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TECUMSEH
_A DRAMA_
BY CHARLES MAIR.
"When the white men first set foot on our shores, they
were hungry; they had no places on which to spread
their blankets or to kindle their fires. They were
feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our
fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely
with them whatever the Great Spirit had given to his
red children."
_From_ TECUMSEH'S _speech to the Osages_.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
INDIANS:
TECUMSEH _(Chief of the Shawanoes)_.
THE PROPHET _(Brother of Tecumseh)_.
TARHAY _(A Chief in love with Iena)_.
STAYETA _(Chief of the Wyandots)_.
MIAMI, DELAWARE, KICKAPOO and DAHCOTA CHIEFS.
_Warriors, Braves, Josakeeds and Runners_.
MAMATEE _(Wife of Tecumseh)_.
IENA _(Niece of Tecumseh)_.
WEETAMORE, WINONA _and other Indian Maidens_.
AMERICANS:
GENERAL HARRISON _(Governor of Indiana
Territory)_.
GENERAL HULL.
COLONEL CASS.
BARRON _(An Indian Agent)_.
TWANG, SLAUGH, GERKIN and BLOAT _(Citizens of
Vincennes)_.
_Five Councillors of Indiana Territory, Officers,
Soldiers, Volunteers, Orderlies and Scouts_.
BRITISH AND CANADIANS:
GENERAL BROCK _(Administrator of the Government of
Upper Canada)_.
COLONEL _(afterwards General)_ PROCTOR. GLEGG,
MACDONELL, _Aides-de-camp to General Brock_.
NICHOL, BABY, ELIOTT, _Colonels of Canadian
Volunteers_.
McKEE, ROBINSON, _Captains of Canadian Volunteers_.
LEFROY _(A poet-artist, enamoured of Indian life, and
in love with IENA.)_
_Two Old men of York, U. E. Loyalists, and other
Citizens, Alien Settlers, Officers, Soldiers,
Volunteers, Orderlies and Messengers_.
TECUMSEH
ACT I.
SCENE FIRST.--THE FOREST NEAR THE PROPHET'S TOWN ON
THE TIPPECANOE.
_Enter the_ PROPHET.
PROPHET. Twelve moons have wasted, and no tidings
still!
Tecumseh must have perished! Joy has tears
As well as grief, and mine will freely flow--
Sembling our women's piteous privilege--
Whilst dry ambition ambles to its ends.
My schemes have swelled to greatness, and my name
Has flown so far upon the wings of fear
That nations tremble at its utterance.
Our braves abhor, yet stand in awe of me,
Who ferret witchcraft out, commune with Heaven,
And ope or shut the gloomy doors of death.
All feelings and all seasons suit ambition!
Yet my vindictive nature hath a craft,
In action slow, which matches mother-earth's:
First seed-time--then the harvest of revenge.
Who works for power, and not the good of men,
Would rather win by fear than lose by love.
Not so Tecumseh--rushing to his ends,
And followed by men's love--whose very foes
Trust him the most. Rash fool! Him do I dread,
And his imperious spirit. Twelve infant moons
Have swung in silver cradles o'er these woods,
And, still no tidings of his enterprise,
Which--all too deep and wide--has swallowed him.
And left me here unrivalled and alone.
_Enter an_ INDIAN RUNNER.
Ha! There's a message in your eyes--what now?
RUNNER. Your brother, great Tecumseh, has returned,
And rests himself a moment ere he comes
To counsel with you here.
[_Exit Runner_.]
PROPHET. He has returned!
So then the growing current of my power
Must fall again into the stately stream
Of his great purpose. But a moment past
I stood upon ambition's height, and now
My brother comes to break my greatness up,
And merge it in his own. I know his thoughts--
That I am but a helper to his ends;
And, were there not a whirlpool in my soul
Of hatred which would fain ingulf our foes,
I would engage my cunning and my craft
'Gainst his simplicity, and win the lead.
But, hist, he comes! I must assume the role
By which I pander to his purposes.
_Enter_ TECUMSEH.
TECUMSEH. Who is this standing in the darkened robes?
PROPHET. The Prophet! Olliwayshilla, who probes
The spirit-world, and holds within his ken
Life's secrets and the fateful deeds of men.
The "One-Eyed!" Brother to the Shooting Star--
TECUMSEH. With heart of wax, and hands not made for
war.
PROPHET. Would that my hands were equal to my hate!
Then would strange vengeance traffic on the earth;
For I should treat our foes to what they crave--
Our fruitful soil--yea, ram it down their throats,
And choke them with the very dirt they love.
'Tis you Tecumseh! You, are here at last,
And welcome as the strong heat-bearing Spring
Which opens up the pathways of revenge.
What tidings from afar?
TECUMSEH. Good tidings thence.
I have not seen the Wyandots, but all
The distant nations will unite with us
To spurn the fraudful treaties of Fort Wayne.
From Talapoosa to the Harricanaw
I have aroused them from their lethargy.
From the hot gulf up to those confines rude,
Where Summer's sides are pierced with icicles,
They stand upon my call. What tidings here?
PROPHET. No brand has struck to bark our enterprise
Which grows on every side. The Prophet's robe,
That I assumed when old Pengasega died--
With full accord and countenance from you--
Fits a strong shoulder ampler far than his;
And all our people follow me in fear.
TECUMSEH. Would that they followed you in love!
Proceed! My ears are open to my brother's tongue.
PROPHET. I have myself, and by swift messengers,
Proclaimed to all the nations far and near,
I am the Open-Door, and have the power
To lead them back to life. The sacred fire
Must burn forever in the red-man's lodge,
Else will that life go out. All earthly goods
By the Great Spirit meant for common use
Must so be held. Red shall not marry white,
To lop our parent stems; and never more
Must vile, habitual cups of deadliness
Distort their noble natures, and unseat
The purpose of their souls. They must return
To ancient customs; live on game and maize;
Clothe them with skins, and love both wife and child,
Nor lift a hand in wrath against their race.
TECUMSEH. These are wise counsels which are noised
afar,
And many nations have adopted them
And made them law.
PROPHET. These counsels were your own!
Good in themselves, they are too weak to sway
Our fickle race. I've much improved on them
Since the Great Spirit took me by the hand.
TECUMSEH. Improved! and how? Your mission was to lead
Our erring people back to ancient ways--
Too long o'ergrown--not bloody sacrifice.
They tell me that the prisoners you have ta'en--
Not captives in fair fight, but wanderers
Bewildered in our woods, or such as till
Outlying fields, caught from the peaceful plough--
You cruelly have tortured at the stake.
Nor this the worst! In order to augment
Your gloomy sway you craftily have played
Upon the zeal and frenzy of our tribes,
And, in my absence, hatched a monstrous charge
Of sorcery amongst them, which hath spared
Nor feeble age nor sex. Such horrid deeds
Recoil on us! Old Shataronra's grave
Sends up its ghost, and Tetaboxti's hairs--
White with sad years and counsel--singed by you!
In dreams and nightmares, float on every breeze.
Ambition's madness might stop short of this,
And shall if I have life.
PROPHET. The Great Spirit
Hath urged me, and still urges me to all.
He puts his hand to mine and leads me on.
Do you not hear him whisper even now--
"Thou art the Prophet?" All our followers
Behold in me a greater than yourself,
And worship me, and venture where I lead.
TECUMSEH. Your fancy is the common slip of fools,
Who count the lesser greater being near.
Dupe of your own imposture and designs,
I cannot bind your thoughts! but what you do
Henceforth must be my subject; so take heed,
And stand within my sanction lest you fall.
PROPHET. You are Tecumseh--else you should choke for
this!
[_Haughtily crosses the stage and pauses._]
Stay! Let me think! I must not break with him--
'Tis premature. I know his tender part,
And I shall touch it.
[_Recrosses the stage._]
Brother, let me ask,
Do you remember how our father fell?
TECUMSEH. Who can forget Kanawha's bloody fray?
He died for home in battle with the whites.
PROPHET. And you remember, too, that boyish morn,
When all our braves were absent on the chase--
That morn when you and I half-dreaming lay
In summer grass, but woke to deadly pain
Of loud-blown bugles ringing through the air.
