions of more serious consequences. Through
the firmness and prudence of the agent, sustained by the
advice and good offices of several intelligent citizens of the
County, the leader in the sedition was arrested for a breach
of the peace, and delivered over to the civil authority.
An inquiry into the conduct of the Overseers subsequently
conducted by the agent in the presence of the head men, and
the conciliatory, and friendly explanations offered to the
tribe, of their relations to the government of the State,
resulted in inducing them to rescind their former violent
resolves, and restored quiet to the plantation.
A minute and interesting report by the gentleman to whom this
delicate service was assigned, embracing an historical
account of the tribe, and describing their present condition,
character and numbers, with the situation, value, and
improvement of their property, and the manner in which the
guardianship constituted by law has been exercised over them,
accompanies this communication. The Indians have received
an assurance, that the attention of the Legislature shall be
invited to their complaints, and the report will not fail
to assist in the deliberations to which the subject may give
occasion.
Does it not appear from, this, and from his message, that the
Ex-Governor is a man of pure republican principles? He seems to
consider the Marshpees as strangers, and thinks they ought to be
driven to the wilds of the far West; in humble imitation of that wise,
learned, and humane politician, Andrew Jackson, L.L.D.
I do consider that neither I nor any of my brethren enjoy any
political rights; and I desire that I and they may be treated like
men, and not like children. If any among us are capable of discharging
the duties of office, I wish them to be made eligible, and I wish for
the right of suffrage which other men exercise, though not for the
purpose of pleasing any party by our votes. I never did so, and I
never will. O, that all men of color thought and felt as I do on this
subject.
I believe that Governor Lincoln had no regard whatever for our rights
and liberties; but as he did not get his ends answered, I shall
leave him to his conscience. The following from Mr. Hallett, of the
Advocate, fully explains his message: