The Sun.
London, England, 1821-10-05 00:00:00

THE WHITE WOMILN.

(F 13.031 AN. AMERICAN TA.P.ER...)

The folhiwing‘ is an extract from an account of a mission
among thnSenecas and Munsees, performed in 1820,• by the'
Rev, Timothy Alden, President of Allegheny College, addr2ss.:,
ed to the Rev. Abiel Homes, D.D. of Massachusetts, Secretary
of the Society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians
and others of North Anietica. It is communicated to us fur
publication, on the supposition that being. published here,
it may - reach some •of the connections of the White Wo-
man, whop tould be much gratified to hear of the exist-
ence of " aged and estimable Mary Jamieson:" We pub-
lish it as a sketch of -a scene, many the like of which have oc-
curred in this country since its first settlement, but .without cal-
chlating much on its grateful effect on the surviving friends of
this MCI feniale.(National Intelligencer.)
" On Friday, the Istn of September, we called upon Mary
Jamieson, at Gauhdaon, known far and near by the name of
the White Woman. She lives in a comfortable Indian style, on
one of the fertile bottoms of the Genesee, flanked by high,
abrupt, and romantic banks. Her habitation is near the place
where, about three years ago, 1.5 acres of land slid, in the night,
from the side of a lofty and steep hill, with a flight-Rd noise,
carrying trees and rocks into the bed of the rivet, to the amaz-
ing terror of the few aboriginal families in the vicinity. I could
have no opportunity to collect an assembly at Gauhdaou, of
which I had been duly apprized; yet it seemed a duty to travel
six miles out of our' course to have an interview with the aged
white woman. I found her able to converse intelligibly in En.
glish, but sheaving, at first, that reserve which is a common
trait in the character of the Senecas. She, however, at length,
becanie- • agreeably communicative, and gave a • history of her
life, which is so interesting, that I shall be excused in stating a
fere of its prominent ineidehts. lam more inclined to do this,
thinking that this statement may reach some of her relatives,
who have probably no knowledge of her past distressing. tria!t,
nor even ofher ejqstence.• • • •

" She was born at Marsh Creek, below COnnagocheague, in
Pensylvania. Her. parents were Thomas Jamieson and Jane,
Originally Irvine, and were from Ireland, but of Scottish des,
cent. At the age of 13 years, a few.weeks after the evacuation
of Fort Du Quesne, in 1758, she, with her parents, a sister, and
two brothers, were taken. by the Indians, and hurried into
the wilderness. In, the third day of their captivity, the In-
diana:discovered, by their scouting parties, that wank white
people Werein,pursuit of 'them, otherwise all their lives would
have been spared.
""These merciless -.savages,. to facilitate their escape, killed
the fathsr, mother, sister, and two brothers, but suffered Mary
to live, and travelled to the. westward, taking her with them,.
to a certain place on the Ohio, probably near
.the Little-Beaver
Creek, where they continued .some time, and iirent_to•a Shawnee
town far below. Here she lived many years, married an In-
dian, and had several children. once she .attempted to desert
-the place; and make her escape to the white people, . and had'
proceeded' through the pathless wood many miles,' when the
„fond. yearnings of a mother induced her to , return to her chil-
dren, whoM she has -never since felt a disposition to leave.
• " 'Mary had an uncle, John Jamieson, who was killed at the
time of
.Braddock's defeat. She had two brothers, John and
Thomas, who were not captured with the rest of the family.—,
ManY years since she saw a'man from the neighbourhood of
• her native spot, who informed her,that these two, brothers were'
then, as she understood;. in same
.part of Virginia. If still
hiring,- and feelinc, the best sympathies. of human nature, how
most it delight then to learn that a sister., who,. • no doubt was
skipppaiiil, near 70 years ago, to.have suffered the-vengeance of
.thelomahawk, and Who once seemed born to a better portion.
than .ProVidenee has seen fit to allot her, is yet on this side the
grave, sustaining the
,characterof an inoffensive and estimable
woman.. The last wards her mother spoke to her, before the
fatal weapon' released her.and so many of the family from the
sorrows of life;: were not, at present, to attempt to run away ;
not tolorget her tnglish, not to forget her God. . •
"' She had been taught,to read, and if she could have had
books she thought that she could not have forgotten, but now;
her Sight 'Was impaired. She. 'had 'learned the-Assembly's Ca-
techispi, and was early made acquainted, by the care of her pa-
rents, with the duties founded on the word of God, and has pro-
bahly often communicated the amount of her knowledge to the
Indians. I remarked to her, that, •as she had greater advan-
tages-than-the people among whom she had spent her life,' it
must have been in her power to have offered them very impor-
tant instruction,- as to the. duties. we all owe to the great God
and Saviour of . the world.. She said she used •to teach the chil-
dren when they Were young. Pursuing my. remarks on the be-
nefit which she might still afford-to the natives, whom.' she fre-
quently'sees by speaktng to them on the things of religion, she
eplied with a quick articulation and.conmiderable. feeling, the '
Indians know what is right well enough, but they won't (10
they Won't do it. _