They came!--a rush of chargers from the woods,
With tramplings, cursings, shoutings manifold,
And headlong onset, fierce with brandished swords,
Of frontier troopers eager for the fight.
Scarce could a lynx have screened itself from sight,
So sudden the attack--yet, trembling there,
We crouched unseen, and saw our little town
Stormed, with vile slaughter of small babe and crone,
And palsied grandsire--you remember it?
TECUMSEH. Remember it! Alas, the echoing
Of that wild havoc lingers in my brain!
O wretched age, and injured motherhood,
And hapless maiden-wreck!
PROPHET. Yet this has been
Our endless history, and it is this
Which crams my very veins with cruelty.
My pulses bound to see those devils fall
Brained to the temples, and their women cast
As offal to the wolf.
TECUMSEH. Their crimes are great--
Our wrongs unspeakable! yet my revenge
Is open war. It never shall be said
Tecumseh's hate went armed with cruelty.
There's reason in revenge; but spare our own!
These gloomy sacrifices sap our strength;
And henceforth from your wizard scrutinies
I charge you to forbear. But who's the white
You hold as captive?
PROPHET. He is called LEFROY--
A captive, but too free to come and go.
Our warriors struck his trail by chance, and found
His tent close by the Wabash, where he lay
With sprained ankle, foodless and alone.
He had a book of pictures with him there
Of Long-Knife forts, encampments and their chiefs--
Most recognizable; so, reasoning thence,
Our warriors took him for a daring spy,
And brought him here, and tied him to the stake.
Then he declared he was a Saganash--
No Long-Knife he! but one who loved our race,
And would adopt our ways--with honeyed words,
Couched in sweet voice, and such appealing eyes
That Iena, our niece--who listened near--
Believing, rushed, and cut him from the tree.
I hate his smiles, soft ways, and smooth-paced tread,
And would, ere now, have killed him but for her;
For ever since, unmindful of her race,
She has upheld him, and our matrons think
That he has won her heart.
TECUMSEH. But not her hand! This cannot be, and I must
see to it:
Red shall not marry white--such is our law.
But graver matters are upon the wing,
Which I must open to you. Know you, then,
The nation that has doomed our Council-Fires--
Splashed with our blood--will on its Father turn,
Once more, whose lion-paws, stretched o'er the sea,
Will sheathe their nails in its unnatural tides,
Till blood will flow, as free as pitch in spring,
To gum the chafed seams of our sinking bark.
This opportunity, well-nursed, will give
A respite to our wrongs, and heal our wounds;
And all our nations, knit by me and ranged
In headship with our Saganash allies,
Will turn the mortal issue 'gainst our foes,
And wall our threatened frontiers with their slain.
But till that ripened moment, not a sheaf
Of arrows should be wasted, not a brave
Should perish aimlessly, nor discord reign
Amongst our tribes, nor jealousy distrain
The large effects of valour. We must now
Pack all our energies. Our eyes and ears
No more must idle with the hour, but work
As carriers to the brain, where we shall store,
As in an arsenal, deep schemes of war!
[_A noise and shouting without._]
But who is this?
[_Enter_ BARRON _accompanied and half-dragged by
warriors. The_ PROPHET _goes forward to meet
him._]
BARRON. I crave protection as a messenger
And agent sent by General Harrison.
Your rude, unruly braves, against my wish,
Have dragged me here as if I were a spy.
PROPHET. What else!
Why come you here if not a spy?
Brouillette came, and Dubois, who were spies--
Now you are here. Look on it! There's your grave.
[_Pointing to the ground at_ BARRON'S
_feet._]
TECUMSEH. (_Joining them_.) Unhand this man!
He is a messenger, And not a spy.
Your life, my friend, is safe
In these rough woods as in your general's town.
But, quick--your message?
BARRON. The Governor of Indiana sends
This letter to you, in the which he says (_Reading
letter_)
"You are an enemy to the Seventeen Fires.
I have been told that you intend to lift
The hatchet 'gainst your father, the great Chief,
Whose goodness, being greater than his fear
Or anger at your folly, still would stretch
His bounty to his children who repent,
And ask of him forgiveness for the past.
Small harm is done which may not be repaired,
And friendship's broken chain may be renewed;
But this is in your doing, and depends
Upon the choice you make. Two roads
Are lying now before you: one is large,
Open and pleasant, leading unto peace,
Your own security and happiness;
The other--narrow, crooked and constrained--
Most surely leads to misery and death.
Be not deceived! All your united force
Is but as chaff before the Seventeen Fires.
Your warriors are brave, but so are ours;
Whilst ours are countless as the forest leaves,
Or grains of sand upon the Wabash shores.
Rely not on the English to protect you!
They are not able to protect themselves.
They will not war with us, for, if they do,
Ere many moons have passed our battle flag
Shall wave o'er all the forts of Canada.
What reason have you to complain of us?
What have we taken? or what treaties maimed?
You tell us we have robbed you of your lands--
Bought them from nameless braves and village chiefs
Who had no right to sell--prove that to us,
And they will be restored. I have full power
To treat with you. Bring your complaint to me,
And I, in honor, pledge your safe return."
TECUMSEH. Is this it all?
BARRON. Yes, all. I have commands
To bear your answer back without delay.
PROPHET. This is our answer, then, to Harrison:
Go tell that bearded liar we shall come,
With forces which will pledge our own return!
TECUMSEH. What shall my answer be?
PROPHET. Why, like my own--There is no answer save
that we shall go.
TECUMSEH. (_To_ BARRON.) I fear that our complaint
lies all too deep For your Chief's curing. The Great
Spirit gave
The red men this wide continent as theirs,
And in the east another to the white;
But, not content at home, these crossed the sea,
And drove our fathers from their ancient seats.
Their sons in turn are driven to the Lakes,
And cannot further go unless they drown.
Yet now you take upon yourselves to say
This tract is Kickapoo, this Delaware,
And this Miami; but your Chief should know
That all our lands are common to our race!
How can one nation sell the rights of all
Without consent of all? No! For my part I am a Red Man,
not a Shawanoe,
And here I mean to stay. Go to your chief,
And tell him I shall meet him at Vincennes.
[_Exeunt all but_ TECUMSEH.]
What is there in my nature so supine
That I must ever quarrel with revenge?
From vales and rivers which were once our own
The pale hounds who uproot our ancient graves
Come whining for our lands, with fawning tongues,
And schemes and subterfuge and subtleties.
O for a Pontiac to drive them back
And whoop them to their shuddering villages!
O for an age of valour like to his,
When freedom clothed herself with solitude,
And one in heart the scattered nations stood,
And one in hand. It comes! and mine shall be
The lofty task to teach them to be free--
To knit the nations, bind them into one,
And end the task great Pontiac begun!
SCENE II.--ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST.
_Enter_ LEFROY, _carrying his rifle, and
examining a knot of wild flowers._
LEFROY. This region is as lavish of its flowers
As Heaven of its primrose blooms by night.
This is the Arum which within its root
Folds life and death; and this the Prince's Pine,
Fadeless as love and truth--the fairest form
That ever sun-shower washed with sudden rain.
This golden cradle is the Moccasin Flower,
Wherein the Indian hunter sees his hound;
And this dark chalice is the Pitcher-Plant
Stored with the water of forgetfulness.
Whoever drinks of it, whose heart is pure,
Will sleep for aye 'neath foodful asphodel,
And dream of endless love. I need it not!
I am awake, and yet I dream of love.
It is the hour of meeting, when the sun
Takes level glances at these mighty woods,
And Iena has never failed till now,
To meet me here! What keeps her? Can it be
The Prophet? Ah, that villain has a thought,
Undreamt of by his simple followers,
Dark in his soul as midnight! If--but no--
He fears her though he hates! What shall I do?
Rehearse to listening woods, or ask these oaks
What thoughts they have, what knowledge of the past?
They dwarf me with their greatness, but shall come
A meaner and a mightier than they,
And cut them down. Yet rather would I dwell
With them, with wildness and its stealthy forms--
Yea, rather with wild men, wild beasts and birds,
Than in the sordid town that here may rise.
