Chapter IV: Part 4

“Another white man of the same description, whom I well knew, related, with a kind of barbarous exultation, on his return to Detroit from a war excursion with the Indians, in which he had been engaged, that the party with which he was, having taken a woman prisoner who had a sucking babe at her breast, he tried to persuade the Indians to kill the child, lest its cries should discover the place where they were; the Indians were unwilling to commit the deed, on which the white man at once jumped up, tore the child from its mother’s arms, and taking it by the legs dashed its head against the tree, so that the brains flew out all around! The monster in relating this story said: ‘the little dog all the time was making _wee_!’ He added, that if he were sure that his old father, who some time before had died in Old Virginia, would, if he had lived longer, have turned rebel, he would go all the way into Virginia, raise the body, and take off his scalp!

“Let us now contrast with this the conduct of the Indians. Carver tells us in his travels with what moderation, humanity, and delicacy they treat female prisoners, and particularly pregnant women.[77] I refer the reader to the following fact, as an instance of their conduct in such cases. If his admiration is excited by the behaviour of the Indians, I doubt not that his indignation will be raised in an equal degree by that of a white man who unfortunately acts a part in the story.

“A party of Delawares, in one of their excursions, during the revolutionary war, took a white female prisoner. The Indian Chief, after a march of several days, observed that she was ailing, and was soon convinced (for she was far advanced in her pregnancy) that the time of her delivery was near. He immediately made a halt on the banks of a stream, where, _at a proper distance from the encampment_, he built for her a close hut of peeled barks, gathered dry grass and fern to make her a bed, and placed a blanket at the opening of the dwelling as a substitute for a door. He then kindled a fire, placed a pile of wood near it to feed it occasionally, and placed a kettle of water at hand where she might easily use it. He then took her into her little infirmary, gave her Indian medicines, with directions how to use them, and told her to rest easy, and she might be sure that nothing should disturb her. Having done this, he returned to his men, forbade them from making any noise, or disturbing the sick woman in any manner, and told them that he himself should guard her during the night. He did so; and the whole night kept watch before her door, walking backward and forward, to be ready at her call at any moment, in case of extreme necessity. The night passed quietly; but in the morning, as he was walking by on the bank of the stream, seeing him through the crevices she called to him and presented her babe. The good chief, with tears in his eyes, rejoiced at her safe delivery; he told her not to be uneasy, that he should lay by for a few days, and would soon bring her some nourishing food, and some medicines to take. Then going to his encampment he ordered all his men to go out a hunting, and remained himself to guard the camp.”

After citing this account a modern writer observes: “forgive me, reader, if, for a moment, I disturb the order of my extract. There is nothing that I know within the whole scope of anecdotal history more affecting than the present narration. How exalted was the humanity of this Indian Chief! how refined his delicacy! how watchful and tender his care! The pathos, though deep, is sweet; and Mr. Heckewelder has communicated the story in a style of feeling and simplicity worthy of it. He has made us witnesses of the transaction. We see through the darkness of the night, the swarthy warrior walking anxiously backward and forward before the hut of bark—the ‘little infirmary’ of the labouring woman. The morning comes; and in the pale dawn, behold! the poor creature, pointing, in a state of utter exhaustion to her babe, delivered in the wilderness—in night and solitude! Yet was she not entirely without support; for, over and above the secret aid which came to her pangs from high, see! she meets with sympathy in a wild man, a stranger, a warrior, who melts into tears at the sight! My heart, too, swells as I read. Bear with me——we will resume our extract.”

“Now for the reverse of the picture. Among the men whom this chief had under his command, was one of those white vagabonds whom I have before described. The captain was much afraid of him, knowing him to be a bad man; and as he had expressed a great desire to go a hunting with the rest, he believed him gone, and entertained no fears for the woman’s safety. But it was not long before he was undeceived. While he was gone to a small distance to dig roots for his poor patient, he heard her cries, and running with speed to her hut, he was informed by her that the white man had threatened to take away her life if she did not immediately throw her child into the river. The captain, enraged at the cruelty of this man, and the liberty he had taken with his prisoners, hailed him as he was running off, and told him, ‘that the moment he should miss the child, the tomahawk should be in his head.’ After a few days this humane chief placed the woman carefully on a horse, and they went together to the place of their destination, the mother and the child doing well. I have heard him relate this story, to which he added, that whenever he should go on an excursion, he never would suffer a white man to be of his party.

“Yet I must acknowledge that I have known an Indian Chief who had been guilty of the crime of killing the child of a female prisoner. His name was Glikhican. In the year 1770, he joined the congregation of the Christian Indians; the details of his conversion are related at large by Loskiel, in his ‘History of the Missions’.[78] Before that time he had been conspicuous as a warrior and a counsellor, and in oratory it is said he never was surpassed. This man having joined the French in the year 1754 or 1755, in their war against the English, and being at that time out with a party of Frenchmen, took, among other prisoners, a young woman, named Rachel Abbott, from the Conegocheague settlement, who had at her breast a sucking babe. The incessant cries of the child, the hurry to get off, but above all, the persuasions of his _white_ companions, induced him much against his inclination to kill the innocent creature; while the mother in an agony of grief, and her face suffused with tears, begged that its life might be spared. The woman, however, was brought safe to the Ohio, where she was kindly treated and adopted, and some years afterwards was married to a Delaware Chief of respectability, by whom she had several children, who are now living with the Christian Indians in Upper Canada.

