FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>  
Indians have theirs, given them by the Great Spirit, under which they were happy. It was not intended that they should embrace the religion of the whites, and be destroyed by the attempt to make them think differently on that subject from their fathers. "It is true, these preachers have got the consent of some of the chiefs to stay and preach amongst us; but I and my friends know this to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed; besides, we have been threatened by Mr. Hyde--who came among us as a schoolmaster and a teacher of our children, but has now become a black-coat, and refuses to teach them any more--that unless we listen to his preaching and become Christians, we shall be turned off our lands. We wish to know from the governor, if this is to be so? and if he has no right to say so, we think _he_ ought to be turned off our lands, and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at peace while he is among us. "We are afraid too, that these preachers, by and by, will become poor, _and force us to pay them for living among us, and disturbing us._ "Some of our chiefs have got lazy, and instead of cultivating their lands themselves, employ white people to do so. There are now eleven families living on our reservation at Buffalo; this is wrong, and ought not to be permitted. The great source of all our grievances is, that the whites are among us. Let _them_ be removed, and we will be happy and contented among ourselves. We now cry to the governor for help, and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily give us redress."[21] This melancholy hostility to the missionaries is not confined to a particular tribe or nation of Indians, for all those people, in every situation, from the base of the Alleghanies to the foot of the Rocky mountains, declare the same sentiments on this subject; and although policy or courtesy may induce some chiefs to express themselves less strongly than Red-jacket has expressed himself, we have but too many proofs that their feelings are not more moderate. On the fourth of February, 1822, the president of the United States, in council, received a deputation of Indians, from the principal nations west of the Mississippi, who came under the protection of Major O'Fallon, when each chief delivered a speech on the occasion. I shall here insert an extract from that of the "Wandering Pawnee" chief, more as a specimen of Indian wisdom and eloquence than as bearing particul
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>  



Top keywords:
chiefs
 

Indians

 

governor

 
subject
 

people

 

living

 

turned

 

whites

 

removed

 

preachers


declare

 
mountains
 

sentiments

 
induce
 
express
 

courtesy

 

Alleghanies

 

policy

 

wisdom

 

melancholy


hostility

 

missionaries

 

speedily

 

redress

 

particul

 
confined
 

Indian

 

situation

 

eloquence

 

nation


bearing

 

principal

 
nations
 

deputation

 

received

 

insert

 

States

 

council

 

Mississippi

 

delivered


speech
 
Fallon
 

protection

 

United

 

proofs

 
Pawnee
 

expressed

 
specimen
 
occasion
 

jacket