The history of nations fully establishes the fact, that the character
of man results from the operation of circumstances on his organism.
This great and important truth is written in such broad and legible
characters on the face of human annals, as may easily be distinguished
and can scarcely be mistaken. Among rude and savage tribes we discern
features of character, which are distinctly referable to the influence of
causes peculiar to the savage state; and among the members of civilized
communities, we behold the manifestation of virtues, vices, and talents,
which are also traceable to the operation of circumstances differing
from those which determine the character of barbarous nations. There is
a marked dissimilarity between the barbarian of Labrador and the native
of London or Paris; yet this difference is more the child of accident
than of nature, and would probably disappear in course of time were the
parties to be subjected to the influence of similar institutions.
Among no people do we find more striking confirmations of the truth
of the above doctrine than among the Aborigines of the North American
Continent. In the character of that unhappy, but noble, race of men,
we find many striking peculiarities which can be ascribed only to
the influence of those circumstances in which the Indian tribes are
placed, and which mark them out as objects of peculiar interest to the
philosophic historian.
The European is polished, sagacious, and cunning; the Asiatic vainly
proud and ostentatiously voluptuous; the African, patient, servile and
debased; and the North American Indian, haughty, warlike and independent.
Undoubtedly there are causes for all these varied peculiarities of
national character, the developement of which, in relation to the Indians
of America, shall form the subject of the present treatise.
In endeavouring to prove that man is the creature of circumstances by
rapidly surveying the condition of the North American Indians, there are
two methods which present themselves to our attention. The first and
most obvious, consists in selecting the principal features of Indian
character, and tracing them to the operation of causes peculiar to the
Indian tribes. The second method consists in taking a view of the efforts
made by white men for the civilization of the Americans, and the good
or ill success which has attended their exertions. In discussing the
subject, therefore, we shall adopt both these methods as far as our space
and ability will allow.
The Indian character may be said to be a compound of the virtues and
vices of savage life. Brave, generous, haughty and cruel, the North
American savage moves with a firmness of step and a dignity of bearing,
which distinguish him as the monarch of the wilderness. The African
submits to slavery; the North American Indian prefers banishment, and
even death to it. We pity and oppress the former, because his patient
endurance of labour renders him of importance, while we endeavour by
cruel encroachments to exterminate the latter, because his lands are
serviceable, and he scorns to become our servant. Such has ever been
the policy of professed Christians, and such the efforts of European
civilization with respect to this unhappy race of men.
The Red Indian is fast disappearing from his native forests. The Prairie
which once echoed with his shrill warwhoop now resounds with the roar of
the Western rifle. His hunting grounds have become the prey of the pale
faces; the big knife has prevailed over the tomahawk; and the grave of a
freeman already yawns to receive the savage of the wilds.
When Las Casas appeared before the Emperor Charles V. to dispute with
Quevedo, Bishop of Darien, on the capacity of the South American Indians
for social improvement, “he rejected,” says Robertson, “with indignation,
the idea that any race of men was born for servitude; and contended that
the faculties of the Americans were not despicable but unimproved; that
they were capable of receiving instruction in the principles of religion,
as well as of acquiring the industry and arts which would qualify them
for the various offices of social life; and that the mildness and
timidity of their nature rendered them so docile and submissive that
they might be led and formed with a gentle hand.” On the contrary, the
Bishop of Darien contended “that they were a race of men marked out
by the inferiority of their talents for servitude; and whom it would
be impossible to instruct or improve, unless they were kept under the
continual inspection of a master.”[1] To the disgrace of the Spanish
name, the sentiments of Quevedo obtained more general credence than the
truths uttered by the impassioned, and eloquent Las Casas. The Indians
were still kept in a state of servitude, by the discoverers and tyrants
of the West; and under pretext of reclaiming them from idolatry, and
instructing them in the principles of the _Christian faith_ they were
obliged to endure the most galling servitude, and compelled to perform a
variety of unwholesome labours which soon terminated their existence, and
left scarcely a remnant of their devoted race to tell the story of their
oppression and their sufferings!
Such has ever been the policy of those who, spurred on by an exorbitant
and all grasping selfishness, desire to tyrannize over their fellow
beings, and trample on their rights, their liberties and their lives.
