"Of those held in servitude, two classes of beings felt in a peculiar manner the kindness and sympathy of Mr. Tyson—those entitled to their freedom, and illegally held in slavery—and those, who, though not illegally kept in bondage, yet were treated with inhumanity by their masters.
"Where he had reason to believe that a person claimed as a slave was entitled to his freedom, he would, in the first place, in order to avoid litigation, lay before the reputed owner, the grounds of his belief. If these were disregarded, he then proceeded to employ counsel, by whom a petition for freedom was filed in the proper court, and the case prosecuted to a final determination. What excited most astonishment in these trials, was the extraordinary success which attended him. Very few were the cases in which he was defeated; and his failure even in these, was more generally owing to the want of testimony, than to the want of justice on his side. To enumerate his successes, would be as impossible, on account of their vast number, as it would be tedious on account of their similarity to each other. Whole families were often liberated by a single verdict, the fate of one relative deciding the fate of many. And often ancestors, after passing a long life in illegal slavery, sprung at last, like the chrysalis in autumn, into new existence, beneath the genial rays of the sun of liberty, which shed at the same time its benign influence upon their children, and children's children.
"The titles of the individuals, thus liberated, to their freedom, were variously derived. Sometimes from deeds of manumission, long suppressed, and at last brought to light, by the searching scrutiny of Tyson—sometimes from the genealogy of the petitioner, traced by him to some Indian or white maternal ancestor—sometimes from the right to freedom, claimed by birth, but attempted to be destroyed by the rapacity of some vile kidnapper, and sometimes from the violation of those of our laws which manumitted slaves imported from foreign parts.
"The labors of Mr. Tyson, were not confined to a single district—they extended over the whole of Maryland. There is not a county in it, which has not felt his influence, or a court of justice, whose records do not bear proud testimonials of his triumphs over tyranny. Throwing out of calculation the many liberations indirectly resulting from his efforts, we speak more than barely within bounds, when we say, that he has been the means, under Providence, of rescuing at least two thousand human beings from the galling yoke of a slavery, which, but for him, would have been perpetual.
"And here let me join my readers in expressions of wonder and astonishment at this extraordinary display of human benevolence, in the person of a single individual—unsupported by power, wealth, or title, beneath the frowns of society, and against a torrent of prejudice."
In the year 1789 an "Abolition Society," (see antecedent pages 23 and 24,) was formed in Baltimore, of which Elisha Tyson was a member until its dissolution, seven years afterwards.
"From that time, Mr. Tyson supported alone the cause of emancipation in Maryland. Alone, I mean, as the sole director and prime mover of the machinery by which that cause was maintained. Assisted, he was, no doubt, from time to time; but that assistance was procured through his influence, or rendered effectual under his inspection and advice.[A]
[A]: "One of the most active assistants was his brother Jesse, much younger than Elisha. He followed him to this State a few years after the arrival of the latter, was an active member of the Abolition Society, and continued, to the day of his death, to co-operate with Elisha."
"The slave traffic gave rise to an evil still greater—I mean the crime of kidnapping. If the horrors arising from the first were so great as I have described them, how shall I depict those of the other! Slaves only were the victims of the slave trade. In passing from hand to hand, they merely exchanged one condition of slavery for another. And though on such occasions they fell from a less degree of misery into a greater, they could not number among their privations any thing so bitter as the loss of liberty. It was this that made the difference between them and the victims of the kidnapper; not that they laid their hands exclusively upon the freeman, for sometimes their rapacity seized upon a slave. But this was very seldom, for the vigilance of slave owners was always alive to detect, and their vengeance to punish such daring felony. In almost all cases of man stealing, the stolen beings were of those who had tasted the sweets of liberty. To the kidnapper, who made these his prey, there were great facilities for escaping with impunity; not only because, in the depth and darkness of a dungeon, his limbs loaded with fetters, and utterance choked with a gag, his suffering could not be made visible or audible, but also because the deadness of sensibility on this subject, which still pervaded the public, though in a less degree than formerly, seemed to have unnerved every eye and palsied every ear. Sights of misery passed darkly before the one and sounds of wo fell lifeless on the other.
