The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-07-09
Gales ann Sktttbes,
TRAITS OF INDIAN CHARACTER.
BY WASHINGTON IRVING.

There is something in the characte,
and habits of the North American sav-
age, taken in connection with the sceue.
ry over which he is accustomed to range
its vast lakes, bopnd1ess fpreErs, mIjes'
tic rivers and traekless plains, that is, tc
my mind, wonderfully striking and sub
lime. He is formed Tor the wilderness
as the Arab is formed for the desert
His nature is sterr, simple and endu.
ring fitted to grapple with difficulties
and to support privationg.
There seems but little soil in his heart
for the growth of the kindly virtues
and yet, if we take the trouble to pene.
trate through that proud stoicism and
habitusl tacitu-nity WHICH lock up his
character from casual observation, we
! houid fnd him linked to his fellow-man
of civilized life by more of those sy.npa-
thies ard affections than arc usually as
cribcd to him.
1t was the lot of the unfortunate abo-
rigines of America, in the carly period
of colonization, to be doubly wropged By
the white men. They have been dis
possessed of their Hereditary possessions
by mercenary and frequently wanton
warfare; and their characters have been
traduced by bigoted writers.
The colonist has often treated them
like beasts of the forest; ard the author
has endeavored to justify him in his out.
rugcs. The former found it eagier 20
exterminato than to ciYilize; the latter
to vilify than to discriminate. The ap-
pcllatioLs of pagan ard savage, were
deemed sufficient to sanction the hostil-
tiles of both; and thus the poor van
derers of the forest were prosecuted and
Detained, not because they were guilty,
but because they were ignorant.
The rights of the savage have seldom
been appreciated or respected by the
white man. En- peace, he haa too often
been the dupc of artful traffic; in war
he has been regarded as ferocious an
i'm J, whose life or death was question
of mere prccaption or convenience. Man
is cruelty wns;cful of life when his own
safety is endangered, AID he is sheltered
By impuLity; and little mercy is TO be
expected from him when he feels the
sting of the reptile, aud is conscious of
the power to destroy
The same prejudices which we're in
duiged thus early, exist in common cir
cu!ation, at the prcPent day. Ccrtai"
learned societies it is true, have endeav-
ored With laudable diligence, to ipves-
tigate and record the real characters aud
manners of the Indian tribes. The
American government, too has wisely
and humanely exerted itself to ibculcate
friendly and forbearing spirit towards
hem, and to protect them from fraud
and injustice.
The current opinion of the Indian
character, however, is too apt to be
formed from the miserable hordes which
infest the frontiers, aud harg on the
skirte of the settlements. These are
too commonly composed Of degenerate
beings, corrupted and enfeebled by the
vices of society, without being benefited
by its civilization. That proud indie
pendence which formed the main pillar
of savage virtue, has been shaken down.
aud the whole moral abric lies in rui:s
Their spirits are humiliated and debascd
by sense of inferiorify, aud their ma
tive courage cowed aud daunted by the
superior knoRledge a d power of their
enlightened reigLbors.
Society has advanced upon them like
one of those wiIherirg airs that will
some times breathe desolation over a
whole regiJn OF fertility. 1t has ener-
waited their strength, multiplied their
diseases, and superiudpced upon their
original barbarity tbe lew vices of arti-
fetal life. 1t has given them a thous-
and superhuous wants. while it has di
minished their means Of mere eyistenee.
1t has driven before iS the animals of
the chase, which fly from the sound of
the axe, and the smoke Of the settlement,
and seek refuge in the depths of remoter
forests and yet untrodden wilds.
Thus do we too often find the Indians
on our frontiers to be the mere wrecks
and remnants of once powerful tribes,
who have fingered in the vicinity of the
settlements, aud sunk into precarious
and yagabond existence. Poverty, re-
pining and hopeless poverty, capker of
the mind, unknown in savage life, cor
rodes their spirits, and blights every
free and noble quality of their natures
They become drunken, indolent, feeble
and thieyish.
They loiter, like vagrants, about the
settlements, among spacious dwellings
elaborate comforts, which only render
them sensible of the comparative wretch
edness of their own condition Luxury
spreads its ample board before their
eyes but they are excluded from the
5enquet. Plenty reyels over the fields;
but they are starving in the midst of
its abundance; the whole wilderness has