“Glikhican never forgave himself for having committed this crime, although many times, and long before his becoming a Christian, he had begged the woman’s pardon with tears in his eyes, and received her free and full forgiveness. In vain she pointed out to him all the circumstances that he could have all edged to excuse the deed; in vain she reminded him of his unwillingness at the time, and his having been in a manner compelled to do it by his French associates; nothing that she did say could assuage his sorrow or quiet the perturbation of his mind; he called himself a wretch, a monster, a _coward_, (the proud feelings of an Indian must be well understood to judge of the force of this self-accusation,) and to the moment of his death the remembrance of this fatal act preyed like a canker worm upon his spirits. I ought to add, that from the time of his conversion he lived the life of a Christian, and died as such.”

In the “Report on the condition of the Indians of Upper Canada,” published by the Aborigines Protection Society, we find the following statements respecting the attempts which have been made to civilize them:—

“It is an important additional fact in regard to the light in which the Indians of North America were once looked upon, that their rights are stipulated for in the treaty of Utrecht. But on the other hand, modern writers on the laws of nations seem inclined to exclude them from its benefits. And modern statesmen carry this theory further, so as to sacrifice them by positive injustice in practice. Sir Francis Bond Head recommended the discontinuance of payment due by treaty to certain tribes, on the ground of those tribes being at war with our present allies, the people of the United States; a matter undoubtedly deserving grave consideration, in reference to the point especially raised, namely, the supply of arms; but which also involves a question of international rights, on this occasion much too summarily disposed of by the Canadian governor. Lord Glenelg hesitated to adopt his recommendation, but his lordship does not seem to have taken entirely a just view of the case.[79]

“It is strictly within the limits of truth to say, that neither the Home government, nor the Colonial authorities have acted up to the injunctions of those two documents of 1670, and 1763, which are unquestionably binding to this day; and the extent to which these injunctions have been neglected, fully accounts to us for the ruin of the Indians. That extent is proved,

“First,—By the unjust and improvident manner in which the land of the Indians has been dealt with by us, their insecurity of title, and their actual removal from it in late remarkable cases under an oppressive and fraudulent treaty, and by unjust contracts.

“Second,—By the neglect of obvious means of securing justice to Indians in courts of law, in their participation of civil rights; and in just regulations of trading with them. And

“Third,—By the small provision of direct means of improving the Indians, in missions, in schools, and other institutions.

“Unquestionably the various benefits contemplated by the royal instructions of 1670, have not been conferred: and the frauds and abuses mentioned in the proclamation of 1760, have been repeated down to a very late period by the government itself, instead of being repressed.

“We shall prove the unworthiness of this course of neglect and injustice, by producing incontrovertible evidence of the capacity of the Indians to become civilized, and of their desire to accept the elements of civilization at our hands, as well to be gradually incorporated with the Colonists.

“We shall also show, that numerous Colonists are anxious to promote the civilization of the Indians.”

The undue acquisition of the Indians’ land, and encroachments upon it, are not new; and the personal appeals of their delegates to the crown, have been frequent. More than thirty years ago such a delegate, John Norton, had the countenance of the late Mr. Wilberforce.[80] In 1822, the younger Brant, and Colonel Kerr, came to London on such a mission for the six nations. Subsequently, the Rev. Peter Jones has come over more than once for the Mississaguas, of the river Credit, on the like errand. And the visit of Heshtona-quet, has shewn the Indians of the river St. Clair to be in the same danger.

Other examples might be cited, and it is believed that none have produced proper results. The case however of the river Credit Indians, has some favourable aspects; and it will be mentioned fully.

But these visits have exhibited Indians to the impartial English public most favourably; and they in that respect, as well as in some others to be mentioned hereafter, deserve particular attention.

We pass by the earlier cases of alienation of land from the Indians of Upper Canada, amounting for example in the years 1818, 1819, and 1820, to 4,680,000 acres acquired by the government for annuities of £512.[81]

The sum due annually to these Indians from the crown for lands acquired from them; was stated in the “Parliamentary Papers” of 1834, at £5106 currency, or £4426 sterling.[82]

Those earlier cases, appear to be more remarkable for general neglect of a proper system of treatment of the Indians, than for any extreme oppression and injustice in the bargains made. They did not involve the REMOVAL of the Indians from the unimproved land sold, and still less the alienation of their improvements and forms. On the contrary, in the year 1823, a general reform of the old system was very seriously contemplated by the Secretary of State of that time, Earl Bathurst. One of the Sub-Committee was in fact employed by the Secretary of State in 1823, to draw up a general plan for that reform, which had the approbation of the late Bishop of Quebec, the Honourable Dr. Stuart. But it was not acted upon.

