If such Garrisons should be thought necessary in the Places where a Trade is set up, to be a Guard to it, the Charge would nothing like equal that of an Indian War, which perhaps it might prevent.
But further, I apprehend that the Charge of such Garrisons might be spared; and that, instead of being necessary, they would prove very injurious to the Design; and that it would be a very wrong Step to be taken in that Affair.
All who are in any good Measure acquainted with the Indians know, that they are extreamly jealous, lest any Incroachments should be made upon them; and it is not strange it should be so, considering what has past over them. And if a Number of armed Men were placed among them, and Forts built for the Defence of our Trade, they would be suspicious that something hostile was intended, and we should not be able to remove the Suspicion. They would behold us with a jealous Eye, and perhaps take Measures to frustrate the whole Design.
The most effectual Way to induce them to trust us, is to trust them; and they will be ready enough to protect our Trade if we desire it, and shew that we confide in them to do it. And when a little Experience has taught them how advantageous such a Trade would be to them, they would be ready enough to do it for their own Advantage. If therefore we should desire them to admit a Trader into one of their own Forts, or to build a Fort at our Charge in some convenient Place for such a Design, and to take Care that our Trade be safe; this would tend to convince them, both of our Friendship to, and of our Confidence in, them; and they would not only be pleased with it, but also ambitious to shew us that we may safely trust them: And were I to be the Truck-Master, I should esteem myself much safer in their Protection, than in a Garrison of 100 English Men: For if such a Garrison should be placed among them, they themselves would suspect some ill Design carrying on against them; and the French would infallibly tell them, that tho’ we pretended Peace and Friendship, yet our Design in the End is to dispossess them of their Country.
If indeed a Truck-Master should prove an unfaithful Servant, and enrich himself by defrauding them, he might have Occasion for English Soldiers to protect him and his Stores; but if they found him faithful, friendly and just in his Dealings with them, they would be as careful of him as of their own Eyes, and venture their own Lives for him. What would not the Indians of Stockbridge have done for Mr. Sergeant in his Day, whom they had found to be their true and hearty Friend? And what would they not now do for Mr. Woodbridge, of whom the have had the like Experience? Indians will be as ready as the English, and perhaps much more so, to serve and protect, if there be Occasion, those whom they have found to be their faithful and real Friends.
In a Word, I apprehend, that if we had in Times past treated the Natives according to the Rules of Equity and Justice, it would have been quite sufficient to have engaged them in our Interest, and to have kept them in Amity and Friendship with us; and that, even now, they might in a little Time be attached to us, by such Treatment: But this, I confess, I despair of, if every private Person must be left at his Liberty to treat them as he pleases, and to defraud them of all they have; which I take to be the Case in New-York Government, who lie next to the Five Nations, and have their Trade; tho’ in this Province we have good Laws in Force to restrain private Persons from selling them strong Drink.
2. We should also exercise that Kindness and Generosity towards them, that shall convince them that it is for their Interest to be in Friendship with us. We should not, in a Case of such Importance, content ourselves with being barely just in our Treatment of them, but we should also be kind and generous, as a proper Expedient to obtain the End proposed. I am aware, I shall here be quickly interrupted with this Exclamation;
What! kind and generous to such an ungrateful evil Crew! To which I shall only answer, We have good Authority for being kind to the Unthankful, and to the Evil. And if that good Being who recommends it to us, had not given an Example of it, in his Dealings with us, how deplorable had our State been? This kind Temper and Behaviour is recommended to us in the Gospel, not only because it is the Will of our heavenly Father that we should be kind, but also because the Exercise of it answers excellent Ends; produces very good and desirable Effects; such as Love, Friendship, Peace, &c. And while we make a Profession of Christianity, it is Pity the Practice of it, in so material an Article, should be objected against. And is it not very proper that we should exercise Kindness and Generosity to the poor Natives, when there is a strong Probability of its being of very happy Consequence both to them and us?
A great deal of Kindness and Generosity has been exercised towards the River Indians at Housatunnuk, by this Government, by the honourable Corporation at Home, by their honourable and reverend Commissioners at Boston, by the Rev. Mr. Hollis, by the Rev. Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Woodbridge, and others; and the Consequence has been very happy as to them; they are brought to the Knowledge of the Gospel, and to a Christian Profession; and many of them, we hope, to the saving Knowledge of God. We also have found the Benefit of this kind Usage of them; for thereby they are become our hearty Friends, are united to us in their Affections, and were a Means, in the Hand of Providence, of covering our most Western Frontiers the last War. And were the like Kindness shewn by us to other Tribes, is there not Room to hope that the Effects might be alike happy? If Townships, suitable for Indians to settle in, were provided in our Frontiers, and it were proposed to them, that if they would come and settle in them, they should not only enjoy the Land as their own, but also have a Minister supported among them to instruct them in the Christian Religion; and also a School-Master to teach their Children to read and write; would not this induce many of them, especially of the better Sort, to come and settle in our Borders? And would they not cover our Frontiers in case of a War with France?
What has been done for the Indians at Stockbridge, has doubtless been much observed and approved of by the Natives far and near. That there is a School set up at Canada, in Imitation of Mr. Sergeant’s School at Stockbridge, and a large Number of Scholars in it, we have heard and receive for Truth. That the French, who esteem Ignorance to be the Mother of Devotion, and do not desire to teach the Indians any Thing more than to say their Beads, and to cross themselves, have done this out of Choice, is not at all likely. They do not desire that their Indians should become a knowing People. But yet, being sensible that the Report of Mr. Sergeant’s School had spread itself far and wide, and that their Indians were pleased with the Method the English had taken to furnish the Natives with Knowledge, they apprehended, that unless something like it were done among them, there would be Danger of the Indians repairing to us for Instruction, and to prevent this, and to engage them to themselves, they set up their School. This, I conjecture, is the Truth of the Case. And if so, it is manifest that the Indians are inclined to seek after Knowledge; and therefore would be disposed to hearken to such kind and generous Proposals, if they were made to them. And who can tell but that this, that, or the other Tribe, would gladly settle such Towns, if they were invited to it in a proper Manner?