For here I am a part of Nature's self,
And not divorced from her like men who plod
The weary streets of care in search of gain.
And here I feel the friendship of the earth:
Not the soft cloying tenderness of hand
Which fain would satiate the hungry soul
With household honey-combs and parloured sweets,
But the strong friendship of primeval things--
The rugged kindness of a giant heart,
And love that lasts. I have a poem made
Which doth concern earth's injured majesty--
Be audience, ye still untroubled stems!
(_Recites_)
There was a time on this fair continent
When all things throve in spacious peacefulness.
The prosperous forests unmolested stood,
For where the stalwart oak grew there it lived
Long ages, and then died among its kind.
The hoary pines--those ancients of the earth--
Brimful of legends of the early world,
Stood thick on their own mountains unsubdued.
And all things else illumined by the sun,
Inland or by the lifted wave, had rest.
The passionate or calm pageants of the skies
No artist drew; but in the auburn west
Innumerable faces of fair cloud
Vanished in silent darkness with the day.
The prairie realm--vast ocean's paraphrase--
Rich in wild grasses numberless, and flowers
Unnamed save in mute Nature's inventory
No civilized barbarian trenched for gain.
And all that flowed was sweet and uncorrupt.
The rivers and their tributary streams,
Undammed, wound on forever, and gave up
Their lonely torrents to weird gulfs of sea,
And ocean wastes unshadowed by a sail.
And all the wild life of this western world
Knew not the fear of man; yet in those woods,
And by those plenteous streams and mighty lakes,
And on stupendous steppes of peerless plain,
And in the rocky gloom of canyons deep,
Screened by the stony ribs of mountains hoar
Which steeped their snowy peaks in purging cloud,
And down the continent where tropic suns
Warmed to her very heart the mother earth,
And in the congeal'd north where silence self
Ached with intensity of stubborn frost,
There lived a soul more wild than barbarous;
A tameless soul--the sunburnt savage free--
Free, and untainted by the greed of gain:
Great Nature's man content with Nature's food.
But hark! I hear her footsteps in the leaves--
And so my poem ends.
_Enter_ IENA, _downcast._
My love! my love!
What! Iena in tears! your looks, like clouds,
O'erspread my joy which, but a moment past,
Rose like the sun to high meridian.
Ah, how is this? She trembles, and she starts,
And looks with wavering eyes through oozing tears,
As she would fly from me. Why do you weep?
IENA. I weep, for I have come to say--farewell.
LEFROY. Farewell! I have fared well in love till now;
For you are mine, and I am yours, so say
Farewell, farewell, a thousand times farewell.
IENA. How many meanings has the word? since yours
Is full of joy, but mine, alas, of pain.
The pale-face and the Shawanoe must part.
LEFROY. Must part? Yes part--we parted yesterday--
And shall to-day--some dream disturbs my love.
IENA. Oh, that realities were dreams! 'Tis not
A dream that parts us, but a stern command.
Tecumseh has proclaimed it as his law--
Red shall not marry white; so must you leave;
And therefore I have come to say farewell.
LEFROY. That word is barbed, and like an arrow aimed.
The maid who saved my life would mar it too!
IENA. Speak not of that! Your life's in danger now.
Tecumseh has returned, and--knowing all--
Has built a barrier betwixt our loves,
More rigid than a palisade of oak.
LEFROY. What means he? And what barrier is this?
IENA. The barrier is the welfare of our race--
Wherefore his law--"Red shall not marry white."
His noble nature halts at cruelty,
So fear him not! But in the Prophet's hand,
Dark, dangerous and bloody, there is death,
And, sheltered by Tecumseh's own decree,
He who misprizes you, and hates, will strike--
Then go at once! Alas for Iena,
Who loves her race too well to break its law.
LEFROY. I love you better than I love my race;
And could I mass my fondness for my friends,
Augment it with my love of noble brutes,
Tap every spring of reverence and respect,
And all affections bright and beautiful--
Still would my love for you outweigh them all.
IENA. Speak not of love! Speak of the Long-Knife's
hate!
Oh, it is pitiful to creep in fear
O'er lands where once our fathers stept in pride!
The Long-Knife strengthens, whilst our race decays,
And falls before him as our forests fall.
First comes his pioneer, the bee, and soon
The mast which plumped the wild deer fats his swine.
His cattle pasture where the bison fed;
His flowers, his very weeds, displace our own--
Aggressive as himself. All, all thrust back!
Destruction follows us, and swift decay.
Oh, I have lain for hours upon the grass,
And gazed into the tenderest blue of heaven--
Cleansed as with dew, so limpid, pure and sweet--
All flecked with silver packs of standing cloud
Most beautiful! But watch them narrowly!
Those clouds will sheer small fleeces from their sides,
Which, melting in our sight as in a dream,
Will vanish all like phantoms in the sky.
So melts our heedless race! Some weaned away,
And wedded to rough-handed pioneers,
Who, fierce as wolves in hatred of our kind,
Yet from their shrill and acid women turn,
Prizing our maidens for their gentleness.
Some by outlandish fevers die, and some--
Caught in the white man's toils and vices mean--
Court death, and find it in the trader's cup.
And all are driven from their heritage,
Far from our fathers' seats and sepulchres,
And girdled with the growing glooms of war;
Resting a moment here, a moment there,
Whilst ever through our plains and forest realms
Bursts the pale spoiler, armed, with eager quest,
And ruinous lust of land. I think of all--
And own Tecumseh right. 'Tis he alone
Can stem this tide of sorrows dark and deep;
So must I bend my feeble will to his,
And, for my people's welfare, banish love.
LEFROY. Nay, for your people's welfare keep your love!
My heart is true: I know that braggart nation,
Whose sordid instincts, cold and pitiless,
Would cut you off, and drown your Council-Fires.
I would defend you, therefore keep me here!
My love is yours alone, my hand I give,
With this good weapon in it, to your race.
IENA. Oh, heaven help a weak untutored maid,
Whose head is warring 'gainst a heart that tells,
With every throb, I love you. Leave me! Fly!
LEFROY. I kneel to you--it is my leave-taking,
So, bid me fly again, and break my heart!
(IENA _sings_.)
Fly far from me,
Even as the daylight flies,
And leave me in the darkness of my pain!
Some earlier love will come to thee again,
And sweet new moons will rise,
And smile on it and thee.
Fly far from me,
Even whilst the daylight wastes--
Ere thy lips burn me in a last caress;
Ere fancy quickens, and my longings press,
And my weak spirit hastes
For shelter unto thee!
Fly far from me,
Even whilst the daylight pales--
So shall we never, never meet again!
Fly! for my senses swim--Oh, Love! Oh, Pain!--
Help! for my spirit fails--
I cannot fly from thee!
[IENA _sinks into_ LEFROY'S _arms_.]
LEFROY. No Iena! You cannot fly from me--
My heart is in your breast, and yours in mine;
Therefore our love--
_Enter_ TECUMSEH, _followed by_ MAMATEE.
TECUMSEH. False girl! Is this your promise?
Would that I had a pale-face for a niece--
Not one so faithless to her pledge! You owe
All duty and affection to your race,
Whose interest--the sum of our desires--
Traversed by alien love, drops to the ground.
IENA. Tecumseh ne'er was cruel until now.
Call not love alien which includes our race--
Love for our people, pity for their wrongs!
He loves our race because his heart is here--
And mine is in his breast. Oh, ask him there,
And he will tell you--
LEFROY. Iena, let me speak!
Tecumseh, we as strangers have become
Strangely familiar through sheer circumstance,
Which often breeds affection or disdain,
Yet lighting but the surface of the man,
Shows not his heart. I know not what you think,
And care not for your favour or your love,
Save as desert may crown me. Your decree,
"Red shall not marry white," is arbitrary,
And off the base of nature; for if they
Should marry not, then neither should they love.
Yet Iena loves me, and I love her.
Be merciful! I ask not Iena
To leave her race; I rather would engage
These willing arms in her defence and yours.
