The Author's wife and two children arrive in the British Queen, from
New York--First appreciation of London--Sight-seeing--Author
lectures in the Royal Institution--Suggests a _Museum of
Mankind_--Great applause--Vote of thanks by members of the Royal
Institution--The "_Museum of History_"--Author lectures in the
other literary and scientific institutions of London--Author
dines with the Royal Geographical Society, and with the Royal
Geological Society--Mrs. Catlin's travels in the "Far West"--Her
welcome, and kind friends in London.
My work being published under the flattering auspices explained in the
foregoing pages, and now in the hands of the reading public, attracted
additional numbers of visitors to my Rooms, greatly increasing the
labours of poor Daniel, and calling also for more of my time and
attention, which I could now better devote to it. My old friends were
calling to congratulate me on the success of my book, and strangers
to form an acquaintance with me and offer me the civilities of their
houses.
Though every part of these calls upon my time, either in the labours
of my exhibition or in the society of friends, was pleasing and
gratifying to me, yet it became necessary for my health to evade a part
of these excitements on either hand, and I subsequently endeavoured,
by a limited indulgence in the pleasures of society, and a moderate
endurance of the excitements and fatigue of my Rooms, to save my life;
throwing the cares and labours of the exhibition, as much as possible,
upon the broader shoulders and stronger lungs of Daniel and his
assistants.
I felt now as if I had a sort of citizenship in London, and began
to think of seeing its "sights;" and from this time may date the
commencement of my real appreciation of the elegances and comforts of
London, its hospitalities, and the genuine English character.
It was an opportune moment, also, for the arrival of my dear wife and
her two infant children, for whom I had written to New York, and who
were just landing from the British Queen, in London, to share the kind
attentions and compliments that were being paid to me, and also for
seeing with me the sights and curiosities of the metropolis.
About this time I was highly complimented by an invitation to deliver
a lecture in the Royal Institution, Albemarle-street. The venerable
members of that institution were nearly all present, and every seat
was filled. I had, on the occasion, several living figures, dressed in
Indian costumes, with weapons in hand, as well as many of my paintings
exhibited on my easel, as illustrations; and I was highly gratified
with the attention and repeated applause, convincing me that the
subject and myself were kindly received.
I endeavoured, in the compass of an evening's lecture, to give as
comprehensive a view as I could of the motives which had led me into
the Indian countries--of the time I had spent in them--of the extent
and nature of the collection I had made--of the condition and numbers
of the various tribes, and of their personal appearance and habits of
life, which I illustrated by my numerous paintings, and by the curious
manufactures of their own hands. I endeavoured also to delineate
their true native character, as I had found it in its most primitive
condition--and to explain the principal causes that have been, and
still are, leading to their rapid declension.
I took advantage of this occasion likewise to introduce a subject
which had been for many years my favourite theme, which had constantly
stimulated me through my toils in the Indian country, and which, as
I was the first to propose in my own country, I believe I was the
first to suggest on this side of the Atlantic--a MUSEUM of
MANKIND. A shout of enthusiastic applause burst from every
part of the Hall when the subject was named, and rounds of applause
followed every sentence when I proceeded to say, that in the toils
and dangers of my remotest travels in the wilderness I had been
strengthened and nerved by the hope and the belief, that if I lived to
finish my studies and to return with my collection, I should be able
to show to the world the plan upon which a Museum could be formed, to
contain and perpetuate the looks and manners and history of all the
declining and vanishing races of man, and that my collection would
ultimately form the basis of such an institution.
I agreed with all the world as to the great interest and value of their
noble collections of beasts, and birds, and reptiles, of fossils, of
minerals, of fishes, of insects, and of plants, all of which can be
gathered hundreds of years hence as well as at the present time; and
I believed that all of the reasoning world who would give the subject
a moment's thought, would agree with _me_, that there was one museum
yet to be made, far transcending in interest and value all others
yet designed, and which must needs be made soon, or it will be for
ever lost--a museum containing the familiar looks, the manufactures,
history, and records of all the remnants of the declining races of our
fellow-men.
It occurred to me, and I said it then, that Great Britain has more
than thirty colonies in different quarters of the globe, in which the
numbers of civilized men are increasing, and the native tribes are
wasting away--that the march of civilization is everywhere, as it is in
America, a war of extermination, and that of our own species. For the
occupation of a new country, the first enemy that must fall is _man_,
and his like cannot be transplanted from any other quarter of the
globe. Our war is not with beasts or with birds: the grizly bear, the
lion, and the tiger are allowed to live. Our weapons are not employed
against them: we do not give them whiskey, and rum, and the small pox,
nor the bayonet; they are allowed to live and thrive upon our soil, and
yet their skins are of great value in our museums; but to complete a
title, man, our fellow-man, the noblest work of God, with thoughts,
with sentiments and sympathies like our own, must be extinguished; and
he dies on his own soil, unchronicled and unknown (save to the ruthless
hands that have slain him, and would bury his history with his body in
oblivion), when not even his _skin_ has a place assigned it amongst
those of the beasts and birds of his country.
