Management of the Mohawks, by the influence of the Christian Indians.
THE influence these converts had obtained over the minds of those most
venerated for wisdom among their countrymen, was the medium through
which this patriot family, in some degree, controlled the opinions of
that community at large, and kept them faithful to the British
interests. Every two or three years, there was a congress held, by
deputies from New-York, who generally spoke to the Indians by an
interpreter; went through the form of delivering presents from their
brother, the great king, redressing petty grievances, smoking the
calumet of peace, and delivering belts, the pledges of amity. But these
were mere public forms; the real terms of this often renewed amity
having been previously digested by those who far better understood the
relations subsisting between the contracting parties, and the causes
most likely to interrupt their union. Colonel Schuyler, though always
ready to serve his country in exigencies, did not like to take upon
himself any permanent responsibility, as a superintendent of Indian
affairs, as it might have diminished that private influence which arose
from the general veneration for his character, and from a conviction
that the concern he took was voluntary and impartial; neither did he
choose to sacrifice that domestic peace and leisure, which he so well
knew how to turn to the best account, being convinced that by his
example and influence as a private gentleman, he had it in his power to
do much good of a peculiar kind, which was incompatible with the weight
and bustle of public affairs, or with that hospitality, which, as they
managed it, was productive of so many beneficial effects. I have already
shown how, by prudent address and kind conciliation this patriotic pair
soothed and attached the Indians to the British interest. As the country
grew more populous, and property more abundant and more secure, the face
of society in this inland region began to change. They whose quiet and
orderly demeanor, devotion, and integrity, did not much require the
enforcement of laws, began now to think themselves above them. To a
deputed authority, the source of which lay beyond the Atlantic, they
paid little deference; and from their neighbours of New Hampshire and
Connecticut, who bordered on their frontiers, and served with them in
the colonial wars, they had little to learn of loyalty or submission.
These people they held in great contempt, both as soldiers and
statesmen; and yet, from their frequent intercourse with those who
talked of law and politics in their peculiar, uncouth dialect
incessantly, they insensibly adopted many of their notions. There is a
certain point of stable happiness at which our imperfect nature merely
seems to arrive; for the very materials of which it is formed contain
the seeds of its destruction: this was the case here. That peaceful and
desirable equality of conditions, from which so many comforts resulted,
in process of time occasioned an aversion to superiors, to whom they
were not accustomed, and an exaggerated jealousy of the power which was
exercised for their own safety and comfort. Their manners
unsophisticated, and their morals, in a great measure, uncorrupted, led
them to regard with unjustifiable scorn and aversion, those strangers
who brought with them the manners of more polished, though less pure
communities. Proud of their haughty bluntness, which daily increased
with their wealth and security, they began to consider respectful and
polite behaviour as a degree of servility and duplicity; while they
revolted at the power exercised over themselves, and very reluctantly
made the exertions necessary for their own protection. They showed every
inclination to usurp the territories of their Indian allies; and use, to
the very utmost, the power they had acquired over them, by supplying
their wants.
At the liberal table of aunt Schuyler, where there were always
intelligence, just notions, and good breeding to be met with, both among
the owners and their guests, many had their prejudices softened down,
their minds enlarged, and their manners improved. There they met British
officers of rank and merit, and persons in authority; and learnt that
the former were not artificial coxcombs, nor the latter petty tyrants,
as they would otherwise be very apt to imagine. Here they were
accustomed to find authority respected, on the one hand, and on the
other, to see the natural rights of man vindicated, and the utmost
abhorrence expressed of all the sophistry by which the credulous were
misled by the crafty, to have a code of morality for their treatment of
heathens, different from that which directed them in their dealing with
christians. Here a selection of the best and worthiest, of the different
characters and classes we have been describing, met—and were taught not
only to tolerate, but to esteem each other: and it required the calm,
temperate wisdom, and easy, versatile manners of my friend to bring this
about. It is when they are called to act in a new scene, and among
people different from any they had known or imagined, that the folly of
the wise, and the weakness of the strong, become discernible.