Nor is this policy wanting on the part of those who either are, or
desire to be, the oppressors of the North American Indians. The whites
have, with few exceptions, denounced the savages of America as a cruel,
blood-thirsty, and treacherous race of men—incapable of improvement,
and therefore unworthy of that attention which has been devoted to the
civilization of other barbarians. That this is a mere pretext under
colour of which the most horrid crimes might be perpetrated,—an opiate
for a guilty and accusing conscience,—must be evident to all who have
made the Indian character the subject of their peculiar study. But
because Europeans, blessed with all the lights of civilization, and all
the influence of a religion purporting to be from heaven, have not only
endeavoured, but are continually endeavouring, to encroach on the hunting
territories of the Indians, some excuse must of course be invented to
palliate their enormities, and screen their conduct from that general
reprobation which it deserves. The Aborigines of America are therefore
represented as false, cruel and blood-thirsty, as well as incapable of
emerging from their present state of ignorance and barbarism.
Before the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill, the opponents of
that measure were accustomed to represent the inhabitants of Ireland,
as factious, discontented, and rebellious. Admitting, for the sake of
argument, the truth of these allegations, we ask why did the inhabitants
of Ireland evince these national characteristics? Simply because they had
been galled and oppressed for a long course of time, by the enactments of
an illiberal government. And if we admit that the Indians of America are
still in a state of barbarism, and that they exhibit most, if not all,
the vices incident to the savage state, may we not enquire the reason
why they continue in this condition? The answer we think is obvious. The
whites have seldom attempted to raise them from their state of original
wildness; for almost all the measures they have adopted, in relation to
the Indians, have been better adapted to oppress than to reclaim, to
destroy than to regenerate.
In attempting to lay before the reader a rough delineation of Indian
character, it is necessary that we should attend to all the elements
which enter into its composition. We shall therefore treat in the first
place—
_Of the bodily constitution of the North American Indians, and of the
measure of their intellectual faculties._
Robertson, in his graphic representations of Indian character, affirms or
rather insinuates, that the constitution of the American Indian labours
under some physical defect. But that this defect is an accident arising
from the influence of peculiar institutions, and the mode of training
prevalent among the Indian tribes, is evidenced by the facts which that
historian himself relates. The American Indian may be indolent during
a season of peace. Extreme lassitude and an apparent want of physical
energy may form the more prominent traits in his character. But when war
demands his exertions in the field, or when pressed by the necessities
of nature to go in quest of food, he displays a courage, an address, and
an amount of bodily energy which prove him to be possessed of physical
strength equal to that which the natives of more polished and civilized
climes exhibit. It is during a season of hunting or of war that the most
strenuous exertions of courage, force, and activity are called forth.
The savage of America, at such a time, appears to shake off the native
indolence of his disposition. He becomes patient, active, courageous and
indefatigable. All the powers of his mind and of his body are roused into
exertion; and he performs feats of agility and of strength, and exhibits
a degree of perseverance, which prove him to be in these respects equal
to the natives of Europe.
It is true the exhibition of perseverance and strength, on the part of
the American savage, is not constant but casual. It is only when fierce
passions stimulate him to exertion, that he puts forth all his powers.
Nevertheless the casual exhibition of this strength and perseverance
proves, that the opposite qualities are not essential to his nature; and
seemingly warrants the conclusion that the indolence and want of energy
which mark his character, are the results of that peculiar system of
training to which he has been subjected.
Of the persevering speed of the Americans many instances are on record.
Adair mentions a Chikkasah warrior who ran through woods and over
mountains, three hundred computed miles in a day and a half and two
nights. “I have known the Indians,” he observes in another place, “to
go a thousand miles for the purpose of revenge, in pathless woods, over
hills and mountains, through huge cane swamps, exposed to the extremities
of heat and cold, the vicissitudes of seasons, to hunger and thirst.
Such is their over-boiling revengeful temper, that they utterly contemn
all these things as imaginary trifles, if they are so happy as to get
the scalp of the murderer or enemy to satisfy the craving ghosts of
their deceased relations.” Robertson, in the notes to his History of
America, states that “M. Godin le Jeune, who resided fifteen years among
the Indians of Puru and Quito, and twenty years in the French Colony of
Cayenne, in which there is a constant intercourse with the Galibis, and
other tribes on the Orinoco, observes, that the vigour of constitution
among the Americans is exactly in proportion to their habits of labour.
The Indians, in warm climates, such as those on the coasts of the South
Sea, on the river of Amazons, and the river Orinoco, are not to be
compared for strength with those in cold countries; and yet, says he,
boats daily set out from Para, a Portugese settlement on the river of
Amazons, to ascend that river against the rapidity of the stream; and
with the same crew they proceed to San Pablo, which is eight hundred
leagues distant. No crew of white people or even of negroes, would be
found equal to a task of such persevering fatigue as the Portugese have
experienced; and yet the Indians, being accustomed to this labour from
their infancy, perform it.”[2]
These facts prove, that whatever may be the accidental indolence of the
Indian tribes, they do not labour under any physical defect essential
to them as men, and not peculiar to the natives of other climes. The
fine gentleman of Europe, who has been nursed in the lap of luxury and
refinement, would, if compelled to labour, exhibit as great a want of
physical strength as the Indian of America. The difference in this
respect between the Aborigines of the Western world, and the inhabitants
of more civilized regions, is purely accidental. Reared within the pale
of a civilized community, and surrounded with innumerable objects adapted
to awaken thought, stimulate curiosity, and call his mental and bodily
powers into exertion, the European feels a variety of wants, and is
subject to a variety of influences to which the savage is a stranger.
