Colonization and Christianity/Chapter 24
CHAPTER XXIV.
TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS BY THE UNITED STATES.
"We were born on this spot; our fathers lie buried in it. Shall we say to the bones of our fathers—'Arise and come with us into a foreign land?' "—Speech of a Canadian Indian to the French invaders.
It was to be hoped that that great republic, the United States of North America, having given so splendid an example of resistance to the injustice of despotism, and of the achievement of freedom in a struggle against a mighty nation, calculated to call forth all the generous enthusiasm of brave men, would have given a practical demonstration of true liberty to the whole world: that they would have shewn that it was possible for a republic to exist, which was wise and noble enough to be entirely free: that the sarcasm of Milton should not at least be thrown at them—
License they mean when they cry liberty!
A more natural tone was assumed as regarded the Indians. They were declared to be free and independent nations; not citizens of the United States, but the original proprietors of the soil, and therefore as purely irresponsible to the laws of the United States as any neighbouring nations. They were treated with, as such, on every occasion; their territories and right of self-government were acknowledged by such treaties. "There is an abundance of authorities," says Mr. Stuart, in his 'Three Years in North America,' "in opposition to the pretext, that the Indians are not now entitled to live under their own laws and constitutions; but it would be sufficient to refer to the treaties entered into, year after year, between the United States and them as separate nations."
"There are two or three authorities, independent of state papers, which most unambiguously prove that it was never supposed that the state governments should have a right to impose their constitution or code of laws upon any of the Indian nations. Thus Mr. Jefferson, in an address to the Cherokees, says—"I wish sincerely you may succeed in your laudable endeavours to save the remnant of your nation by adopting industrious occupations. In this you may always rely on the counsel and assistance of the United States." In the same way the American negotiators at Ghent, among whom were the most eminent American statesmen, Mr. John Quincy Adams and Mr. Henry Clay, in their note addressed to the British Commissioners, dated September 9, 1814, use the following language:—"The Indians residing within the United States are so far independent that they live under their own customs, and not under the laws of the United States." Chancellor Kent, of New York state (the Lord Coke or Lord Stair of the United States), has expressly laid it down, that "it would seem idle to contend that the Indians were citizens or subjects of the United States, and not alien and sovereign tribes;" and the Supreme Court of the United States have expressly declared, that "the person who purchases land from the Indians within their territory incorporates himself with them; and, so far as respects the property purchased, holds his title under their protection, subject to their laws: if they annul the grant, we know of no tribunal which can revise and set aside the proceeding." Mr. Clay's language is quite decided:—"The Indians residing within the United States are so far independent that they live under their own customs, and not under the laws of the United States; that their rights, where they inhabit or hunt, are secured to them by boundaries defined in amicable treaties between the United States and themselves." Mr. Wirt, the late Attorney-General of the United States, a man of great legal authority, has stated it to be his opinion, "that the territory of the Cherokees is not within the jurisdiction of the State of Georgia, but within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the Cherokee nation; and that, consequently, the State of Georgia has no right to extend her laws over that territory." General Washington in 1790, in a speech to one of the tribes of Indians, not only recognizes the same national independence, but adds many solemn assurances on behalf of the United States. "The general government only has the power to treat with the Indian nations, and any treaty formed and held without its authority will not be binding.
"Here, then, is the security for the remainder of your lands. No state nor person can purchase your lands, unless by some public treaty held under the authority of the United States. The general government will never consent to your being defrauded, but it will protect you in all your just rights.
"But your great object seems to be the security of your remaining lands, and I have, therefore, upon this point, meant to be sufficiently strong and clear. … That, in future, you cannot be defrauded of your lands. That you possess the right to sell, and the right of refusing to sell your lands. … That, therefore, the sale of your lands in future will depend entirely upon yourselves. But that, when you find it for your interest to sell any part of your lands, the United States must be present, by their agent, and will be your security that you shall not be defrauded in the bargain you make. …. The United States will be true and faithful to their engagements."