Before 1828, however, a reform was begun by the government, in addition to what had been long doing usefully by the Moravians, the New England Company, and other societies. It was pursued during eight or nine years with great success, although the plan was defective in several material points.

The character of what was accomplished may be inferred from the following extracts from the Parliamentary papers of 1834, No. 617.

In 1828, General Darling reported to Earl Dalhousie as follows on the subject:—

The Mississaquas of Rice Lake, consisting of 317 souls, and the Mohawks of Bay of Quinti, and the Rice Lake have recently been converted to Christianity by the Methodist society, who have introduced missionaries among the Indians here, and in every part of Upper Canada, where they have been able to obtain a footing. These missionaries come chiefly from the United States, and belong to the “Canada Conference Missionary Society,” auxiliary to the “Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the State of New York,” from which they receive a small salary, seldom exceeding £40 a year. It is undoubted that they have done some good, by influencing the Indians to embrace Christianity, and have inculcated the first principles of civilization, particularly in the tribes now under consideration, which shows itself in the desire which they have expressed to be collected in a village, and have lands allotted them for cultivation.

The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinti were separated from the Mohawk nation about the year 1784, and settled in the Bay of Quinti; amongst these are some becoming tolerable farmers. They have in many instances assumed the dress of the European, which is sometimes mixed with their native attire, presenting a curious compound of barbarism and civilization.

_Chippawas under the Chief Yellow head._—These Indians amount, upon an average, to 550 souls; they occupy the lands about Lake Simcoe, Holland River, and the unsettled county in the rear of York. They have expressed a strong desire to be admitted to Christianity, and to adopt the habits of civilized life; in these respects they may be classed with the Mississaquas of the Bay of Quinti, and Rice Lake, but are at present in a more savage state.

_Mississaquas of the Credit._—The present state of this tribe, amounting to 180 souls, who were lately notorious for drunkenness and debauchery, affords, in my humble opinion, the strongest encouragement to extend to the other tribes now disposed to Christianity and civilization, the experiment that has been tried by his Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland, with every promise of success with these Mississaquas.

They are now settled in a delightful spot on the banks of the Credit, about sixteen miles from York, in a village consisting of twenty substantial log huts, eighteen feet by twenty-four, having an upper story or garret to each. They have a school-house for the boys (in which is combined decent arrangement for the performance of divine service, which is regularly attended,) and another for the girls.

The progress made in the former is highly creditable to the superintendent, considering the short time it has been established. I found it attended by thirty-one boys, mostly very young, who spelt and read fluently in English; they also answered several questions which I put to them promiscuously from the church catechism, and sung a hymn, remarkable for the loyalty of its sentiments. Finding the houses built for them too few for their numbers, they have added some of their own construction similar to those first erected.

They have two enclosures of about seven acres of wheat, and a field on the banks of the river, containing about thirty-five acres of Indian corn, in a promising state of cultivation. A small plot is attached to each house for their potatoes or other garden stuff.

The expense of these buildings has not exceeded, I believe, £14 currency each, say £250 sterling on the whole. A respectable Englishman, now a Methodist missionary, who receives a pension from the British government for the loss of an arm in the late war, when he served in the provincial marine of Upper Canada, resides amongst these Indians, and as his feelings towards Great Britain have been well tried, there is every reason to hope that his exertions for the perfect civilization of his flock will be crowned with success.

_Mohawks and the Six Nations._—Under 2000 souls are settled on the banks of the Ouse, or Grand River, a fine and fertile tract of country, which was purchased from the Chippawas (the Aborigines) exclusively from them when they were brought to this country from the Mohawk River, in the State of New York, at the termination of the revolutionary American war.

The proclamation of Sir F. Haldimand, which constitutes, I believe, their only title, allots them “six miles deep from each side of the river, beginning at Lake Erie, and extending in that proportion to the head of the river.”

They are now considered as having retained about 260,000 acres of land, mostly of the best quality. Their possessions were formerly more extensive, but large tracts of land have been sold by them, with the permission of his majesty’s government; the monies arising from which sales were either founded in England, or lent on interest in this country. The proceeds amount to about £1500 per annum.

The principal village, or Mohawk Castle, as it is called, consists now of half a dozen miserable huts, scattered without any order, and a paltry church.

The town was formerly more respectable; but the increasing scarcity of fuel in its neighbourhood, and the fine quality of the soil, induced them by degrees to separate and settle on the bank of the river, where they cultivate the ground in companies or bands, a certain number of families divided amongst them the produce of certain numbers of acres. Their knowledge of farming is exceedingly limited, being chiefly confined to the cultivation of Indian corn, beans and potatoes; but those of more industrious habits follow the example of their white neighbours, and have separate farms, on which they raise most kind of English grain.