" Froin other sources welearned something of her uncommon
trials. -After- the.death: of .her first:husband, she came to the
'Oenessee and married -Kattani, a. Chief, whollien assumed her
nanie, Wit was called* Gauhdaou, from the place
:where he lived. generally
she has six or-seven children, and has
more than.forty grand. children.... Of her sons, three were liv-
ing a few years since. The youngest of these, being ambitious
of the hcinour of his father's situation-in-the tribe, he being dead,
had recourse to murder, that there might be no comp:Altar- in
his way for the sachempon. He accordingly watched for
.an op-
portunity, wiien one of his brothers little suspected what was in
his heart, and sleWhim. -This.was overhioked. Smile timeafter,
his 'murderous hand plunged a dagger into the breast ofthe sur-
viving brother. .
" The Chiefs in Couneitthen resolved that he should atone
for the repeated outrage upon the rights of humanity -with his own
life. The mother went forward to plead for him, stating that
he was the only son she had left, and entreated that he might
not be taken from her. In tenderness to' the old woman,- the
Chiefs granted her a lease of her son's life, during her continu-
ance in the world, with the understanding that, on her decease,
the sentence already pronounced should be carried into execu-
tion. 'Tiwoyears ago this young Itormiltis was- killed. by some
of his countrymen in a .drunken frolfc at !`6quake Hill.". •

_FOIL 1111; SUN.

NECESSITY Ol' RELIGION-4LET TEE. H.)

MR. EDITOR-Although the pretentied philo-_
sophers of modern.times have done every thing in their power
to wove that religious ideas and principles arein direct opposi-.
tion to the dictates of reason, and even of common sense, it is
a very remarkable fact, that in all ages, and in all parts of the
globe, men have agreed only upon one point, ,nainely, upon the,
belief that there exists a Supreme Being, to whoorthey are bound
to pay every possible homage. To whatever s4;e't7ef the earth
we turn our attention, in ancient as well as.in Modern times,
amongst the most chilited as well as annontrst the most herbal-4
ous nations, weevers, where find a notion, more or. less perfect,.
of the duty, and some form of public worship established—an
acknowledgment of the dependence of man ii;e:in hice euthor.-
-Tiiis idea prevelltetiviest, ainitisietiv4 44'4.0
idolatry.. In those ages of superstition, so humiliating to hu-
man reason, we ever discover a belief in some supreme regulator
of every possible event. In the blindnes4 of their hearts, though
convinced of the narrow limits of 'their minds, we find the
ancients ever anxious to learn the dispehsations of Provi-
dence by consulting oracles, and to conciliate the good will of
the Deity, by prayers, by sacrifices and by offerings. This
belief in the existence of a Creator, of a God, is. not con-
fined to the untutored multitude. It is, on the contrary,
chiefly found to prevail amongst the most respectable sages of
antiquity: It was upon this belief that every Legislator laid the
foundation of the code which was to unite men into one great
social family. They were too well acquainted with the imper-
fection of human nature, and the disposition of the human
mind, not to consider Religion as the mast pe4erful curb
they could-put upon the passions of man. They justly con-
sidered it as a misfortune, or rather as a crime, in a being born
to livein society, to be destitute of religious principles, and
they delivered the wretch who dared to avow Such impious sen-
timents to the severity of the law, and to- the execration of his
countrymen. According to their notions, Religion was the best
pos'sible security for the morality and the probity of men. Mon-
tesquieu had the same idea when' he said, "He who has-no Re-
ligion whatever is a-ferocioiis animal, who seems sensible of his
liberty- only-when lie teed' to-pieces and devours his fellow
men." The praises I have here bestowed upon the religious
principles of the ancients, are not, of course, intended as justi-
fications of the absurd and impious doctrines of Paganiirrie such
as' they were professed, and perhaps believed, by the ignorant
multittide. The, belief in liiany Gods was, indeed, confined
wholly to• the lower orders of society. The more enlightened had
attained more rational ideas upon this subject. Hence•we find
Cicero assert, " That we ought aboVe all things to be con-
'vinced that there is a Supreme Being, who pre-Sides over, all the
events of the world, and disposes every thing as sovereign lord
and arbiter. That to -him men owe all the good they. enjoye
that he penetrates into, and is conscious of, whatever passes in
the inmost tresses of our heart; thet bt teests the jemt and
the impious according to their respective merits ; that his good
will is not attained by the use of riches and an ostentatious dis-
play in the worship paid to them, but by the offerings of a pure
and blameless heart, and by adoring him with an unfeigned
and profound veneration." Such were the sublime sentiments
of those, whose minds rising above the vulgar prejudices of
their cotemporaries, caught some glimpse of the Deity, and
were desirous of establishing religion upon a rational and secure
basis.

