The sympathy expressed in that part of the Message relating to the Indians, if expressed with sincerity, would do much honour to the feelings that dictated it; but when we come to examine the facts, and investigate the implied allegations, we shall find that they are most gratuitous; and, consequently, that the regret of the president at the probable fate of the Indian, should he remain east of the Mississippi, is grossly hypocritical. He says, "surrounded by the whites, with their arts of civilization, which, by destroying the resources of the savage, doom him to weakness and decay:[[17]] the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware, is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits them, if they remain within the limits of the States, does not admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honour demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity." From what facts the president has drawn these conclusions does not appear. Neither the statements of the Cherokees, nor of the Indian agents, nor the report of the secretary of war, furnish any such information; on the contrary, with the exception of one or two agents at Washington, all give the most flattering accounts of advancement in civilization. The Rev. Samuel A. Worcester, in his letter to the Rev. E.S. Ely, editor of the "Philadelphian," completely refutes all the unfavourable statements that have been got up to cover the base conduct of Jackson and the slavites. This gentleman has resided for the last four years among the Cherokees, and has surely had abundant means of observing their condition.
The letter of David Brown (a Cherokee), addressed, September 2, 1825, to the editor of "The Family Visitor," at Richmond, Virginia, states, that "the Cherokee plains are covered with herds of cattle—sheep, goats, and swine, cover the valleys and hills—the plains and valleys are rich, and produce Indian corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, oats, indigo, sweet and Irish potatoes, &c. The natives carry on a considerable trade with the adjoining states, and some of them export cotton in boats down the Tennessee to the Mississippi, and down that river to New Orleans. Orchards are common—cheese, butter, &c. plenty—houses of entertainment are kept by natives. Cotton and woollen cloths are manufactured in the nation, and almost every family grows cotton for its own consumption. Agricultural pursuits engage the chief attention of the nation—different branches of mechanics are pursued. Schools are increasing every year, and education is encouraged and rewarded." To quote David Brown verbatim, on the population,—"In the year 1819, an estimate was made of the Cherokees. Those on the west were estimated at 5,000, and those on the east of the Mississippi, at 10,000 souls. The census of this division of the Cherokees has again been taken within the current year (1825), and the returns are thus made: native citizens, 13,563; white men married in the nation, 147; white women ditto, 73; African slaves, 1177. If this summary of the Cherokee population, from the census, is correct, to say nothing of those of foreign extract, we find that in six years the increase has been 3,563 souls. National pride, patriotism, and a spirit of independence, mark the Cherokee character." He further states, "the system of government is founded on republican principles, and secures the respect of the people." An alphabet has been invented by an Indian, named George Guess, the Cherokee Cadmus, and a printing press has been established at New Echota, the seat of government, where there is published weekly a paper entitled, "The Cherokee Phoenix,"—one half being in the English language, and the other in that of the Cherokee.
The report of the secretary of war, upon the present condition of the Indians, states of the Chickesaws and Choctaws, all that has been above said of the Cherokees. But of the last-mentioned people, the secretary's accounts appear to be studiously defective. Yet the fact is notorious, that both the Chickesaws and Choctaws are far behind the Cherokees in civilization.
With these facts before our eyes, what are we to think of the grief of the president, at the decay and increasing weakness of the Cherokees? Can it be regarded in any way but as a piece of shameless hypocrisy, too glaring in its character to escape the notice even of the most inobservant individual. It has been said that the question involves many difficulties—to me there appears none. The United States, in the year 1791, guarantee to the Indians the possession of all their lands not then ceded—and confirm this by numerous subsequent treaties. In 1802, they promise to Georgia, the possession of the Cherokee lands "whenever such purchase could be made on reasonable terms" This is the simple state of the case; and if the executive were inclined to act uprightly, the line of conduct to be pursued could be determined on without much difficulty. Georgia has no right to press upon the executive the fulfilment of engagements which were made conditionally, and consequently with an implied reservation; and the United States should not violate many positive treaties, in order to fulfil a conditional one.[[18]]
I shall now advert to some of the charges touching the character of the Indians. It is said, that they are debauched and insincere. This charge has been particularly made against the Creeks, and I believe is not altogether unfounded. Yet, if this be now the character of the once warlike and noble Creek, let the white man ask himself who has made him so? Who makes the "firewater," and who supplies the untutored savage with the means of intoxication? The white-man, when he wishes to trade profitably with the Indian, fills the cup, and holds it forth—he says, 'drink, my brother, it is good'—the red-man drinks, and the wily white points at his condition, says he is uncivilized, and should go forth from the land, for his presence is contamination!