These are plain and just declarations; and, had they been faithfully maintained, would have conferred great honour on the United States. How they have been maintained, all the world knows. The American republicans have followed faithfully, not their own declarations, but the maxims and the practices of their English progenitors. The Indians have been declared savage and irreclaimable. They have been described as inveterately attached to hunting and a roving life, as a stumbling-block in the path of civilization. As perfectly incapable of settling down to the pursuits of agriculture, social arts, and domestic habits. It has been declared necessary, on these grounds, to push them out of the settled territories, and every means has been used to compel them to abandon the lands of their ancestors, and to seek a fresh country in the wilds beyond the Mississippi. Even so respectable an author as Malte Brun has, in Europe, advanced a doctrine in defence of this sweeping system of Indian expatriation. "Even admitting that the use of ardent spirits has deteriorated their habits and thinned their numbers, we cannot suppose that the Indian population was ever more than twice as dense as at present, or that it exceeded one person for each square mile of surface. Now, in highly civilized countries, like France and England, the population is at the rate of 150 or 200 persons to the square mile. It may safely be affirmed, therefore, that the same extent of land from which one Indian family derives a precarious and wretched subsistence, would support 150 families of civilized men, in plenty and comfort. But most of the Indian tribes raise melons, beans, and maize; and were we to take the case of a people who lived entirely by hunting, the disproportion would be still greater. If God created the earth for the sustenance of mankind, this single consideration decides the question as to the sacred-ess of the Indians' title to the lands which they roam over, but do not, in any reasonable sense, occupy."—v. 224.
A more abominable doctrine surely never was broached. It breathes the genuine spirit of the old Spaniard; and, if acted upon, would produce an everlasting confusion. Every nation which is more densely populated than another, may, on this principle, say to that less densely peopled state, you are not as thickly planted as God intended you to be; you amount only to 150 persons to the square mile, we are 200 to the same space; therefore, please to walk out, and give place to us, who are your superiors, and who more justly fulfil God's intentions by the law of density. The Chinese might fairly lay claim to Europe on that ground; and our own swarming poor to every large park and thinly peopled district that they happened to see.
"This single consideration," indeed, is a very good reason why the Indians should be advised to leave off a desultory life, and take to agriculture and the arts; or it is a very sufficient reason why the Europeans should ask leave to live amongst them, and thus more fully occupy the country, in what the French geographer calls a reasonable sense. And it remained for M. Malte Brun to show that they have ever refused to do either the one or the other. They have, on all occasions when the Europeans have gone amongst them, "in a reasonable sense," received them with kindness, and even joy. They have been willing to listen to their instructions, and ready to sell them their lands to live upon. But it has been the "unreasonableness" of the whites that has everywhere soon turned the hearts, and made deaf the ears, of the natives. We have seen the lawless violence with which the early settlers seized on the Indians' territories, the lawless violence and cruelty with which they rewarded them evil for good, and pursued them to death, or instigated them to the commission of all bloody and desperate deeds. These are the causes why the Indians have remained uncivilized wanderers; why they have refused to listen to the precepts of Christianity; and why they roam over, rather than occupy, those lands on which they have been suffered to remain. From the days of Elliot, Mayhew, Brainard, and their zealous compeers, there have never wanted missionaries to endeavour to civilize and christianize; but they have found, for the most part, their efforts utterly defeated by the wicked and unprincipled acts, the wicked and unprincipled character of the Europeans. When the missionaries have preached to the shrewd Indians the genuine doctrines of Christianity, they have immediately been struck with the total discrepancy between these doctrines and the lives and practices of their European professors. "If these are the principles of your religion," they have continually said, "go and preach them to your countrymen. If they have any efficacy in them, let us see it shewn upon them. Make them good, just, and full of this love you speak of. Let them regard the rights and property of Indians. You have also a people amongst you that you have torn from their own country, and hold in slavery. Go home and give them freedom; do as your book says,—as you would be done by. When you have done that, come again, and we will listen to you."
This is the language which the missionaries have had everywhere in the American forests to contend with.[1] When they have made by their truly kind and christian spirit and lives some impression, the spirit and lives of their countrymen have again destroyed their labours. The fire-waters, gin, rum, and brandy, have been introduced to intoxicate, and in intoxication to swindle the Indians out of their furs and lands. Numbers of claims to lands have been grounded on drunken bargains, which in their soberness the Indians would not recognize; and the consequences have been bloodshed and forcible expulsion. Before these causes the Indians have steadily melted away, or retired westwards before the advancing tide of white emigration. Malte Brun would have us believe that in the United States there never were many more than twice the present number. Let any one look at the list of the different tribes, and their numbers in 1822, quoted by himself from Dr. Morse, and then look at the numbers of all the tribes which inhabited the old States at the period of their settlement.
