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 mMMSSh (DIP (@(DS9(aiEI£g}@ 
 
 9 
 
 IN RELATION Tti 
 
 I^BIAX CTVILIZATIOJ<. 
 
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 BY THE DOMESTIC SECRETARY, OF THE UNITED FOREIGN 
 
 ■.^' 
 
 MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
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 NEW-YORK: 
 
 IV^ 
 
 PRINTED BY DANIEL FANSHAW, 
 
 No. 20 Slote-Lane. 
 
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 LETTER 
 
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 &c. 
 
 Respected and Dear Sir, 
 
 Having understood, by a letter from Washing- 
 ton, that the impression has been uttered on the floor 
 of Congress, that " Indian Civilization forms no part 
 of the objects of Missionary Institutions," and that 
 '^the establishments at Brainerd and Elliot are a 
 miserable farce," I would respectfully invite your at- 
 tention, for a moment, to the following facts and re- 
 marks. 
 
 The objects of the United Foreign Missionary So- 
 ciety, are to civilize and christianize the American 
 Indians ; and the Managers are convinced, from their 
 own experience, as well as that of kindred Institu- 
 tions, that each of these objects can be more easily 
 and successfully attained, when combined, than when 
 separately attempted. The history of eighteen centu- 
 ries testifies, that no pagan nation ever became civi- 
 lized to any important degree, until it had renounced 
 its idols, and abandoned the whole train of supersti- 
 tious rites connected with its idolatrous worship ; and 
 that no one ever became evangelized without acquir- 
 ing, in some measure, the arts and habits of civilized 
 life. Whether the object, therefore, be to civilize or 
 christianize, both must be carried on with an equal 
 
unci united effort. Under the impression of these 
 truths, the Board, in forming their General Principles, 
 or System of Operations, combined the two objects, 
 as you will evidently perceive, by a perusal of the fol- 
 lowing sections : 
 
 " First. At all the Missionary Stations under the 
 care of this Board, it shall be the object to promote, 
 not only the knowledge of Christianity, but also the 
 arts of civilized life. Besides the branches of learn- 
 ing taught in common schools, the boys shall be in- 
 structed in agriculture and the mechanic arts; and the 
 girls in spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, and house- 
 hold business. 
 
 " Second. In every establishment, it is expcdientthat 
 there be a Superintendent and an Assistant, who shall 
 be Ministers of the Gospel : a Schoolmaster, a Far- 
 mer, a Blacksmith, a Carpenter, and such other me- 
 chanics as shall be found necessary, all of whom shall 
 come under the general denomination of Missionaries. 
 The number shall be increased as occasion shall re- 
 quire. At every station there shall be either a Phy- 
 sician, or a person acquainted with the practice of 
 physic." 
 
 There are eight other sections, all of which are con- 
 formable to the two I have quoted. 
 
 The substance of these General Principles was com- 
 municated to the public in the third Annual Report. 
 In the same Report, it was stated, that in the Mission 
 family which had just gone to the Osages of the Ar- 
 kansaw, there were two Clergymen, one Physician, 
 two Teachers, two Farmers, a Carpenter, and a Black- 
 smith. 
 
 The fourth Report, in relation to the family which 
 
o 
 
 went out last Spring to the Osages ot* the Missouri, 
 states as follows : 
 
 " Besides the Superintendent and Assistant, there 
 are among the males of the family, a Minister of the 
 Gospel, who goes out as a Teacher, with the privilege 
 of preaching whenever his health will permit, and the 
 circumstances of the Mission require ; a regularly edu- 
 cated Physician and Surgeon ; a person capable of 
 manufacturing machinery, performing most kinds of 
 blacksmith's work, and teaching sacred music ; a Car- 
 penter and Millwright, a Shoemaker, a Waggofima'ver, 
 and two Farmers. The females, collectively, are qua- 
 lified to teach all the branches of industry pursued by 
 that sex in this country ; most of them have had con- 
 siderable experience in teaching common schools ; and 
 two or three have taught in seminaries of a higher 
 order." 
 
