The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1793-01-02 00:00:00, page 1

^ Newhampfhire
L WEDNESDAY, January 2, 1793.]
Mr. Oswald.
f AM induced, from a love to man
£ kind, to solicit you to republish the
following Speech, as it may, in some
measure, confute the uncharitable o
pinion which many people entertain
of the Indians. They have been re
presented as mongers in nature —na-
turally ferocious, cruet, treacherous
and ungrateful, and as deferring no
better name than Savages ; but those
who represent them in this light, and
brand them with the stigma of Sava
ges, do not know them. The early
feeders, of different perflations, who
had an opportunity of being,acquaint,
nd with them, are far from giving
them To odious a chara^er ; on the
contrary, they fay that the Indians are
capable of making a good use of their
veafon ; —that their sentiments are
generally just ;—that they are endow
ed with kindness and moderation ;—
that they are prudent and faithful ;
that they are extremely liberal to each
other ; that they treat Grangers with
&rfpe&and generosity, so long as they
aft with justice and humanity towards
them ; —and that they wprlhip the
Great Creator of the Univeffe with a
degree of purity unknown to many,
who would be offended at being com
pared to them. To whatcaafe, then,
are we to capote their (sometimes)
firage condud ; Is it not, in a great
measure; owing to the evil examples
of those who are called Christians ?
Did not they entice them to take up
the Tomahawk and Knife, indifcri
ciinately to murder the innocent with
the guilty ? Did not they tiring a
mong 'Fem the deftrpaive engines of
war ? And did they not firft give
them spirituous liquors, and by its
pernicious influence defraud and treat
th^ri with injustice ? If they are more
prone to vice than the civited part
of the creation (which, I prefund is
not the case, as they are free from
dotation avarice, blasphemy, ao,d
treacbiry)are they not more excusable ?
They have nothing but the laws of na
ture as their guide, but we have, ex
ctufive of thele, the divine precepts of
thGofol. Let us, then, take Ihame
and forfrov to ourselves, and cease
[peaking evil of them ; let u$ rather en
deavor to win them by good examples,
<<letting our light so shine before
them, that they may fee our good
works, and glorify" the benign Re,
cLemer of the world.
Mn INDIAN SPEECH, in answer to
a SERMON preached by a Swedifo
Missionary, at Coneftogoe, A^ Do
mini 1710, in which befits forth
Original Sin and the Necessity of a
Mediator ; and endeavored b, certain
arguments,to induce the Indians to em
brace the Christian Religion. After
he had ended bis Difaurje, one of the
Indian Chiefs replied to the Sermon.
The difeourje on both files was com
municated by interpreters. The Mis
sionary, upon bit return to Sweden,
puhliJhed his Sermon ani the Indian
Anfuer, having wrote them in La
tin ; he dedicated them to the Univer
sity of Upfal, and desired it tofurnlfh
him witb arguments to confute fuel
froag reasonings of the Indians.
from the Independent Gazetteer,
printed in Philadelphia.
EXETER, (Neiv-Hampshire) Printed by HENRY RANLET, at Nine Shillings per annum.
A friend to the Heathen
The Indian Speech, tranJlated
from the Latin, is as follows.
SINCE the fubjed of bis errand is
to perluade us to embrace a new
dodrine, perhaps it may not be amiss
(before we offer him the reasons why
we cannot comply with his request) to
acquaint him with the grounds and
principles of that religion which tie
would have us abandon.
" Our. forefathers were under a
strong persuasion (as we are) that those
who aft well in this life, will be re
warded in the next, according to the
degree of their virtue ; and an the o
ther hand, those who behave wickedly
here, will undergo such punishments
hereafter, as are proportionate to th,
crimes they were guilty of. This has
been constantly and invariably re
ceived, and ackowledged for a truth,
through every successive generation of
our ancestors : it could not then, have
taken its rife from a fable; for human
fidion, however artfully and plausibly
contrived, can never gain credit long
among any people, where free enqui
ry is allowed ; which was never deni
ed by our ancefters ; who on the con
trary, thought it the sacred, inviolable
right of every man, to emamine and
j^dge for himfelf. Therefore, we
think it evident, that our notion, con
cerning future rewards and punish
ments, was either immediately reveal
ed from heaven to feme of our forefa
thers,and from them defeended to us ;
or, that it was implanted in each of।
us, at our Creation, by the Creator of|
all things. Whatever the method
might have been, whereby God hath
been pleased to make known to us his
will, and give us a knowledge of our
duty, it is llill, in our sense, a divine
revelation.——Now we desire to
propose to him some questions.
' Does he believe that our forefa
thers, men, eminent for their piety
coaftant and warm in their parfait of
virtue, hoping thereby to merit eter
nal happioef#—were all damned ?
'' Does he think, that we, who are
their jealous imitators in good works,
and influenced by the fame motives
as they were ; earnestly endeavoring,
with the greatest circumfpedion, to
tread the paths of integrity, are in a
date of damnation ? If thefs be his
sentiments, they are surely as impious
as they are bold and daring.
"In the next place, we beg he
would explain himfelf more particu
larly concerning the revelation he
speaks of. If he admits no oth^r,
than what is contained in his writ
ten book, the contrary is evident from
what has been ihewn before ; but if
he fays,that God has revealed himfelf
to us, but not fufficient for our salva
tion, then we alk for what parpofe
Ibould he have revealed himfelf to us
in any wife ? It is clear that a revela
tion, inefficient to save, cannot put
us in a better condition than we Should
be in without any revelation at all ;
we cannot conceive that God ffiould
point out to us the end we ought to
aim at, without evening to us the
way of arriving at that end ; but fop,
poffng our undermanning to be so far
illuminated as to know it to be our
duty to please God, who yet has left
os under an incapacity of doing it ;
will this missionary, therefore, con
clude that we shall be eternally damn
ed ? Will he take upon him to ,ro-
THE
Sa
" It is our opinion, that every man
is possessed of fufficient knowledge
for his own folvation. The Almighty
(for any thing we know) may have
communicated himfelf to different
races of people in a different manner.
