How different was their state while yet the undisputed lords ofthe soil! Their wants were few, and the means of gratificationwithin their reach. They saw every one around them sharing the samelot, enduring the same hardships, feeding on the same aliments,arrayed in the same rude garments. No roof then rose, but was opento the homeless stranger; no smoke curled among the trees, but hewas welcome to sit down by its fire, and join the hunter in hisrepast. "For," says an old historian of New England, "their life is sovoid of care, and they are so loving also, that they make use of thosethings they enjoy as common goods, and are therein so compassionate,that rather than one should starve through want, they would starveall; thus they pass their time merrily, not regarding our pomp, butare better content with their own, which some men esteem so meanlyof." Such were the Indians, whilst in the pride and energy of theirprimitive natures: they resembled those wild plants, which thrive bestin the shades of the forest, but shrink from the hand ofcultivation, and perish beneath the influence of the sun.
In discussing the savage character, writers have been too prone toindulge in vulgar prejudice and passionate exaggeration, instead ofthe candid temper of true philosophy. They have not sufficientlyconsidered the peculiar circumstances in which the Indians have beenplaced, and the peculiar principles under which they have beeneducated. No being acts more rigidly from rule than the Indian. Hiswhole conduct is regulated according to some general maxims earlyimplanted in his mind. The moral laws that govern him are, to be sure,but few; but then he conforms to them all;- the white man abounds inlaws of religion, morals, and manners, but how many does he violate?
A frequent ground of accusation against the Indians is theirdisregard of treaties, and the treachery and wantonness with which, intime of apparent peace, they will suddenly fly to hostilities. Theintercourse of the white men with the Indians, however, is too aptto be cold, distrustful, oppressive, and insulting. They seldomtreat them with that confidence and frankness which areindispensable to real friendship; nor is sufficient caution observednot to offend against those feelings of pride or superstition, whichoften prompts the Indian to hostility quicker than mere considerationsof interest. The solitary savage feels silently, but acutely. Hissensibilities are not diffused over so wide a surface as those ofthe white man; but they run in steadier and deeper channels. Hispride, his affections, his superstitions, are all directed towardsfewer objects; but the wounds inflicted on them are proportionablysevere, and furnish motives of hostility, which we cannot sufficientlyappreciate. Where a community is also limited in number, and forms onegreat patriarchal family, as in an Indian tribe, the injury of anindividual is the injury of the whole; and the sentiment ofvengeance is almost instantaneously diffused. One council fire issufficient for the discussion and arrangement of a plan ofhostilities. Here all the fighting men and sages assemble. Eloquenceand superstition combine to inflame the minds of the warriors. Theorator awakens their martial ardor, and they are wrought up to akind of religious desperation, by the visions of the prophet and thedreamer.
An instance of one of those sudden exasperations, arising from amotive peculiar to the Indian character, is extant in an old record ofthe early settlement of Massachusetts. The planters of Plymouth haddefaced the monuments of the dead at Passonagessit, and hadplundered the grave of the Sachem's mother of some skins with which ithad been decorated. The Indians are remarkable for the reverence whichthey entertain for the sepulchres of their kindred. Tribes that havepassed generations exiled from the abodes of their ancestors, whenby chance they have been travelling in the vicinity, have been knownto turn aside from the highway, and guided by wonderfully accuratetradition, have crossed the country for miles to some tumulus,buried perhaps in woods, where the bones of their tribe were ancientlydeposited; and there have passed hours in silent meditation.
Influenced by this sublime and holy feeling, the Sachem, whosemother's tomb had been violated, gathered his men together, andaddressed them in the following beautifully simple and patheticharangue; a curious specimen of Indian eloquence, and an affectinginstance of filial piety in a savage.
"When last the glorious light of all the sky was underneath thisglobe, and birds grew silent, I began to settle, as my custom is, totake repose. Before mine eyes were fast closed, methought I saw avision, at which my spirit was much troubled; and trembling at thatdoleful sight, a spirit cried aloud, 'Behold, my son, whom I havecherished, see the breasts that gave thee suck, the hands thatlapped thee warm, and fed thee oft. Canst thou forget to takerevenge of those wild people who have defaced my monument in adespiteful manner, disdaining our antiquities and honorable customs?
See, now, the Sachem's grave lies like the common people, defaced byan ignoble race. Thy mother doth complain, and implores thy aidagainst this thievish people, who have newly intruded on our land.
If this be suffered, I shall not rest quiet in my everlastinghabitation.' This said, the spirit vanished, and I, all in a sweat,not able scarce to speak, began to get some strength, and recollect myspirits that were fled, and determined to demand your counsel andassistance."I have adduced this anecdote at some length, as it tends to show howthese sudden acts of hostility, which have been attributed tocaprice and perfidy, may often arise from deep and generous motives,which our inattention to Indian character and customs prevents ourproperly appreciating.
