the spirit of the gospel, they were treated as an inferior race of beings, unfit to live in the creation of God. Instead of displaying the spirit of kindness, these warring fanatics acted the part of fiends, under the name of Christians. Their boasted conquest, which they regarded as a triumph of the cross, was a disgrace to the whole christian world.

It is easy to see that such conduct on the part of men professing to be christians, must excite in the natives a lasting and almost invincible prejudice against Christianity. For what could be more natural for them, than to judge of the character of christianity from the conduct of those who had desolated their country and murdered its inhabitants. And, indeed, if the christian religion would justify such havoc it ought to be rejected by every human being; for in that case it would have every feature of that wisdom which is from beneath.

As fraud and violence were the means by which the Spaniards acquired possession of the country, and as a vast portion of the natives were destroyed by the wars of conquest, the survivers would naturally harbour a spirit of jealousy and revenge; they would also avail themselves of every opportunity for recovering their country and their rights, which afforded any prospect of success. Thus the work of extermination would be renewed and prolonged, till they be came few in number.

What a shocking idea of Vol. VI, No. 5.

18

God must men entertain, who can imagine that he was pleased to see his heathen children exterminated, to make room for such a race of christian murderers! And of what ad. vantage could it have been to the surviving savages, to em brace such a religion as had deluged their country in blood! How detestable in its nature, and how horrible in its effects, is that delusion which has associated the name of the Saviour with fraud and violence, cruelty and murder, military fanaticism and every thing hateful in the sight of God!

We hope and believe that the spirit of war and extermination was far less prevalent a mong our ancestors in this northern region, than among the conquerors of South America. But it ought to be remembered, that our histories of Indian wars, were written by men who were naturally inefined to excuse the faults of our forefathers, or draw over them the veil of oblivion. The history of a country, when written by one of its inhabitants, is like biography of a deceased person, written by a surviving friend The virtues of the de. ceased are proclaimed and often overrated-his faults are not mentioned at all, or but glanced at and palliated. We should also bear in mind, that deception and falsehood are never-failing companions of war; each party misrepresents both the conduct of the other and its own. By this means the most impartial historian is liable to be misled. If he attends to the reports of one

side only, he will unquestionably misrepresent; if he hears from both parties, he will often be perplexed, in his attempts to ascertain the truth. The French history of the conduct of our ancestors in the wars with the Indians, is widely dif ferent from our own; and had the Indians been capable of writing a history for themselves, they would doubtless have recorded many things which have been omitted by our historians, and have given

very different account of many things which they have professed to state correctly.

But after all that may be said of the partiality or impar tiality with which our histories have been written, they are found to contain many particu lars in the conduct of our ancestors, which their posterity cannot but lament, and which may go far in accounting for the diminution of the Indian tribes. I shall not give a long catalogue of those unpleasant occurrences; and should be willing that the veil might be completely drawn over the failings of our ancestors, were it not for the hope that useful lessons of instruction and admonition may be derived from them; for the people of the present age; and that these failings may become the means of exciting more compassion towards the surviving aborig

inals.

One passage from Hutchinson's "Collection of Original Papers," with his note upon it, may be here introduced. In 1645 the new colonies united their forces in aid of the Mo

heggen Sachem against sever al other tribes. The war was under the direction of Commissioners appointed by the colonies. These Commissioners gave the chief command of the troops to Major Gibbone. In their Instructions to him we have the following passage.

"You are to make fair wars, without exercising cruelty, and not to put to death such as you shall take captive, if you

can bestow them without danger of your own. You are to use your best endeavours to gain the enemies canoes, or utterly to destroy them; and herein you may make good use of the Indians our confederates, as you may do upon other occasions, having due respect to the honour of God, who is both our sword and shield-and to the distance which is to be observed be

twixt Christians and Barbarians, as well in wars as in öther negotiations."

The note of Mr. Hutchinson respects what is said of the "distance which is to be observed between Christians and barbarians." On this he judiciously remarks :

"It seems strange that men who professed to believe that God had made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, should so early and upon every occasion take care to preserve this distinction. Perhaps nothing has more effectually defeated the endeavours for christianizing the Indians. It seems to have done more-to have sunk their spirits, led

them to intemperance, and extirpated the whole race."

