Numbers, condition, language, rights, &c. of the Indians in
New-England.
The history of Roger Williams becomes, from this point, so closely
connected with that of the Indians, as to make it necessary to present a
brief sketch of their situation and character. We must confine our view
to those who inhabited New-England. Mr. Williams himself has furnished
us with valuable aid in this review. His Key to the Indian Languages,
though its chief object was philology, presents many interesting details
respecting the habits and general character of the aborigines.
The territory now comprehended within the limits of New-England was
inhabited by various tribes, the principal of which were the following:
1. The _Pawtuckets_, whose territory extended from Salem, (Mass.) to
Portsmouth, (N. H.,) being bounded by the ocean on the east, and by the
Nipmuck country on the west.
2. The _Massachusetts_, who dwelt chiefly about the Bay, which bears
their name.
3. The _Pokanokets_, who inhabited the territory of the old colony of
Plymouth. This tribe included several subordinate tribes, among whom
were the Wampanoags, the particular tribe of Massassoit and Philip.
4. The _Narragansets_, who inhabited nearly all the territory which
afterwards formed the colony of Rhode-Island, including the islands in
the Bay, Block-Island, and a part of Long-Island.
5. The _Pequods_, who inhabited the southern part of the present State
of Connecticut. The Mohegans have been considered as a part of this
tribe, inhabiting the western and northern parts of Connecticut.
These principal nations included many subordinate and tributary tribes,
among whom may be mentioned the Nipmucks, who were scattered over the
western parts of Massachusetts.
At a period not long preceding the arrival of the English, a pestilence
prevailed among the natives, to so frightful an extent, that some of the
tribes became nearly extinct. The Pawtuckets, who could previously raise
three thousand fighting men, were almost exterminated. The
Massachusetts, who were equally numerous, were so reduced, that they
could not, probably, in 1630, have raised a hundred men. The Pokanokets
were diminished to about five hundred warriors.[93] The Narragansets
suffered little, and the Pequods were uninjured by the pestilence. Each
of these tribes could raise four thousand fighting men.[94] The Pequods
were the most fierce and warlike, and the Narragansets the most
civilized, of the New-England savages.
The Indians, when most numerous, could occupy but a small portion of the
territory. They subsisted chiefly by hunting, a mode of life which is
impracticable except where extensive tracts remain in the wildness of
nature. Their dwellings were usually built in small villages, rudely
constructed of skins or bark, and easily removed, as their caprice or
necessities required. The lands claimed by each tribe were held in
common. Each member roamed over it at his pleasure, and took the game
wherever he could find it. Their agriculture was limited to the
cultivation of Indian corn, tobacco, and a few esculent vegetables, such
as beans and squashes. The agricultural labor was performed by the
women, with little skill, and rude implements. The product must
consequently have been small. Game was not always plentiful, or was
consumed with the improvident voracity of savages. They did not
understand the art of salting provisions for future use. They often
suffered from hunger, especially during the winter. They knew little of
the medical art, and their diseases, though few, were fatal. Their wars
were frequent and sanguinary. Their mode of life was unfavorable to the
rearing of children. For these and other reasons, the native tribes
could never have been very numerous; and if the Europeans had not landed
here, the country over which our free and flourishing States have spread
themselves would, it is probable, have been, at this hour, a wilderness,
the hunting ground of tribes not less savage, and, perhaps, little more
numerous, than those whom our fathers found here.