 In speaking of the Mission at Tuscarora, the same 
 report says : 
 
 " The whole of the nation now residing at Tusca- 
 rora, have taken a decided stand in favour of the Chris- 
 tian Religion. They have, already, made considera- 
 ble progress in acquiring the arts and habits of civi- 
 lized life. Having, in a great measure, abandoned the 
 chace as the means of subsistence ; they depend, for 
 their support, principally upon the produce of their 
 soil. They occupy comfortable dwellings; and in 
 passing through their village, you behold waggons, 
 ploughs, and other implements of husbandry, arranged 
 around their doors. Some of their youth have made 
 considerable proficiency in the elementary branches of 
 an English education. One of their young men, hope- 
 fully pious, and of promising talents, is stationed at 
 a Seminary in this city ; and another, perhaps equally 
 
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 pious and promising, at the Foreign Mission School, iu 
 Connecticut. 
 
 << From our Missionary at this station, we learn that 
 the Indians had recently manifested more than ordina- 
 ry solicitude for the general improvement of their vil- 
 lage and their nation. Among other efforts for this ob- 
 ject, they are preparing to erect a new Council-House 
 and Church, of larger dimensions, and of more con- 
 venient structure, than the one they now occupy. They 
 have already furnished all the timber and boards re- 
 quired for the building ; and they hope to finish it 
 early in the ensuing summer. 
 
 ** A school for the children of the tribe has been 
 taught for several years by the Missionary and his wife. 
 As an additional Teacher, the Board have lately ap- 
 pointed Miss Elizabeth L. Brown, of Homer, in the 
 county of Courtland. She will probably commence her 
 labours in the course of the present month; and it will 
 be her particular duty to instruct the young females of 
 the nation in the arts of sewing, knitting, spinning and 
 weaving." 
 
 In relation to the Seneca station, the same report 
 remarks : 
 
 "The property of the Board in the Seneca village, 
 consists of two dwelling houses and a school house, to- 
 gether with the use, for an indefinite period, of the 
 ground on which they are erected. It is in contem- 
 plation to build an addition to the house now occupied 
 by Mr. Young, for the purpose of accommodating the 
 minister, and of embodying many of the Indian chil- 
 dren in the Missionary family. It is also in contem- 
 plation to erect a workshop within an enclosure, of suf- 
 ficient extent for the deposit of boards and timber ; 
 to furnish the necessary tools ; and to give to the na** 
 
tion free access to the establishment, for the object 
 of making and repairing their farming utensils and 
 household furniture." 
 
 I might easily multiply these extracts; but enough 
 have been given to show in the first place, that " Indian 
 Civilization^^ constitutes a leading object of this Socie- 
 ty, and one, of which the Managers can never lose 
 sight ; and in the second place, that this subject forms 
 a prominent topic In our Annual Reports. When the 
 last Report was written, it was not officially known to 
 the Board that the Mission sent out to the Osages of 
 the Arkansaw had arrived at their destined station ; 
 and the numerous family, bound to the Osages of the 
 Missouri, had not yet embarked at Pittsburgh. Of 
 course, no account could have been given of the pro- 
 gress of civilization among those tribes. But the Mis- 
 sions among the Tuscarora and Seneca tribes, are of 
 longer standing ; and to strangers and others who have 
 visited them, it is a matter of surprise, that they should 
 have made such rapid progress in laying aside their 
 savage customs, and a(;quiring the habits, arts, and 
 industry of civilized life. During the last summer, 
 they were visited by two very resjjectable Gentlemen 
 (a Physician and a Merchant) and several [jadies from 
 Charleston, S. C. w ho were highly gralified with the 
 good order of the schools, the proficiency of the scho- 
 lars, and the general state of civilization and improve- 
 ment among the Indians. They left behind them, for 
 the benefit of the Mission, a handsome donation, as a 
 testimonial of the gratification they had received ; and 
 took with them to Charleston a number of elegant 
 specimens of penmanship from the hands of the Indian 
 youth. While passing through this city, one of the 
 Gentlemen called on me as the official organ of our 
 
:; 
 
 ■4- 
 
 society, and expressed the lively sense which he and 
 his whole party entertained of the usefulness of our 
 operations amon;j; those irilies. 
 
