Canandaigua, 18th. Jan., 1821.
“Brother Parrish,
“I address myself to you, and through you to the governor.
“The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you to Albany, to
do business with the governor; I also was to have been with
you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out of
my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not to
blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should
be so.
“The object of the Onondagas is to purchase our lands at
Tonnewanta. This, and all other business that they may have
to do at Albany, must be transacted in the presence of the
governor. He will see that the bargain is fairly made, so that
all parties may have reason to be satisfied with what shall be
done, and when our sanction shall be wanted to the transaction,
it shall be freely given.
“I much regret that at this time the state of my health should
have prevented me from accompanying you to Albany, as it was
the wish of the nation that I should state to the governor some
circumstances, which show that the chain of friendship between
us and the white people is wearing out and wants brightening.
“I proceed now, however, to lay them before you by letter, that
you may mention them to the governor, and solicit redress.
He is appointed to do justice to all, and the Indians fully
confide that he will not suffer them to be wronged with
impunity.
“The first subject to which we would call the attention of the
governor, is the depredations that are daily committed by the
white people upon the most valuable timber on our reservations.
This has been a subject of complaint with us for many years;
but now, and particularly at this season of the year, it
has become an alarming evil, and calls for the immediate
interposition of the governor in our behalf.
“Our next subject of complaint is, the frequent thefts of our
horses and cattle by the white people, and their habit of
taking and using them whenever they please, and without our
leave. These are evils which seem to increase upon us with the
increase of our white neighbours, and they call loudly for
redress.
“Another evil arising from the pressure of the whites upon us,
and our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency
with which our Chiefs, and Warriors, and Indians, are thrown
into jail, and that too for the most trifling causes. This is
very galling to our feelings, and ought not to be permitted to
the extent to which, to gratify their bad passions, our white
neighbours now carry this practice.
“In our hunting and fishing too, we are greatly interrupted
by the whites. Our venison is stolen from the trees, where we
have hung it to be reclaimed after the chase. Our hunting camps
have been fired into; and we have been warned that we shall no
longer be permitted to pursue the deer in those forests which
were so lately all our own. The fish, which in the Buffalo and
Tonnewante Creeks, used to supply us with food, are now by the
dams and other obstructions of the white people, prevented
from multiplying, and we are almost entirely deprived of that
accustomed sustenance.
“Our Great Father, the President, has recommended to our young
men to be industrious, to plough and to sow. This we have
done; and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means
he has afforded us of carrying it into effect. We are happier
in consequence of it; but another thing recommended to us,
has _created great confusion among us, and is making us a
quarrelsome and divided people; and that is the introduction
of preachers into our nation_. These black-coats continue to
get the consent of some of the Indians to preach among us, and
wherever this is the case, confusion and disorder are sure to
follow, and the encroachments of the whites upon the lands, are
the invariable consequence. The governor must not think hard of
me for speaking thus of the preachers; I have observed their
progress, and when I look back to see what has taken place of
old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they
were the forerunners of their dispersion; that they always
excited enmities and quarrels among them; that they introduced
the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and
plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to
dwindle and decrease, and be driven back in proportion to the
number of preachers that came among them.
“Each nation has its own customs and its own religions. The
Indians have theirs, given to them by the Great Spirit, under
which they were happy. It was not intended that they should
embrace the religion of the whites, and be destroyed by the
attempt to make them think differently on that subject from
their fathers.
“It is true these preachers have got the consent of some of the
chiefs to stay and preach among us, but I and my friends know
this to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed; besides
we have been threatened by Mr. Hyde, who came among us as a
school master and a teacher of our children, but has now become
a black-coat, and refused to teach them any more, that unless
we listen to his preaching and become Christians, we shall be
turned off our lands. We wish to know from the governor if this
is to be so, we think _he_ ought to be turned off our lands,
and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at
peace while he is among us.
“We are afraid too that these preachers, by and by, will
become poor, _and force us to pay them for living among us and
disturbing us_.