| In New England | 002,247 |
| New York | 005,184 |
| Ohio | 002,407 |
| Michigan and N. W. territories | 028,380 |
| Illinois and Indiana | 017,006 |
| Southern States east of Mississippi | 065,122 |
| West of Mississippi and north of Missouri | 033,150 |
| Between Missouri and Red River | 101,070 |
| Between Red River and Rio del Norte | 045,370 |
| West of Rocky Mountains | 171,200 |
| 471,136 |
"More than thirty years (this was written about 1822) have rolled away since a treaty was held on the beautiful acclivity that overlooks the Canandaigua Lake. Two days had passed away in negotiation with the Indians for the cession of their lands. The contract was supposed to be nearly completed, when Red-Jacket arose. With the grace and dignity of a Roman senator he drew his blanket around him, and with a piercing eye surveyed the multitude. All was hushed. Nothing interposed to break the silence, save the gentle rustling of the tree-tops under whose shade they were gathered. After a long and solemn, but not unmeaning pause, he commenced his speech in a low voice and sententious style. Rising gradually with the subject, he depicted the primitive simplicity and happiness of his nation, and the wrongs they had sustained from the usurpations of white men, with such a bold but faithful pencil, that every auditor was soon roused to vengeance, or melted into tears. The effect was inexpressible. But ere the emotions of admiration and sympathy had subsided, the white men became alarmed. They were in the heart of an Indian country, surrounded by ten times their number, who were inflamed by the remembrance of their injuries, and excited to indignation by the eloquence of a favourite chief. Appalled and terrified, the white men cast a cheerless gaze upon the hordes around them. A nod from one of the chiefs might be the onset of destruction, but at this portentous moment Farmers-brother interposed."
In the year 1805 a council was held at Buffalo, by the chiefs and warriors of the Senecas, at the request of Mr. Cram from Massachusets. The missionary first made a speech, in which he told the Indians that he was sent by the Missionary Society of Boston, to instruct them "how to worship the Great Spirit," and not to get away their lands and money; that there was but one true religion, and they were living in darkness, etc. After consultation, Red-Jacket returned, on behalf of the Indians, the following speech, which is deservedly famous, and not only displays the strong intellect of the race, but how vain it was to expect to christianize them, without clear and patient reasoning, and in the face of the crimes and corruptions of the whites.
"Friend and brother, it was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things, and he has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words that you have spoken. For all these favours we thank the Great Spirit and him only.
"Brother, this council-fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with great attention to what you have said; you requested us to speak our minds freely: this gives us great joy, for we now consider that we stand upright before you, and can speak whatever we think. All have heard your voice, and all speak to you as one man; our minds are agreed.
"Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place. It is right you should have one, as you are at a great distance from home, and we do not wish to detain you; but we will first look back a little, and tell you what our fathers have told us, and what we have heard from the white people.
"Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He made the beaver and the bear, and their skins served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country, and taught us how to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this he had done for his red children, because he loved them. If we had any disputes about hunting-grounds, they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood; but an evil day came upon us: your forefathers crossed the great waters, and landed on this island. Their numbers were small; they found friends, and not enemies; they told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and came here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a a small seat. We took pity on them, granted their request, and they sate down among us. We gave them corn and meat, they gave us poison[2] in return. The white people had now found out our country, tidings were carried back, and more came amongst us; yet we did not fear them, we took them to be friends: they called us brothers, we believed them, and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased, they wanted more land,—they wanted our country! Our eyes were opened, and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place; Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquors among us; it was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.
"Brother, our seats were once large, and yours were very small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied;—you want to force your religion upon us.
"Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, and we are lost; how do you know this? We understand that your religion is written in a book; if it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us, and not only to us, why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell ws about it; how shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?
"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? why not all agree, as you can all read the book?
"Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children. We worship that way. It teaches us to he thankful for all the favours we receive; to love each other, and to be united;—we never quarrel about religion.
"Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all; but he has made a great difference between his white and red children. He has given us a different complexion, and different customs. To you he has given the arts; to these he has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right: he knows what is best for his children: we are satisfied.
"Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you; we only want to enjoy our own.
"Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enligliten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings, and saw you collecting money from the meeting. I cannot tell what this money was intended for, but suppose it was your minister; and, if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.
"Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbours; we are acquainted with them: we will wait a little while, and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said.
"Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk; and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends."
The Missionary, hastily rising from his seat, refused to shake hands with them, saying "there was no fellowship between the religion of God and the works of the devil." The Indians smiled and retired in a peaceable manner.[3] Which of these parties best knew the real nature of religion? At all events the missionary was awfully deficient in the spirit of his own, and in the art of winning men to embrace it.
- ↑ Mr. Mayhew in his journal, writes, that the Indians told him, that they could not observe the benefit of Christianity, because the English cheated them of their lands and goods; and that the use of books made them more cunning in cheating. In his Indian itineraries, he desired of Ninicroft, sachem of the Narragansets, leave to preach to his people. Ninicroft bid him go and make the English good first, and desired Mr. Mayhew not to hinder him in his concerns. Some Indians at Albany being asked to go into a meeting-house, declined, saying, "the English went into those places to study how to cheat poor Indians in the price of beaver, for they had often observed that when they came back from those places they offered less money than before they went in."
- ↑ Spirituous liquors.
- ↑ Winterbottom's America.