Some fay they have the will of God
in writing—be it so ; their revelation
has no advantage above ours, since
both must be equally fufficient to save,
or the end of the revelation would be
fruftrated. Besides, if they be both
true, they must be the fame in fab
ftance ; and the difference can only
lie in the mode of communication.
He tells us, there are many precepts
in his written revelation, which we
are entirely ignorant of ; but those
written commands can only be de
signed for those who have the writ
ings ; they cannot possibly regard
us ; had the Almighty thought so
much knowledge necessary. for our sal
vation, his goodness would riot have
so long deferred the communica
ting of it to us. And to fay ; that
in a matter so necessary, he could not,
at one and the fame time, equally re
veal himfelf to all mankind, is noth
ing left than an absolute denial of his
Omnipotence ; without doubt he can
make his will manifeft with or with
out the help of a book, or the assist
ance of any bookish man whatever.
—We shall in the next place
confider the arguments which arise
from a coufideration of providence.
Ifwe be the work of God (which we
presume will not be denied) it follows
from thence, that we are under the
care and protection of God ; for it
cannot be supposed that the Deity
should abandon his own creatures,and
be utterly tegardlefs of their welfare.
Then to fay the Almighty has per
mitted us to remain in a fatal error,
thro' so many ages, is to represent
him as a tyrant. How is it confident
with his justice, to force life upon a
race of mortals, without their consent,
and then to damn them eternally,
without ever opening to them a door
of salvation ? Our conceptions, of the
gracious God are much more noble,
and we think that those who teach,
otherwise, do tittle less than blafphe.
my. Again, it is through the care
and goodness of the Almighty, that
from the beginning of time, through
so many generations, to this day, our
name has been preserved, unblotted
but by our enemies, unreduced to
nothing ; by the fame cate we now
enjoy our lives, and are furnifhed with
the necessary means of preserving,
those lives. But all those things are
trifling, compared with our salvation ;
therefore, since God has been so care
ful o f us in matters of little cenfe
quence it will ^ absurd to affirm that
he has neglected us in cases of the
greatest importance.
" Admit that he hath forfaken us,
yet it could not have been without a
just cause : let us foppofe tha, some,
heinous crime wtii committed by one
of our anceflors, like to tfiat we are
told happened among another race of
people ;in foch a case God would
certainly punish the criminal, bat
would never involve us, that ate inno
cent, inhis guilt : those who think
otherwise must make the Almighty a
very whimsical, ill-natured being.
nonnce damnation against us, for not
doing those things, which he himfelf
acknowledges impossible for us to
do ?
Gazetteer.
4,
[Numb. XXVI of Volume VII.
IN obedience to two refolutsons of the
House of Reprefentatit.es, one of the
2 'ftinfant, dirsaing the Secretary
of the Treasury to report a plan for
the redemption of so much of the Pub,
Lek Dubt, as by the Aft entitled,
'' An a& making provision for the
debt of the United States," the United
States have referred the right to re
deem—the dtber of the 2±d infant,
dirking him to report the plan of a
prowlien for the reimbursement of the
Loan made of the Bank of the United
States, pursuant to the 11th Jeaton
of the Aa entitled, "AnAA to in
corporate the fubferibers to the Bank
df the United States"—the jdid Secre
'^ r J refpeafullyjubmits the following
Report.
THE expedicicy of taking mea
sures for the regular redemption
of the Publick Debt ; according to
the right which has been reserved to
the government, being wifely prede
termined by the House of Representa
tives referring the fqbje& to the Se
cretary, nothing remains for him but
to endeavour to feled and submit the
most eligible means of providing for
the execution of that important objeft.
With this view, the firft enquiry,
which naturally- prefects itfelf, is,
whether the exiftir.g revenues arp, or
are not, adequate to the purpose?
The estimates which accompany the
report of the Secretary, of the 14th
inst. will (hew, that during the con
tinuance of the present Indian war,
the appropriations for jntereft and the
demand for the current service are
likely to exhault the product of the
existing revenues, tho' they afford a
valuable surplus beyond the perma
nent objeds of expenditure, which, it
is hoped, may ere long be advantage
ously applied to accelerate the extin
guilfement of the debt.
I H AVE the honor to transmit here
with a Report, pursuant to two Refold
utions of the House of Representatives,
, e °' " e 2 's inst. refpeaing the
Redemption of the Public Debt ; the
other of the zzd irift. refpeQing the
Reimbursement of the Loan made of
the Bank of the United States, pursuant
to the itth fedion of the aft by which
it is incorporated ; and to be, with
the most perferi relped, Sir, your molt
obedient, and most humble servant.
" Once more—Are the Christians
more virtuous, or rather, are they not
much more vicious than we are ?If
so, how came it to pass that they are
the objects of God's beneficence, while
we are negleded ? Does the Deity
confer his favors without rcafon, and
with so much partiality ? in a word,
w e find the Christians much more
depraved in their morals than our
selves, and we judge of their doarino
by the badness of their liuesf
Os the Secretary of the Trsafoy, refpea.
% rhe redemption of the Public Debt;
and the Reimbursement of the Loan
made of the Bank of the United States.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
Secretary of the Treasury,
The Hon. Speaker of the]
House of Referefentatives of U.States.)
TREASURY De PARTMENT,]
srt N °' # 3 °' CT 1
REPORT