“Some of our chiefs have got lazy, and instead of cultivating
their lands themselves, employ white people to do so. There
are now eleven white families living on our reservations at
Buffalo; this is wrong, and ought not to be permitted. The
great source of all our grievances is that the white men
are among us. Let them be removed, and we will be happy and
contented among ourselves. We now cry to the governor for help,
and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily
give us redress.
“RED JACKET.”
This letter was dictated by Red Jacket, and interpreted by Henry Obeal,
in the presence of the following Indians:—
“RED JACKET’S SON, CORN PLANTER,
JOHN COBB,
PETER, YOUNG KING’S BROTHER,
TOM THE INFANT,
BLUE SKY,
JOHN SKY,
JEMMY JOHNSON,
MARCUS,
BIG FIRE,
CAPTAIN JEMMY.”[84]
To this may be added the testimony of Timothy Flint, who had ample
opportunities of judging of the effects of the proselyting scheme on the
character of the Indians.
“During my long residence,” he observes, “in the Mississippi valley,
I have seen them [the Indians] in every point of view, when hunting,
when residing in their cabins, in their permanent stations, wild and
unsophisticated in the woods, in their councils and deputations, when
making treaties in our towns. I have seen their wisest, bravest, and
most considered; and I have seen the wretched families that hang round
the large towns, to trade and to beg, intoxicated subdued, filthy, and
miserable, the very outcasts of nature. I have seen much of the Creeks
and Cherokees, whose civilization and improvement are so much vaunted. I
have seen the wretched remains of the tribes on the lower Mississippi,
that stroll about New Orleans. I have taken observations at Alexandria
and Nachitoches of the Indians of those regions, and from the adjoining
country of New Spain. I have resided on the Arkansas, and have been
conversant with its savages. While I was at St. Charles, savages came
down from the rocky mountains, so untamed, so unbroken to the ways of the
whites, that they were said never to have eaten bread until on that trip.
While I was at St. Louis, a grand deputation from the northern points of
the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Lakes, comprising a selection of
their principal warriors and chiefs, to the number of 1800, was there
for a length of time. They were there to make treaties and settle the
relations which had been broken during the war, in which most of them
had taken a part hostile to the United States. Thus I have inspected the
Northern, the Middle, and Southern Indians for a length of ten years, and
I mention it only to prove that my opportunities of observation have been
considerable, and that I do not undertake to form a judgment of their
character, without at least having seen much of it.”
After thus stating the circumstances which qualified him to give an
opinion on the subject of Indian civilization, he asserts that the
efforts of religious missionaries have not met, in the long run, with
any apparent success. Nor does he seem to think very differently of the
result of two Romanist Missions, of which glowing and animated accounts
were published some years ago.
“The Catholics,” he observes, “have caused many to hang a crucifix around
their necks, which they show as they do their medals and other ornaments;
but this too often is all that they have to mark them as Christians.
I have conversed with many travellers that have been over the stony
mountains into the Great Missionary Settlements of St. Peter and St.
Paul. These travellers,—and some of them were professed Catholics,—unite
in affirming that the converts will escape from their mission whenever
it is in their power, fly into their native deserts, and resume at once
their old modes of life. The vast empire of the Jesuits, in Paraguay,
has all passed away, and, we are told, the descendants of their convert
Indians are no way distinguished from the other savages. It strikes me
that Christianity is the religion of civilized man, that the savages must
first be civilized, and that as there is little hope that the present
generation of Indians can be civilized, there is but little more that
they will be Christianized.”[85]
To the foregoing I will add the testimony of Sir Francis Bond Head, who,
in one of his despatches to Lord Glenelg, thus depicts the effects which
have resulted from the efforts of the missionaries.
