“We shall only add one proof more of the progress which industry had made among these tribes, by the laborious and judicious example of the Quakers. A single tribe had formed a road of twenty-two miles in length; and a few families, in one place, had cleared and fenced sixty acres of good land.
“It is impossible to contemplate the signal success which has attended these experiments, without remarking that it was owing in part to the character of the Quakers, as well as to the wisdom of the plans which they here adopted. The general reputation of that sect for peacefulness and honesty, and the quiet manner of those whom they sent to reside among the Indians, could not fail to disarm any repugnance of the savage natives towards strangers, and to conciliate their confidence and esteem. Even their taciturnity was favourable to the end in view. ‘Your young men,’ said a chief in one of their councils, ‘do not talk much to us, but when they do, they speak what is good, and have been very helpful in keeping us from using spirituous liquors.’ Their punctual performance of engagements, and the regularity of all their habits had the same good effects in gaining the respect of the Indians. ‘Brothers,’ said they, in a conference which had been held for the purpose of explaining some differences, ‘Brothers, we are well satisfied with your conduct towards us. You have always done what you promised.’ We subjoin the following anecdote as illustrative of the influence which the character of the sect has had on the success of their experiment and as interesting in itself. ‘In the evening, when friends were sitting with the chief warrior, he said he wished to ask them a question, but was almost afraid. They desired him to speak, and they would give him such information as they were able. It was, Do the Quakers keep any slaves? He was told they did not. He said he was very glad to hear it; for if they had kept any, he could not think so well of them as he now did. That he had been at the city of Washington last winter, on business of the nation, and found many white people kept blacks in slavery, and used them no better than horses.’
“From these causes, as well as from the admirable discretion and sound sense which directed the formation of these plans, this small society of Quakers have, at an expence inconceiveably trifling, secured the civilization of the Indian tribes, and laid the foundation of their entire conversion to the state of peaceful and industrious husbandmen, from that of wandering and turbulent and idle hunters. The missionaries left those children of their care mutually satisfied with the progress and result of their labours. For the first time Europeans had resided amongst them with no interested ends in view; for the first time they had learnt no bad lesson, and received no injury from intercourse with more polished communities; for the first time since the voyage of Columbus, a stranger and a friend became compatible appellations—the natural antipathy to new faces vanished in the course of further acquaintance—and he who had been welcomed with distrust, was only suffered to depart with tears. The Indian tribes view the departure of the Quaker missionaries as a national calamity, and are not afraid to consult with their society on all matters of general import.”[83]
The success which attended the benevolent exertions of the Quakers, affords demonstrable proof of the possibility of reclaiming the American Aborigines from the savage state. It must not, however, be supposed that the efforts of other missionaries have been equally successful; nor ought the reader to conclude that even the efforts of the Quakers were productive of any considerable and abiding change in the condition of the red men. However anxious we may be for the civilization of the American Savages, there is no historic fact more certain than that they are not yet civilized. Missionaries and preachers are not the men likely to produce any great change in the condition of these children of nature. That the efforts of the missionaries have, in most cases, proved ineffectual, the following letter from an Indian Chief will abundantly show:—
LETTER FROM RED JACKET.
Canandaigua, 18th. Jan., 1821.
“Brother Parrish,
“I address myself to you, and through you to the governor.
“The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you to Albany, to do business with the governor; I also was to have been with you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out of my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not to blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should be so.