As to the charge of hypocrisy—this too has been taught or forced upon the Indians by the conduct of the whites. Missionaries have been constantly going among them, teaching dogmas and doctrines, far beyond the comprehension of some learned white-men, and to the savage totally unintelligible. These gentlemen have told long stories; and when posed by some quaint saying, or answered by some piece of traditional information, handed down from generation to generation, by the fathers and mothers of the tribe, have found it necessary to purchase the acquiescence of a few Indians by bribes, in order that their labours might not seem to have been altogether unsuccessful. This conduct of the Missionaries was soon understood by the Indians, and the temptation held out was too great to be resisted. Blankets and gowns converted, when inspiration and gospel truths had failed.
Mr. Houston of Tennessee, after having attained the honour of being governor of his state, and having enjoyed all the consideration necessarily attached to that office, at length became tired of civilized life, and retired among the Creeks to end his days. He has resided long among them, and knows their character well; yet, in one of his statements made to the Indian board at New York, he says, that the attempts to Christianize the Indians in their present state, he was of opinion, much as he honoured the zeal that had prompted them, were fruitless, or worse. The supposed conversions had produced no change of habits. So degraded had become the character of this once independent people, that professions of religious belief had been made, and the ordinances of religion submitted to, "when an Indian wanted a new blanket, or a squaw a new gown."[[19]] Thus, according to governor Houston, the only fruits produced by the boasted labours of the missionaries, have been dissimulation and deceit; and demoralization has been the result of teaching doctrinal Christianity to the children of the forest. Yet we must, in candour, acknowledge that Mr. Houston is not singular in that opinion, since we find, so far back as the year 1755, Cadwallader Calden express himself much to the same effect. "The Five Nations," he says, "are a poor and generally called barbarous people, bred under the darkest ignorance; and yet a bright and noble genius shines through these black clouds. None of the greatest Roman heroes have discovered a greater love of country, or contempt of death, than these people, called barbarous, have shown when liberty came in competition. Indeed I think our Indians have outdone the Romans in this particular. Some of the greatest of those Roman heroes have murdered themselves to avoid shame or torments; but our Indians have refused to die meanly or with little pain, when they thought their country's honour would be at stake by it; but have given their bodies willingly to the most cruel torments of their enemies, to show, as they said, that 'the Five Nations' consisted of men whose courage and resolution could not be shaken. But what, alas! have we Christians done to make them better? We have, indeed, reason to be ashamed that these infidels, by our conversation and neighbourhood, are become worse than they were before they knew us. Instead of virtue, we have only taught them vice, that they were entirely free from before that time."[[20]] The Rev. Timothy Flint, who was himself a missionary, in his "Ten Years' Residence in the Valley of the Mississippi," observes, page 144,—"I have surely had it in my heart to impress them with the importance of the subject (religion). I have scarcely noticed an instance in which the subject was not received either with indifference, rudeness, or jesting. Of all races of men that I have seen, they seem most incapable of religious impressions. They have, indeed, some notions of an invisible agent, but they seemed generally to think that the Indians had their god as the whites had theirs." And again, "nothing will eventually be gained to the great cause by colouring and mis-statement," alluding to the practice of the missionaries; "and however reluctant we may be to receive it, the real state of things will eventually be known to us. We have heard of the imperishable labours of an Elliott and a Brainard, in other days. But in these times it is a melancholy truth, that Protestant exertions to Christianize them have not been marked with apparent success. The Catholics have caused many to hang a crucifix around their necks, which they show as they show their medals and other ornaments, and this is too often all they have to mark them as Christians. We have read the narratives of the Catholics, which detailed the most glowing and animating views of success. I have had accounts, however, from travellers in these regions, that have been over the Stony mountains into the great missionary settlements of St. Peter and St. Paul. These travellers (and some of them were professed Catholics) unite in affirming that the converts will escape from the missions whenever it is in their power, fly into their native deserts, and resume at once their old mode of life."
That the vast sums expended on missions should have produced so little effect, we may consider lamentable, but it is lamentably true; for in addition to the mass of evidence we have to that effect, from disinterested white men, we have also the speeches and communications of the Indians themselves. The celebrated Seneca chief, Saguyuwhaha (keeper awake), better known in the United States by the name of Red-jacket, in a letter communicated to Governor De Witt Clinton, at a treaty held at Albany, says, "Our great father, the President, has recommended to our young men to be industrious, to plough and to sow. This we have done; and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means he has afforded us of carrying it into effect. We are happier in consequence of it; but another thing recommended to us, has created great confusion among us, and is making us a quarrelsome and divided people; and that is, the introduction of preachers into our nation. These black-coats contrive to get the consent of some of the Indians to preach among us; and whenever this is the case, confusion and disorder are sure to follow, and the encroachment of the whites on our lands is the inevitable consequence.
"The governor must not think hard of me for speaking thus of the preachers: I have observed their progress, and whenever I look back to see what has taken place of old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were the forerunners of their dispersion; that they always excited enmities and quarrels amongst them; that they introduced the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and decrease, and be driven back, in proportion to the number of preachers that came among them.