Were I to offer to your lordship all the observations which appear to me worthy of attention respecting these ancient allies of his majesty, this report would assume the character of a history and far exceed the expected limits. I hasten, therefore, to submit a statement, which has been compiled with great attention, showing their present possessions in houses, horses, cattle, &c.; viz.

Dwelling-houses 416
Computed number of acres of land in cultivation 6872
Horses 738
Cows 869
Oxen 613
Sheep 192
Swine 1630

I have already adverted to the introduction of Methodist Missionaries and teachers amongst the Indians of Upper Canada, several of whom are found in this neighbourhood.

There is also an English Protestant Missionary, lately sent out from London by the New England Corporation, a young man whose zeal and devotion to the cause in which he has embarked promise the best results, the Indians giving in all cases the preference to whatever is given or recommended by their great father, to whatever comes from any other quarter. In earnest of their disposition to profit by and assist the labours of this minister, they have readily agreed, on my recommendation, to allot one hundred acres of land to each school that may be established on the Grand River, under his direction.

I submit, with all deference, whether it is not worthy the liberality of the British government to encourage the disposition now shown generally amongst the resident Indians of the province, to shake off the rude habits of savage life, and to embrace Christianity and civilization.

It appears to me that this would not be attended with much expence. A small sum, by way of salary, to a schoolmaster wherever a school may be formed, say four or five in the whole, a trifling addition to the salary of the present missionary, who is paid by a society, and of a second if appointed, which I believe is contemplated by the Lord Bishop of the diocese; and some aid in building school houses.

There are Chippawas who have prayed urgently for a missionary and schoolmaster to be sent amongst them.

_Of the attempts which have been made to civilize the American Indians._

The Indians of America owe very few obligations to the white people that have settled among them. The latter have endeavoured to exterminate the former, and by violence or fraud, to get possession of their territories. They have slaughtered a great part of the American Aborigines in open war, endeavoured to enslave the rest, and multiplied so rapidly, and spread themselves so regularly over the face of the transatlantic world, as to render the Indian mode of procuring subsistence exceedingly precarious. “While the diminution of their supplies” observes a writer in the _Edinburgh Review_ “was thus sowing the seeds of decay, the lessons which they learnt from their new neighbours, drunkenness and other excesses, with several diseases which they imported, tended to accelerate their utter extinction. It appeared indeed quite obvious, that if the Indians did not, by imitating the whites learn new habits and occupations, their race in a few years would be completely destroyed.”

“From these considerations a duty devolved upon the European settlers, which several bodies of men in the United States, seem to have felt extremely urgent. They were called upon to contribute as much as lay in their power towards the alleviation of the sufferings which their own increased prosperity was daily entailing upon the original and rightful proprietors of the country. They were called upon to prevent, if possible, the utter extinction of a race, which their own progress in wealth and in numbers, was constantly depriving of the means of subsistence. Accordingly, various plans were adopted with this view, sometimes by the government, sometimes by individuals, and public bodies. Pensions were granted to certain tribes, whose hunting had been destroyed by the clearing of the forests. Such a relief, unaccompanied by any change in their character and habits, was at best but temporary, and, in the end, rather did evil than good; for the same people who bestowed the annuity, had taught the Indians to drink, and continued to supply them with spirituous liquors: the temptations of which, those savages had not fortitude to resist. Another means adopted, with somewhat more wisdom, was the employment of missionaries among them, for the purpose of converting and instructing them. But this plan was involved in one radical mistake, and was also injudiciously pursued. The Indians had a religion of their own, to which, as the inheritance of their ancestors, they were strongly attached. The evils of their situation lay not in the errors of their faith, but of their practice. They might be converted to Christianity, without leaving off the habits of the hunting state; and it by no means followed, that their growth in grace must be attended with a proportionate improvement in the arts of common life. Yet the missionary scheme hinged entirely on religious points. Its object was to send a multitude of preachers among the Indians; to preach them, not out of their ignorance and idleness, but out of their theological errors; to convert them, not to the life of husbandmen and shepherds, but to the knowledge of the life to come. Add to this, that the missionaries who could be found, in a country so little prone to any but commercial and agricultural labours as America, were necessarily zealots; persons of narrow views; ignorant and superstitious, and ill natured; and, in the affairs of this world, idle. They had no success at all. They preached the gospel to men already satisfied with their spiritual condition, and only anxious for food and raiment; they despised and intolerantly cried down all the notions held sacred by a people as prejudiced and bigoted as themselves; they recommended sobriety as a religious duty, to men whose former faith did not prohibit the use of strong liquors, and whose tastes all point to bodily intoxication as a greater blessing than the holy raptures of their new instructors. Thus the missionaries always quarrelled with their flocks, and made but few converts; nor among these produced any real improvement.