Experience gives him foresight and wisdom, and induces him to act with
a view to remote advantage, as well as to present gratification. The
numerous casualties and reverses of fortune which happen to individuals
in civilised society, teach him to be provident for the future. The
simple necessities of nature, as well as the more numerous class of wants
which follow in the train of civilization, stimulate him to engage in
long courses of action by which his mental faculties are enlarged, his
bodily strength disciplined, and his power of persevering increased. But
with the Indian of America the case is in many respects reversed. His
food and drink are in most cases obtained with little trouble, and his
natural wants, which are few, are easily satisfied. The flesh of the wild
animals he ensnares or kills in the chase, the roots of native plants and
vegetables, and a small proportion of maize or Indian corn, along with
fruits and other things obtained with as little art, serve him for food;
the skins of beasts for clothing; and a week-wam, constructed with a
small amount of skill and labour, affords him shelter from the inclemency
of the weather. Surrounded with abundance of hunting territory, wherein
the (to him) staple commodities of life are plentiful, he is satisfied,
and lives in a state of comparative independence. Believing that his own
lot is the happiest, and accustomed to roam the forest from his infancy,
he feels not the force of those powerful motives which affect the bosoms
of other men. The love of gain is in his case modified by the extent of
his information respecting it; and as the commodities, which to him are
articles of wealth, are easily procured, he consequently becomes indolent
when surrounded by abundance.
We do not attempt to insinuate that the North American Indian is equal
to the European in address, wisdom, or even physical ability, at the
present time. We only contend that the lack of physical energy, which
some authors say the Aborigines of America exhibit, proceeds not from any
constitutional defect peculiar to them as a race, but from accidental
causes over which they have but little control. Let these causes be
removed—let the Indians be subjected to a different mode of treatment—let
them be placed under those influences which affect the inhabitants of
civilized communities, and we have reason to opine that they would
exhibit a character as vigorous as that of Europeans.
The following general description of the physiological part of Indian
character we quote from a modern writer:—“the natives of this part of the
world are in general of a robust frame, and a well proportioned figure.
Their complexion is of bronze, or reddish copper hue—rusty coloured, as
it were, and not unlike cinnamon. Their hair is black, long, coarse, and
shining, but not thickly set on the head. Their beard is thin and grows
in tufts. Their forehead is low, and their eyes are lengthened out, with
the outer angles turned up towards the temples; the eyebrows high, the
cheekbone prominent; the nose a little flattened but well marked; the
lips extended, and the teeth closely set and pointed. In their mouth
there is an expression of sweetness, which forms a contrast with the
harsh character of their countenance. Their head is of a square shape,
and their face is broad, without being flat, and tapers towards the chin.
Their features viewed in profile, are prominent and deeply sculptured.
They have a high chest, massy thighs, and arched legs: their feet are
generally large, though some have been noticed to have small feet and
hands; and their whole body is squat and thick-set. Though the shape of
the forehead and of the vertex frequently depends on artificial means,
yet independently of the custom which prevails among them of disfiguring
the heads of infants, there is no other people in the world in whom the
frontal bone is so much flattened above; and generally speaking, the
skull is light. Such are said to be the general characteristics of all
the natives of America, with the exception, perhaps, of those who occupy
the two extremities. The Northern Esquimaux, for instance, are below the
middle stature; the Abipones, it is said, and still more the Patagonians,
exceed the ordinary height. This muscular constitution, with a tall
figure, is in some degree met with among the natives of Chili, as well as
the Caribbeans, on the banks of the Caroni, a tributary of the Orinoco,
and amongst the Arkansas, who are esteemed the handsomest natives of this
continent.
“The copper or bronze hue of the skin is, with some slight exceptions,
common to all the natives of America, upon which the climate, the
situation, or the mode of living appear not to exercise the slightest
influence. Some of the tribes in Guiana are described as nearly black,
though easily distinguished from the negro. The colour of the natives
of Brazil and of California is deep, although the latter inhabit the
temperate zone, and the former live near the tropic. The natives of New
Spain are darker than the Indians of Quito and New Granada, who inhabit
a precisely analogous climate. The nations dispersed to the North of the
Rio Gola are darker than those that border on the kingdom of Guatemala.