“Whenever and wherever the two races come in contact it is sure to prove
fatal to the red man. However bravely for a short time he may resist
our bayonets and fire arms, sooner or later he is called upon by death
to submit to his decree. If we stretch forth the hand of friendship,
the liquid fire it offers him to drink proves still more destructive
than our wrath; and lastly if we attempt to Christianize the Indians,
and for that sacred object congregate them in villages of substantial
log houses, lovely and beautiful as such a theory appears, it is an
undeniable fact, to which I unhesitatingly add my humble testimony, that
as soon as the hunting season commences, the men (from warm clothes and
warm houses having lost their hardihood) perish, or rather rot in numbers
by consumption; _whilst, as regards their women, it is impossible for
any accurate observer to refrain from remarking that civilization, in
spite of the pure, honest, and unremitting zeal of our missionaries, by
some accursed process has blanched their babies faces; in short, our
philanthropy, like our friendship, has failed in its professions_.…
I believe that every person of sound mind in this country, who is
disinterested in their conversion, and who is acquainted with the Indian
character will agree
“First,—That the attempt to make farmers of the red men has been,
generally speaking, _a complete failure_.
“Second,—That congregating them for the purpose of civilization, has
implanted many more vices than it has eradicated; and consequently,
“Third,—The greatest kindness we can perform towards this intelligent and
simple minded people, is to remove and fortify them as much as possible
from any communication with the whites.”[86]
In reply to these statements, many articles have appeared in the
newspapers, chiefly written by missionaries and divines who are
interested in the missionary scheme, and who, we may be sure, would
say nothing on the subject likely to prevent the religious from coming
forward with their subscriptions. Their statements, however should
be received with caution, and considered with impartiality. Men of
comparatively weak intellect (it is not often that any other description
of missionaries are sent out) and who are interested in the success of
their schemes, ought not to be trusted implicitly, unless their evidence
be confirmed by other authorities. In the present case the statements
of the Methodist and other missionaries are in direct opposition to the
statements of more impartial persons, who have enjoyed equal facilities
for forming an accurate judgement. Though the evidence given by both
sides is flatly contradictory, yet for my own part I adopt that which
has the sanction of the church, _inasmuch as I cannot find in all the
records of history, an example of lying or forgery on the part of
religious men_!(?) From time immemorial they have _told the truth_ when
the interest of their religion required it, and it would indeed be an
anomaly if they were in the present age to depart from the course they
have pursued for the last eighteen centuries.
I have now taken a survey of the principal features of character
exhibited by the Aborigines of America, as far as my information and as
well as my ability would permit. If I could have procured Mr. Catlins’s
Travels or work on the Indians, which is now in the press, while I was
compiling these sketches, I should have been able to have said a great
deal more respecting the manners, customs, religion, and civilization
of the unhappy and oppressed red men. As that work however has not yet
been published, I must endeavour to conclude this treatise with a few
reflections suggested by the preceding narrative.
It must be obvious to the reader, that the character of the Indians
is proportionate to the associations under the influence of which
they are trained. “The Aborigines of America,” to use the language of
Timothy Flint, “are a moody and musing race, whose familiarity with the
wilderness renders them sullen and grave. How could they be otherwise?
They are more accustomed to behold the rocks and forests and mighty
rivers of the transatlantic world than those objects which excite the
loquacity of mankind.” Whatever some individuals may say about the inward
power of “mind” and “will” and “volition” in forming the human character,
it will be admitted by all who have travelled through scenes of physical
majesty and grandeur, that scenery exercises an extensive influence over
human beings. The sight of the mighty Maranon or St Lawrence rolling
their immense volumes of water towards the ocean, tends to excite a
feeling of sublimity, rather than that light-heartedness of spirit which
vents itself in loud peals of laughter, and which is generally connected
with a keen perception of the ridiculous. The North American Indian is
forced to associate with rocks and rivers and almost boundless forests
from his infancy; he hears the tempest roll, and fancies that his Manitto
speaks in thunder from the clouds; and the natural consequence of this
constant familiarity with the wilderness is a certain degree of gravity
and sullenness in his deportment. The mode in which he is educated or
trained fosters this habit, and all the circumstances around him, whether
of a physical, mental, or moral description, tend to render it an element
in his character. Indeed if the circumstances which surround these
children of the wilds, their mode of procuring a subsistence, the manner
in which they are educated, the nature of their religion, and their
method of waging war, be taken into account and duly considered, it will
not appear surprising that they should exhibit a degree of gravity and
sullenness which is seldom found among polished nations.