Heap obligation up, conditions stern--
But send not your cold "Nay" athwart our lives.
IENA. Be merciful! Oh, uncle, pity us!
TECUMSEH. My pity, Iena, goes with reproach,
Blunting the edge of anger; yet my will
Is fixed, and the command to be obeyed--
This stranger must depart--you to your lodge!
MAMATEE. Tecumseh, I am in the background here,
As ever I have been in your affection.
For I have ne'er known what good women prize--
Earth's greatest boon to them--a husband's love.
TECUMSEH. My nation has my love, in which you share,
With special service rendered to yourself;
So that your cabin flows with mouffles sweet,
And hips of wapiti and bedded robes.
Teach me my duty further if you will!
My love is wide, and broods upon my race.
MAMATEE. The back is clad--the heart, alas! goes bare.
Oh, I would rather shiver in the snow--
My heart downed softly with Tecumseh's love--
Than sleep unprized in warmest couch of fur.
I know your love is wide, and, for that I
Share but a millionth part of it, and feel
Its meagreness, I plead most eagerly
For this poor white, whose heart is full of love,
And gives it all to her.
TECUMSEH. It cannot be!
You know not what you ask. 'Tis 'gainst our law,
Which, breached, would let our untamed people through.
LEFROY. I care not for your cruel law! The heart
Has statutes of its own which make for love.
TECUMSEH. You'd cross me too! This child's play of the
heart,
Which sterner duty has repressed in me,
Makes even captives bold. (_Aside_.) I like his
courage!
MAMATEE. If duty makes Tecumseh's heart grow cold,
Then shame on it! and greater shame on him
Who ever yet showed mercy to his foes,
Yet, turning from his own, in pity's spite
Denies it to a girl. See, here I kneel!
IENA. And I! O uncle, frown not on our love!
TECUMSEH. By the Great Spirit this is over much!
My heart is made for pity, not for war,
Since women's tears unman me. Have your will!
I shall respect your love, (_To Lefroy_.) your
safety too.
I go at once to sound the Wyandots
Concerning some false treaties with the whites.
The Prophet hates you, therefore come with me.
[_The_ PROPHET _rushes in with a band of
Braves._]
PROPHET. She's here! Take hold of her and bear her
off!
TECUMSEH. (_Menacingly_) Beware! Lay not a finger
on the girl!
[_The Braves fall back_.]
PROPHET. There is no law Tecumseh will not break,
When women weep, and pale-face spies deceive.
MAMATEE. Ah, wretch! not all our people's groans could
wring
A single tear from out your murderous eye.
PROPHET. This is my captive, and his life is mine!
[_Seizing_ LEFROY, _and lifting his
hatchet_.]
IENA. (_Rushing to_ LEFROY) Save him! Save him!
TECUMSEH. Your life will go for his--
One blow and you are doomed!
[TECUMSEH _grasps the_ PROPHET'S _uplifted
axe_.]
END OF FIRST ACT.
ACT II.
SCENE FIRST:--BEFORE THE PROPHET'S TOWN.
_Enter_ TECUMSEH _and_ LEFROY.
TECUMSEH. No guard or outlook--here! This is most
strange.
Chance reigns where prudence sleeps!
_Enter a_ BRAVE.
Here comes a brave
With frenzy in his face
Where is the Prophet?
BRAVE. He fasts alone within the medicine-lodge,
And talks to our Great Spirit. All our braves,
Huddling in fear, stand motionless without,
Thrilled by strange sounds, and voices not of earth.
TECUMSEH. How long has it been thus?
BRAVE. Four nights have passed
And none have seen his face; but all have heard
His dreadful tongue, in incantations deep,
Fetch horrors up--vile beings flashed from hell,
Who fought as devils fight, until the lodge
Shook to its base with struggling, and the earth
Quaked as, with magic strength, he flung them down.
These strove with him for mastery of our fate;
But, being foiled, Yohewa has appeared,
And, in the darkness of our sacred lodge,
Communes with him.
TECUMSEH. Our Spirit great and good!
He comes not here for nought. What has he promised?
BRAVE. Much! for henceforth we are invulnerable.
The bullets of the Long-Knives will rebound,
Like petty hailstones, from our naked breasts;
And, in the misty morns of our attack,
Strange lights will shine on them to guide our aim,
Whilst clouds of gloom will screen us from their sight.
TECUMSEH. The Prophet is a wise interpreter,
And all his words, by valour backed, will stand;
For valour is the weapon of the soul,
More dreaded by our vaunting enemies
Than the plumed arrow, or the screaming ball.
What wizardry and witchcraft has he found
Conspiring 'gainst our people's good?
BRAVE. Why, none! Wizard and witch are weeded out, he
says;
Not one is left to do us hurt.
TECUMSEH. 'Tis well! My brother has the eyeball of the
horse,
And swerves from danger. (_Aside_.) Bid our
warriors come! I wait them here.
[_Exit_ BRAVE.]
The Prophet soon will follow.
LEFROY. Now opportunity attend my heart
Which waits for Iena! True love's behest,
Outrunning war's, will bring her to my arms
Ere cease the braves from gasping wonderment.
TECUMSEH. First look on service ere you look on love;
You shall not see her here.
LEFROY. My promises
Are sureties of my service--
TECUMSEH. But your deeds,
Accomplishments; our people count on deeds.
Be patient! Look upon our warriors
Roped round with scars and cicatrized wounds,
Inflicted in deep trial of their spirit
Their skewered sides are proofs of manly souls,
Which--had one groan escaped from agony--
Would all have sunk beneath our women's heels,
Unfit for earth or heaven. So try your heart,
And let endurance swallow all love's sighs.
Yoke up your valour with our people's cause,
And I, who love your nation, which is just,
When deeds deserve it, will adopt you here,
By ancient custom of our race, and join Iena's hand to
yours.
LEFROY. Your own hand first In pledge of this!
TECUMSEH. It ever goes with truth!
LEFROY. Now come some wind of chance, and show me her
But for one heavenly moment! as when leaves
Are blown aside in summer, and we see
The nested oriole.
[_Enter Chiefs and warriors--The warriors cluster
around_ TECUMSEH, _shouting and discharging their
pieces_.]
TECUMSEH. My chiefs and braves!
MIAMI CHIEF. Fall back! Fall back! Ye press too close
on him.
TECUMSEH. My friends! our joy is like to meeting
streams,
Which draw into a deep and prouder bed.
[_Shouts from the warriors_.]
DELAWARE CHIEF. Silence, ye braves! let great Tecumseh
speak!
[_The warriors fall back_.]
TECUMSEH. Comrades, and faithful warriors of our race!
Ye who defeated Hartnar and St Clair,
And made their hosts a winter's feast for wolves!
I call on you to follow me again,
Not now for war, but as forearmed for fight.
As ever in the past so is it still:
Our sacred treaties are infringed and torn;
Laughed out of sanctity, and spurned away;
Used by the Long-Knife's slave to light his fire,
Or turned to kites by thoughtless boys, whose wrists
Anchor their fathers' lies in front of heaven.
And now we're asked to Council at Vincennes;
To bend to lawless ravage of our lands,
To treacherous bargains, contracts false, wherein
One side is bound, the other loose as air!
Where are those villains of our race and blood
Who signed the treaties that unseat us here;
That rob us of rich plains and forests wide;
And which, consented to, will drive us hence
To stage our lodges in the Northern Lakes,
In penalties of hunger worse than death?
Where are they? that we may confront them now
With your wronged sires, your mothers, wives and babes,
And, wringing from their false and slavish lips
Confession of their baseness, brand with shame
The traitor hands which sign us to our graves.
MIAMI CHIEF. Some are age-bent and blind, and others
sprawl,
And stagger in the Long-Knife's villages;
And some are dead, and some have fled away,
And some are lurking in the forest here,
Sneaking, like dogs, until resentment cools.
KICKAPOO CHIEF. We all disclaim their treaties. Should
they come,
Forced from their lairs by hunger, to our doors,
Swift punishment will light upon their heads.
TECUMSEH. Put yokes upon them! let their mouths be
bound!