“The instruction of the Indians in schools, among the Europeans settled at the great towns, was another method which was adopted with the same view, and with no better success. After receiving in part the education, and in whole the vices of civilized life, those pupils returned to their naked and hunting brethren, from corruption the most profligate, and from necessity the most idle, members of the Indian community. They found a society in the woods, to which they originally belonged by blood, but for the manners and pursuits of which they had been altogether incapacitated by education. We need go no further, to illustrate the absurdity of this plan of inoculating the Indian tribes with civilization, than the remarks of a person in this predicament. He had been educated at Prince town; and upon being asked by an American commandant in the neighbourhood of his tribe, why his countrymen continued so perversely addicted to a savage life, he replied: ‘it is natural that we should follow the footsteps of our forefathers; and when you white people undertake to divert us from this path, you teach us to eat, drink, dress, and write like yourselves, and then turn us loose, to beg, starve, or seek our native forests, without alternative; and, outlawed from your society, we curse you for the feelings you have taught us, and resort to excess, that we may forget you.’

“Such having been the necessary consequence of the feeble and ill-planned attempts, both of government and other societies, to civilize the Indians, we had begun to despair of ever seeing this laudable undertaking prosper. Men seemed resolved (as appears from the foregoing statement, which we have prefixed to the present article, as a proper introduction) to begin at the wrong end, and to neglect the only plain and simple method by which these savage tribes ever can be reclaimed from their barbarism, or made the partakers, and not the victims of the civilization that surrounds them. Happily our fears have proved groundless. The people called Quakers, a society in many respects by far the most meritorious and amiable among our religious sects, seems to have solved the problem; and, by a close attention to the principles above sketched out, they appear to have laid a very solid foundation for the rapid civilization of those unhappy natives. The little tract now before us, contains a plain unvarnished detail of their benevolent and most judicious proceedings. It was printed originally at Philadelphia, and is now reprinted in London. We trust it will meet with due attention, as it is, in fact, one of the most interesting publications which has appeared of late years. We shall now present our readers with a short account of what the Quakers have done. The scene of their operations was among the Indians of the Five Nations, who inhabit a tract of country about three hundred miles North West, from Philadelphia; and of these nations, the experiments now to be described, were performed on the Oneidas and Senecas.

“The Quakers appear to have proceeded upon the fundamental assumption that the only means of civilizing those tribes, and indeed of preserving their existence, must be sought in a well planned attempt to reclaim them from the precarious and idle life of hunters. For this purpose, they conceived that the settlement of a few missionaries among them was absolutely necessary. But the missionaries, whom they choose, were not preachers; they were artizans, carpenters, blacksmiths, and ploughmen. They likewise imagined that a very small number of such persons, chosen for their quiet conduct and industrious regular habits, and sent to settle among the Indians without parade or pomp, would do more good than the most splendid scheme of colonization, by means of the greatest and wealthiest body of settlers. Example was to be their great engine—and example, they well knew, works slowly, gradually, and quietly.

“Proceeding upon these principles, they waved, for the present, every idea of converting the Indians to Christianity. The remarks of the committee, to whose care we owe this publication, are particularly judicious and enlightened on this point. ‘It is probable,’ they observe, ‘that some readers may think every scheme of civilization defective, that does not immediately attempt to plant Christianity. Of the infinite value of Christianity, our Pensylvanians are doubtless aware; but here, though not directly acting the part of missionaries, they are preaching religion by example; and are probably preparing the Indians, by more means than one, for the reception and acknowledgment of the gospel.’

“Their first step was to address circular letters to the different tribes in 1796, accompanied by one from the executive government of the United States, expressive of its approbation. The letters merely contained an offer to instruct such as should apply to them, in husbandry. The Oneidas were the only tribe that at first made the application; and accordingly three Quakers repaired to their country, and settled there. At first, the natives were quite averse to labour of every kind; and the Quakers only cultivated their own ground, and worked a saw-mill for themselves. By degrees their example had its effect, and the use of the saw-mill became familiar to the tribe. In winter they opened a school for the children; and in summer they found the Indians beginning to assist their wives in cultivating little pieces of ground; a labour which had formerly devolved entirely on the latter. The want of a blacksmith being very greatly felt, a Quaker of that profession volunteered his services to settle there; and his wife accompanied him, to instruct the Indian girls. A number of the young men were hired and boarded by the Quakers, to assist them in working. The spirit of labour and taste for husbandry became more prevalent; the blacksmith’s work was generally attended to; the women learned to sew and spin. Implements of husbandry were judiciously and sparingly distributed. The use of these was acquired, and, in 1799, the natives began to clear lands for themselves, and sow wheat.