The origin of the Indians is involved in impenetrable mystery. Their own
traditions shed no light on the subject, and nothing has been found, in
their customs or languages, which could lead to a satisfactory
conclusion. Imagination has been active in tracing their connection with
different nations. The favorite theory of many writers has been, that
they are the descendants of the ten Jewish tribes; but this opinion is
founded on the slight ground of a few coincidences between the customs
of the Jews and those of the Indians, and fancied resemblances in some
of their words to terms in the Hebrew language. Roger Williams wisely
refrains from expressing any opinion on the subject, except by stating
his confidence that the Indians have sprung from Adam and Noah. He
mentions several Indian customs, which resemble Jewish rites, and says,
“others (and myself) have conceived some of their words to hold affinity
with the Hebrew.” But he adds, “I have found a greater affinity of their
language with the Greek tongue.”[95] The natives themselves believed,
that their great god Cautantowit made a man and woman of a stone, but
disliking them, he broke them in pieces, and made another man and woman
of a tree, from whom all mankind have descended.[96] The mounds and
other monuments found in the western States, have been considered as
evidences, that some people, superior to the Indians, once inhabited
that part of the country. But who they were, and why they disappeared,
we shall probably never know. The probability seems to be, that America
was first inhabited by emigrants from Asia, who crossed from the one
continent to the other, at some point near the northwestern extremity of
America. But conjecture is useless. That the Indians have descended from
Adam, no one who reverences the Bible will doubt. That they are of a
kindred nature with other men is proved, both by their virtues and their
vices. Their minds are acknowledged, by all who have known them well, to
be fully equal in strength and acuteness to those of civilized men. That
they are capable of becoming pious Christians, has happily been
demonstrated by many cheering examples.
Their government was very simple. A wild freedom prevailed among them,
and their roving habits did not permit much control. They needed,
however, some rulers in peace, and leaders in war. Each tribe had one or
more chiefs, called sachems, who were, at first, chosen by the tribe, or
who gained the ascendency, by superior wisdom or courage. Some of these
sachems inherited and transmitted their power, by hereditary right; but
it is probable, that the incumbent owed his authority more to his
personal qualities than to his birth.[97] The sachems held nominally the
supreme power, and received tribute, but they were controlled by the
wisdom of the aged men, and by the fierce energy of the young warriors.
“The sachems,” says Roger Williams,[98] “although they have an absolute
monarchy over the people, yet they will not conclude of aught that
concerns all, either laws, or subsidies, or wars, unto which the people
are averse, and by gentle persuasion cannot be brought.” There were
subordinate chiefs, sometimes called sagamores, who held a limited
authority over portions of the tribes. All important questions were
discussed in councils, where eloquence was as fervid and efficacious,
probably, as in the more polished assemblies of Greece.
The physical characteristics of the Indians were common to all the
tribes,—a bronze or copper color; straight, coarse, black hair, hazel
eyes, high cheek bones, and an erect form.[99] They possessed firm, well
compacted bodies, capable of enduring the greatest hardships and
fatigues, and regardless of cold, while travelling in the severity of
winter.[100] They were very active, and could run vast distances with
astonishing speed and endurance.[101] They could subsist for many days
on a little parched corn, pounded into meal. “This,” says Roger
Williams, “is a very wholesome food, which they eat with a little water,
hot or cold. I have travelled with near two hundred of them at once,
near one hundred miles through the woods, each man carrying a little
basket of this at his back, and sometimes in a hollow leather girdle
about his middle, sufficient for a man for three or four days. With this
ready provision, and their bow and arrow, are they ready for war and
travel at a moment’s warning. With a spoonful of this meal and a
spoonful of water from the brook, have I made many a good dinner and
supper.”[102] When they had leisure, however, and a plentiful supply of
food, they would compensate themselves for their abstinence, by eating
enormous quantities. Their cookery was simple, their meat or fish being
boiled or roasted, and eaten without salt or bread. Indian corn, boiled,
either whole or when ground, was a common dish.[103] Their only drink
was water, until Europeans introduced among them the devouring curse of
spirituous liquors. Tobacco was in general use, as a remedy for the
toothache, and as a stimulant, of which they were as fond as their
civilized successors.
Their diseases were few, but neglect or injudicious treatment made them
very destructive. The chief remedy was sweating, in a cave or cell, made
hot with heated stones. In this cell the patient remained an hour or
more, and then plunged into a river. Roger Williams expended much time
and money in administering to the sick among the Indians, and he
expressed his confidence, that millions of the natives had perished for
want of suitable aid. Infectious diseases sometimes seized them, and
made terrific ravages. The living fled, and whole towns were deserted.