The Indians who, in the torrid zone, inhabit the most elevated table
land of the Cordilleras of the Andes, have a complexion as much copper
coloured as those who cultivate the Banana under a burning sun in the
narrowest and deepest valleys of the equinoctial regions. The Indians who
inhabit the mountains are clothed, and were so long before the conquest;
while the Aborigines that wander on the plains of South America, are
perfectly or nearly naked, and consequently are always exposed to the
sun. These facts show that the colour of the American depends very little
on the local situation which he actually occupies; and never, in the same
individual, are those parts of the body that are constantly covered, of a
fairer colour than those in contact with the air; the infants, moreover,
are never white when they are born.
“It was formerly supposed that the Americans were without beards, and
certainly there are many among them who have neither beard nor hair on
any part of their person except the head. But the Indians who inhabit the
torrid zone and South America, have generally a small beard which becomes
longer by shaving; and among the Patagonians there are many who have
beards. A late traveller (Temple) asserts that the Chiriguano Indians of
the province of Tarija are beardless, without stating any opinion as to
this being natural or the effect of plucking out the hair. Almost all the
Indians near Mexico, and some on the North West coast, wear moustachios.
An inference has been drawn that the Indians have a larger quantity of
beard in proportion to their distance from the equator. The deficiency
of beard does not exclusively belong to the Americans, nor is it by any
means a certain sign of degeneracy; for some beardless races, such as the
negroes of Congo, are very robust and of colossal size.”[3]
Another description of Indian character we borrow from Adair’s “History
of the Aborigines of North America.” We quote it with great pleasure, as
fully bearing out our own argument with respect to the physical capacity
of the North American Indians, and as being the testimony of a man who
resided long among them.
“As the American Indians,” he observes, “are of a reddish or copper
colour, so, in general, they are strong, well proportioned in body and
limbs, surprisingly active and nimble, and hardy in their own way of
living.
“They are ingenious, witty, cunning and deceitful; very faithful indeed
to their own tribes, but privately dishonourable and mischievous to the
Europeans and Christians. Their being honest and harmless to each other,
may be through fear of resentment and reprisal, which is unavoidable in
case of any injury. They are very close and retentive of their secrets;
never forget injuries; and are revengeful of blood to a degree of
distraction. They are timorous and consequently cautious; very jealous
of encroachments from their Christian neighbours; and likewise content
with freedom in every turn of fortune. They are possessed of a strong
comprehensive judgement, can form surprisingly crafty schemes, and
conduct them with equal caution, silence, and address; they admit none
but distinguished warriors and old beloved men, into their councils.
They are slow, but very persevering, in their undertakings; commonly
temperate in their eating, but excessively immoderate in drinking.
They often transform themselves by liquor, into the likeness of mad
foaming bears. The women, in general, are of a mild, amiable, and soft
disposition; exceedingly modest in their behaviour, and very seldom noisy
in the single or married state.
“The men are expert in the use of fire arms—in shooting the bow and
throwing the feathered dart into the flying enemy. They resemble the
lynx with their sharp penetrating black eye, and are exceedingly swift
of foot, especially in a long chase. They will stretch away through
the rough woods, by the bare track, for two or three hundred miles, in
pursuit of a flying enemy, with the continued speed and eagerness of a
staunch pack of bloodhounds, till they shed blood. When they have allayed
this burning thirst, they return home at their leisure, unless they
chance to be pursued, as is sometimes the case; whence the traders say,
‘that an Indian is never in a hurry, but when the Devil is at his heels.’
“It is remarkable that there are no deformed Indians; however, they are
generally weaker and smaller bodied, between the tropics, than in higher
latitudes; but not in an equal proportion: for though the Chikkasah and
Choktah countries have not been long divided from each other, as appears
by the similarity of their language, as well as other things; yet the
Chikkasah are exceedingly taller and stronger bodied than the latter,
though their country is only two degrees farther north. Such a small
difference of latitude, in so healthy a region, could not make so wide a
difference in the constitution of their bodies. The former are a comely,
pleasant looking people; their faces are tolerably round, contrary to the
visage of the others, which inclines much to flatness, as is the case
with most of the other Indian Americans. The lips of the Indians, in
general, are thin.
