Peculiar attractions of the Indian mode of life—Account of a settler who
resided some time among them.
IN this wild liberty, habits of probity, mutual confidence, and constant
variety, there was an undefinable charm, that while they preserved their
primitive manners, wrought in every one who dwelt for any time amongst
them.
I have often heard my friend speak of an old man, who, being carried
away in his infancy by some hostile tribe who had slain his parents, was
rescued very soon after by a tribe of friendly Indians, who, from
motives of humanity, resolved to bring him up among themselves, that he
might, in their phrase, “learn to bend the bow, and speak truth.” When
it was discovered, some years after, that he was still living, his
relations reclaimed him, and the community wished him to return and
inherit his father’s lands, now become more considerable. The Indians
were unwilling to part with their protégé, and he was still more
reluctant to return. This was considered as a bad precedent; the early
settlers having found it convenient in several things regarding hunting,
food, &c. to assimilate in some degree with the Indians; and the young
men, occasionally, at that early period, joined their hunting and
fishing parties. It was considered as a matter of serious import to
reclaim this young alien, lest others should be lost to the community
and to their religion, by following his example. With difficulty they
forced him home—where they never could have detained him, had they not
carefully and gradually inculcated into his mind the truths of
christianity. To those instructions, even his Indian predilections
taught him to listen; for it was the religion of his fathers, and
venerable to him as such: still, however, his dislike of our manners was
never entirely conquered, nor was his attachment to his foster fathers
ever much diminished. He was possessed of a very sound intellect, and
used to declaim with the most vehement eloquence, against our crafty and
insidious encroachments on our old friends. His abhorrence of the petty
falsehoods to which custom has too well reconciled us, and those little
artifices which we all occasionally practise, rose to a height fully
equal to that felt by Gulliver. Swift and this other misanthrope, though
they lived at the same time, could not have had any intercourse, else
one might have supposed the invectives which he has put into the mouth
of Gulliver, were borrowed from this demi-savage; whose contempt and
hatred of selfishness, meanness, and duplicity, were expressed in
language worthy of the dean: insomuch, that years after I had heard of
this singular character, I thought, on reading Gulliver’s asperities,
after returning from Houyhnhnmland, that I had met my old friend again.
One really does meet with characters that fiction would seem too bold in
portraying. This original had an aversion to liquor, which amounted to
abhorrence; being embittered by his regret at the mischiefs resulting
from it to his old friends, and rage at the traders for administering
the means of depravity. He could never bear any seasoning to his food,
and despised luxury in all its forms.
For all the growing evils I have been describing, there was only one
remedy, which the sagacity of my friend and her other self soon
discovered; and their humanity as well as principle, led them to try all
possible means of administering. It was the pure light and genial
influence of christianity alone, that could cheer and ameliorate the
state of these people, now, from a concurrence of circumstances scarcely
to be avoided in the nature of things, deprived of the independence
habitual to their own way of life, without acquiring in its room any of
those comforts which sweeten ours. By gradually and gently unfolding to
them the views of a happy futurity, and the means by which depraved
humanity was restored to a participation of that blessing; pride,
revenge, and the indulgence of every excess of passion or appetite being
restrained by the precepts of a religion ever powerful where it is
sincere; their spirits would be brought down from the fierce pride which
despises improvement, to adopt such of our modes as would enable them to
incorporate in time with our society, and procure for themselves a
comfortable subsistence, in a country no longer adapted to supply the
wants of the houseless rangers of the forest.
The narrow policy of many looked coldly on this benevolent project.
Hunters supplied the means of commerce, and warriors those of defence;
and it was questionable whether a Christian Indian would hunt or fight
as well as formerly. This, however, had no power with those in whom
christianity was any thing more than a name. There were already many
christian Indians; and it was very encouraging that not one, once
converted, had ever forsaken the strict profession of their religion, or
ever, in a single instance, abandoned themselves to the excesses so
pernicious to their unconverted brethren. Never was the true spirit of
christianity more exemplified than in the lives of those comparatively
few converts, who, about this time, amounted to more than two hundred.
But the tender care and example of the Schuylers, co-operating with the
incessant labours of a judicious and truly apostolic missionary, some
years after, greatly augmented their numbers in different parts of the
continent; and to this day, the memory of David Brainard, the faithful
labourer alluded to, is held in veneration in those districts that were
blessed with his ministry. He did not confine himself to one people or
province, but travelled from place to place, to disseminate the gospel
to new converts, and confirm and cherish the truths already planted. The
first foundation of that church had, however, as I formerly mentioned,
been laid long ago; and the examples of piety, probity, and benevolence,
set by the worthies at the Flats, and a few more, were a very necessary
comment on the doctrines to which their assent was desired.
The great stumbling block which the missionaries had to encounter with
the Indians, (who, as far as their knowledge went, argued with great
acuteness and logical precision,) was the small influence which our
religion seemed to have over many of its professors. “Why,” said they,
“if the book of truth, that shows the way to happiness, and bids all men
do justice, and love one another, is given both to Corlaer, and
Onnonthio,[10] does it not direct them in the same way? Why does
Onnonthio worship, and Corlaer neglect, the mother of the blessed one?
And why do the missionaries blame those for worshipping things made with
hands, while the priests tell the praying nation[11] that Corlaer and
his people have forsaken the worship of his forefathers: besides, how
can people, who believe that God and good spirits view and take an
interest in all their actions, cheat and dissemble, drink and fight,
quarrel and backbite, if they believe the great fire burns for those who
do such things? If we believed what you say, we should not exchange so
much good for wickedness, to please an evil spirit, who would rejoice at
our destruction.”
Footnote 10:
Corlaer was the title given by them to the governor of New-York; and
was figuratively used for the governed, and Onnonthio for those of
Canada, in the same manner.
Footnote 11:
Praying nation, was a name given to a village of Indians near
Montreal, who professed the catholic faith.
To this reasoning it was not easy to oppose any thing that could carry
conviction to untutored people, who spoke from observation and the
evidence of the senses; to which could only be opposed scripture texts,
which avail not till they are believed; and abstract reasoning,
extremely difficult to bring to the level of an unlearned understanding.
Great labour and perseverance wrought on the minds of a few, who felt
conviction, as far as it is to be ascribed to human agency, flowing from
the affectionate persuasion of those whom they visibly beheld earnest
for their eternal welfare: and when a few had thus yielded,[12] the
peace and purity of their lives, and the sublime enjoyment they seemed
to derive from the prospects their faith opened into futurity, was an
inducement to others to follow the same path. This abstractedly from
religious considerations of endless futurity, is the true and only way
to civilization; and to the blending together the old and new
inhabitants of these regions. National pride, rooted prejudices,
ferocity, and vindictive hatred, all yield before a change that new
moulds the whole soul, and furnishes man with new fears and hopes, and
new motives for action.
Footnote 12:
Some of them made such a proficiency in practical religion, as ought
to shame many of us who boast the illuminating aids of our native
christianity. Not one of these Indians have been concerned in those
barbarous irruptions which deluged the frontiers of our south-western
provinces with the blood of so many innocents of every age and sex. At
the commencement of these ravages, they flew into the settlements, and
put themselves under the protection of government. The Indians no
sooner became christians, than they openly professed their loyalty to
King George; and therefore, to contribute to their conversion, was as
truly politic as nobly christian.
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