The powaws, or priests, pretended to much skill in curing diseases; but
their medical practice consisted mainly of hideous bellowings,
incantations, and other fantastic ceremonies.
Their domestic habits were not favorable to happiness or virtue. The
marriage relation was formed with little care, and was dissolved at the
pleasure of the husband. A man might have as many wives as he chose, and
was able to purchase from their parents. The women were treated with
rigor. They were forced to perform the labors of agriculture, and to
carry the provisions and packs of every kind, in their huntings and
marches. The parents permitted their children to grow up without
restraint, and the children were undutiful, and often cruel to their
parents.
The Indians were hospitable to strangers. They were grateful for
benefits, and were firm friends; but their resentment of injuries was
fierce and implacable. They pursued an enemy with the malignity of
fiends, and they usually murdered their captives, with prolonged and
shocking tortures. They met death, even when thus inflicted, with the
utmost composure, disdaining to exhibit any symptoms of fear or pain,
and often provoking their tormentors by scornful taunts. They were
treacherous, prone to lying, and indolent, except when war or hunting
roused them to action. They were fond of sports, and like the Germans,
as described by Tacitus, they were addicted to gaming.
They had no commerce, except the sale of corn, skins, and some other
articles, to the Europeans. Their only money consisted of shells, sewed
together on strips of cloth, and thus forming belts of various lengths,
and different degrees of beauty, according to the taste of the maker.
This money, as described by Roger Williams, “was of two sorts: one
white, which they make of the stem or stock of the periwinkle, which
they call meteauhock, when all the shell is broken off; and of this
sort, six of their small beads (which they make with holes to string the
bracelets) are current with the English for a penny. The second is
black, inclining to blue, which is made of the shell of a fish which the
English call hens, poquauhock,[104] and of this sort three make an
English penny.” The white money was called wampum, which signified
white. The other was called suckauhock, a word signifying black. Both
kinds seem to have been called wampum, or wampumpeag. The Narraganset
Indians were reputed the most skilful coiners of wampum, and the most
ingenious manufacturers of pendants, bracelets, stone tobacco pipes, and
earthen vessels for cooking and other domestic uses.[105] They were, as
a cause, or perhaps as a consequence, more civilized and less warlike
than their neighbors.[106] The Pequods insulted them, with the
contemptuous title of a nation of women. It is a coincidence worthy of
remark, that Rhode-Island, where this primitive nation of manufacturers
resided, is distinguished as the place where the manufacture of cotton
was commenced in this country, and where this, and its kindred arts,
have been cultivated with great success. The history of Rhode-Island,
however, shows that her sons have not been deficient in martial
qualities. If the sarcasm of the Pequods was deserved by the
Narragansets, it has no application to those who now occupy the
beautiful islands, the streams, the hills and the plains, from which
this hapless tribe have disappeared forever.
The wars of the Indians were frequent. They were conducted in a
desultory manner, with all the arts of savage cunning. Their weapons
were bows and arrows, clubs, and rude spears. Their arrows were headed
with sharp, triangular pieces of stone, many of which are found at the
present day. After the arrival of the English, the arrow heads were made
of brass, and an iron hatchet being added to the club, formed the
dreaded tomahawk. The Indians soon learned the value of fire arms.
Though the sale of muskets and of powder to the Indians was forbidden by
the colonists, yet the natives, obtaining a supply from the Dutch, and
from unprincipled traders, speedily rivalled the Europeans in the
skilful use of these instruments of death.