 At Tuscarora there is a regularly organized Church, 
 which contains twcntif-thnr. Indian eoniinunicants, 
 whose life and convrrsHtion correspond with their reli- 
 gious profession. Our Missionary in speaking of this 
 tribe, says — <♦ On some accounts, this poor people are 
 superior to any villa|i;e of white inhabitants, with 
 which 1 am acquainted. The sabbath is almost uni- 
 versally regarded and honoured among them. There 
 is not a village in the State, where so large a propor- 
 tion of the heads of families punctually attend the 
 preaching of the Gospel." — Again — *< There appears 
 to be among these Indians an increasing sense of the 
 importance of education and industry. A large pro- 
 portion of the families are industrious. During the 
 past winter, the children have been punctual in their 
 attendance at school, and have made very encourag- 
 ing progress." 
 
 Thevisitto Brainerd and EHiot,by a member of Con- 
 gress, (as stated in the letter which has called forth these 
 remarks,^ was probably made in the infancy of that 
 Establishment. The uniform testimony, given by the 
 Missionaries, and by gentlemen who have occasion- 
 ally visited those Stations, is of a very different cha- 
 racter. They concur in representing those nations as 
 making great and rapid improvement in civilization. 
 An extract or two from the documents which first 
 come to hand, will sufficiently support this remark. 
 The journal of the Mission at Brainerd, under date of 
 the 1st of November, 1820, presents the following 
 pleasing intelligence : 
 
 <^ The Council (of Indian Chiefs) have made a law 
 
 
 
9 
 
 
 to compel parents to keep their children at school, 
 when once entered, until they have finished thi;ir edu- 
 cation, or to pay all expense for clothing, board, and 
 tuition. They have also given the Superintendents of 
 each Mission authority to take out of their schools 
 such children as they shall think proper, and, with the 
 consent of their parents, put them to such trades as 
 are attached to their Missions ; and, when such chil- 
 dren have learned a trade, they are to be furnished 
 with a set of tools at the expense of the nation. <m 
 
 *< They have also divided their country into eight 
 districts or counties ; laid a tax on the people to build 
 a Court House in each of these counties, and appoint- 
 ed four Circuit Judges. The Cherokees are rapidly 
 adopting the laws and manners of the whites. They 
 appear to advance in civilization, just in proportion 
 to their knowledge of the Gospel. It, therefore, be- 
 comes all, who desire the civilization of the Indians, 
 to do what they can to send the Gospel among them." 
 
 In the Spring of 1820, Adam Hodgson, £sq. a dis- 
 tinguished merchant of Liverpool, visited Elliot and 
 Brainerd, on a journey from Natchez on the Mis- 
 sissippi, to Richmond in Virginia. An account of his 
 journey, I find in a London publication now before 
 me, from which, I beg leave to present a few passages, 
 that you may learn the opinion of an intelligent fo- 
 reign traveller, upon the subject now in question. Af- 
 ter mentioning his arrival at Elliot, he adds — 
 
 " Soon after my arrival, we proceeded to the school, 
 just as a half breed, who has taken great interest in it, 
 was preparing to give the children ' a Talk,' previous 
 to returning home, 60 miles distant. He is a very in- 
 fluential Chief, and a man of comprehensive views. 
 He first translated into Choctaw, a letter to the chil- 
 
10 
 
 dren, from some benevolent friends in the North, who 
 had sent it with a present of a box of clothes. He 
 then gave them a long address in Choctaw. 
 
 " As soon as the school was over, the boys repaired 
 to their agricultural labours; their instructor working 
 with them, and communicating information in the 
 most affectionate manner : the girls proceeded to their 
 sewing and domestic employments, under the l^'^'^sion- 
 ary sisters. They were afterwards at liberty, tin the 
 supper-bell rang, when we all sat down together to 
 bread and milk, and various preparations of Indian 
 corn ; the Missionaries presiding at the different tables, 
 and confining themselves, as is their custom except in 
 case of sickness, to precisely the same food as the 
 scholars. After supper, a chapter in the Bible was 
 read, with Scott's Practical Observations. This was 
 followed by singing and prayer ; and, then, all retired 
 to their little rooms, in their log cabins. 
 