"On one occasion Mr. Tyson received intelligence that three colored persons, supposed to have been kidnapped, had been seen under suspicious circumstances, late in the evening, with a notorious slave-trader, in a carriage, which was then moving rapidly towards a quarter of the precincts of Baltimore in which there was a den of man-hunters. It was late in the day when he received the information, which was immediately communicated to the proper authorities. As the testimony offered to these was not, in their opinion, sufficiently strong to induce them to act instantaneously, Mr. Tyson was obliged to seek for aid in other quarters. He accordingly requested certain individuals, who had sometimes lent him their assistance, to accompany him to the scene of suspicion, in order to obtain, if possible, additional proof. One after another made excuse, (some telling him that the evidence was too weak to justify any effort, and others saying that it would be better to postpone the business for the next morning,) until Mr. Tyson saw himself without the hope of foreign assistance. But he did not yield or despair—one hope yet remained, and that rested on himself. Alone he determined to search out the den of thieves, to see and judge for himself. If there was no foundation for his suspicions, to dismiss them; if they were true, to call in the aid of the civil power, for the punishment of guilt and the rescue of innocence.
"So much time had been spent in receiving the excuses of his friends, that it was late at night when he set out, on foot and without a single weapon of defence. In the midst of silence and darkness, he marched along until he arrived at the place of destination. It was situated in the very skirts of the city—a public tavern in appearance, but almost exclusively appropriated to a band of slave-traders. Here they conveyed their prey, whether stolen or purchased; here they held their midnight orgies, and revelled in the midst of misery. The keeper of this place was himself one of the party, and therefore not very scrupulous about the sort of victims his companions chose to place beneath his care. Mr. Tyson ascended the door-sill, and, for a moment, listened, if perchance he might hear the sounds of wo. Suddenly a loud laugh broke upon his ears, which was soon lost in a chorus of laughter. Indignant at the sound, he reached forth his hand and rapped with his whole might. No answer was received. He rapped again—all was silence. He then applied himself to the fastening of the door, and finding it unlocked, opened it and entered. Suddenly four men made their appearance. They had been carousing around a table which stood in the centre of a room, and when a little alarmed by the rapping at the door, they had gone in different directions to seize their weapons. Mr. Tyson immediately recognised in the countenance of one of these, who appeared to be their leader, the slave-trader whose conduct had given rise to the suspicions that had brought him thither. Nor was it many moments before the person and character of Mr. Tyson became known.
"'I understand,' said he, 'that there are persons confined in this place entitled to their freedom?'
"'You have been wrongly informed,' said the leader of the quartette; 'and, besides, what business is it of yours?'
"'Whether I am wrongly informed,' said Mr. Tyson, calmly, 'can be soon made to appear; and I hold it my business, as it is the business of every good man in the community, to see that all doubts of this kind are settled!'
"'You shall advance no further,' rejoined the leader, swearing a tremendous oath, and putting himself in a menacing attitude.
"With the rapidity of lightning, and with a strength that seemed to have been lent him for the occasion, Mr. Tyson broke through the arms of his opponent. As he had been repeatedly at this house on similar errands, he knew the course he should steer, and made directly for the door of the dungeon. There he met another of the band, with a candle in one hand, and in the other, a pistol, which, having cocked, he presented full against the breast of Mr. Tyson, swearing that he would shoot him if he advanced a step further.
"'Shoot if thee dare,' said Mr. Tyson, in a voice of thunder, 'but thee dare not, coward as thou art, for well does thee know, that the gallows would be thy portion.'
"Whether it was the voice and countenance of Mr. Tyson, or the terror of the word gallows, that affected the miscreant, his arm suddenly fell, and he stood as if struck dumb with amazement. Mr. Tyson taking advantage of the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, snatched the candle from the hand of the kidnapper, entered the dungeon door, which was providentially unlocked, and descended into the vault below.