For they are swine who root with champing jaws
Their fathers' fields, and swallow their own offspring.
_Enter the_ PROPHET _in his robe--his face
discoloured_.
The Prophet! Welcome, my brother, from the lodge of
dreams!
Hail to thee, sagest among men--great heir
Of all the wisdom of Pengasega!
PROPHET. This pale-face here again! this hateful snake,
Who crawls between our people and their laws!
(_Aside_.)
Your greeting, brother, takes the chill from mine,
When last we parted you were not so kind.
TECUMSEH. The Prophet's wisdom covers all. He knows
Why Nature varies in her handiwork,
Moulding one man from snow, the next from fire--
PROPHET. Which temper is your own, and blazes up,
In winds of passion like a burning pine.
TECUMSEH. 'Twill blaze no more unless to scorch our
foes.
My brother, there's my hand--for I am grieved
That aught befell to shake our proper love.
Our purpose is too high, and full of danger;
We have too vast a quarrel on our hands
To waste our breath on this.
[_Steps forward and offers his hand_.]
PROPHET. My hand to yours.
SEVERAL CHIEFS. Tecumseh and the Prophet are rejoined!
TECUMSEH. Now, but one petty cloud distains our sky.
My brother, this man loves our people well.
[_Pointing to_ LEFROY.]
LEFROY. I know he hates me, yet I hope to win
My way into his heart.
PROPHET. There--take my hand! I must dissemble.
Would this palm were poison! (_Aside_.) (_To_
TECUMSEH)
What of the Wyandots? And yet I know!
I have been up among the clouds, and down
Into the entrails of the earth, and seen
The dwelling-place of devils. All my dreams
Are from above, and therefore favour us.
TECUMSEH. With one accord the Wyandots disclaim
The treaties of Fort Wayne, and burn with rage.
Their tryst is here, and some will go with me
To Council at Vincennes. Where's Winnemac?
MIAMI CHIEF. That recreant has joined our enemies,
And with the peace-pipe sits beside their fire,
And whins away our lives.
KICKAPOO CHIEF. The Deaf-Chief, too,
With head awry, who cannot hear us speak
Though thunder shouted for us from the skies,
Yet hears the Long-Knives whisper at Vincennes;
And, when they jest upon our miseries,
Grips his old leathern sides, and coughs with laughter.
DELAWARE CHIEF. And old Kanaukwa--famed when we were
young--
Has hid his axe, and washed his honours off.
TECUMSEH. 'Tis honor he has parted with, not honors;
Good deeds are ne'er forespent, nor wiped away.
I know these men; they've lost their followers,
And, grasping at the shadow of command,
Where sway and custom once had realty,
By times, and turn about, follow each other.
They count for nought--but Winnemac is true,
Though over-politic; he will not leave us.
PROPHET. Those wizened snakes must be destroyed at
once!
TECUMSEH. Have mercy, brother--those poor men are old.
PROPHET. Nay, I shall teaze them till they sting
themselves;
Their rusty fangs are doubly dangerous.
TECUMSEH. What warriors are ready for Vincennes?
WARRIORS. All! All are ready. Tecumseh leads us on--we
follow him.
TECUMSEH. Four hundred warriors will go with me,
All armed, yet only for security
Against the deep designs of Harrison.
For 'tis my purpose still to temporize,
Not break with him in war till once again
I scour the far emplacements of our tribes.
Then shall we close at once on all our foes.
They claim our lands, but we shall take their lives;
Drive out their thievish souls, and spread their bones
To bleach upon the misty Alleghanies;
Or make death's treaty with them on the spot,
And sign our bloody marks upon their crowns
For lack of schooling--ceding but enough
Of all the lands they covet for their graves.
MIAMI CHIEF. Tecumseh's tongue is housed in wisdom's
cheeks;
His valour and his prudence march together.
DELAWARE CHIEF. 'Tis wise to draw the distant nations
on.
This scheme will so extend the Long-Knife force,
In lines defensive stretching to the sea,
Their bands will be but morsels for our braves.
PROPHET. How long must this bold project take to ripen?
Time marches with the foe, and his surveyors
Already smudge our forests with their fires.
It frets my blood and makes my bowels turn
To see those devils blaze our ancient oaks,
Cry "right!" and drive their rascal pickets down.
Why not make war on them at once?
TECUMSEH. Not now! Time will make room for weightier
affairs.
Be this the disposition for the hour:
Our warriors from Vincennes will all return,
Save twenty--the companions of my journey--
And this brave white, who longs to share our toil,
And win his love by deeds in our defence.
You, brother, shall remain to guard our town,
Our wives, our children, all that's dear to us--
Receive each fresh accession to our strength;
And from the hidden world, which you inspect,
Draw a divine instruction for their souls.
Go, now, ye noble chiefs and warriors!
Make preparation--I'll be with you soon.
To-morrow we shall make the Wabash boil,
And beat its current, racing to Vincennes.
[_Exeunt all but_ TECUMSEH _and the_
PROPHET.]
PROPHET. I shall return unto our sacred lodge,
And there invoke the Spirit of the Wind
To follow you, and blow good tidings back.
TECUMSEH. Our strait is such we need the help of
heaven.
Use all your wisdom, brother, but--beware!
Pluck not our enterprise while it is green,
And breed no quarrel here till I return.
Avoid it as you would the rattling snake;
And, when you hear the sound of danger, shrink,
And face it not, unless with belts of peace.
White wampum, not the dark, till we can strike
With certain aim. Can I depend on you?
PROPHET. Trust you in fire to burn, or cold to freeze?
So may you trust in me. The heavy charge
Which you have laid upon my shoulders now
Would weigh the very soul of rashness down.
[_Exit the_ PROPHET.]
TECUMSEH. I think I can depend on him--I must!
Yet do I know his crafty nature well--
His hatred of our foes, his love of self,
And wide ambition. What is mortal man?
Who can divine this creature that doth take
Some colour from all others? Nor shall I
Push cold conclusions 'gainst my brother's sum
Of what is good--so let dependence rest!
[_Exit_.]
SCENE SECOND--VINCENNES--A STREET.
_Enter Citizens_ GERKIN, SLAUGH and TWANG.
GERKIN. Ain't it about time Barron was back, Jedge?
TWANG. I reckon so. Our Guvner takes a crazy sight more
pains than I would to sweetin thet ragin' devil
Tecumseh's temper. I'd sweetin it wi' sugar o lead ef I
had _my_ way.
SLAUGH. It's a reekin' shame--dang me ef it aint. End
thet two-faced, one-eyed brother o' his, the Prophet.--
I'll be darned ef folks don't say thet the Shakers in
them 'ere parts claims him fer a disciple!
TWANG. Them Shakers is a queer lot. They dance jest
like wild Injuns, and thinks we orter be kind to the
red rascals, end use them honestly.
GERKIN. Wall! Thet's what our Guvner ses tew. But I
reckon he's shammin' a bit Twist you and me, he's on
the make like the rest o' us. Think o' bein' kind to a
red devil thet would lift your har ten minutes arter!
End as fer honesty--I say "set 'em up" every time, and
then rob 'em. Thet's the way to clar them out o' the
kentry. Whiskey's better 'n gunpowder, end costs less
than fightin' 'em in the long run.
_Enter_ CITIZEN BLOAT.
TWANG. Thet's so! Hello, Major, what's up? You look
kind o' riled to-day.
BLOAT. Wall, Jedge, I dew feel right mad--have you
heerd the noos?
TWANG. No! has old Sledge bust you at the keerds again?
BLOAT. Old Sledge be darned! I had jest clar'd him out
o' continentals--fifty to the shillin'--at his own
game, when in ript Roudi--the Eyetalian that knifed the
Muskoe Injun for peekin' through his bar-room winder
last spring--jest down from Fort Knox. You know the
chap, General; you was on his jury.
SLAUGH. I reckon I dew. The Court was agin him, but we
acquitted him afore the Chief-Justice finished his
charge, and gave him a vote o' thanks to boot. There's
a heap o' furriners creepin' inter these parts--poor
downtrodden cusses from Europe--end, ef they're all
like Roudi, they'll dew--a'most as hendy wi' the knife
as our own people. But what's up?
