About the years 1817 and 1818, considerable sales of their lands were made to the United States—and in the north-western parts of the state of Ohio, which much unsettled the minds of the Indians, and in consequence thereof, many of them removed further to the westward.
In the rapid settlement of the states of Ohio and Indiana, and the emigration of Friends further to the westward, it became necessary to establish a Yearly Meeting in Indiana, which event took place about the year 1820 or 1821. This Yearly Meeting, also as a body, feeling the same deep interest, in the welfare of the aboriginal inhabitants, appointed a committee to unite with Ohio Yearly Meeting in promoting their civilization and improvement.
Having but scanty means within my reach, of ascertaining the progress made by those Yearly Meetings of latter years, I can only state, that the concern still continues to engage their attention, and from a report to the Yearly Meeting of Indiana, in 1826, it appears, that the committee had continued their attention to the object of their appointment. “Soon after our last Yearly Meeting,” say they, “the school for the education of the Indian children was resumed, and continued about two months, to the satisfaction both of the Indians and the committee. The children conducted themselves orderly, and made reasonable progress in learning. But towards the latter part of winter the Indians became unsettled in their minds, and it was found impracticable to continue the school to advantage. It was, therefore, dismissed, and soon after Isaac Harvey and wife, in consequence of his indisposition, returned to their former residence. They took with them an Indian lad who remained about three months, during which time he was at school.
“About two hundred of the Indians who resided on the Waughpaughkonnatta reserve, have removed, and are now on their way to join those of their nation settled west of the Mississippi; and it is yet uncertain, whether those that remain will shortly be in a situation to receive instruction. However that may be, we feel satisfied that the labour heretofore bestowed on them will not all be lost. They have obtained a sufficient knowledge of agriculture, to enable them to supply their more pressing wants, and many of them have acquired habits of industry, which we believe they will retain. And should they all eventually remove to join their nation in the west, we apprehend the advantages they are deriving from the change in their manner of life, will be sufficient to prevent them from returning to their former habits.”
It appears also, that soon after the Yearly Meeting held in Indiana, in the year 1827, “a deputation from the committee in company with a like deputation of the committee of Ohio Yearly Meeting, visited Friends’ establishment, near Waughpaughkonnatta, who found the farm in good order, and the school progressing to satisfaction.”
The minutes of the last Indiana Yearly Meeting of the society of Friends, held at Miami, also show, that they continue a committee, to act in conjunction with the Yearly Meetings of Ohio and Baltimore, and to proceed in the further prosecution of this concern as way may open.
Thus the society of Friends constituting the Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, have, for more than thirty years, and those of Ohio, and Indiana, since their first establishment, been engaged in endeavouring to reclaim from savage life, and to meliorate the condition of various tribes, of the interesting but much injured aborigines of our country; and they have succeeded in instructing many of them in agriculture, in school learning, in many of the most useful mechanic arts, and the raising of domestic animals, whereby their lives are rendered more comfortable, and their domestic engagements increased, as well as their moral condition improved—and, could the Indians have been permitted to remain quiet in the possession of their land, and to enjoy the fruits of their labours, without interruption from the whites, there is reason to believe, that by a continuation and extension of this care towards them, a radical change in their character would in a short time have been effected; and instead of migrating by families and tribes, far to the westward, and traversing the dreary regions of an unknown wilderness, in quest of a home, and in search of food, they might have become useful citizens of the community, contributing to the wealth, the happiness, and national character of the United States. For truly it must be acknowledged, that there are among these native sons of the forest, men of deep reflection—men of extraordinary talents—men of superior powers of mind, and men who, considering the means of their menial improvement, might rank with the ancient orators of Greece and Rome. Added to this, there is sufficient evidence, that they believe in the principle operating within them, a measure of which, or the grace of God, according to the apostle’s doctrine, is given to every man to profit withal, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free. And they acknowledge in all important transactions, the overruling providence and superintending care of one all-wise, omnipotent, and omnipresent Being, who governs the universe; and they believe that they will be rewarded in a future state, according as their actions have been in this life, either good or evil. Why then should not the policy of the government be directed to the protection and preservation of these people, and not to their extermination from their native soil? Is it not a doctrine sanctioned by the general consent of Christians, that all nations are equally free? That one nation has no right to infringe upon the freedom of another?
Let us then fulfil the golden rule—let us then, my fellow citizens, exercise that kind of policy towards them, that we would they should have done to us, if they had landed on our shores with a superiority of strength. Why should not things be equal on both sides? Or is the balance of power always to decide the balance of justice, and rob the weak and defenceless of their lawful rights—shall a nation professing christianity, and having pledged itself in the most solemn manner to protect the Indians in all their rights, be guilty of such injustice? Or what part of the gospel will they plead in extenuation of such a crime? In what part of the earth did the apostles or first promulgators of the gospel assume, to extirpate from their country, or to claim a right over the freedom and the substance of the Gentiles? What a strange method this would be, of propagating the gospel of peace. And can it be expected the natives of America, those keen-eyed observers of the actions of men, will be brought to embrace the christian religion by such a policy as this! And, while injustice is practised towards them instead of the government redressing their wrongs, will they not be induced to say as an Indian chief once did, to a missionary, on a certain occasion, “We find the christians much more depraved in their morals than we are, and we judge of their doctrine by the badness of their lives.”
Since the foregoing was prepared for the press, the following, taken from a Pittsburg Gazette, has been forwarded by a friend, and as it gives some recent account of the noted and ancient chief, Cornplanter, as well as other of the Seneca Indians, it may prove an interesting addition to this work.