"There he beheld a dismal sight; six poor creatures chained to each other by links connected with the prison wall! The prisoners shrunk within themselves at the sight of a man, and one of them uttered a shriek of terror, mistaking the character of their visitor. He told them that he was their friend; and his name was Elisha Tyson. That name was enough for them, for their whole race had been long taught to utter it. He inquired, 'if any of them were entitled to their freedom?' 'Yes,' said one, 'these two boys say that they and their, mother here are free, but she can't speak to you, for she is gagged.' Mr. Tyson approached this woman, and found that she was really deprived of her utterance. He instantly cut away the band that held in the gag, and thus gave speech to the dumb. She told her tale; 'she was manumitted by a gentleman on the eastern shore of Maryland; her sons were born after her emancipation, and of course free. She referred to persons and papers. She had come over the Chesapeake in a packet, for the purpose of getting employment; and was, with her children, decoyed away immediately on her arrival, by a person who brought her to that house. Mr. Tyson told her to be of good comfort, for he would immediately provide the means of her rescue. He then left the dungeon and ascended the stair way, when he reached the scene of his preceding contest; he, looked around, but saw no one save the keeper of the tavern. Fearing that the others had escaped, or were about to escape, he hastened out of the house, and proceeded with rapid strides in pursuit of a constable. He soon found one and entreated his assistance. But the officer refused, unless Mr. Tyson would give him a bond of indemnity against all loss which he might suffer by his interference. Mr. Tyson complied without hesitation. The officer, after summoning assistance, proceeded with Mr. Tyson to the scene of cruelty. There meeting with the tavern keeper, they compelled him to unlock the fetters of the three individuals claiming their freedom. They then searched the house for the supposed kidnappers, and found two of them; in, bed, whom, together with the women, and children, they conveyed that night to the jail of Baltimore county, to await the decision of a court of justice. The final consequence was, the mother and children were adjudged free. One of the two slave-traders, taken as afore-mentioned in custody, was found guilty of having kidnapped them, and was sentenced to the Maryland penitentiary, for a term of years.
"On another occasion, Mr. Tyson having received satisfactory evidence that a colored person, on board a vessel about to sail for New Orleans, in Louisiana, was entitled to his freedom, hastened to his assistance. On reaching the wharf, where the vessel had lain, he learned that she had cleared out the day before, and was then lying at anchor, a mile down the river. He immediately procured two officers of the peace, with whom he proceeded in a batteau, with a full determination to board the suspected ship.
"When he arrived alongside, he hailed the captain and asked him 'whether such a person, (naming him,) having on board negroes destined for the New Orleans market, was not among the number of passengers.' Before the captain had time to reply, the passenger alluded to, who had overheard the question, stepped to the side of the vessel, and recognising Mr. Tyson, asked what business he had with him. 'I understand,' said Mr. Tyson, 'that a colored person,' describing him, 'now in thy possession, is entitled to his freedom.' 'He is my slave,' said the trader; 'I have purchased him by a fair title, and no man shall interfere between him and me.'
"'If these documents speak the truth,' said Mr. Tyson, holding certain papers in his hand, 'however fairly you have purchased him he is not your slave.' He then proceeded to read the documents. At the same time a light breeze springing up, the captain ordered all hands to hoist sail and be off. Mr. Tyson seeing that there was not a minute to be lost, requested the constables to go on board with him for the purpose of rescuing the free man who had been deprived of his rights. The trader immediately drew a dagger from his belt, (for this sort of men went always armed,) and swore that 'the first man that dared set his foot upon the deck of that ship was a dead man.' 'Then I will be that man,' said Mr. Tyson, with a firm voice and intrepid countenance, and sprang upon the deck. The trader stepped back aghast. The officers followed, and descended the hold of the ship. There they soon saw the object of their search. Without any resistance being made on the part of a single person on board, they led their rescued prisoner along and safely lodged him in the boat below. Then Mr. Tyson, addressing the trader, said, 'If you have any lawful claim to this man, come along and try your title; if you cannot come, name your agent, and I will see that justice is done to all parties.' The trader, who seemed dumb with confusion, made no answer; and Mr. Tyson requested his boatmen to row off. Ere they had proceeded half their distance from the ship, her sails were spread and she began to ride down the stream. Had Mr. Tyson's visit been delayed half an hour longer, his benevolent exertions would have been in vain.
"No one appearing to dispute the right of the colored man to freedom, his freedom papers were given him and he was set at liberty.
"The whole life of Mr. Tyson was diversified by acts such as we have just described. Those I have given to the reader may be considered as specimens merely, a few examples out of a vast many, which, if they were all repeated, would satiate by their number and tire by their uniformity.
"The joy manifested by the poor creatures whom he thus rescued from misery, on their deliverance, may be imagined, but cannot well be described. Sometimes it broke forth in loud and wild demonstrations; sometimes it was deep and inexpressible, or expressed only by mingled tears of gratitude and ecstacy, rolling silently but profusely down their wo-worn cheeks.