The religion of the Indians was vague and shadowy. They had no images,
but they worshipped a number of deities. Roger Williams said, that he
had heard the names of thirty-seven gods, to whom they rendered some
religious homage. They acknowledged, however, one superior being, named
Cautantowit, as the creator of men, and the giver of their corn and
other temporal benefits. They believed that Cautantowit resided in the
southwest,[107] in a delightful region, to which the souls of good men
went after death, and enjoyed fruitful fields, placid streams, abundant
game, and every thing else which an Indian’s imagination could conceive
as necessary to happiness. The souls of wicked men, as they believed,
would wander, without rest.[108] The separate existence and immortality
of the soul, and an endless state of retribution, according to the deeds
done in the body, were prominent doctrines in the narrow creed of these
rude savages. These doctrines are found among almost all nations; and
their prevalence can be satisfactorily explained only by supposing that
they are derived from the original revelation, and preserved, by
tradition, as well as by their accordance with the reason and instincts
of mankind.
The Indians had priests, who directed their worship. This consisted in
little more than occasional prayers, dances and feasts. Their religion
had little influence over their minds, as an incentive to virtue, or as
a source of consolation. They lived in gross darkness, and died without
hope. Though Eliot, Roger Williams, and others, labored for their
spiritual welfare, with some success,[109] yet the great mass of the
tribes went into eternity without a knowledge of the Saviour. It is
melancholy to reflect, that multitudes of these immortal beings died, in
all their darkness, after the glorious Gospel had begun to shed its
radiance over these hills and vallies. Our fathers desired and attempted
their conversion, but their efforts were baffled, by many adverse
causes. Let us, at this late day, endeavor to lead the feeble remnants
of these departed nations to the great Bishop of souls.
The languages of the Indians are among the wonders of philology. They
have been studied, with ardor and success, by many scholars in our own
country, and by a few scientific men abroad.[110] These languages,
instead of being rude and scanty, as might be inferred from the
character of the Indians, are found to be astonishingly regular and
copious, rich in forms, and possessing a facility of combination, and a
nice discrimination in their inflections, which are scarcely surpassed
even by the ancient Greek.[111] Mr. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia, who has
studied the native dialects with great diligence and with philosophical
acumen, says, “I confess that I am lost in astonishment at the
copiousness and admirable structure of their languages; for which I can
only account by looking up to the Great First Cause.”[112] He says, of
the Delaware language, “it would rather appear to have been formed by
philosophers in their closets, than by savages in the wilderness.”
The languages and dialects spoken on the continent of America, have been
estimated by the authors of the Mithridates, at the astonishing number
of _twelve hundred and fourteen_.[113] A large proportion of these,
however, are only variations of a few parent languages, just as the
English language is varied in different counties in England by
peculiarities, which are scarcely intelligible in other parts of the
island. The French language is, in the same way, corrupted by the
_patois_ of different sections of the country. Unwritten languages are,
of course, still more liable to variations, which, in time, would make a
distinct dialect.
All the native languages of North America have been reduced to four
classes: 1. The Karalit, or language of Greenland, and the Esquimaux. 2.
The Delaware. 3. The Iroquois. 4. The Floridian, comprehending the body
of languages spoken on the whole southern frontier of the United
States.[114]
The dialects spoken in New-England are believed to have been varieties
of the Delaware language.[115] Roger Williams affirms of the Narraganset
tongue, that “with this I have entered into the secrets of those
countries wherever English dwell, about two hundred miles, between the
French and Dutch plantations. There is a mixture of this language north
and south from the place of my abode about six hundred miles; yet,
within the two hundred miles aforesaid, their dialects do exceedingly
differ, yet not so but (within that compass) a man may by this help
converse with thousands of natives all over the country.”[116] The
Massachusetts language, into which Eliot translated the Bible, was
radically the same tongue as the Narraganset.
Roger Williams published the first vocabulary of an Indian language. His
book attracted attention, when first published, in 1643, and it is still
much valued. We shall have occasion to recur to it. Eliot wrote a
Grammar of the Massachusetts language. The son of President Edwards
wrote a brief account of the Mohegan language. The Hon. Josiah Cotton, a
descendant of the great John Cotton, compiled a vocabulary of the
Massachusetts dialect. These and other valuable papers on the native
languages, have been published in the Collections of the Massachusetts
Historical Society. They are worthy of the attention of every man who
loves to study the human mind, and who feels an interest in the
character of the Indians.