BLOAT. Roudi saw Barron at Fort Knox, restin' thar on
his way back from the Prophet's Town, end he sez thet
red assassin Tecumseh's a-cumin' down wi' four hundred
o' his painted devils to convarse wi' our Guvner.
They're all armed, he sez, end will be here afore mid-
day.
SLAUGH. Wall! our Guvner notified him to come--he's
only gettin' what he axed for. There'll be a deal o'
loose har flitterin' about the streets afore night, I
reckon. Harrison's a heap too soft wi' them red
roosters; he h'aint got cheek enough.
GERKIN. I've heerd say the Guvner, end the Chief
Justice tew, thinks a sight o' this tearin' red devil.
They say he's a great man. They say, tew, thet our
treaty Injuns air badly used--thet they shouldn't be
meddled wi' on their resarves, end should hev skoolin'.
BLOAT. Skoolin'! That gits me! Dogoned ef I wouldn't
larn them jest one thing--what them regler officers up
to the Fort larns their dogs--"to drap to shot," only
in a different kind o' way like; end, es fer their
resarves, I say, give our farmers a chance--let them
locate!
TWANG. Thet's so, Major! What arthly use air they--
plouterin' about their little bits o' fields, wi' their
little bits o' cabins, end livin' half the time on mush-
rats? I say, let them move out, end give reliable
citizens a chance.
SLAUGH. Wall, I reckon our Guvner's kind's about played
out. They call themselves the old stock--the clean pea
--the rale gentlemen o' the Revolooshun. But, gentlemen,
ain't we the Revolooshun? Jest wait till the live
citizens o' these United States end Territories gits a
chance, end we'll show them gentry what a free people,
wi' our institooshuns, _kin_ do. There'll be no
more talk o' skoolin fer Injuns, you bet! I'd give them
Kernel Crunch's billet.
GERKIN. What was thet, General?
SLAUGH. Why, they say he killed a hull family o'
redskins, and stuck 'em up as scar' crows in his wheat
fields. Gentlemen, there's nothin' like original idees!
TWANG. Thet war an original idee! The Kernel orter hev
tuk out a patent. I think I've heerd o' Crunch. Wam't
he wi' Kernel Crawford, o' the melish', at one time?
SLAUGH Whar?
TWANG. Why over to the Muskingum. You've heerd o' them
Delaware Moravians over to the Muskingum, surely?
SLAUGH. Oh, them convarted chaps! but I a'most forgit
the carcumstance.
TWANG. Wall, them red devils had a nice resarve thar--
as yieldin' a bit o' sile as one could strike this side
o' the Alleghanies. They was all convarted by the
Moravians, end pertended to be as quiet and peaceable
as the Shakers hereabout But Kernel Crawford--who knew
good sile when he sot his eyes on it--diskivered thet
them prayin' chaps had helped a war-party from the
North, wi' provisions--or thort they did, which was the
same thing. So--one fine Sunday--he surrounds their
church wi' his melish'--when the Injuns was all a-
prayin'--end walks in himself, jest for a minute or
two, end prays a bit so as not to skeer them tew soon,
end then walks out, end locks the door. The Kernel then
cutely--my heart kind o' warms to thet man--put a squad
o' melish' at each winder wi' their bayonets pinted,
end sot fire to the Church, end charred up the hull
kit, preacher and all! The heft o' them was burnt; but
some thet warn't thar skinned out o' the kentry, end
got lands from the British up to the Thames River in
Canady, end founded what they call the Moravian Towns
thar; and thar they is still--fur them Britishers kind
o' pampers the Injuns, so they may git at our scalps.
SLAUGH. I reckon we'll hev a tussle wi' them gentry
afore long. But for Noo England we'd a hed it afore
now; but them Noo Englanders kind o' curries to the
Britishers. A war would spile their shippin', end so
they're agin it. But we h'aint got no ships to spile in
this western kentry, end so I reckon we'll pitch in.
GERKIN. We'd better git out o' this Injun fry-pan fust,
old hoss! I could lick my own weight in wild-cats, but
this ruck o' Injuns is jest a little tew hefty.
BLOAT. Maybe they want to come to skool, end start
store, end sich!
GERKIN. Gentlemen--I mean to send my lady down stream,
end I reckon you'd better dew the same wi' your 'uns--
jest fer safety like. My time's limited--will you
liquor?
ALL. You bet!
BLOAT. (_Meditatively_) Skoolin! Wall, I'll be
darned!
[_Exeunt_.]
SCENE THIRD. THE SAME. A ROOM IN GENERAL HARRISON'S
HOUSE.
_Enter_ GENERAL HARRISON, _and some Officers of
the American Army_.
HARRISON. What savage handiwork keeps Barron back?
_Enter_ BARRON.
Ah, here he comes, his looks interpreting
Mischief and failure! It is as I feared. What answer do
you bring?
BARRON. Tecumseh comes
To council, with four hundred men at back,
To which, with all persuasion, I objected--
As that it would alarm our citizens,
Whose hasty temper, by suspicion edged,
Might break in broils of quarrel with his braves;
But, sir, it was in vain--so be prepared!
Your Council records may be writ in blood.
HARRISON. Will he attack us, think you?
BARRON. No, not now. His present thought is to
intimidate.
But, lest some rash and foulmouthed citizen
Should spur his passion to the run, fore-arm!
HARRISON. Tut! Arms are scarce as soldiers in our town,
And I am sick of requisitioning.
Nay, we must trust to something else than arms.
Tecumseh is a savage but in name--Let's trust to him!
What says he of our treaties?
BARRON. O, he discharges them as heavy loads,
Which borne by red men only, break their backs.
All lands, he says, are common to his race;
Not to be sold but by consent of all.
HARRISON. Absurd! This proposition would prevent
All purchase and all progress. No, indeed;
We cannot tie our hands with such conditions.
What of the Prophet? Comes he with the rest?
BARRON. The Prophet stays behind.
HARRISON. He is a foil
Used by Tecumseh to augment his greatness;
And, by good husbandry of incantation,
And gloomy charms by night, this Prophet works
So shrewdly on their braves that every man,
Inflamed by auguries of victory,
Would rush on death.
1ST OFFICER. Why, General, I heard
He over-trumpt you once and won the trick.
HARRISON. How so?
1ST OFFICER. Well, once, before his braves, 'tis said,
You dared him to a trial of his spells,
Which challenge he accepted, having heard
From white men of a coming sun-eclipse.
Then, shrewdly noting day and hour, he called
Boldly his followers round him, and declared
That he would hide the sun. They stood and gazed,
And, when the moon's colossal shadow fell,
They crouched upon the ground, and worshipped him.
HARRISON. He caught me there, and mischief came of it.
Oh, he is deep. How different those brothers!
One dipt in craft, the dye of cruelty,
The other frank and open as the day.
_Enter an_ ORDERLY.
ORDERLY. Tecumseh and his braves have reached the
landing!
[_Excitement. All rise hastily_.]
HARRISON. This room is smaller than our audience:
Take seats and benches to the portico--
There we shall treat with him.
[_Exeunt all but_ GENERAL HARRISON.]
Could I but strain
My charge this chief might be our trusty friend.
Yet I am but my nation's servitor;
Gold is the king who overrides the right,
And turns our people from the simple ways,
And fair ideal of our fathers' lives.
[_Exit_.]
SCENE FOURTH.--THE SAME. THE PORTICO OF GENERAL
HARRISON'S HOUSE. AN OPEN GROVE AT A LITTLE DISTANCE IN
FRONT.
[_Curtain rises and discovers_ GENERAL HARRISON,
_army officers and citizens, of various quality,
including_ TWANG, SLAUGH, GERKIN _and_ BLOAT,
_seated in the portico. A sergeant and guard of
soldiers near by.
Enter_ TECUMSEH _and his followers with_ LEFROY
_in Indian dress. They all stop at the grove_.]
HARRISON. Why halts he there? Go tell him he is welcome
to our house.
