The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-04-04

petually agonized by new outrages, and
goaded into desperation and madness at
the prospect of the certain ruin which
awaits their descendants, should hate the
authors of their miseries, of their desola-
ton, their destruction should hate their
manners, hate their color, their language,
their name, and every thing that belongs
to them. No; never, until time shall
wear out the history of their sorrows and
their sufferings, will the Indian be brought
to love the white man, and TO initiate his
manners.
Great God To reflect, my s.,
that the authors of all these wrongs we're
our own countrymen, our forefathers,
professors of the meek and benevolent re-
ligion of Jesus Oh! it was impious it
was unmanly; poor and pitiful Gracious
heaven what had these poor people done /?
The simple Inhabitants of these peaceful
plains, what wrong, what injury had they
offered to the English? My soul melts
with pity and shame.
As for the present inhabitants, it must
be granted that they are comparatively
innocent; unless indeed they also have
encroached under the guise of treaties,
which they themselves have previously
contrived to render expedient or necessary
to the Indians.
Whether this has been the case or not,
l am too much stranger to the interior
transactions Of this country to decide
But it seems to me that were 1 Presi-
dent of the United States, would glory
in going to the Indians, throwing myself
on my knees before them, and saying to
them, "Indians, friends, brothers, o for
give my countrymen! Deeply have our
forefathers wronged you; and they have
forced us to continue the wrong. Reflect,
brothers it was not our fault that we
were born in your country; but now we
have no other home we have no where
else to rest our feet. Will you not, then,
permit us to remain? Can you not for
give even US, innocent as we are? IF you
can, o . come to our bosoms be, indeed,
our brothers; and since there is room
enough for us all, give us home in your
land, and let us be children of the same
affectionate family" 1 believe that a
magnanimity of sentiment like this, fol-
lowed up by correspondent greatness of
conduct on the part of the people of the
United States, would 60 further to bury
the tomahawk and produce a fraterniza-
tion with the Indians. than all the pres.
ents, treaties and missionaries that can be
employed; dashed and defeated as these
latter means always are, by a claim Of
rights on the part of the white people
which the Indians know to be false and
baseless. Let me not be told that the
Indians are too dark and fierce to be af-
fected by generous and noble sentiments.
will not believe it. Magnanimity can
never be lost on nation which has pro-
duced and Alknomok, Logan, an Po-
cahontas.
The repetition of the name of this amia-
BILE princess brings me back to the point
from which l digressed. l wonder that
the Virginians, fond as they are of ami
versaries, have instituted no festival or
order in honor of her memory. For my
own part, l have little doubt, from the
histories which we have of the first at.
tempts at colonizing their country, that
Pocahontas deserves to be considered as
the patron deity of the enterprise. When
1T is remembered how long the colony
struggled to get footing; how often
sickness or famine, neglected at home,
mlsmanagement here, and the hostilities
OF the natives, brought it to the brink OF
ruin through what tedious lapse of
time, it alternately languished and revi-
we'd, sunk and rose, sometimes hanging
like Addisons lamp, "quivering at a
point" then suddenly shooting up into a
sickly and short-lived fame in one word,
when We recollect how near and how of.
ten it verged towards total extinction,
maugre the patronage of Pocahuntas ;
there is the strongest reason to believe
that, but for her patronage, the anniver-
sary cannon of the Fourth of July would
never have resounded throughout the
United States.
Is it not probable, that this sensible
and amiable woman, perceiving the su-
periority of the Europeans, foreseeing the
probability of the subjugation Of her
countrymen, and anxious as we'll to soften
their destiny, as to save the needless eff.
fusion of human blood, desired, by her
marriage with Mr.. Rolfe, to hasten the
abolition of distinction between Indians
and white men; to bind their interests
and affections by the nearest and most
endcaring ties, and to make them regard
themselves as one people, the children Of
the same great family? If such were
her wise and benevolent views, and |
have no doubt but they we're, how poorly
were they backed by the British court I
No wonder at the resentment and indig.
nation with which she saw them neglect.
ed ; no wonder at the bitterness Of the
disappointment and vcxation which she
expressed to Captain Smith, in London
arising as well from the cold reception
which she herself had met, as from the
countemptuous and insulting point Of
view in which she found that her nation
was regarded.
Unfortunate princess She deserved q
happier fate But L am consoled by
these reflections first, that she sees her
descendants among the most respectable
families in Virginia and that they are
not only superior to the false shame Of
disavowing her as their ancestor; but
that they pride themselves. and with
reason too, on the honor of their descent /;
secondly, that she herself has gone to a
country, where she finds her noble wishes
realized ; where the distinction of color is
no more but where, indeed, it is perfect
ly immaterial "what complexion an Indian
or an African sun may have burned" on
the pilgrim
Adieu, my dear s.. This train
OF thought has destroyed the tone of my
spirits; when recover them you shall
hear further from me. Once more,
| adieu