‘The Caraibs and the original inhabitants of the West Indies have passed away, thanks to the cruelties of their Spanish invaders. Nothing can be said of them which is, probably, not already known to the mass of our readers. For an account of the Mexicans, and the Indians of South America, we must refer to the pages of Humboldt, Robertson, and other writers. Nor can it be expected that we should enter into such details as may have come to our knowledge, respecting the tribes already mentioned. Many volumes larger than this would be requisite for such purpose. It is our duty, however, to caution our readers against trusting the statements of such travellers as Carver, who have galloped over the countries they describe with the speed of race-horses, without understanding a syllable of the languages of the Indians with whom they sojourned, and relying for information on the hearsay testimony of ignorant trappers and boatmen. There are but too many of this stamp. If we may say what authorities we consider unquestionable, we will mention M’Kenzie, Henry, Franklin, Tanner, and the English Long. These all sojourned long among the people they pretend to describe, and enjoyed the best opportunities for personal observation.
‘One topic connected with the aborigines only remains, which we must discuss briefly. It relates to their ultimate destiny, and the prospect of christianizing and civilizing them. Many obstacles to this desideratum exist, and we are sorry to add that they appear to us insuperable. To convert the adults must be excessively difficult, if not impossible. Firstly, their languages are so difficult of acquisition, and so barren of words expressing abstract ideas, that the greater part of a life is spent in learning them, and when acquired, they are scarcely adequate to convey the doctrines of Christianity. Secondly, the Indians are so constantly roaming about, and so scattered, that, to instruct them, a missionary would be needed for every family, who should accompany them in their peregrinations, avail himself of such opportunities as their caprice might allow, and above all, maintain himself; for, though no Indian would tell him so, the burthen of his support would, at times, be severely felt. He must then overcome that apathy and laziness which is the characteristic of savage life, break up the whole of his pupil’s long-revered rules of thought and action, and substitute others in their stead. A new ambition must be awakened, and the whole frame of Indian society must be changed entirely, for the ethics of our Savior will not apply to the present one. For example, it will be difficult to persuade the savage to meekness and long-suffering, while all his arts and exertions will scarce protect his wives and children from the knives of his neighbors, while all his companions tell him that revenge on the enemies of his tribe is a sacred duty, and that martial renown ought to be to him as the breath of his nostrils.
‘The missionary should not too much rely on the apparent impression he may have produced on his auditors. Indians seldom contradict, and, by an intuitive politeness, always receive what is addressed to them by one whom they respect, with approbation and assent. Therefore, when an Indian auditory may have listened to a discourse with marked attention and expressed approbation, the speaker is not to suppose that they believe a word of it. They only mean that he is entitled to respect. An Indianonce agreed that man’s first disobedience was improper, and, being farther questioned, gave his reasons. “It was very foolish,” he said, “to eat apples: it was much better to make cider of them all.”
‘Some few adults have, indeed, become Christians; but where such conversions have taken place, the converts have either made some previous progress in civilization, or the change has been nominal. We never yet saw a savage hunter who had a rational idea of Christianity. The example of the Cherokees alone shows that the ground must be prepared to receive the seed. The missionaries have undoubtedly done them great good; but they made little or no progress before the tribe had turned to agriculture, framed laws and a regular government, and acknowledged a distinction of property. They are now fitted to receive the Word.
‘Indians taken from their tribe young, educated, and sent back, do not appear better qualified to teach than white missionaries. They are, in every thing but complexion, as much aliens among their people as the whites, and command no more sympathy, and rather less respect.
‘We believe there is no example on record of a tribe who have changed from hunters to farmers on any other consideration than compulsion of some kind or other. We constantly see them recede rather than labor. But when prevented from receding, they learn the value of time and labor, and a distinction of property necessarily takes place. Laws are then necessary to guard this distinction. Prodigality is no longer a principal virtue; war is no longer the chief pursuit of life; the mind acquires new ideas and new habits of exercise, and thus the way to entire civilization and Christianity is prepared. Could we see the coast of the Pacific settled by white men, who should advance into the interior, driving the western Indians before them as we have done the eastern, till the entire race should be hemmed within limits too narrow for their existence as hunters, we should entertain a hope of seeing a remnant of them saved and civilized. The same result must be brought about by driving them to the Pacific; but the operation will be so tardy, that most of the expatriated tribes will probably be destroyed by their intercourse with the whites, or by the tribes on whom they will be forced to intrude. How small a remnant remains of the millions who once dwelt in peace between the Atlantic and the Mississippi!
‘The children of Indians may be christianized, but only when they can be separated from their parents. The missionaries of Michilimacinac seem aware of this fact; for they have chiefly confined their instructions to the half-breed children of white men, who are at the disposal of their fathers. It was a wise policy, and their ministry has produced the most blessed results.
‘Consider this subject in what light we may, so many difficulties present themselves, that it is almost impossible to hope that any considerable portion of the aboriginal race will be in existence three centuries hence. The fate of individual tribes is beyond the reach of conjecture, and we have only to pray that the God alike of white and red men will preserve them from utter extermination.’