St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-09-10
ST. cSufunsburp GaGedonian.
Leaves from Indian History.
WILL THEY BEAR THE LIGHT?

on which they will need good deal
more information. The treatment OF
the Indian question, as it is called, will
demand and command some OF their
best work. In reading their story one
is astonished at the number of tribes
and division of tribes they count by
hundreds, OF rather they did, for many
names have died out. Why strong,
hardy set of men should die out, is a
question the fact remains, and it is
one we have accepted as matter of
course.
In passing, it may be said that they
seemed to be always at war with one
another. But of course there IS no his
tory back of our records, and therefore
we cannot tell whether white men were
responsible for their wars; whether
they instigated the tribes to destroy
each other. There are some things that
look like it. So far as example goes,
we had our Revolutionary War, in
which the fact appeared to them that
the white men we're killing each other
as fast as they could, and possibly Sit
ting Bull and Standing Bear may have
heard of our civil war, without enter
ing into the merits of the case. What
is going on now at the West may be
new to this generation, but it is only
an illustration of the fact that history
repeats itself.
In $50 there was war In Wisconsin IN
which Sacs and Foxes and WinnebagOes
were engaged. The famous Black Hawk
was their chief warrior. Result-"MOst
of the Indians were driven beyond the
Mississippi" We shall see repetition
of this story. A deputation of them
came to Washington, and were taken
about and shown many things, $50 as
to impress upon their minds the power
and resource of the country against
which they strove," and to make them
more hopeless and desperate than
ever.
Does it not make you think of the
London policeman's "Move on )" to
the poor wretch who sees nothing be-
yOnd As to ourselves this fact re-
mains. The Indian has simply been
steadily pushed westward, with our
"progress," and when we reached the
Pacific and began to fill up between,
there seemed to be no place for him.
Now is this right, or is it wrong For
the question is serious either we must
change our ways or be guilty of whole
sale murder, such as should shut our
mouths as to any reflections on Zulu
land or Afghanistan, bad as they are !;
and we are a Christian nation and pro-
TESS to have a golden rule to live by.
1t is vain to say that the Indian can
not be civilized; there are abundant
facts to show that there are men and
women that have been educated, Chris
tanned. We have seen them living
like any Christians, we have seen let
tiers from them, which showed that
their shade of color and high cheek
bones left them still human. There was
Il school once ut Mackinac to be sure
it was under the care of Foreign Mis-
sionary Society, which was significant,
but the good done was great, and for
that generation most satisfactory.
Among the earliest recollectiOns of
some of this generation was the excite
ment about the Cherokees. A portion
of this tribe lived upon preservation"
in the state of Georgia. They cultivat-
ed their land, had farms and merchan
disc. They had good houses, some of
them brick, and churches and schools.
Two white men, missionaries, were
with them as teachers and preachers.
One of their number, Sequoyah, or
George Guest, had invented written
language. He had some English books,
though he could not read, and Observ
ing the recurrence of certain characters
he fitted them to certain sounds in his
own language. Inventing certain new
ones, he made a Cherokee alphabet of
eighty-five letters, each one of which
syllable, so that when
you once knew those characters, you
could read the language. There was
no spelling but by syllables. They
printed newspaper, half Cherokee,
half English (the writer has seen scores
of them), the Cherokee Phenix,n but
for them the name was no prophecy.
They had written laws and a Legisla
ture, were civilized and Christianized,
and during the administration of Adj
ans they were protected. Then came
Gen. Jackson. He had fought Indians
in his day! And now, Georgia wanted
their lands, that is, certain men wanted
them. 1t was the old story of Naboth's
vineyard. Among the acts passed by
the Georgia Legislature was this: "No
Indian nor descendant of an Indian, re-
ton, shall be deemed competent wit
ness or party to any suit in any court
where Il white man is defended" The
Supreme Court of the United States de-
cided that the Georgia law was uneon-
stitutional. Georgia paid no regard to
this. State Rights, you see. An ap-
peal was made to the President and he
told them he could not protect them
against the State.
In 1885 a few chiefs signed a treaty
for the sale of their lands and removed
"beyond the Mississippi" That was
the ultima thule then. The majority
opposed the sale, as made without their
consent, but Georgia was too strong
for them, they were prosecuted and
harrassed; their friends, Butler and
Worcester, imprisoned for resistance
to law" Government would not help
them, and partly by force, partly in
despair, they removed in 1888. And
this was the speech of Speckled Snake,
a Cherokee Chief, in the days of Presi-
dent jackson:
Brothers, we have heard the talk of
our great father; it is very kind. He
says he loves his red children. Broth
ers, when the white man first came to
these shores, the Muscogees gave him
land and kindled him a fire to make
him comfortable and when the pale
faces from the South the Spaniards of
Kinda made war upon him, their
young men drew the tomahawk and
protected his head from the scalping-
knife. But when the white man had
warmed himself before the Indians fire
and filled himself with the Indians
hOminy, he became very large; he
stopped not for the mountain tops, and
their feet covered the plains and the