[_An Orderly goes down with message_.]
1ST OFFICER. How grave and decorous they look--
"the mien Of pensive people born in ancient woods."
But look at him! Look at Tecumseh there--
How simple in attire! that eagle, plume
Sole ornament, and emblem of his spirit.
And yet, far-scanned, there's something in his face
That likes us not. Would we were out of this!
HARRISON. Yes; even at a distance I can see
His eyes distilling anger. 'Tis no sign
Of treachery, which ever drapes with smiles
The most perfidious purpose. Our poor strength
Would fall at once should he break out on us;
But let us hope 'tis yet a war of wits
Where firmness may enact the part of force.
[_Orderly returns_.]
What answer do you bring?
ORDERLY. Tecumseh says: "Houses are built for whites--
the red man's house, Leaf-roofed, and walled with
living oak, is there--
[_Pointing to the grove_.]
Let our white brother meet us in it!"
2ND OFFICER. Oh! White brother! So he levels to your
height,
And strips your office of its dignity.
3RD OFFICER. 'Tis plain he cares not for your dignity,
And touchingly reminds us of our tenets.
Our nation spurns the outward shows of state,
And ceremony dies for lack of service.
Pomp is discrowned, and throned regality
Dissolved away in our new land and laws.
Man is the Presence here!
1ST OFFICER. Well, for my part, I like not that one in
particular.
[_Pointing toward_ TECUMSEH.]
3RD OFFICER. No more do I! I wish I were a crab,
And had its courtly fashion of advancing.
HARRISON. Best yield to him, the rather that he now
Invites our confidence. His heavy force
Scants good opinion somewhat, yet I know
There's honor, aye, and kindness in this Chief.
[_Rising_.]
3RD OFFICER. Yes, faith, he loves us all, and means to
keep
Locks of our hair for memory. Here goes.
[_All rise_.] _Servants and soldiers carry
chairs and benches to the grove, followed by_
GENERAL HARRISON _and others, who seat themselves--
_TECUMSEH _and his followers still standing in the
lower part of the grove_.
HARRISON. We have not met to bury our respect,
Or mar our plea with lack of courtesy. The Great Chief
knows it is his father's wish That he should sit by
him.
TECUMSEH. My father's wish! My father is the sun; the
earth my mother
[_Pointing to each in turn_.]
And on her mighty bosom I shall rest.
[TECUMSEH _and his followers seat themselves on the
grass_.]
HARRISON. (_Rising_.) I asked Tecumseh to confer
with me,
Not in war's hue, but for the ends of peace.
Our own intent--witness our presence here,
Unarmed save those few muskets and our swords.
How comes it, then, that he descends on us
With this o'erbearing and untimely strength?
Tecumseh's virtues are the theme of all;
Wisdom and courage, frankness and good faith--
To speak of these things is to think of him!
Yet, as one theft makes men suspect the thief--
Be all his life else spent in honesty--
So does one breach of faithfulness in man
Wound all his after deeds. There is a pause
In some men's goodness like the barren time
Of those sweet trees which yield each second year,
Wherein what seems a niggardness in nature;
Is but good husbandry for future gifts.
But this tree bears, and bears most treacherous fruit!
Here is a gross infringement of all laws
That shelter men in council, where should sit
No disproportioned force save that of reason--
Our strong dependence still, and argument,
Of better consequence than that of arms,
If great Tecumseh should give ear to it.
TECUMSEH. (_Rising_.) You called upon Tecumseh and
he came!
You sent your messenger, asked us to bring
Our wide complaint to you--and it is here!
[_Waving his arm toward his followers_.]
Why is our brother angry at our force,
Since every man but represents a wrong?
Nay! rather should our force be multiplied!
Fill up your streets and overflow your fields,
And crowd upon the earth for standing room;
Still would our wrongs outweigh our witnesses,
And scant recital for the lack of tongues.
I know your reason, and its bitter heart,
Its form of justice, clad with promises--
The cloaks of death! That reason was the snare
Which tripped our ancestors in days of yore--
Who knew not falsehood and so feared it not:
Men who mistook your fathers' vows for truth,
And took them, cold and hungry, to their hearts.
Filled them with food, and shared with them their
homes,
With such return as might make baseness blush.
What tree e'er bore such treacherous fruit as this?
But let it pass! let wrongs die with the wronged!
The red man's memory is full of graves.
But wrongs live with the living, who are here--
Inheritors of all our fathers' sighs,
And tears, and garments wringing wet with blood.
The injuries which you have done to us
Cry out for remedy, or wide revenge.
Restore the forests you have robbed us of--
Our stolen homes and vales of plenteous com!
Give back the boundaries, which are our lives,
Ere the axe rise! aught else is reasonless.
HARRISON. Tecumseh's passion is a dangerous flood
Which sweeps away his judgment. Let him lift
His threatened axe to hit defenceless heads!
It cannot mar the body of our right,
Nor graze the even justice of our claim:
These still would live, uncancelled by our death.
Let reason rule us, in whose sober light
We read those treaties which offend him thus:
What nation was the first established here,
Settled for centuries, with title sound?
You know that people, the Miamies, well.
Long ere the white man tripped his anchors cold,
To cast them by the glowing western isles,
They lived upon these lands in peace, and none
Dared cavil at their claim. We bought from them,
For such equivalent to largess joined,
That every man was hampered with our goods,
And stumbled on profusion. But give ear!
Jealous lest aught might fail of honesty--
Lest one lean interest or poor shade of right
Should point at us--we made the Kickapoo
And Delaware the sharer of our gifts,
And stretched the arms of bounty over heads
Which held but by Miami sufferance.
But, you! whence came you? and what rights have you?
The Shawanoes are interlopers here--
Witness their name! mere wanderers from the South!
Spurned thence by angry Creek and Yamasee--
Now here to stir up strife, and tempt the tribes
To break the seals of faith. I am surprised
That they should be so led, and more than grieved
Tecumseh has such ingrates at his back.
TECUMSEH. Call you those ingrates who but claim their
own,
And owe you nothing but revenge? Those men
Are here to answer and confront your lies.
[_Turning to his followers_.]
Miami, Delaware and Kickapoo!
Ye are alleged as signers of those deeds--
Those dark and treble treacheries of Fort Wayne.--
Ye chiefs whose cheeks are tanned with battle-smoke,
Stand forward then, and answer if you did it!
KICKAPOO CHIEF. (_Rising_.) Not I! I disavow them!
They were made By village chiefs whose vanity o'ercame
Their judgment, and their duty to our race.
DELAWARE CHIEF. (_Rising_.) And I reject the
treaties in the name
Of all our noted braves and warriors.
They have no weight save with the palsied heads
Which dote on friendly compacts in the past.
MIAMI CHIEF. (_Rising_.) And I renounce them also.
They were signed By sottish braves--the Long-Knife's
tavern-chiefs--
Who sell their honor like a pack of fur,
Make favour with the pale-face for his fee,
And caper with the hatchet for his sport.
I am a chief by right of blood, and fling
Your false and flimsy treaties in your face.
I am my nation's head, and own but one
As greater than myself, and he is here!
[_Pointing to_ TECUMSEH.]
TECUMSEH. You have your answer, and from those whose
rights
Stand in your own admission. But from me--
The Shawanoe--the interloper here--
Take the full draught of meaning, and wash down
Their dry and bitter truths. Yes! from the South
My people came--fall'n from their wide estate
Where Altamaha's uncongealing springs
Kept a perpetual summer in their sight--
Sweet with magnolia blooms, and dropping balm,
And scented breath of orange and of pine.
And from the East the hunted Delawares came,
Flushed from their coverts and their native streams;
Your old allies, men ever true to you,
Who, resting after long and weary flight,
Are by your bands shot sitting on the ground.
HARRISON. Those men got ample payment for their lands,
Full recompense, and just equivalent.
TECUMSEH. They flew from death to light upon it here!
