New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-08
SCAFFOLD ELOQUEHCE.

cation, all the speeches made by the Mod0c
murderers previous to their execution ana
we find in only one of them anything like
the usual expressions of religious confidence
in the future state. Old SchOnchin did say
unless this was put into his mouth by the in
terpreter-"I will go to meet my Father III
"the Spirit Land" To be sure, it Is impossible
to tell what the venerable SchOnchin meant
by the Spirit Land. He may have had IN his
mind a Land of Ardent Spirits he may have
had some notion of a Happy Hunting Ground
where his "faithful dog would bear nm
company - but our opinion, from the
whole tenor of his auto obituary, Is
that he had crude and confused idea OF
going somewhere where, there were no white
folks. For the rest, he talked very much as
conyicts, in artculO mOrtis, talk in the New
York Tombs. There never was an able and
earnest preacher yet who did not warn his
flock against the danger of trusting to death
bed repentance and we never could see that
it made much difference in the greatness OF
the peril, whether "a man died reDutably De-
tween his sheets or disreputably in his shoes.
Properly or improperly, these unclean saVages
were hung much like dogs with too lively love
of mutton. Most of them, in brute way, had
all the prejudice of the chivalrous Marm0n III
the heat of heavy fight against patter-
"ing prayer The last dying confessions
of Captain Jack, of Black jim, and OF
Boston Charley are models OF beastiy
stoiclsm and animal pluck. Only jim the
Sable, in quite business way, said: " Ii we
care to die, | think we should make some
NH in na nth
world, and | would like to hear the Spirit
"Man talk" jim evidently regarded the chap
lain as sort of Heavenly Agent, of whom it
would be prudent to procure through
ticket. Do we speak somewhat lightly Of
most serious matterf If so, it is certainly in
no lightness of spirit. But when we consider
all things-the cheateTy practiced by us in our
dealings with the savages; the bloody
swindling which they, in turn, have practlced
upon us; the utter lack of spiritual culture in
these hanged man; the probable feelings of
those who hanged them; all the circum-
stances of the disgusting, however necessary,
scene-we cannot with much equanimty read
these formal professions put into dying
wretches' mouths of hope which they could
not possibly comprehend, and much less feel
The goodness of God is infinite, and we know
that His mercy endureth for ever. In the
divine economy not even these low, animal
frontier lives were wasted. These creatures,
too, have gone to the place prepared for
them
AS they have thus gone, no more to lie or
to be lied about, no more to murder or to be
murdered, no more to bother the Secretary of
War, the Indian Department, and the Yearly
Meeting of Friends, we see little good in
trying to cast a glamour of spurious, strictly
theological piety over their exit. What we
who are still living most especially and sorely
need is to get rid of all manner Of pretense
and hypocrisy, of falsehOOd to them and to
ourselves, in our dealings with these fellow
creatures. The Red Man, for nearly three
centuries, has been q hollow and bowling
humbug, the source of infinite insincerities,
and of endless and empty palavor. Our soul
sinks within us at the recollection of the I'M
mitigated nonsense, the pretty theatrical talk,
the romantic decisions, for which Cooper's
Novels and false interpreters are mainly re-
sponsible. Shifting the Indian with one hand,
we have petted him with the other. Always
ready to shoot him at the shortest no.
tice and upon the smallest provocation,
we have supplied him equally with
rum and religion. gunpowder and gospel; and
while talking to him of Eternal Truth we
have lied to him and constantly tempted him
to lie to us. We have kept up series of
hollow fctions and relied upon policy of
phrases. We trust that some time there will
be an end of the tinkling and worm-eaten
vocabulary of Indian Treaties-of the talk
about the Great Father, whether that means
the Almighty or Gen. Grant; about the Happy
Hunting Grounds and the Faithful Dog AN
END of all this prating "reminiscences of Ger
trude of Wyoming. the Pioneer, and Hiawatha!
What is the use of representing RedslSin |
who is usually ready to shoot and scalp if not
eat you, as q low-spirited and aniable MIN
strel, plaintively singing: %, why does the |
" Write Man follow my path ~ In all our deal !
ings with these troublesome relics of past |
era, we are for justice, honesty, and Kindness;
but we arc likewise for common sense, and |
utterly opposed 10 all further dramatic tom-
ssl $s.ta.salg a4. ssf.4l.a !