It is a mournful and painful truth that the whites have acted towards
the savages of America in such a way as to prejudice them against
the benefits and arts of civilization. The white people have robbed,
plundered, and murdered the Indians, thrown their chiefs into jail, and
treated them as if they were made to be trampled on; and then raised the
hue and cry whenever the Indians attempted to retaliate. Nor have the
Christian Missionaries acted towards the unfortunate red men as became
their professions of peace and philanthropy. This is evident from the
letter written by Red Jacket, an Indian chief, who was well acquainted
with the conduct of the missionaries, and whose evidence is more worthy
of credit than the _ex parte_ statements of these propagators of the
gospel. The conduct of the whites towards the Indians, the rapacity with
which they have treated them, and the manner in which they have broken
all their promises, presents a powerful barrier to the progress of Indian
civilization. The experiments of the Pensylvanian Quakers prove, however,
that this barrier is not impassable. The same thing is evidenced by the
partial success which has attended the efforts of some of the Wesleyan
Missionaries in Canada. Though we ought not to give implicit credence
to all that these holy men say respecting the success of their efforts,
there is nevertheless good reason to believe that they have some ground
for their exaggerated statements. Some of the Indian tribes, for a time
at least, have been partially civilized; and this fact proves that their
entire civilization is not impossible. But the “_black-coats_,” to use
the language of Red Jacket, are not the men likely to accomplish such an
undertaking. They may indeed convert the Indians to Christianity, and
by this means inflict on them all the evils resulting from the spread
of a dogmatic sectarianism; but as it regards the civilization of these
savages the efforts of Christian Missionaries are sure to prove abortive,
unless they alter their plan of operation. Artizans and mechanics of
upright character, faithful to their promises, and fully imbued with
the “milk of human kindness,” would be the best missionaries that could
be sent among the Indian tribes. The example of such persons would, in
a short time work wonders among the Indians. The success of the Quaker
experiment warrants this supposition.
It may seem strange that the good people who tell such _melting stories_
about the love of Christ, as exhibited in the conduct of the converted
heathen, and who publish such marvellous accounts of the unprecedented
success which attends missionary exertions, _ad captandum vulgus_, should
have met with so little success among the Indians. This phenomenon,
however, is not at all surprising to any one who has studied the Indian
character. It is agreed on all hands that whatever vices may deform the
character of the Indian warrior, he is in some respects characterized by
a nobility of soul which is rarely met with in civilized nations. This
very nobility causes him to look down upon the whites as a deceiving and
treacherous race. He keeps his word sacred; if he pledges himself he
performs his promise. The whites have broken almost every treaty they
have made with the Indians. With them political expediency obtains the
mastery over justice, honour, and truth. The missionaries, too, have in
many cases endeavoured to wriggle into office and to lead an idle life
instead of “learning and labouring truly to get their own living, and
doing their duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased God to
call them.” It is natural for men who hate injustice and detest lying, to
despise the ministrations of such teachers. This appears to be one among
the many causes which have prevented the efforts of the missionaries from
being successful.
And truly if the Indians had wisdom enough to anticipate the consequences
likely to result from the success of missionary schemes, they would not
only reject the ministrations of such teachers, but expel them from their
territories. The “pale faces” are always dangerous to the man of America.
Wherever the sound of the Asiatic gospel has been heard, the roar of the
European cannon has speedily followed. _Brandy_, _Small Pox_, and the
_Gospel_, are the three principal blessings we have given to the red men.
The consequences resulting from the two former, have been more extensive
than those resulting from the latter. The whites must abandon their own
vices before they can expect to civilize the Aborigines of America.
[Joshua Hobson, Printer, 5, Market Street, Briggate, Leeds.]