This universal and constant belief in the existence of a
Supreme ;Being; manifested by every nation in the world,- in
desPite of-the prejudice -of passions, and of the sophistry of
some pretended philosophers, can proceed only from are inhe-
rent principle .of religion implanted in the human- break. by
God himself, and from an original tradition as ancient 'as'the
globe itself. Reason and reflection alone had thus led meirto a
knowledge, in which we are confirmed by the stiperior testi-
mony of revelation, which' is the only source whence we can
derive any thing like a coiiect'llotion of the great incompre-
hensible Being, and of the homage he is pleased to expect fioin
his creatures. Religion is a necessary consennence of a belief
in the existence of a God. God implies a Creator, the Lord
.and Master of the Universe, and as such, he has an undoubted
right to be honoured, respected, and adored. He is the Author
of our being, the source of all our hopes ; and as such, grati-
tude and self-interest must, alone, induce us to thank him for
past favours, to claim his -present protection, and to pray for
his future kindness. Deeply impressed with an idea of his Di-
vine and retributive justice, men are kept in the.paths of vir-
tue by the dread of the punishments that await those, who dis-
obey his Commandments. In this respect, Religion is there-
fore the most powerful, perhaps the only effectual, curb by.
which the human passions can be restrained, and the peace and
happiness of society effectually secured. Destroy this strong,
barrier, and the whole fabric of social order will soon be swept
away by the resistless torrent of irreligious and immoral prin.
ciples. 'When once the sacred bond which united men in one
great family is either looseni,d, or torn 47,.sunder, it is difficult,
if not, indeed, wholly impossible, to direct the passions of men
into a channel that shall not prove injurious to their moral cha-
racter, or fatal to society. This being evidently the case, is it not
surprizing that the men who prcifess themselves to be the friends
of humanity, the regenerators of mankind, should use their.ut--
most endeavours to eradicate every religious principle from the
human breast ? In order to accomplish this baneful and crimi-
nal purpose, they employ at once the arms of calumny, of mis-
representation, and of ridicule. Wilfully blind to the eminent
advantages men have derived from religion, they do not blush
to represent it as the work 'of weak, superstitious, or crafty
minds; as the oppressive tyrant of reason, and the bane of man-
kind ! If the order and beenity of the universe compel them to
admit the existence of a ho'., they represent him as happy in
himself, and wholly. indifferent to the actions of men ; who have,
therefore, nothing to hope from his goodness, nor to fear from
his justice. According to their notion, the author of Nature is
a mete passive being ; man only a machine : life an evil without
hope, death a final dissolution, an eternal sleep I 'flow perni-
cious to society I how degrading to man ! how painful to the
feeling mind I are these doctrines of a ,pretended philosophy,
whose only object seems to reduce the first of created beings
upon a level with the senseless brute. If every thing ends with
life, why sacrifice the pleasures it eff':rsat the shrine 'of virtue ?
Why restrain the violence of our passions; why not seize the
enjoyments,that cofne in our way.! If every thing terminate in
the tomb, . where- is the boasted attpctiority of man over the.