Western Characters Part 2

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Vol. III., page 394.

[3] There is, however, little necessity for any argument on the subject: For, leaving out of the question the highest and most sacred of authorities, almost all respectable writers upon ethnology, including Buffon, Volney, Humboldt, &c., agree in a.s.signing a common origin to all nations,--though the last deduces from many particulars, the conclusion that the American Indian was "isolated in the infancy of the world, from the rest of mankind."--_Ancient Inhabitants of America_, vol. i., p.

250.

[4] It will be observed, that I a.s.sume the _unity_ of the Indian race; and I am not sufficiently acquainted with the recent discussions on the subject, to be certain whether the question is still considered open.

But the striking a.n.a.logies between the customs, physical formation, and languages of all the various divisions, (except the Esquimaux, who are excluded), I think, authorize the a.s.sumption.

[5] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 416.

[6] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 417.

[7] _Essays_--Art. 'Milton.'

[8] _Lectures on English Poets_, p. 4.

[9] No very high compliment, but as high as it deserves. We shall see anon.

[10] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 177.

[11] Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., p. 256.

[12] Hunter's _Memoirs_, p. 236. _Western Annals_, p. 712.

[13] _Flint's Geography_, p. 108.

[14] "All ideas are expressed by figures addressed to the senses."

_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 175. Bancroft, ut supra.

[15] See Bancroft, Hunter, Catlin, Flint, Jefferson, &c.--pa.s.sim--all supporters of Indian eloquence, but all informing us, that "combinations of material objects were his _only_ means of expressing abstract ideas."

[16] Vide Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 257, 266, etc.

[17] _E. G._ "They style themselves the 'beloved of the Great Spirit.'"--_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 186. "In the Iroquois language, the Indians gave themselves the appellation of 'Angoueonoue', or 'Men of Always.'"--_Chateaubriand's Travels in America_, vol. ii., p. 92. Note, also, their exaggerated boastfulness, even in their best speeches: "Logan never knew fear," &c.

[18] "The absence of all reflective consciousness, and of all logical a.n.a.lysis of ideas, is the great peculiarity of American speech."--_Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 257.

[19] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 180.

[20] I have seen it hinted, though I have forgotten where, that Jefferson, and not Logan, was the author of this speech; but the extravagant manner in which Jefferson himself praises it, seems to exclude the suspicion. "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero," he says, "and of any other more eminent orator, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single pa.s.sage superior to the speech of Logan!" Praise certainly quite high enough, for a mixture of lamentation and boastfulness.

[21] The evidence in this matter has long ago been thoroughly sifted; and it is now certain that, so far from being present aiding at the ma.s.sacre of Logan's family, Colonel Cresap earnestly endeavored to dissuade the party from its purpose. And yet the falsehood is perpetuated even in the common school-books of the country, while its object has been mouldering in his grave for a quarter of a century.--_Western Annals_, p. 147. _American Pioneer_, vol. i., p. 7, _et seq._

[22] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 254.

[23] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 285.--"The G.o.d of the savage was what the metaphysician endeavors to express by the word _substance_." But the Indian's idea of substance was altogether _concrete_.

[24] The best authority upon this subject is found in the _Jesuit_ "_Relaciones:_" but it is at least probable, that the preconceptions of the good Fathers colored, and, perhaps, shaped, many of the religious wonders there related.

[25] "Lettres Edifiantes," vol. vi., p. 200, _et seq._ Warburton, vol.

i., p. 187.

[26] The extravagant stories told of the Natchez Indians (among whom there was said to be a remarkable temple for wors.h.i.+p) are quite incredible, even if they had not been disproved.

[27] When the _manitou_ of the Indian has failed to give him success in the chase, or protection from danger, "he upbraids it with bitterness and contempt, and threatens to seek a more effectual protector. If the _manitou_ continues useless, this threat is fulfilled." Warb. _ut supra_. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "American Indians," vol. i., p. 36, _et seq._

[28] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 258.

[29] "He calls it [the soul] the shadow or image of his body, but its acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its earthly existence.

He only pictures to himself a continuation of present pleasures." Warb.

vol. i., p. 190. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "_American Indians_," vol. i., p. 158, _et seq._

[30] The Indian never believed in the resurrection of the body; but even corn and venison were supposed to possess a spirit, which the spirit of the dead warrior might eat.--_Jesuit_ "_Relacion_," 1633, p. 54.

[31] "The idea of retribution," says Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 299, "as far as it has found its way among them, was derived from Europeans." And the same remark may be made, of most of the other wonders, in which enthusiastic travellers have discovered coincidences with Christianity.

[32] James's "_Expedition_," vol. i., p. 237.--Catlin's "_American Indians_," vol. i., pp. 216-'18. The latter is a zealous apologist for Indian cruelties and barbarisms.

[33] "_Conquest of Canada_," vol. i., pp. 194-'5.

[34] The following may serve to indicate the sort of impression of Christianity which even the most earnest and enlightened preaching has been able to make upon the Indian mind: "Here I saw a most singular union; one of the [Indian] graves was surmounted by a cross, while close to it a trunk of a tree was raised, covered with hieroglyphics, recording the number of enemies slain by the tenant of the tomb. Here presenting a hint to those who are fond of system-making on the religion of these people," &c.--_Beltrami's Pilgrimage, &c._, vol. ii., p. 307.

Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 303-'4. Flint's _Geography_, pp. 109, 126.

[35] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 281.

[36] "To inflict blows that can not be returned," says this historian (Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 282), "is a proof of full success, and the entire humiliation of the enemy. It is, moreover, an experiment of courage and patience." But we think such things as much mere brutality, as triumph.

[37] The frequent change of tense in this article, refers to those circ.u.mstances in which the _present_ differs from the _past_ character of the Indian.

[38] "It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted stoicism be not the result of a more than ordinary degree of physical insensibility."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 114.

[39] Many white men, however, have endured the utmost extremities of Indian cruelty. See cases of Brebeuf, and Lallemand, in _Bancroft_, vol.

iii., p. 140.

[40] "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify the features."--_Humboldt's Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 228.

[41] "They have probably as much curiosity [as the white], but a more stern perseverance in repressing it."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p.

124.

[42] "The enemy is a.s.sailed with treachery, and, if conquered, treated with revolting cruelty." * * "A fiendish ferocity a.s.sumes full sway."--_Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 206.

[43] It is perhaps not very remarkable, however, that the women are most cruel to the aged and infirm--the young and vigorous being sometimes adopted by them, to console them for the loss of those who have fallen.--_Idem_, p. 210.

[44] "We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed from their purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good fortune, and always ready to side with the strongest. We should not rely upon their feelings of to-day, as any pledge for what they will be to-morrow."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 120.

[45] "_Geography of the Mississippi Valley_," vol. i., p. 121.