And many a tribe comes pouring from the East,
Smitten with fire--their outraged women, maimed,
Screaming in horror o'er their murdered babes,
Whose sinless souls, slashed out by white men's swords,
Whimper in Heaven for revenge. Oh, God!--
'Tis thus the pale-face prays, then cries 'Amen':--
He clamours, and his Maker answers him,
Whilst our Great Spirit sleeps! O, no, no, no,--
He does not sleep! He will avenge our wrongs!
That Christ the white men murdered, and thought dead--
Who, if He died for mankind, died for us--
He is alive, and looks from heaven on this!
Oh, we have seen your baseness and your guile;
Our eyes are opened and we know your ways!
No longer shall you hoax us with your pleas,
Or with the serpent's cunning wake distrust,
Range tribe 'gainst tribe--then shoot the remnant down,
And in the red man's empty cabin grin,
And shake with laughter o'er his desolate hearth.
No, we are one! the red men all are one
In colour as in love, in lands and fate!
HARRISON. Still, with the voice of wrath Tecumseh
speaks,
And not with reason's tongue.
TECUMSEH. O keep your reason! It is a thief which
steals away our lands.
Your reason is our deadly foe, and writes
The jeering epitaphs for our poor graves.
It is the lying maker of your books,
Wherein our people's vengeance is set down,
But not a word of crimes which led to it.
These are hushed up and hid, whilst all our deeds,
Even in self-defence, are marked as wrongs
Heaped on your blameless heads.
But to the point! Just as our brother's Seventeen
Council Fires
Unite for self-protection so do we.
How can you blame us, since your own example
Is but our model and fair precedent?
The Long-Knife's craft has kept our tribes apart,
Nourished dissensions, raised distinctions up,
Forced us to injuries which, soon as done,
Are made your vile pretexts for bloody war.
But this is past our nations now are one--
Ready to rise in their imbanded strength.
You promised to restore our ravaged lands
On proof that they are ours--that proof is here,
And by the tongues of truth has answered you.
Redeem your sacred pledges, and no more
Our "leaden birds" will sing amongst your corn:
But love will shine on you, and startled peace
Will come again, and build by every hearth.
Refuse--and we shall strike you to the ground!
Pour flame and slaughter on your confines wide,
Till the charred earth, up to the cope of Heaven,
Reeks with the smoke of smouldering villages,
And steam of awful fires half-quenched with blood.
[_Citizens converse in undertones_.]
TWANG. Did you ever hear the like! Ef I hed my shootin'-
iron darn me ef I wouldn't draw a bead on thet barkin'
savage. The hungry devil gits under-holts on our Guvner
every time.
SLAUGH. You bet! I reckon he'd better put a lump o'
bacon in his mouth to keep his bilin' sap o' passion
down.
BLOAT. Thet's mor'n I'd do. This is jest what we git
for allowin' the skulkin' devils to live. I'd vittle
'em on lead pills ef I was Guvner.
TWANG. Thet's so! Our civilizashun is jest this--we
know what's what. Ef I hed _my_ way--
HARRISON. Silence, you fools! If you provoke him here
your blood be on your heads.
GERKIN. Right you air, Guvner! We'll close our dampers.
TECUMSEH. My brother's ears have heard. Where is his
tongue?
HARRISON. My honest ears ache in default of reason.
Tecumseh is reputed wise, yet now
His fuming passions from his judgment fly,
Like roving steeds which gallop from the catch,
And kick the air, wasting in wantonness
More strength than in submission. His threats fall
On fearless ears. Knows he not of our force,
Which in the East swarms like mosquitoes here?
Our great Kentucky and Virginia fires?
Our mounted men and soldier-citizens?
These all have stings--let him beware of them!
TECUMSEH. Who does not know your vaunting citizens!
Well drilled in fraud and disciplined in crime;
But in aught else--as honor, justice, truth--
A rabble, and a base disordered herd.
We know them; and our nations, knit in one,
Will challenge them, should this, our last appeal,
Fall on unheeding ears. My brother, hearken!
East of Ohio you possess our lands,
Thrice greater than your needs, but west of it
We claim them all; then, let us make its flood
A common frontier, and a sacred stream
Of which our nations both may drink in peace.
HARRISON. Absurd! The treaties of Fort Wayne must
stand.
Your village chiefs are heads of civil rule,
Whose powers you seek to centre in yourself,
Or vest in warriors whose trade is blood.
We bought from those, and from your peaceful men--
Your wiser brothers--who had faith in us.
TECUMSEH. Poor, ruined brothers, weaned from honest
lives!
HARRISON. They knew our wisdom, and preferred to sell
Their cabins, fields, and wilds of unused lands
For rich reserves and ripe annuities.
As for your nations being one like ours--
'Tis false--else would they speak one common tongue.
Nay, more! your own traditions trace you here--
Widespread in lapse of ages through the land--
From o'er the mighty ocean of the West.
What better title have you than ourselves,
Who came from o'er the ocean of the East,
And meet with you on free and common ground?
Be reasonable, and let wisdom's words
Displace your passion, and give judgment vent
Think more of bounty, and talk less of rights--
Our hands are full of gifts, our hearts of love.
TECUMSEH. My brother's love is like the trader's
warmth--
O'er with the purchase. Oh, unhappy lives--
Our gifts which go for yours! Once we were strong.
Once all this mighty continent was ours,
And the Great Spirit made it for our use.
He knew no boundaries, so had we peace
In the vast shelter of His handiwork,
And, happy here, we cared not whence we came.
We brought no evils thence--no treasured hate,
No greed of gold, no quarrels over God;
And so our broils, to narrow issues joined,
Were soon composed, and touched the ground of peace.
Our very ailments, rising from the earth,
And not from any foul abuse in us,
Drew back, and let age ripen to death's hand.
Thus flowed our lives until your people came,
Till from the East our matchless misery came!
Since then our tale is crowded with your crimes,
With broken faith, with plunder of reserves--
The sacred remnants of our wide domain--
With tamp'rings, and delirious feasts of fire,
The fruit of your thrice-cursed stills of death,
Which make our good men bad, our bad men worse,
Aye! blind them till they grope in open day,
And stumble into miserable graves.
Oh, it is piteous, for none will hear!
There is no hand to help, no heart to feel,
No tongue to plead for us in all your land.
But every hand aims death, and every heart,
Ulcered with hate, resents our presence here;
And every tongue cries for our children's land
To expiate their crime of being born.
Oh, we have ever yielded in the past,
But we shall yield no more! Those plains are ours!
Those forests are our birth-right and our home!
Let not the Long-Knife build one cabin there--
Or fire from it will spread to every roof,
To compass you, and light your souls to death!
HARRISON. Dreams he of closing up our empty plains?
Our mighty forests waiting for the axe?
Our mountain steeps engrailed with iron and gold?
There's no asylumed madness like to this!
Mankind shall have its wide possession here;
And these rough assets of a virgin world
Stand for its coming, and await its hand.
The poor of every land shall come to this,
Heart-full of sorrows and shall lay them down.
LEFROY. (_Springing to his feet_.) The poor!
What care your rich thieves for the poor?
Those graspers hate the poor, from whom they spring,
More deeply than they hate this injured race.
Much have they taken from it--let them now
Take this prediction, with the red man's curse!
The time will come when that dread power--the Poor--
Whom, in their greed and pride of wealth, they spurn--
Will rise on them, and tear them from their seats;
Drag all their vulgar splendours down, and pluck
Their shallow women from their lawless beds,
Yea, seize their puling and unhealthy babes,
And fling them as foul pavement to the streets.
In all the dreaming of the Universe
There is no darker vision of despairs!
1ST OFFICER. What man is that? 'Tis not an Indian.
HARRISON. Madman, you rave!--you know not what you say.
TECUMSEH. Master of guile, this axe should speak for
him!
[_Drawing his hatchet as if to hurl it at_
HARRISON.]
2ND OFFICER. This man means mischief! Quick! Bring up
the guard!
[GENERAL HARRISON _and officers draw their swords.
The warriors spring to their feet and cluster about_
TECUMSEH, _their eyes fixed intently upon_
HARRISON, _who stands unmoved._ TWANG _and his
friends disappear. The soldiers rush forward and take
aim, but are ordered not to fire_.]
END OF SECOND ACT.