The disposition indulged by our ancestors of exalting Christians and undervaluing Indians was pernicious in its effects, not only on the natives but on themselves. For regarding the Indians as a race of beings not worthy to be treated as brethren, bewildered their minds in respect to the path of wisdom and duty, prepared them to violate the golden rule, and to justify acts on their own part which can never be reconciled either to equity or humanity. As this sentiment disposed them to treat the Indians unkindly, it of course excited a spirit of hostility and revenge against themselves, which in its progress involved frequent and deplorable calamities. To their disposition to have a distance observed between themselves and the Indians, we may impute their hundred pound premiums for Indian scalps, to induce men to form hunting parties for destroying the Indians, as they would have done beasts of prey. To the same disposition we may impute their advice to Uncas to murder Miantonimo a formidable Chief of another tribe, after he had been taken captive. Many other things of a similar character probably originated from the same source.

To this unfortunate senti

ment

we may impute the expressions in prayer which were handed down from father to son, in which they gave praise to God for driving out the heathen and giving this good

There has doubtless been in every age from the apostle Eliot to the present time, persons in New-England as well as in other parts of the country who possessed tender feelings towards the natives, and who were disposed to treat them with brotherly kindness. But notwithstanding all that we have on record of a benevolent character towards that unhappy race, there is abundant evi-\ dence that the more common feeling has been of an opposite character, and far from christian. "Get out you Indian dog" is expressive of the feelings of vast numbers of the white people of our country in former ages, and in the present age.

The writer of this article can distinctly recollect the ' manner in which some aged people of the last century conversed on the subject of hunting Indians-men who in other respects and on other subjects appeared to be christians indeed. But in speaking of the exploits in the wars with the Indians, they betrayed a spirit as foreign to that of the

Messiah in praying for his enemies, as darkness to light. By education they had imbibed, and by practice they had confirmed a habit of feeling towards the natives which would have been shocking to themselves could they have seen it with unprejudiced eyes. Such a feeling, it is believed, was too commonly indulged by our ancestors in New-England, and transmitted from one genera tion to another. It is frequent ly manifest in their history, and may probably account in a great measure for the multitude of their wars, and for the extermination of many of the Indian tribes. This feeling would naturally lead them to make war on slight grounds, to exaggerate the faults of the natives, and to overlook, palliate, or justify their own. To a similar feeling we may doubt. less ascribe the greater part of the modern wars with the In dians, and even that which exists at the present time."

:

If instead of that haughty sentiment of superiority and "distance" indulged by our ancestors, they had commenced their intercourse with the Indians on the heavenly principles of peace on earth and good will to men, and had treated the natives as brethren; they might have saved themselves from great expense and calamity, have saved the Indians from extermination, and have been regarded by them as benefactors and saviours, and not as enemies and destroyers. By indulging such im proper views and feelings towards their red brethren, they

brought evil on themselves and entailed it to their posterity. On the other hand, the Indians, perceiving that they were despised, and finding themselves overpowered and overcome, very readily formed habits of intemperance-being supplied with intoxicating liquors by their white neighbours; and thus, instead of multiplying, they have been wasting and diminishing for several generations And we may expect that this course of waste and diminution will be continued till the tribes are totally extirpated frem the land

unless feelings of benevolence and commiseration can be so far excited in our people, as to effect a change of conduct towards them, and vigorous efforts to save them from complete extermination.

Other causes have doubtless co-operated with those which have been named to produce the affecting results. But the other causes should never be mentioned as excusing the wrongs which have been done to our fellow beings. We ought rather to consider what would have been our views of a people, more intelligent and powerful than our ancestors were one hundred years ago, had they come and established themselves in this country, treated our fathers as a worthless race, offering premiums for their scalps, gradually dispossessing them of their lands and driving them into the wilderness, and after sinking their spirits, supplying them with the means of self-destruction; and thus by the