“Their eyes are small, sharp, and black; and their hair is lank, coarse,
and darkish. I never saw any with curled hair, but one, in the Choktah
country, where was also another with red hair; probably, they were a
mixture of the French and Indians. Both sexes pluck all the hair off
their bodies with a kind of tweezers, made formerly of shells, now of
middle-sized wire, in the shape of a gunworm; which being twisted round a
small stick, and the ends thereof fastened therein, after being properly
tempered, keeps its form: holding this Indian razor between their
forefinger and thumb, they deplume themselves after the manner of the
Jewish novitiate priests and proselytes.
“Their chief dress is very simple, like that of the patriarchal age;
of choice, many of their old head men wear a long wide frock, made of
the skins of wild beasts. They seem quite easy and indifferent in every
various scene of life, as if they were utterly divested of passions
and of the sense of feeling. Martial virtue and not riches is their
invariable standard for preferment; for they neither esteem nor despise
any of their people one jot more or less on account of riches or dress.
They compare both these to paint on a warrior’s face; because it incites
others to a spirit of martial benevolence for their country, and pleases
his own fancy, and the eyes of spectators for a little time, but is
sweated off, while he is performing his war dances, or is defaced by the
change of weather.
“They formerly wore shirts made of dressed deer-skins for their summer
visiting dress; but their winter hunting clothes were long and shaggy,
made of the skins of panthers, bucks, bears, beavers, and otters; the
fleshly side outwards, sometimes doubled, and always softened like
velvet cloth, though they retained their fur and hair. The needles and
thread they used formerly, (and now at times) were fish bones, or the
horns and bones of deer, rubbed sharp, and deer’s sinews, and a sort of
hemp that grows among them spontaneously, in rich open lands. The women’s
dress consists only in a broad softened skin, or several small skins
sewed together, which they wrap and tie round their waist, reaching a
little below their knees: in cold weather they wrap themselves in the
softened skins of buffalo calves, with the wintery shagged wool inward,
never forgetting to anoint and tie up their hair except in their time of
mourning. The men wear for ornament and for the convenience of hunting,
thin deer skin boots well smoked, that reach so high up their thighs, as
with their jackets to secure them from the brambles and braky thickets.
They sew them about five inches from the edges, which are formed into
tassels, to which they fasten fawn’s trotters and small pieces of
tinkling metal, or wild turkey cock’s spurs. The Braves used to fasten
the like to their warpipes, with the addition of a piece of an enemy’s
scalp, with a tuft of long hair hanging down from the middle of the stem,
each of them painted red: and they still observe that old custom, only
they choose bell buttons to give a greater sound.
“The young Indian men and women, through a fondness of their ancient
dress, wrap a piece of cloth round them, that has a near resemblance to
the Roman toga, or prætexta. It is about a fathom square, bordered seven
or eight quarters deep, to make a shining cavalier of the _Beau Monde_,
and to keep out both heat and cold. With this frantic apparel the red
heroes swaddle themselves, when they are waddling whooping and prancing
it away around the reputed holy fire. In a sweating condition they will
thus incommode themselves frequently for a whole night, actuated by the
same principle of pride which actuates the Spaniard to wear his winter
cloak in summer.…
“They make their shoes for common use, out of the skins of the bear
and elk, well dressed and smoked to prevent hardening; and those for
ornament, out of deer-skins, done in the like manner: but they chiefly
go bare-footed, and always bare-headed. The men fasten several different
sorts off beautiful feathers, frequently in tufts, or the wing of a red
bird, or the skin of a small hawk, to a lock of hair on the crown of
their heads. And every different nation when at war, trim their hair
after a different manner, through contempt of each other; thus they can
distinguish an enemy in the woods so far off as they can see him.
“The Indians flatten their heads in divers forms; but it is chiefly the
crown of the head they depress, in order to beautify themselves, as their
wild fancy terms it; for they call us long heads by way of contempt.
The Choktah Indians flatten their foreheads from the top of the head
to the eyebrows with a small bag of sand; which gives them a hideous
appearance; as the forehead naturally shoots upwards according as it
is flattened: thus the rising of the nose instead of being equidistant
from the beginning of the chin to that of the hair, is, by their wild
mechanism, placed a great deal nearer to the one and further from the
other. The Indian nations round South Carolina, and all the way to New
Mexico, to effect this, fix the tender infant on a kind of cradle, where
his feet are tilted, above a foot higher than a horizontal position,
his head bends back into a hole, made on purpose to receive it; where
he bears the chief part of his weight on the crown of the head, upon a
small bag of sand without being in the least able to move himself. The
skull, resembling a fine cartilaginous substance, in its infant state,
is capable of taking any impression. By this pressure, and their thus
flattening the crown of the head, they consequently make their heads
thick and their faces broad. May we not to this custom and as a necessary
effect of this cause attribute their fickle, wild, and cruel tempers?