"Mr. Tyson, it is remarkable, would always turn his eyes from these manifestations. He would listen to no declarations of thanks. When these were strongly pressed upon him, he would usually exclaim, 'Well, that will do now; that is enough for this time.' And once when one of these creatures, fearful that Mr. Tyson would not consider him sufficiently grateful, cried out, 'Indeed, master, I am very thankful, I would die to serve you,' Mr. Tyson exclaimed, 'Why, man, I have only done my duty; I don't want thy thanks;' and turned abruptly away.
"Equalled only by the delight of the rescued victims, was the chagrin and vexation of the slave-traders, when they saw their prey torn from their grasp. They cursed the law; they cursed its ministers; but above all, they invoked imprecations upon the head of Tyson.
"They swore that they would murder him, that they would fire his dwelling over his head, that they would do a thousand things, all full of vengeance. None of these threats were ever put into execution; for though a plot was once laid to take away his life, fear dispersed the actors long before the day of performance. Thus does it always happen that the wickedest of men are also the meanest, and therefore the most dastardly. And thus did the cowardice of Mr. Tyson's enemies shield him from the effects of their enmity. Nor did he profit less by that individual fear of him which these slave-traders were made to feel. They feared him because they deprecated his hostility. In order, if possible, to lessen this hostility, they frequently became informers on others engaged in the same traffic. This they were further inclined to do, in consequence of the jealousy that subsisted between them—a jealousy very natural to competitors in the same line of business. It was always a time of exultation with them when one of their number found his way into the penitentiary.
"It sometimes happened that Mr. Tyson extracted from the mouths of these monsters, evidence which afterwards went to criminate those who had uttered it. It was usual with him when he could not obtain testimony against a suspected person, to send for such person and interrogate him. No one refused his summons—fear forbade the refusal; and after they had come, the very fear which brought them there sacrificed them to injured humanity. Sometimes those who came voluntarily for the purpose of criminating others, involved themselves in toils of their own weaving; where they were no sooner seen, by the penetrating eye of Tyson, than he reached forth his hands and secured his astonished prisoner, before he had a suspicion of his danger.
"Mr. Tyson's knowledge of the sort of people with whom he had principally to deal was perfect. His quickness of perception and self-command were also remarkable. These qualifications gave him an extraordinary power in the examinations just alluded to.
"One evening the servant announced a stranger at the door, who wished to see Mr. Tyson privately. Mr. Tyson requested that he might be asked into the room where we were then sitting, and if further privacy were necessary he should have it.
"When the door opened and the stranger appeared, he was no other than the slave-trader we have just alluded to.
"'Your humble servant,' said the man, casting off his hat and bowing profoundly; 'I hope you are well, sir; I have a few words for your private ear.'
"'Every one present may be safely trusted,' said Mr. Tyson; 'but sit down.'
"The man seated himself. 'Well,' said Mr. Tyson, 'what is there new in thy way of business; I suppose it continues as usual to be a good business?'
"'Ah! sir,' said the man, 'I believe it to be a bad business in more ways than one. I am resolved to quit it.'
"'Not while thee can get two hundred dollars profit per man,' said Mr. Tyson.
"'Notwithstanding that,' said the trader, 'it's a bad business; it's a hard business; I must quit it, and that very soon.'
"'Hast thou heard of the old saying,' said Mr. Tyson, 'Hell is paved with good intentions? I fear,' said he, 'when thee goes there thee will find thine among the number.'
"'I know,' said the trader, 'you think me very bad; but when you hear what I have to communicate, perhaps your opinion will alter a little.'
"'I wish it may; but,' said Mr. Tyson, 'thy progress down hill has been so rapid, and thou hast got so far, that thee will find it rather hard to turn about and ascend.'
"These doubtings, attended with a shrewd, suspicious, yet satirical look, had the effect intended; for the man became doubly anxious to do what he had come to do, and what he thought would be esteemed a great favor by Mr. Tyson. Accordingly, after a word or two of preface, he stated that he 'had reason to believe that ----', naming a certain trader, 'had kidnapped two free blacks.'
"'Thee is certainly mistaken,' said Mr. Tyson, affecting great surprise; 'it is hardly possible that so worthy a man could have been guilty of so great a crime.'
"This apparent doubt on the part of Mr. Tyson, made the man more anxious to bring out all his testimony.
"'But who told thee this piece of news?' said Mr. Tyson. There was a breach at once into the man's order and arrangement and he hesitated for a reply. 'Mr. ----, Mr. ----, Mr. ----, what do ye call him, spoke to me about it.' 'Who?' said Mr. Tyson. 'Mr. ----,' said the man; mentioning the name of a veteran dealer in human flesh.