We will now offer a few remarks on a subject which has already been
touched, the rights of the Indians, and the treatment which they
received from the colonists. It is a topic of deep interest, which
affects the character of our fathers, and to which recent events and the
present condition of the surviving Indians have attracted earnest
attention.
The right of the natives to hold the possession and control of all the
territory on this continent has been a subject of dispute. The general
principles applicable to this case, as expounded by Vattel, are
these:[117] God has given the earth to the human race, and every man is
entitled to a portion of its surface, sufficient for the comfortable
support of himself and family. The actual occupancy of such a portion
gives to the occupant a title which no man can rightfully disturb. But
no one has an original right to appropriate to himself more than he
needs, because he may thus deprive others, who possess equal rights with
himself, of their appropriate share. Nor can he justly adopt a mode of
subsistence, which will necessarily require so large an extent of
territory, as to deprive his fellow men of their proportion, and either
prevent the increase of the human race, or produce in other places an
accumulation of masses of men, too great to be comfortably sustained.
That the cultivation of the earth was designed by the Creator to be the
chief means of subsistence to the human family, cannot be doubted;
because the increase of the race was certainly his purpose,[118] and
agriculture is the only mode by which a dense population could every
where be supported. It follows, that a man has no right to claim for
himself a vast tract of forest, because he chooses to subsist by
hunting. If all other men cannot have a similar tract, he must, himself,
become a cultivator, and thus subsist on a small portion of land. If a
man had appropriated to himself a large territory, which, by proper
cultivation, would furnish subsistence for many others, those others, if
their necessities required, would have a right to claim their share, and
to enforce their claim.
These principles, in their application to a primitive society, just
taking possession of a new territory, seem to be indisputable. They are
the principles on which the land of Canaan was divided among the Jews,
by the authority of God himself, and on which the colonists in this
country generally proceeded, in dividing the territory which they
acquired from the Indians.
In the progress of society, however, the balance soon becomes disturbed.
Other modes of subsistence than agriculture are adopted, and various
causes produce an accumulation of wealth in the hands of some men, while
others are reduced to indigence. The peace of society requires, that the
rich should be protected in their lawful possessions; though every
civilized nation still acts on the principle, that every member of the
community is entitled to a subsistence. He ought to earn it by his
labor, but if sickness, or want of employment, or other reasonable
causes, prevent, he is entitled to assistance from the community, and
the rich are taxed for his support. The most strenuous opposer of poor
laws will not deny, that a man, who cannot maintain himself, has a right
to aid from his fellow citizens. Thus the original law of nature comes
into operation, and the inequalities which arise are, in some measure,
compensated. But a fundamental principle of civilized society is, that
every man is to be protected in the enjoyment of the property which he
lawfully acquires. He may use it as he pleases, if he does not injure
others; and he cannot be deprived of it, or of any part of it, without
his own consent.
It is not easy to see, why the same principle should not be applied to
the Indians. They had regular, though simple, governments, and the
territories of each tribe were defined by boundaries sufficiently
precise for their purposes. They had the best of all titles to their
lands, actual possession. Why, then, might not the Indian claim to be
protected in the enjoyment of his property? Why might he not make use of
that property as he pleased, while he did not trespass on the rights of
others? If the law of nations did not reach him, was he out of the pale
of the great law of justice and reason? If it were said, that he had no
right to appropriate to himself miles of forest, for a hunting ground,
he might reply, that he had as good a right as an English nobleman has
to appropriate to himself a vast space, for parks and fish ponds; and,
indeed, a better right, by the law of nature, for every other Indian
could enjoy as much land as himself, while the nobleman must see
hundreds around him in abject poverty.