Especially when we connect therewith, both a false education and great
exercise to agitate their animal spirits. When the brain, in cooler
people, is disturbed, it neither reasons nor determines with proper
judgment. The Indians thus look on every thing around them through their
own false medium; and vilify our heads because they have given a wrong
turn to their own.”
The preceding description of Indian character is more deserving of
attention on account of its simplicity, correctness, and the information
it affords, than on account of the beauty of its style. Adair is indeed
a harsh writer; yet he narrates facts and occurrences which fell beneath
his own observation; and therefore his testimony is of considerable
value. His history of the American Indians, whatever value we may attach
to his theory respecting their origin affords many striking confirmations
of the position we have assumed, namely, that the American Indians are
not naturally and essentially inferior in physical capacity to any other
race of men. Nor is Adair the only author who either adopts this opinion,
or furnishes the facts from which it may be inferred. These facts may be
found in the narratives of missionaries, traders, and almost all writers
who have visited the Indian tribes.
James Buchanan, formerly his Britannic Majesty’s Consul for the State of
New York, has some excellent observations on the evidences of general
capacity among the Indians, in the first volume of his Sketches of
their History and Customs. After describing the hospitable and polite
reception which he met with from the children of the celebrated Mohawk
Indian Chief, Captain Brandt, he observes:—“My thus becoming acquainted
with this young lady and her brother, fully establishes in my mind all I
was anxious to prove by the education of a young Indian: and many such
instances might be adduced which would evince that wisdom, science, and
exaltation of character, are not the exclusive property of any colour,
tribe, or nation. The bravery, political sagacity, and knowledge of
government, manifested by the negroes who now govern in St. Domingo,
(not to mention other well known instances,) are calculated to allay
the doubts which used to prevail as to the capacity of the African.
But between the Indian of North America, and the African, there is a
remarkable difference. The former never can be bowed to become the slave
of man, to pay tribute, or to submit, by any hope of reward to live
in vassalage. Free, like the son of Ishmael, he will die rather than
yield his liberty; and he is, therefore, hunted down by the people who
_boast of civilisation and christianity, and who, while they value their
own freedom, do not hesitate to extend their lands and property by the
merciless destruction of the unoffending proprietor_. But let not those
who still claim the British name, nor the citizens of the United States
deceive themselves in the belief that because the poor Indians, whose
lands they possess, and whose rivers they navigate, have no powerful
voice to blazon their wrongs, and hold them up to the abhorence of
mankind, they will always rest unavenged; or that the civilization, which
is pompously carried on, but which is in fact a slow consuming system of
extinction, will avert the retributive justice which God will assuredly
render. The poor Indians confess that for their crimes they are now
placed by the Great Spirit under the feet of the white men, and in the
midst of their sufferings, they pathetically warn their cruel oppressors
that the time may come when the Lord will have pity on them, and in turn
punish the Europeans. Truly the ways of the Almighty are wonderful!
The apparent prosperity of the wicked are among the most unaccountable
features of the will of our creator, and would be utterly without a
solution had we not the Bible to guide us into a right understanding
of his designs. However the Deist may scoff, or the philosopher doubt,
yet therein we see that, though the wrath of God may be long delayed,
the punishment of iniquity will assuredly come to pass. The reaction of
crime and punishment is to be seen in the history of all nations. Let the
European oppressors of the Indian savage, as he is called, look to it
in time; and while the diffusion of the true principles of Christianity
throughout the British Empire, is followed by clemency and mercy to the
African, it is to be hoped the same benevolent spirit will extend itself
to the noble-minded Aborigines of North America; and that instead of
supplying arms, ammunition, blankets and rum, we may lead them to the
arts and blessings of peace, and to the improvement of their admirable
native talent.”[4]
Mr. Buchanan displays in this passage more of the piety of the saint,
than of the wisdom of the philosopher. In our opinion, _the Lord_ has but
little to do with the oppression and gradual extirpation of the Indian
tribes. These are the natural results of that peculiar system of policy
pursued by the white people towards the Aborigines of America. As the
tide of white population rolls on and extends itself inwards, the native
tribes must disappear before it by retiring into the inaccessible forests
and waste territories of the transatlantic world. Nor can they hope to
successfully assert their rights until they become more highly civilized
and more skillfully warlike than their oppressors. Then indeed, the Lord,
aided by the puissant arms of thousands of Indian warriors, might inflict
that retributive justice on Europeans, which Mr. Buchanan speaks of. The
ample possession of the munitions of war, the diffusion of intelligence,
and the union of all the Indian tribes, would more effectually curb the
rapacity of white Christians than all the aid which the Lord affords.