“Having proceeded thus far in reclaiming the tribe from the hunting state, and its attendant misery and idleness, an incident occurred, which displays in a remarkable manner, the happy mixture of judgment with which the promoters of this admirable plan tempered their zeal. The whites of other sects had not failed to spread abroad stories unfavourable to the scheme of the Quakers; and the Indians, naturally mistrustful, like all savages, began to entertain suspicions that these surmises were well founded. They knew that the labours of the Quakers must have cost money; and, as they never before saw any example of Europeans working for nothing, they suspected that the new settlers had a design of making a permanent establishment, and then laying claim to their lands. As soon as this notion came to the ears of the Quakers, they resolved to withdraw instantly, and leave the natives in the natural course of improvement, to benefit by the civilization which they had already planted among them. After a residence of three years, therefore, they disclosed their intentions in a council of the nation, and they left the place, accompanied by the unanimous thanks and good wishes of those rude tribes. A similar instance of suspicion afterwards occurred, and it was allayed with equal judgment. The Indians of another tribe having received many benefits from them, were afraid lest repayment should be demanded at some future time. A speedy and frank explanation from men whose honesty they never had even reason to doubt, at once allayed these apprehensions.

“The observations of what had been done among the Oneidas, induced the Senecas to send an invitation, requesting a similar assistance from the society. Three Quakers immediately repaired thither: they were welcomed with great joy; and thanks were given by the nation to the Great Spirit, for their safe arrival among them. Here, as in every other hunting tribe, the women and girls are left to the labour of rearing such vegetables as their husbandry affords, and in hewing timber for fuel. The chase, and amusements of different sorts, occupied the men and boys. The Quakers exhorted them constantly to give up such practices; and never failed to set before them, in the strongest light, the necessity both of general industry and temperance; a virtue almost unknown among the Indians at the commencement of the Quaker missions. The progress of improvement in the arts and comforts of life, uniformly kept pace with the disuse of spirituous liquors; and the speeches and other communications of thanks from the chiefs of the tribe, to the society and its emissaries, never fail to mark the state of morals, and especially of sobriety among the natives. The sketch of improvement given above, relative to the Oneidas, is also applicable to its history among the Senecas. But we shall be excused for extracting the following discourse, delivered by the Quakers to those Indians, in a council. It is, in our apprehension, the right model of a right missionary sermon. We shall also subjoin the answer of the chief:—

“‘Brothers,—It has afforded us satisfaction, in passing through your town, to notice marks of industry taking place; that you are building better and warmer houses to live in; and that so much of your cleared land is planted with corn, beans, potatoes, &c.; and to see these articles kept in good order.

“‘Brothers,—We observe, where your new houses are building, that the timber is very much cut off a rich flat, which we wish you encouraged to clear and make fit for ploughing. We hope more of your men will assist in clearing and fencing land, and planting it with corn; also sowing it with wheat; you will then have a supply of provision, more certain to depend upon than hunting.

“‘Brothers,—We are pleased to see your stock of cattle increased. The rich bottoms on the river will be plenty for them to live on in the summer season; but, as your winters are long and cold, it will require something for them to live on in the winter. The white people keep their cattle on hay, on straw, and on corn fodder. Straw you cannot get, until you have raised wheat or other grain; the rich bottoms, if put in order, would produce a great deal of hay. But, for an immediate supply, we think, that, as soon as you gather the corn, if you would cut the stalks close at the ground, bind them up in small bundles, and put them in stacks, as our young men do, they would keep your cattle part of the cold weather.

“‘Brothers,—We are pleased to see a quantity of fence made this summer, and we would not have you discouraged at the labour it takes; for, if you will clear a little more land every year, and fence it, you will soon get enough to raise what bread you want, as well as some for grass, to make hay for your cattle in winter.

“‘Brothers,—We understand you are desirous to discourage whiskey from being brought among you, with which we are much pleased, and should be glad you could entirely keep it away. To get it, you give your money, with which you should buy clothing, oxen, &c.’

“The Indians were also informed that one of the young men, who had been there since the settlement was first formed, (about sixteen months) appeared most uneasy to leave them, and return to his friends before winter. They hoped another would supply his place.

“Cornplanter, on behalf of the nation, made a reply, in substance as follows:—

“‘That, when our young friends first settled among them, many of his chiefs were averse to it; but they had this summer several councils among themselves respecting the young men, and all the chiefs seeing their good conduct and readiness to assist Indians, were now well satisfied. He hoped, several of his young men would do more at farming than heretofore; and friends must not be discouraged because so little was done; but exercise patience towards them, as it was hard for them to make much change from their ancient customs. He regretted the loss of the friend who expected to leave them soon; he said he had been useful to him in keeping whisky, and other strong liquors, out of the town; that they now drank much less than formerly; but feared, when the friend was gone, he should keep it away so well as he had lately done.’ p.p. 18, 21.

“We add the following passage, as an interesting account of the progress, in one of the grand circumstances which distinguishes the civilized from the barbarous state of society.