"'Is he engaged in the traffic now?' asked Mr. Tyson.
"'Yes, sir; very deep in it.'
"'By himself, or in partnership?' asked Mr. Tyson carelessly.
"'Why, I believe he is in partnership with some body.'
"'Is he not in partnership,' said Mr. Tyson, 'with ----?' naming the person whom the man was anxious to inculpate.
"'I believe he was, but I don't know that he is now.'
"'Thee don't know of their having dissolved?' asked Mr. Tyson at the same time, as if thoughtlessly lighting his pipe.
"'No, I do not. But as I was going to say,' said the trader—
"'Ah, true,' said Mr. Tyson, 'we must not forget. Thee was talking about a case of kidnapping; well?'
"'Last night,' said the trader, 'a hack drove up to the tavern where I lodge. The hackman inquired the way to ----'s tavern, which is the place of rendezvous for ---- and his gang;' naming the person whose guilt seemed to be the principal object of inquiry. 'I looked into the carriage, and saw two boys.'
"'Did thee speak to them?'
"'No, they were gagged, and that made me think they were kidnapped.'
"'Was any body with them?'
"'Nobody but the driver, and he was black.'
"'Did thee direct him as he requested?' asked Mr. Tyson.
"'Yes.'
"'And they arrived accordingly?'
"'Yes.'
"'Did thee follow them?'
"'No sir, not immediately—but I went this morning, and inquired whether a hack with two boys and a black driver, had not arrived late last night, and they said there had.'
"'What o'clock last night was it when thee saw the carriage?'
"'About ten, sir.'
"'Was the hack close, or were the curtains down?'
"'The curtains were down, and that increased my suspicion.'
"Mr. Tyson had now heard enough to convince him that if there was any kidnapping in this case, the trader who stood before him had a much nearer connection with it than that of a mere spectator.
"He had said in the first place that he obtained his knowledge from a trader who had been partner with the party implicated. He then stated that he derived it from seeing the kidnapped persons in a hack. And though it was ten o'clock at night, (at a time, too, as Mr. Tyson knew, when there was no moon,) yet he could not only see that these two persons were in the hack, but that they were gagged. He could not have done this by the light of a candle or the moon, because 'the hack was tight, and the curtains were down.'
"Fearing lest the suspicions of the trader might be excited as to the sentiments of Mr. Tyson towards him, an end was put to the part of the dialogue which related to the kidnapping, by saying, 'Well, I am much obliged to thee for thy information; we'll see this ----, and settle the matter with him;' and then turned the tide of conversation into a different direction.
"The same day Mr. Tyson sent for the person who was first mentioned as the person communicating the knowledge of the transaction, and asked him as to the fact of such communication. It was positively denied. He had 'not seen the informer for six weeks, except the last evening, when he brought a hack load of negroes to the tavern where he and his partner were lodgers.'
"'Were two boys among the number?'
"'Yes.'
"'Were they gagged?'
"'Yes.'
"The moment this man left his house, Mr. Tyson went in search of bailiffs and civil process. With these he proceeded to the place where the two boys were confined, and had them and all three of the traders taken into custody.
"It turned out afterwards, in the further prosecution of this investigation, (by what testimony we do not distinctly recollect,) that the informer who first came to Mr. Tyson had himself kidnapped the two boys. He sold them to the person upon whom he had endeavored, in the manner we have detailed, to affix the whole crime; who, refusing afterward to pay their price, and yet determined to retain them, exasperated the seller to such a degree that he resolved to sacrifice him; in attempting which he sacrificed himself, for he was afterward convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary.
"During the progress of any investigation originated by Mr. Tyson in behalf of individual freedom, his anxiety about the final issue, though concealed from the world, burned with intensity. His days were restless, his nights were sleepless, and himself, except when in company, which he avoided at those times, lost in the abstractions of hope or of despondency.
"When he succeeded, his joy was strong, but invisible or inaudible, save to the Father of all mercies. To him he never failed 'to pour out his soul' in pious thanksgivings for that he made him a humble instrument in the restoration of a fellow being to light and liberty.
"When he failed, which was seldom, after he had seriously undertaken a case, his sorrow was equally great, and as inscrutable to human observation, excepting that of the unfortunate objects of his care, who saw him mingling tears of sympathy with theirs of suffering.