From England, from France, and the United States, government vessels,
in this age of colonization, are floating to every part of the globe,
and in them, artists and men of science could easily be conveyed to
every race, and their collections returned free of expense, were there
an institution formed and ready to receive and perpetuate the results
of their labours.
I believed that the time had arrived for the creation of such an
institution, and that well-directed efforts to bring it into existence
would have the admiration and countenance of all the philanthropic
world.
There was but one expression of feeling from every part of the hall at
the close of these remarks, and every voice seemed to say "Yes--the
noble philanthropy of this Christian and enlightened and enlightening
age calls for it, and it must be done before it is too late."[3]
[3] The noble and unaided efforts of my best of friends, Captain
Shippard, to bring into existence such an institution, are, I
believe, too well known and appreciated by the English public to
require more of me here, than barely to refer to his beautifully
illustrated lectures on the "_Arabians_" and the "_Ruined
Cities of America_;" and whilst wishing all success to his
noble enterprise, I beg to refer the reader to Appendix B for a
synopsis of his design.
A few days after my lecture was delivered, I received with much
satisfaction from the secretary of the institution the following
communication, which the reader will allow me the vanity of inserting
here:--
"Sir,--I have the honour to return you the thanks of the members
of the _Royal Institution of Great Britain_ for your interesting
account of your residence and adventures among the native tribes of
North American Indians, with notices of their social condition,
customs, mysteries, and modes of warfare--communicated at the weekly
meeting of the members on Friday, the 14th February.
"I am, Sir, your very obedient Servant,
"EDWARD R. DANIELL, _Secretary_.
"_To Geo. Catlin, Esq._"
* * * * *
Invitations from the other literary and scientific institutions of
London afforded me the opportunity of repeating my lectures in most of
their halls, where I was uniformly received with applause, which was
also a source of much gratification to me. These interviews suddenly
and delightfully led me into the society of literary and scientific
men, and also into the noble collections and libraries under their
superintendence. I was here at once ushered, as it were, into a
new world--a new atmosphere--and in it was met and welcomed every
where with the utmost cordiality and kindness; libraries, museums,
laboratories, and lectures were free to me; and not only the private
tables of the advocates of science, but their public tables in their
banqueting halls, prepared a seat for me.
Thus were my labours being requited; and I was happy in the conviction
that the claims of the poor Indians were being heard in the right
tribunal, and that I was their advocate at the true source from which
emanated most of the great and moral influences that govern and improve
the world.
I was invited to the annual dinners of the Royal Geographical,
Geological, and Historical Societies; and in responding to the
compliments paid me at all of them, in proposing my health and the
prosperity of my country, I was delighted to find that my advocacy
of the rights of the poor Indian, and my scheme for a _Museum_ of
_Mankind_, were met and sanctioned with rounds of enthusiastic applause.
I have mentioned that my dear wife with her two children had arrived
from New York, and the pleasures and endearments of my own little
fireside, now transplanted into a foreign land, were stealing away
their part of my time, which, with the necessary attention to the
kind civilities being paid us, our sight-seeing, our dinings-out,
our drives, and my attendance in my rooms and lectures at night, was
curiously divided and engrossed.
The advent of my dear Clara, with her two babes, was like the coming
of the warm and gentle breezes of spring--she who, though delicate
and tender, had been, during the three last years of my rambles in
the Indian wilds, my indefatigable companion--She who had traced and
retraced with me the winding mazes of the mighty Mississippi, the
Missouri, the Ohio, and the Arkansas--and with the lightness of the
bounding antelopes that dwell upon their shores, had darted over their
grassy banks and their green carpeted and enamelled slopes, and plucked
their loveliest flowers--she who had also traced with me the shores
of the great lakes of the north, and inhaled the glowing sweetness of
Florida's lovely coast--and had kept her journal of thirteen thousand
miles of wild rambles with her husband, and since her return to the
land of her birth had blessed him in the richness of gift with two
children, was now by his side (as I have said, like the coming of
spring), to cheer him with the familiar sweet smiles and sounds in
which he never knew guile.[4]
[4] The reader will pardon these expressions, and others of a
similar nature that may occasionally occur, for they apply to
one who now rests with the silent dead, as will be explained in
future pages of this work.
Thanks to the kind friends who took her fair hand and bade her
welcome--for they were many, and ready to contribute to her happiness,
which filled (at that moment at least) the cup of our mutual enjoyment.