Many officers justly esteemed, possessed of capacity, learning, and much
knowledge, both of the usages of the world, and the art of war, from the
want of certain habitudes, which nothing but experience can teach, were
disqualified for the warfare of the woods; and from a secret contempt
with which they regarded the blunt simplicity and plain appearance of
the settlers, were not attentive to their advice on these points. They
were not aware how much they were to depend on them for the means of
carrying on their operations; and by rude or negligent treatment so
disgusted them, that they withheld the horses, oxen, waggons, &c. which
were to be paid for, merely to show their independence; well knowing the
dreaded and detested military power, even if coercive measures were
resorted to, would have no chance for redress in their courts; and even
the civil authority were cautious of doing any thing so unpopular as to
decide in favour of the military. Thus, till properly instructed, those
bewildered strangers were apt to do the thing of all others that
annihilates a feeble authority; threaten where they could not strike,
and forfeit respect where they could not enforce obedience. A failure of
this kind, clogged and enfeebled all their measures; for without the
hearty co-operation of the inhabitants in furnishing pre-requisites,
nothing could go on in a country without roads, or public vehicles, for
the conveyance of their warlike stores. Another rock they were apt to
run upon was, a neglect of the Indians, whom they neither sufficiently
feared as enemies, nor valued as friends, till taught to do so by
maturer judgments. Of this, Braddock’s defeat was an instance; he was
brave, experienced, and versed in all military science; his confidence
in which, occasioned the destruction of himself and his army. He
considered those counsels, that warned him how little, manœuvres or
numbers would avail in the close prison of innumerable boughs, as the
result of feeble caution; and marched his army to certain ruin, in the
most brave and scientific manner imaginable. Upon certain occasions,
there is no knowledge so valuable as that of our own ignorance.
At the Flats, the self-righted boor learned civilization and
subordination: the high-bred and high-spirited field officer,
gentleness, accommodation, and respect for unpolished worth and untaught
valour. There, too, the shrewd and deeply-reflecting Indian learnt to
respect the British character, and to confide in that of the settlers,
by seeing the best specimens of both acting candidly towards each other,
and generously to himself.
My friend was most particularly calculated to be the coadjutor of her
excellent consort, in thus subduing the spirits of different classes of
people, strongly disposed to entertain a repulsive dislike of each
other; and by leading them to the chastened enjoyment of the same social
pleasures, under the auspices of those whose good will they were all
equally convinced of, she contrived to smooth down asperities, and
assimilate those various characters, in a manner that could not be done
by any other means.
Accustomed from childhood, both from the general state of society, and
the enlarged minds of her particular associates, to take liberal views
of every thing, and to look forward on all occasions to consequences,
she steadily followed her wise and benevolent purposes, without being
attracted by petty gratifications, or repelled by petty disgusts.
Neither influenced by female vanity, nor female fastidiousness, she
might very truly say of popularity, as Falstaff says of Worcester’s
rebellion, “it lay in her way and she found it;” for no one ever took
less pains to obtain it; and if the weight of solid usefulness and
beneficence had not, as it never fails to do in the long run, forced
approbation, her mode of conducting herself, though it might greatly
endear her to her particular associates, was not conciliating to common
minds. The fact was, that though her benevolence extended through the
whole circle of those to whom she was known, she had too many objects of
importance in view, to squander time upon imbecility and insignificance;
nor could she find leisure for the routine of ordinary visits, or
inclination for the insipidity of ordinary chit chat.
If people of the description here alluded to, could forward any plan
advantageous to the public, or to any of those persons in whom she was
particularly interested, she would treat them occasionally with much
civility—for she had all the power of superior intellect without the
pride of it, but could not submit to a perpetual sacrifice to forms and
trifles. This, in her, was not only justifiable but laudable; yet it is
not mentioned as an example, because a case can very rarely occur, where
the benefit resulting to others, from making one’s own path, and
forsaking the ordinary road, can be so essential:—few ever can have a
sphere of action so peculiar or so important as hers; and very few,
indeed, have so sound a judgment to direct them in choosing, or so much
fortitude to support them in pursuing, a way of their own.
In ordinary matters, where neither religion nor morality is concerned,
it is much safer to trust to the common sense of mankind in general,
than to our own particular fancy. Singularity of conduct or opinion is
so often the result of vanity or affectation, that whoever ventures upon
it, ought to be a person whose example is looked up to by others. A
person too great to follow, ought to be great enough to lead. But though
her conversation was reserved for those she preferred, her advice,
compassion, and good offices were always given where most needed.
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