Nor is it to be expected, that religion, as it is found in the Old
and New Testaments, will effect the melioration of their condition.
The chosen people of the Lord made slaves of some of the nations they
conquered; and those they did not enslave they destroyed with a cruelty
as relentless as it was atrocious. What more natural than for those who
believe in the same God and draw their religion from the same source,
to act in the same manner? The examples of murder, pillage, bloodshed,
profligacy, and abominations of all kinds to be found in the Old
Testament, would rather tend to deteriorate the character of the Indians
than improve it, were the contents of that book made known to them. Bad
as the Indians are, they have some nobility of mind among them. They
do not betray the person with whom they have smoked the _calumet_, or
pipe of peace, or the man to whom they have plighted their friendship.
But in the Old Testament we find this done, as in the case of Jael and
Sisera, and the action attributed to divine prompting. What good end
can be answered by teaching the North American Indians a religion which
has ever been followed by destruction, pillage, rapacity and bloodshed,
persecution for opinion, and a long catalogue of evils? and which,
however good it may be in some of its precepts, is nevertheless utterly
unable to restrain the avarice and cruelty of its followers.
The celebrated French Essayist, Montaigne, between two or three hundred
years ago, wrote as follows:—
“I find that there is nothing barbarous and savage in this nation, by
anything I can gather, excepting that every one gives the title of
barbarity to every thing that is not in use in his own country: as indeed
we have no other level of truth and reason than the example and idea of
the opinions and customs of the place wherein we live. _There_ is always
the true religion; _there_ the perfect government, and the most exact
and accomplished usance of things. They (the Indians) are savages at the
same rate that we say fruits are wild which nature produces of herself
and by her own ordinary progress; whereas, in truth, _we ought rather
to call those wild whose natures we have changed by our artifice_ and
diverted from the common order.… These nations, then, seem to me to be
so far barbarous, as having received but very little form and fashion
from art and human invention, and consequently not much remote from their
original simplicity. The laws of nature, however, govern them still, not,
_as yet_, much vitiated with any mixture of ours; but in such purity that
I am sometimes troubled we were no sooner acquainted with these people,
and that they were not discovered in those better times, when there
were men much more able to judge of them than we are. I am sorry that
Lycurgus and Plato had no knowledge of them; for to my apprehension, what
we now see in those natives, does not only surpass all the images with
which the poets have adorned the golden age, and all their inventions
in feigning a happy estate of man; but moreover the fancy and even the
wish of philosophy itself. So native and so pure a simplicity, as we, by
experience, see to be in them, could never enter into the imagination
of the ancient philosophers, nor could they ever believe that human
society could have been maintained with so little artifice. Should I
tell Plato that it is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic,
no knowledge of letters, no science of numbers, no name of magistrate
nor political superiority, no use of service, no riches or poverty, no
contracts, no successions, no dividends, no proprieties, no employments
but those of leisure, no respect of kindred but of common, no clothing,
no agriculture, no metal, no use of corn or wine, and where so much as
the very words which signify lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice,
destruction, and pardon were never heard of,—how much would he find his
imaginary Republic short of this perfection.”[5]
This description is too highly coloured, and is in many respects
incorrect. The savages of America are not in such a blissful state as
Montaigne would leave the reader to infer; neither can it be said with
truth that they are free from deceit, treachery, and avarice. It is true
they exhibit many noble traits of character which might be copied with
profit by their more civilized brethren; but these traits are generally
associated with the vices peculiar to the savage state. In conducting
our researches respecting them, therefore, we should carefully ascertain
what amount of credibility is due to the statements of those writers
who affirm their condition to be almost paradisiacal. Extremes ought
to be avoided in most cases, especially with regard to the American
Indians. Some authors have represented them as the vilest of men; cruel,
blood-thirsty, and rapacious, and incapable of being civilized; while
others have depicted them as a noble, high-minded, virtuous race, with
scarcely a single vice in their character, or evil in their physical
condition. If we adopt the mean of these extremes, we shall not be far
from the truth.
Before we close this section of our treatise, a few remarks upon the
oratory of the Indians may not be deemed inappropriate or unimportant.
Even the thunders of Demosthenes, and the eloquent harangues of the
sweet-lipped and silver-tongued Cicero did not produce more wonderful
effects on Athenian or Roman audiences, than are occasionally produced
by the bold and pathetic discourses of an American warrior on the minds
of his hearers. Governor De Witt Clinton, in his discourse to the New
York Society, speaking of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, informs us that
“their exterior relations, general interests, and national affairs were
conducted and superintended by a great council, assembled annually in
Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of each Republic;
and eighty Sachems were frequently convened at this national assembly. It
took cognizance of the great questions of war and peace; of the affairs
of the tributary nations, and of their negociations with the French
and English colonies. All their proceedings were conducted with great
deliberation, and were distinguished for order, decorum, and solemnity.
In eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of a profound
policy, they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were perhaps
not far inferior to the great Amphyctionic Council of Greece.”[6] In
another place he speaks of the sublime display of intellectual power
in the address of Garangula, an Onondaga chief, to M. Delabarre, a
French general, who in 1683, marched with an army against the Iroquois.
This rhetorical talent, however, is declared by the same authority to
be peculiar to the Five Nations. “The most remarkable difference,” he
states, “existed between the confederates and the other Indian nations,
with respect to eloquence. You may search in vain in the records and
writings of the past, _or in events of the present times, for a single
model of eloquence among the_ Algonkins, the Abenaquis, the Delawares,
the Shawanese, or any other nation of Indians except the Iroquois.”[7]
On the other hand, the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, who has spent the greater
portion of a long life among the Lenni Lenapé, or Delawares, has
affirmed, in his historical account of the Indian nations, (of which
the Lenni Lenapé and the Iroquois form the two great divisions), that
the Delawares are also conspicuous for oratorical ability. He quotes
a speech of Captain Pipe, a chief of that nation, and has made use
of the following words, in commenting on it. “Here we see boldness,
frankness, dignity, and humanity happily blended together, and most
eloquently displayed. I am much mistaken if the component parts of this
discourse are not put together much according to the rules of oratory
which are taught in the schools, and which were certainly unknown to
this savage. The peroration is short, but truly pathetic, and I would
say, sublime; and then the admirable way in which it is prepared! I
wish I could convey to the reader’s mind only a small part of the
impression which this speech made on me and on all present when it was
delivered.”[8] The assertion of Governor Clinton, seems to have resulted
from his knowing more of the Five Nations than of any other tribe of
Indians. The Shawanese no less than the Delawares, are among the list
of exceptions; and yet, we find, in the book published by Mr. Hunter, a
most splendid example of eloquence in a speech of Te-cum-seh, a Shawanee
warrior.[9] The effect it had upon his hearers, one of whom was Mr.
Hunter himself, was electrical; and we will quote his account of it, in
order to show that the high opinion of Indian oratory is not derived
from any one authority which might be exaggerated, or through the medium
of professed translators, who might be disposed to manufacture these
harangues, after a given model, into the European tongues; but that it
operates upon all alike, and shines with the same character through
every variety and accident of interpretation. The Indian orations have
been rendered by illiterate persons sent among them to conciliate their
favour; by prisoners male and female, who learnt the language during
their captivity; by learned missionaries; by traders, who will not
perhaps be suspected of romantic enthusiasm; by Dutchmen, Frenchmen,
Englishmen, and Americans; and the result, in all cases, has been very
similar. The doubts, therefore, which have been, and still continue to
be, entertained as to Indian eloquence, are, to say the least of them,
inconsiderate. The probability is, that they are injured rather than
improved, by transmission into European languages. “I wish it was in my
power,” says Mr. Hunter, speaking of Te-cum-seh, “to do justice to the
eloquence of this distinguished man; but it is utterly impossible. The
richest colours, shaded with a master’s pencil, would fall infinitely
short of the glowing finish of the original. The occasion and subject
were peculiarly adapted to call into action all the powers of genuine
patriotism; and such language, such gestures, such feelings, and fulness
of soul contending for utterance, were exhibited by this untutored,
native of the forest in the central wilds of America, as no audience, I
am persuaded, either in ancient or modern times, ever before witnessed.
His discourse made an impression on my mind, which I think, will last as
long as I live.”[10]
The occasion on which this oration was delivered, was as follows; it
appears from Mr. Hunter’s account, that “some of the white people among
the Osages were traders, and others were reputed to be runners from their
great Father beyond the waters, to invite the Indians to take up the
tomahawk against the settlers. They made many long talks, and distributed
many valuable presents; but without being able to shake the resolution
which the Osages had formed, to preserve peace with their Great Father,
the president. Their determinations were, however, to undergo a more
severe trial: Te-cum-seh now made his appearance among them.
“He addressed them in long, eloquent, and pathetic strains; and an
assembly more numerous than had ever been witnessed on any former
occasion, listened to him with an intensely agitated, though profoundly
respectful, interest and attention. In fact so great was the effect
produced by Te-cum-seh’s eloquence, that the chief adjourned the council
shortly after he had closed his harangue, nor did they finally come to a
decision on the great question in debate for several days afterwards.[11]
His proposals were, however, in the end rejected.”