"Though Mr. Tyson seldom failed in those cases which he had commenced in legal form, yet very many persons were turned hopelessly away whose cases were too groundless for adjudication; and often those who knew they had no cause for hope,—condemned to be torn from their connections and sold, as if to death, never to be heard of more,—would call merely to obtain his sympathies, as if the universe had no other friend for them.
"A man who lived with his master, in Anne Arundel county, came late one evening to Mr. Tyson, and begged that he would listen to his case. His master had promised him his freedom, provided he would raise and pay him the sum of five hundred dollars in six years; and he had earned half of the money, which he had given his master. The six years were not expired, yet he was about to be sold to Georgia. Mr. Tyson asked if 'there was any receipt for the money.' 'No.' 'Was there any witness who could prove its payment?' 'Nobody but his master's wife.' 'Then,' said Mr. Tyson, 'the law is against thee, and thou must submit. I can do nothing for thee.' Never, said Mr. Tyson, when relating this story, shall I forget the desperate resolution which showed itself in the countenance and manner of this man when he said, with clenched fist, his eyes raised to Heaven, his whole frame bursting with the purpose of his soul, while a smile of triumph played around his lips, 'I will die before the Georgia man shall have me.' And then suddenly melting into a flood of tears, he said, 'I cannot live away from my wife and children.' After this poor fellow had left me, said Mr. Tyson, I said to a person present, 'That is no common man; he will do what he has resolved.'
"A short time afterwards, the remains of a colored person who had been drowned in the basin at Baltimore were discovered. The fact coming to the knowledge of Mr. Tyson, he went to see the body, and recognized in its features and from its dress, the remains of the unfortunate man who, a short time before, had breathed the dreadful resolution in his presence."
Such are a few of the memorials which this friend of the human race has left behind him. He was not less persevering, and scarcely less successful in his endeavors to obtain the mitigation of the slave laws in Maryland. Some of the most repulsive of these were repealed or altered, particularly those restricting manumissions. Thus the condition and the prospects of the whole body of slaves was improved, in addition to more than two thousand delivered by his immediate instrumentality from illegal bondage. Hundreds of free and happy families have cause at this day to bless the memory of "Father Tyson."
He also deeply interested himself on behalf of the Indian tribes; and once in company with another individual, as a deputation from the Society of Friends in Baltimore, undertook a dangerous journey to visit several tribes 1000 miles distant, to the north-west of the Ohio. The main object of the mission was to induce the Indians to refrain from the use of ardent spirits—of whose destructive effects the chiefs were themselves fully sensible. The following affecting address was made to an assembly of "Friends" in Baltimore, by Little Turtle, a chief famous for courage, sagacity and eloquence:
"Brothers and Friends:—When our forefathers first met on this great Island, your red brethren were very numerous! But since the introduction among us of what you call spirituous liquors, and what we think may justly be called poison, our numbers are greatly diminished. It has destroyed a great part of your red brethren.
"My Brothers and Friends:—We plainly perceive, that you see the very evil which destroyed your red brethren; it is not an evil of our own making; we have not placed it among ourselves; it is an evil placed among us by the white people; we look to them to remove it out of our country. We tell them, 'Brethren, bring us useful things; bring goods that will clothe us, our women and our children; and not this evil liquor, that destroys our reason, that destroys our health, and destroys our lives.' But all we can say on this subject is of no service, nor gives relief to your red brethren.
"My Brother and Friends:—I rejoice to find that you agree in opinion with us, and express an anxiety to be, if possible, of service to us, in removing this great evil out of our country; an evil which has had so much room in it; and has destroyed so many of our lives, that it causes our young men to say, 'we had better be at war with the white people.' This liquor, which they introduce into our country, is more to be feared than the gun and the tomahawk. There are more of us dead, since the treaty of Greenville, than we lost by the six years war before. It is all owing to the introduction of this liquor amongst us.