But it has been said, that the Creator could not have designed this vast
and beautiful region to be exclusively inhabited by a few thousands of
savage hunters; and, therefore, if the old world should become crowded
with inhabitants, a portion of them would have a right to remove to
America, and occupy a portion of it, as a part of the great inheritance
of the human race. The Indians would consequently be bound to allow them
a sufficient space; and if the numbers of both parties should so
increase as to make hunting impracticable, the Indians ought to become
cultivators.
If this theory were admitted as sound, the practical application of it
would not be easy. The absolute necessity of emigration from the old
world has not, perhaps, occurred, and yet this case must be made out, to
justify an occupancy of a part of the Indian territory, without the
consent of the natives. Immense tracts of uncultivated land exist in
Europe, and even in England. Why would it not be as just for a company
of settlers to fix their dwellings in a nobleman’s park, cut down his
trees, and plant their corn, as to do the same on the lands of an
Indian? If it were alleged, that the Indian had more land than he
needed, the same might be said, perhaps, of the nobleman. At any rate,
it might be asked, who was the proper judge, how much land an Indian
needed?
But, looking at the actual state of things, at the settlement of this
country, the necessities of the Pilgrims were sufficiently great, to
make it the duty of the Indians to receive them hospitably, and allow
them a portion of their lands. Where the country was deserted by the
natives, the colonists might, undoubtedly, take possession. But wherever
the Indians actually occupied the territory, even for the purposes of
hunting, they were, clearly, the proprietors; and though it was
doubtless their duty to cede to the Europeans a sufficient portion for
their maintenance, yet they could not justly be forced to perform this
duty. The settlers were bound to be satisfied with a sufficient amount
of land for their comfortable support by agriculture and by the arts of
civilized life. But the Indians retained an inviolable right to so much
territory as they deemed necessary for their own use. Their title was
beyond dispute. No power on earth could lawfully dispossess them.
We may conclude, then, that the Indians were the lawful proprietors of
all the lands which they occupied. They were independent nations, and
had a right to regulate their governments, and use their territory, as
they pleased, while they respected the rights of others. They
consequently could not be lawfully subjected to the sway of any other
nation, without their own consent. No charters from popes or kings could
give a right to take possession of the Indian territory. The Indians
were nevertheless under an obligation to receive distressed Europeans,
who sought their coasts, and to sell them land. They were, too, bound by
the great law of God, which requires men to aspire after moral and
physical perfection. This law obliged them to become civilized, and to
adopt those modes of life which would enable their territory to support
the greatest possible number of inhabitants. Hence arose another
obligation to admit Europeans among them, who were capable of
instructing and elevating them to the rank of civilized, educated,
Christian nations. The duties of the settlers were, to make a reasonable
compensation for the land ceded; to respect the rights of the natives;
to treat them with uniform kindness; to teach them the arts of
civilization; and, above all, to inculcate the principles and the
practice of the Christian religion.
It is pleasing to observe, in the history of the New-England colonists,
that the duties of both parties were, to so great an extent, fulfilled.
The Indians, in most cases, received the white men with generous
hospitality; they sold them land, on easy terms; many tribes remained
their firm friends; and some of the natives became converts to the
Christian faith. The colonists, on the other hand, purchased their lands
from the Indians, for such a compensation as satisfied the natives, and
was a fair equivalent at that time.[119] They treated the Indians,
generally, with justice, and they made many zealous efforts for their
conversion. That some of the proceedings of the colonists towards the
Indians were not strictly equitable nor kind, must be admitted. Our
fathers were too prone to view them rather as heathens than as men. They
recurred too often to the Jewish history, for imaginary analogies; and
drew unauthorized inferences from the conduct of the Jews towards
idolatrous nations, whom God, the sovereign ruler, commanded them to
destroy. In their wars with the natives, the colonists were sometimes
unjustifiably severe; but it is due to their memory to say, that those
wars were commenced by the savages themselves, from jealousy of the
advancing power of the whites, rather than from the experience of actual
injury. We must consider, too, that when the struggle came, it was, on
the part of the whites, a contest for life and death, with an enemy
vastly more numerous, and whose modes of warfare were treacherous,
cruel, and terrific in the highest degree to the scattered and feeble
settlements.[120]
A candid reader of our early colonial history, while he observes many
things which he deeply regrets and condemns, must nevertheless admit,
that the conduct of our fathers towards the Indians was, in general,
worthy of their high character, as wise and pious, yet imperfect men,
who were placed in circumstances which severely tried their principles,
and amid difficulties, which required the utmost wisdom and courage.
