The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-05-26

President Bradbury's sketch of Peleg-
Sprague was not completed in season for this
meeting.
On motion of Mr.. Goold, discussion upon the
report Of Mr.. Sewall was postponed and the
subject &C ntinued open for discussion at flu
| ture meeting.
The thanks of the society were voted to Mr.
Sewall for bis report of the feldday to Mr.
Talbot for his paper on Gen. John Chambers
and to Mr.. Swan for the contribution of the
journal, from which Mr.. Talbot read, to the
archives Of the society.
| EVENING.
| In the absence of the secretary, Mr. FL. W.
Bryant was elected secretary pro tenn.
| On motion of Mr.. Washburn it was voted
that the standing committee be authorized and
requested to purchase, at q cost not exceeding
$40, book or books, for filing autograph let
tors; also that the standing committee take IL
to consideration the propriety of procuring
suitable index to the volumes of the society.
THE FIGHT AT PIaGwAcKET.
The following is abstract of Mr.. j. P.
Baxter's paper:
The student of history who has read to
certain point, is very apt to find himself sur
prised at what for the moment appears to him
to be incomprehensible, namely, the blood
thirsty spirit which is sometimes exhibited by
men who profess to be disciples of Christ, one
of whose commandments u.s. "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." But if he reflects,
he will conclude that the proverb, SIN order
to understand mans actions goa mast haze
his eyes," is a true one, and hence he will en-
deavor to ascertain what the influences were
under which these men lived, who, with bibles
in their bosoms and cruel weapons in
their hands, went forth to pitilessy
destroy people of another race upon
the most frivolous pretexts of necessity.
If he reads far enough, he will find that, for
a long time, curious theory seemed to large
ly prevail, that savage peoples were branches
severed from the tree of life by sin, so that
they could never be reunited to it, and that to
destroy them was really not sinful. The wise,
good and gentle de Maistre, treating of the
temporal government Of Providence, remarks
after urging chat the primitive age was a gold
en- one in which men came from the hand of
their Creator perfect, and savage races had be-
come SO through sin, aad, hence were branches
cut off from the tree of life, and SO incapable
of growth, goes on to say, "Ihey are so seUered
and that is enough There is no question about
the degradation. l mag eUen venture to sag
there is none dboat the cause Of the degradation
Which can only haze been crime. Some tri-
bal chief having allowed the moral principle to
deteriorate among his people, through some
one or the other OF those strange deviatons
which would seem to be no longer possible to
US at present. because we do not know enough
to sin SO deeply, transmits the anathema to his
posterty, and every constant force being Gu
mulatve, this ever deepening degradation,
weighing always more and more heavily upon
the descendants, transforms them at last into
what we call Savages. This is the last degree of
EQUALIZATION which Rosseau and his peers call
the state Of nature. There acds only too much jus
ticc IN that first impulse Of the Europeans of the
Gge of Columbus. aoho refused to recognise the
degraded Inhabitants Of the Nca0 World as inda-
ciduals Of their oDn Kind" Hence the con-
cusion is that, refusing rightfully to recognise
them as individuals of their own kind they
were justified in destroying them as wild
beasts. Joseph de Maistre but reflects senti-
ment which had prevailed for a long time be-
fore his age and continued to prevail some
time after The good and learned Cotton
Mather says, But, as probably the devil, Sc
ducing the first inhabitants of America into it,
therein aimed at the having of them and their
posterity out of the sound of the silver trumpet
of the Gospel then to be heard through the
Roman Empire, if the devil had any expec a.
ton, that by the peopling of America, he
should utterly deprive any Europeans of
the two benefits, Literature and Religion,
which dawned upon the miserable world one
just oeTore, the other just after the famed nav
igation hther tits to be hoped that he will be
disappointed of that expectation" Seeing that
s:ch sentiments regarding savage peoples pre-
vailed among Christian nations throughout
the world, the following should cause the stu
dent of history no surprise:
'sThe Humble Memorial of John Lowell Josiah
Farwcll, Jonath an Robins all of Duzstabe, Show
eth that your petitioners with forty or fifty others
are incinable to range and keep out in the woods
for several months together i'll order to kill and de-
stroy the Indian Enemy provided they can meet
with lncoul agemeat suitable. And your petition
ers are employed and desired by many others that
each soldier may be allowed five shillings per day
in case they kill any enemy Indians and produces
hunting one whole year and if your honors should
thus fit to encourage them or take UP with their
proposal they will readily proceed in ye said service
them ard ii they bring in any scalp they will
ing and DESTROYS to submit to what the government
wages as reward for their service. anu D''e 's'
.JoSHIAH FARwELE
JONATHAN ROBBINS.
Nov. 1924
The "Humble Memorial met with Gin
enlargement suitable" for on the 18th of No
vember of that year, SIT was voted, That his
Honor the 1t. Governor, be desired to commits
sion proper and suitable officers for the service
(the number of men not to exceed fifty. :.
And for their further encouragement they
shall be entitled over and above the two shil-
lings and six pence per diem, the of one
hundred pounds for each male scalp and the
other premiums established by law to volun-
teers without pay or subsistence The pound
at this time was worth about 136-100. This
was considered liberal compensation, and
accordingly, we find that Lovewell soon organ
lied a company of which he was chosen can
tain and Josiah Farwell lieutenant. This COM
pany, however, met with no "rebel Indians"
until late in December, when they came to
lonely camp where an Indian with an Indian
lad, probably his son, were living together SUBJ
ssting upon such game as they could find in
the dense wilderness about them, where their
forefathers had probably subsisted for centuries
unmolested. These poor people were living in
fancied security, far from their white broth
ers, when they were surprised in their poor
dwelling by Lovewell and his men, and the
older Indian slain and scaiped before the eyes |
of the boy, as appears from the following ex-
tract from the "Boston News Letter.:
"Jan. II, 1925. On Tuesday Last arrived Capt.
John Lovewe commander OF a company of Volun-
teers in the pay Of the Province and
captive lad of about Is years of age, who were
taken by said comp my about A miles above Win
nepisockee Pond upon the 10Th of December last |
for which good service and for their further en-
enlargement, the Honorable the Lieut. Governor aud
Council were pleased to give them fifty Pounds over
and above one hundred and fifty pounds allowed
them by law
Who will say, after reading this, that pro-
gress has not been made in humanity since the
days of our good forefathers? Surely no Gov
ernor and Council would dare to endorse an
act like this-no editor even would today dare
to shock the sentiments of his readers nv such
an item as this without disssntary comments.
Lovewells' success and the liberality of the au-
thorities coupled with the praises of the best
men of the times, inspired Adventures to
unto their fortunes with Lovewell, who was
called another Joshua, and we find from his
journal that men from Crotch, Haverhill.
Lancaster aud Bilerica hocked to his STAN
dard, Here follow extracts from the journal
of Lovewell which space does not permit us to
copy but which records the killing while
asleep in their wigwams of ten Indians.
Penhallow says, that in this expection, "Our
men were well entertained with moose head
and deer, together with Salmon trout some of
which were three feet long and weighed twelve
pounds apiece" Capt. Love@ell gained great
fame by this expedition. and having sold his
scalps, he determined to try his luck farther,
for we find his letter addressed to the Govern
or, which is supposed to be the last he ever
wrote, being written on the very day of his de-
parture upon that expedition which ended in
his death at Piggwacket.
Dunstabie April We Is, 1925
SIR. This is to inform you that / march from
Duustabe with between forty and fifty men on the
mi and T CHI