"Brothers:—When our young men have been out hunting, and are returning home, loaded with skins and furs, on their way if it happens that they come along where some of this whiskey is deposited, the white man who sells it, tells them to take a little drink; some of them will say 'no, I do not want it;' they go on till they come to another house, where they find more of the same kind of drink; it is there offered again; they refuse; and again the third time. But finally, the fourth or fifth time, one accepts of it and takes a drink; and getting one, he wants another; and then a third, and a fourth, till his senses have left him. After his reason comes back to him again, when he gets up and finds where he is, he asks for his peltry. The answer is, 'You have drank them,' 'Where is my gun?' 'It is gone?' 'Where is my blanket?' 'It is gone.' 'Where is my shirt?' 'You have sold it for whiskey!!' Now, Brothers, figure to yourselves, the condition of this man. He has a family at home; a wife and children, who stand in need of the profits of his hunting. What must be their wants, when he himself is even without a shirt?"
The journey of Elisha Tyson and his companion, James Gillingham, occurred a few years subsequent to the interview at which the preceding speech was made. They met a council of the Indians at Fort Wayne, whom Elisha Tyson addressed to the following effect:
"He painted in glowing colors the dreadful effects of intemperance—both upon civilized and savage life—told them that they must resolve to abstain entirely from it. If they admitted it at all among them, it would soon conquer them, and reduce them to a condition worse than that of the brute creation. That not until they abandoned altogether the use of ardent spirits would they be fit subjects for civilization. If they were ready to do this he would then unfold to them the blessings of civilization—the superiority of such a condition over the one in which they then subsisted. He traced their history from the earliest period to the present time—shewed them how, as the white population had expanded itself, they had retreated into the western wilderness—that if they did not remain, but continued to retreat, in a few years they would have no territory upon this continent. In order, therefore, to their permanent establishment, he recommended to them the practice of agriculture, as a substitute for hunting. He advised them to mark out their lands, and ask advice of the agents established by the Society of Friends among them, with respect to their cultivation. They stood ready, not only with their advice, but with their assistance; they were furnished for their use with all the necessary implements of husbandry, with beasts of the plough also, and beasts of burden.
"They had come a great distance, endured much privation and fatigue in order to see them, and must endure a great deal more before they could again behold their wives and their children. But they could bear it all with patience, nay with joy, if they could only have the satisfaction of seeing them adopt the disinterested advice which he had thus given them."
The following is one of the speeches made in reply, by White Loon, an influential chief:
"Brothers:—Ever since your great father Onas, (William Penn,) came upon this great island, the Quakers have been the friends of red men. They have proved themselves worthy of being the descendants of their great father. And now, when all the whites have forgotten that they owe any thing to us, the Quakers of Baltimore, though so far distant from us, have remembered the distressed condition of their red brethren, and interceded with the Great Spirit in our behalf.
"Brothers:—You have travelled very far to see us—you have climbed over mountains—you have swam over deep and rapid torrents—you have endured cold, and hunger, and fatigue, in order that you might have an opportunity of seeing your red brethren. For this, so long as life exists within us, we shall be very grateful.
"Brothers:—That wide region of country over which you have passed, was once filled with red men. Then was there a plenty of deer and buffalo, and all kinds of game. But the white people came from beyond the great water; they landed in multitudes on our shores; they cut down our forests; they drove our warriors before them, and frightened the wild herds, so that they sought security in the deep shades of the west.
"Brothers:—These white men were not your grandfathers; for, as I said before, the sons of Onas were always the friends of red men.
"Brothers:—The whites are still advancing upon us. They have reached our territory, and have built their wigwams within our very hunting grounds. Our game is vanishing away.
"Brothers:—Formerly our hunters pursued the wild deer, and the buffalo, and the bear; and when they killed them they ate their flesh for food, and used their skins as covering for themselves, their old men, their women, and their children. But now, they kill them that they may have plenty of skins and furs to sell to the white men. The consequence of this is, the game is destroyed wantonly, and faster than our necessities require.
"Brothers:—We would not mind all this, provided these skins and furs were exchanged for useful articles—for implements of husbandry, or clothes for our old men, our women, and our children. But they are too often bartered away for whiskey, that vile poison, which has sunk even Wapakee into the dust.
"Brothers:—We shall soon be under the necessity either of leaving our hunting grounds or of converting them into pastures and fields of corn. Under the kind assistance of our brothers, the Quakers, we have already proceeded a great way. You have witnessed, as you have passed among us, the good effects of the kindness of our brothers. We are disposed to go on as we have begun, until our habits and manners, as well as the face of our country, shall be changed and look like those of the white people.
"Brothers:—Accept from us this belt of wampum and pipe of peace. And may the Great Sasteretsy, who conducted you here in safety, still go with you and restore you in peace and happiness to the arms of your women and children."