e
spoke to his brethren on the glorious theme that animated all his
actions, his fine countenance lighted up, his firm and erect frame
swelled with deep emotion, which his own stern dignity could scarcely
repress; every feature and gesture had its meaning, and language flowed
tumultuously and swiftly, from the fountains of his soul."

Another writer, Judge Hall, long resident in the west, and devoted to
the study of aboriginal history, has thus summed up the character of
this chief:

"At this period the celebrated Tecumseh appeared upon the scene. He was
called the Napoleon of the west; and so far as that title was deserved
by splendid genius, unwavering courage, untiring perseverance, boldness
of conception and promptitude of action, it was fairly bestowed upon
this accomplished savage. He rose from obscurity to the command of a
tribe to which he was alien by birth. He was, by turns, the orator, the
warrior and the politician; and in each of these capacities, towered
above all with whom he came in contact. As is often the case with great
minds, one master passion filled his heart, prompted all his designs,
and gave to his life its character. This was hatred to the whites, and,
like Hannibal, he had sworn that it should be perpetual. He entertained
the same vast project of uniting the scattered tribes of the west into
one grand confederacy, which had been acted on by King Philip and
Little Turtle. He wished to extinguish all distinctions of tribe and
language, to bury all feuds, and to combine the power and the
prejudices of all, in defence of the rights and possessions of the
whole, as the aboriginal occupants of the country."

It may be truly said, that what Hannibal was to the Romans, Tecumseh
became to the people of the United States. From his boyhood to the hour
when he fell, nobly battling for the rights of his people, he fostered
an invincible hatred to the whites. On one occasion, he was heard to
declare, that he could not look upon the face of a white man, without
feeling the flesh crawl upon his bones. This hatred was not confined,
however, to the Americans. Circumstances made him the ally of the
British, and induced him to fight under their standard, but he neither
loved nor respected them. He well understood their policy; they could
not deceive his sagacious mind; he knew that their professions of
regard for the Indians were hollow, and that when instigating him and
his people to hostilities against the U