“‘In the ninth month of this year, (Sept. 1801), three of the committee visited the settlement, being accompanied by a young friend, a blacksmith, who went to instruct some of the Indians in that useful and necessary occupation. Two of the visitors had been there before. The preceding spring, the Indians first began to use a plough; and the men performed the labour with a little instruction and assistance from friends. They took a very cautious method of determining whether it was likely to be an advantageous change for them or not. Several parts of a very large field were ploughed; and the intermediate spaces prepared by their women with the hoe, according to ancient custom. It was all planted with corn; and the parts ploughed besides the great saving of labour, produced much the heaviest crop; the stalks being more than a foot higher, and proportionably stouter, than those on the hoed ground. The corn was now ripe and gathering in; and as their stock of cattle was much increased, instead of letting the stalks and leaves perish on the ground as heretofore, they preserved them for winter fodder. Several of them had mown grass, and made small stacks of hay; and they had made a fence about two miles long, which encloses the lower town, and a large body of adjacent land fronting on the river; also several other fences within it, to separate the corn ground from the pasture, &c.

“‘The cabins which they used to live in, were generally either gone to decay, or pulled down. Most of them had built good log houses, with shingled roofs, and some of them with stone chimneys.

“‘With the exception of houses and fences, the improvements at Jeneshadago did not bear a comparison with the upper settlements, where the Indians lived more scattered. Their thus settling separate and detached from each other, was already manifestly more to their advantage than living together in villages. A chief, who is not ashamed to be seen at work by the women of his own family, would be probably much mortified, were he discovered by a number of females, who, on such occasions, do not always refrain from ridicule. Yet this false shame on the part of the men, and ridicule of the women, is wearing away, in proportion as they become familiarized to each other’s assistance in their little agricultural labours.

“‘Friends requested a council with the chief women of the Jeneshadago town, which was readily granted, when they were favoured to make some communications pertinent to their situation. The women expressed their thankfulness to the Great Spirit for affording them this council; the words, they said, had sunk deep into their hearts, and they hoped would never be forgotten by them. Cornplanter and his brother Conedieu were present.

“‘The Indians were become very sober, generally refraining from the use of strong drink, both at home and when abroad among the white people. One of them observed to our committee, “no more bark cabin, but good houses; no more get drunk now this two year.”’—p.p. 24, 25, 26.

“We shall only add one proof more of the progress which industry had made among these tribes, by the laborious and judicious example of the Quakers. A single tribe had formed a road of twenty-two miles in length; and a few families, in one place, had cleared and fenced sixty acres of good land.

“It is impossible to contemplate the signal success which has attended these experiments, without remarking that it was owing in part to the character of the Quakers, as well as to the wisdom of the plans which they here adopted. The general reputation of that sect for peacefulness and honesty, and the quiet manner of those whom they sent to reside among the Indians, could not fail to disarm any repugnance of the savage natives towards strangers, and to conciliate their confidence and esteem. Even their taciturnity was favourable to the end in view. ‘Your young men,’ said a chief in one of their councils, ‘do not talk much to us, but when they do, they speak what is good, and have been very helpful in keeping us from using spirituous liquors.’ Their punctual performance of engagements, and the regularity of all their habits had the same good effects in gaining the respect of the Indians. ‘Brothers,’ said they, in a conference which had been held for the purpose of explaining some differences, ‘Brothers, we are well satisfied with your conduct towards us. You have always done what you promised.’ We subjoin the following anecdote as illustrative of the influence which the character of the sect has had on the success of their experiment and as interesting in itself. ‘In the evening, when friends were sitting with the chief warrior, he said he wished to ask them a question, but was almost afraid. They desired him to speak, and they would give him such information as they were able. It was, Do the Quakers keep any slaves? He was told they did not. He said he was very glad to hear it; for if they had kept any, he could not think so well of them as he now did. That he had been at the city of Washington last winter, on business of the nation, and found many white people kept blacks in slavery, and used them no better than horses.’

“From these causes, as well as from the admirable discretion and sound sense which directed the formation of these plans, this small society of Quakers have, at an expence inconceiveably trifling, secured the civilization of the Indian tribes, and laid the foundation of their entire conversion to the state of peaceful and industrious husbandmen, from that of wandering and turbulent and idle hunters. The missionaries left those children of their care mutually satisfied with the progress and result of their labours. For the first time Europeans had resided amongst them with no interested ends in view; for the first time they had learnt no bad lesson, and received no injury from intercourse with more polished communities; for the first time since the voyage of Columbus, a stranger and a friend became compatible appellations—the natural antipathy to new faces vanished in the course of further acquaintance—and he who had been welcomed with distrust, was only suffered to depart with tears. The Indian tribes view the departure of the Quaker missionaries as a national calamity, and are not afraid to consult with their society on all matters of general import.”[83]

The success which attended the benevolent exertions of the Quakers, affords demonstrable proof of the possibility of reclaiming the American Aborigines from the savage state. It must not, however, be supposed that the efforts of other missionaries have been equally successful; nor ought the reader to conclude that even the efforts of the Quakers were productive of any considerable and abiding change in the condition of the red men. However anxious we may be for the civilization of the American Savages, there is no historic fact more certain than that they are not yet civilized. Missionaries and preachers are not the men likely to produce any great change in the condition of these children of nature. That the efforts of the missionaries have, in most cases, proved ineffectual, the following letter from an Indian Chief will abundantly show:—

LETTER FROM RED JACKET.