When we consider the diabolical cruelty with which the Spaniards treated
the unhappy natives of South America, we must turn, with, emotions of
grateful pleasure, to the history of our own land, and rejoice, that our
fathers were men, for whom their descendants have little occasion to
blush, or to apologize.
The kings of England, whatever language they employed in their patents
and charters, treated the Indians, in practice, as separate nations, and
entered into treaties with different tribes. The government of the
United States have done the same, and, except in one humiliating
instance, have pursued towards the natives a just and humane policy. The
treaties so formed have been pronounced, by the highest legal authority
in this country, to be binding on our government, and the rights of the
Indians, as distinct nations, though under the protection of the United
States, have thus been judicially recognised.[121]
That the Indian tribes in New-England melted away, must awaken
melancholy feelings. But it cannot be maintained, that their
disappearance was occasioned mainly by the treatment or the neglect
which they experienced from the colonial governments. These governments
could not wholly prevent unprincipled individuals from inflicting wrongs
on the natives, which tended to exasperate them. They could not entirely
exclude the introduction of ardent spirits, the most deadly and active
agent in the destruction of the aborigines. Though they sent
missionaries, and printed Bibles, and erected schools, for the religious
and literary instruction of the natives, they could not reclaim any
considerable proportion of them from their savage habits. As the whites
increased, the game disappeared, and as the Indians did not alter their
habits, they became destitute, and their numbers diminished. They saw,
at length, the alternative, of utter ruin or the expulsion of the
English, and they determined to attempt the latter. But it was too late.
They fought, with desperation, and filled the land with frightful
distress and bloodshed. But the superior skill of the whites prevailed,
and the death of the formidable Philip terminated forever the power of
the Indians in New-England. We may admit, that the savages were impelled
by some motives of patriotism and love of liberty. We may respect and
pity them. But surely we cannot lament that they failed; that their
exterminating warfare did not accomplish its purpose; that the tomahawk
did not, after butchering the last father in the field, smite the last
infant in the cradle; that the flames did not lay in ashes every
dwelling of civilized man and every temple of God; and that barbarism
did not resume its dominion over the hills and vallies of New-England.
No man, if he could do it by waving some potent wand, would bid all this
teeming population, this wide spread happiness, this wonderful triumph
of civilization, freedom and religion, disappear, like a gorgeous
vision, and restore this whole land to the condition in which the
Pilgrims found it, or even place it in the situation in which it would
have been, at this moment, if no civilized man had landed on these
shores. Human happiness has been immeasurably increased by the
settlement of this continent. Christianity has extended her conquests;
and no thoughtful man can doubt, that the landing of the Pilgrims, and
the subsequent history of this country, have been controlled by Him, who
accomplishes his great designs of mercy to the universe, by means which
often involve individual suffering, and sometimes produce national ruin.
Let us feel our obligation to treat the feeble remnants of the tribes
who yet remain with generous kindness. Let us recompense them for
whatever wrongs their fathers may have received. Let us, now that they
are weak, and we are strong, be scrupulously attentive to their rights,
and seek to promote their highest temporal and eternal welfare. Without
the friendship of their fathers, at the beginning, ours must have
perished. Let the children of the white man prove their gratitude, by
saving from ruin the helpless descendants of the savage.