The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1820-06-26
MISCELLANY.
From the Baltimore Morning Chronicle

From the Baltimore Morning Chronicle.
|. We give publicity to the following lsiter for
the purpose of convincing the most incredulous.
ertions that have been made for the conversion
the Indian savases to shristia nifty, have not
been entirely thrown away. The writer 10 the
daughter Of one Of the sachems efthe Cherokee
tribe. II has indeed been often said, that the
Indians are so exclusively welded to the woods,
that all attempts to reduce them to a state Of
civilization, must prove worse tran idle and
bortive-that they learn all the vice. ofsocial
life, without any Of the virtues. Before we pass
so general a sentence, such a sweeping anathema
OF condemnation, LEI US inquire, whether we have
not been ourselves the cause Of that misery, the
existence of which we affect so deeply to deplore.
Let the question be asked, whether we have not
been more anxious to obtain their fass and their
peltry, than we have been to reclaim those rude
sons Of nature from the habits - the siliesnsss.
II is in vain to disguise the feAl !, the whiskey
bottle has been more literally disseminated a
mong the indians than the gospel. We have
found out the fatal poison that operates with all
its malignity the frame Of the Indian, il ener-
Yates their understandings, embraces their nerve.
aad tobs them Of all those hardy aud intrepid
virtues which wee nursed amidst the glooms Of
the forest. They behold their race evaPcratng
like dew-drops in the sun beams, their lands,
over which they once held undisputed sway, pas
sing into the possession of strangers--.a physical
T.. all 4.
idle, and they seek in ardent spirits temporary
oblivion TO their sorrows.
When we behold 50 vast portioe q or own
species, resort,ns TO this obl;vious aetidote to
care-when we see how nefsctuala rp our laws,
to prevent the rage Of the maiady shall we rash-
ly inculpate the Indians, for following the exam.
pies Of the whites' Let US, with al cur superior
advantages, shew, at least, superios virtue fore
we condemn. The Indian--dsstitatv,to rlorn and
degraded as he is, may boldly challenge com
parison on this point. He may say-you call
yourselves christians You boast Of superior
light !--and Jet you have ouly taught Us psr6dy
and deceit. In war you extssminate hs-in
peace you rob Us Of our lands and our w,ewsms.
When we bury our hatchsts, and smoke our
calumet of peace when we take YOU by the
martyrs Of your treachery.-In vain we plunge
deeper into the recesses Of our native forests-iu
vain we seek the society Of the bear, and the
WOLF as less relentless than that Of civilized man.
You still hunt US like game upon our moun-
tains-and bears, wolves and Indians are exter.
minated together.-our woods, our mountains,
our wigwams afford US no prote ction. You may
talk Of the wrongs and outrages Of England, and
you may celebrate with your war Songs the 4th
Of July: but we will suppose that No had our
historians, our poets, our orators Of the woods,
able to deliver down to our posterity tie wrongs,
the indignites and the sufFerings Of the Indians.
| Would these characters be stars in the pages oil
American history! We have injuries that mast
remain untold, injuries known only to the Great
Spirit who looks with an eye Of mercy on his fhd-
dren Of the wilderness. We have avsngedour.
selves Of our enemies, according to the rites Of
our fathers and you who teach bene volSoa1 Ind
mercy, practice on US, either IN war OF in peace,
the msxms Of the wariike Indians. Wa hays
learnt from you, that faith amongst friends is no,
to be regarded, when an Indian pro6crs you his
friendship. Did your great sachem Washington,
whose name is as familiar 10 US as our own wig
wsms, did he teach to his friends aud his war.
riors doctrines like these Do you blame US then
II we distrust your piety and your protestations
Of friendship, when your words and your actions
are so opposite. Unprotected strangers we found
your fathers, and we protected them-we have
now become in our turn strangers to the soil
which contains the tombs Of our ancestors. How
have you requited our protection Let our ruin.
cd wigwams, our desolate cornfelds, our widows
and our orphans answer the question, where you
have left widow or an orphan to mourn the
death ola husband or a father.
We have no cause to complain, II, while we
profess the principles, and renounce the practice
Of christianity, we find the red men Of the woods
abjuring both together the Indians have become
polluted by the contamination Of the whites.
midst the desolate and almost inaccessible re-
esscs Of the rocky mountains may be found the
fairest models Of savage virtue; examples of
faith and constaacy, that would raise blush for
the degcneracy of our species on the cheeks Of
civilized man.