Canandaigua, 18th. Jan., 1821.

“Brother Parrish,

“I address myself to you, and through you to the governor.

“The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you to Albany, to
do business with the governor; I also was to have been with
you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out of
my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not to
blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should
be so.

“The object of the Onondagas is to purchase our lands at
Tonnewanta. This, and all other business that they may have
to do at Albany, must be transacted in the presence of the
governor. He will see that the bargain is fairly made, so that
all parties may have reason to be satisfied with what shall be
done, and when our sanction shall be wanted to the transaction,
it shall be freely given.

“I much regret that at this time the state of my health should
have prevented me from accompanying you to Albany, as it was
the wish of the nation that I should state to the governor some
circumstances, which show that the chain of friendship between
us and the white people is wearing out and wants brightening.

“I proceed now, however, to lay them before you by letter, that
you may mention them to the governor, and solicit redress.
He is appointed to do justice to all, and the Indians fully
confide that he will not suffer them to be wronged with
impunity.

“The first subject to which we would call the attention of the
governor, is the depredations that are daily committed by the
white people upon the most valuable timber on our reservations.
This has been a subject of complaint with us for many years;
but now, and particularly at this season of the year, it
has become an alarming evil, and calls for the immediate
interposition of the governor in our behalf.

“Our next subject of complaint is, the frequent thefts of our
horses and cattle by the white people, and their habit of
taking and using them whenever they please, and without our
leave. These are evils which seem to increase upon us with the
increase of our white neighbours, and they call loudly for
redress.

“Another evil arising from the pressure of the whites upon us,
and our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency
with which our Chiefs, and Warriors, and Indians, are thrown
into jail, and that too for the most trifling causes. This is
very galling to our feelings, and ought not to be permitted to
the extent to which, to gratify their bad passions, our white
neighbours now carry this practice.

“In our hunting and fishing too, we are greatly interrupted
by the whites. Our venison is stolen from the trees, where we
have hung it to be reclaimed after the chase. Our hunting camps
have been fired into; and we have been warned that we shall no
longer be permitted to pursue the deer in those forests which
were so lately all our own. The fish, which in the Buffalo and
Tonnewante Creeks, used to supply us with food, are now by the
dams and other obstructions of the white people, prevented
from multiplying, and we are almost entirely deprived of that
accustomed sustenance.

“Our Great Father, the President, has recommended to our young
men to be industrious, to plough and to sow. This we have
done; and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means
he has afforded us of carrying it into effect. We are happier
in consequence of it; but another thing recommended to us,
has _created great confusion among us, and is making us a
quarrelsome and divided people; and that is the introduction
of preachers into our nation_. These black-coats continue to
get the consent of some of the Indians to preach among us, and
wherever this is the case, confusion and disorder are sure to
follow, and the encroachments of the whites upon the lands, are
the invariable consequence. The governor must not think hard of
me for speaking thus of the preachers; I have observed their
progress, and when I look back to see what has taken place of
old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they
were the forerunners of their dispersion; that they always
excited enmities and quarrels among them; that they introduced
the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and
plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to
dwindle and decrease, and be driven back in proportion to the
number of preachers that came among them.

“Each nation has its own customs and its own religions. The
Indians have theirs, given to them by the Great Spirit, under
which they were happy. It was not intended that they should
embrace the religion of the whites, and be destroyed by the
attempt to make them think differently on that subject from
their fathers.

“It is true these preachers have got the consent of some of the
chiefs to stay and preach among us, but I and my friends know
this to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed; besides
we have been threatened by Mr. Hyde, who came among us as a
school master and a teacher of our children, but has now become
a black-coat, and refused to teach them any more, that unless
we listen to his preaching and become Christians, we shall be
turned off our lands. We wish to know from the governor if this
is to be so, we think _he_ ought to be turned off our lands,
and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at
peace while he is among us.

“We are afraid too that these preachers, by and by, will
become poor, _and force us to pay them for living among us and
disturbing us_.

“Some of our chiefs have got lazy, and instead of cultivating
their lands themselves, employ white people to do so. There
are now eleven white families living on our reservations at
Buffalo; this is wrong, and ought not to be permitted. The
great source of all our grievances is that the white men
are among us. Let them be removed, and we will be happy and
contented among ourselves. We now cry to the governor for help,
and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily
give us redress.

“RED JACKET.”

This letter was dictated by Red Jacket, and interpreted by Henry Obeal, in the presence of the following Indians:—

“RED JACKET’S SON, CORN PLANTER,
JOHN COBB,
PETER, YOUNG KING’S BROTHER,
TOM THE INFANT,
BLUE SKY,
JOHN SKY,
JEMMY JOHNSON,
MARCUS,
BIG FIRE,
CAPTAIN JEMMY.”[84]

To this may be added the testimony of Timothy Flint, who had ample opportunities of judging of the effects of the proselyting scheme on the character of the Indians.