 " In the morning, at day-light, the boys were at 
 their agriculture, and the girls at their domestic em- 
 ployments. About 7 o'clock we assembled for read- 
 ing, singing, and prayer ; and soon afterward for 
 breakfast. After an interval for play, the school open- 
 ed with prayer and singing, a chapter in the Bible, 
 and examination on the subject of the chapter of the 
 preceding day. The children then proceeded to read- 
 ing, writing, accounts, and English Grammar, on a 
 modification of the British system. The Instructors 
 say they never knew white children learn with so 
 much facility ; and <he specimens of writing exhibited 
 unequivocal proofs of rapid progress. Many spoke 
 English very well. 
 
 "The immediate object of the settlement of Elliot, 
 is, the religious instruction of the Indians. The Mis- 
 
 t 
 
11 
 
 
 sionaries are, however, aware that this must necessa» 
 rily be preceded or accompanied by their civilization ; 
 and that mere preaching to the adult Indians, though 
 partially beneficial to the present generation, would 
 not probably be attended with any general, or perma- 
 nent results. Wliilo, therefore, the religious interests 
 of the children arc the objects nearest to their hearts, 
 they are anxious to put them in possession of those 
 qualifications which may secure to them an important 
 influence in the councils of their nation, and enable 
 them gradually to induce their roaming brethren to 
 abandon their erratic habits for the occupations of ci- 
 vilized life. The general feelings of the nation, at this 
 moment are most auspicious to their undertaking. 
 The community at large is most solicitous for civili- 
 zation. In this they have made some progress ; ma- 
 ny of them growing cotton, and spinning, and wea- 
 ving it into coarse clothing. 
 
 " Of the three districts or towns into which its 13 
 or 20,000 souls are divided, one has appropriated to 
 the use of schools its annuity for seventeen years, of 
 2000 Dollars per annum, received from the United 
 States for ceded lands; another, its annuity of IQOO 
 Dollars per annum, with the prospect of 1000 more ; 
 and one has requested the United States, not only to 
 forbid the introduction of ammunition into the nation, 
 that the hunter may be compelled to work, but to 
 send their annuity in implements of husbandry. At a 
 recen^^ General Council of the Chiefs, 1300 Dollars in 
 money, and upwards of eighty cows and calves, were 
 subscribed for the use of schools, and the total contri- 
 bution of the Choctaws to this object exceeds 70,000 
 Dollars. 
 
 ^* I was highly gratified by my visit to Elliot — this 
 

 ,S^ 
 
 12 
 
 garden in a mordl wilderness ; and was pleased witii 
 the opportunity of seeing a Missionary settlement in 
 its infant state, before the wounds of recent separation 
 from kindred and friends had ceased to bleed, and 
 habit had rendered the Missionaries familiar with the 
 peculiarities of their novel situation. 
 
 << The sight of the children, also, many of them still 
 in Indian costume, was most interesting. I could not 
 help imagining, that, before me, might be some Alfred 
 of this Western world, the future founder of Institu- 
 tions which were to enlighten and civilize his coun- 
 try — some Choctaw Swartz, or Elliot, destined to dis- 
 seminate the blessings of Christianity, and refinement, 
 from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from the Gulph 
 of Mexico to the Frozen Sea. I contrasted them in 
 their social, their moral, and their religious condition, 
 with the straggling hunters, and their painted faces, 
 who, occasionally stared through the windows; or, 
 with the half-naked savages of another tribe, whom we 
 had seen in the forests a iew nights before, dancing 
 round their midnight 6res, with their tomahawks, and 
 scalping knives, rending the air with their fierce war- 
 whoop, or making the woods thrill with their savage 
 yells. But they form a yet stronger contrast with the 
 poor Indians whom we had seen on the frontier — cor- 
 rupted, degraded, and debased by their intercourse 
 with English, Irish, or American Traders." 
 
 I might, Sir, conduct you with our interesting tra- 
 veller, from Elliot to Brainerd, and multiply quota- 
 tions to the same general purport ; but, more than 
 enough, I am sensible, has already been given, to con- 
 vince a gentleman of your humanity and candour, not 
 only, that the disinterested efforts which are now ma- 
 king to civilize and christianize the Indians of our 
 
\3 
 
 country, deserve not the opp. atrium which is said to 
 have been cast upon them, but, that they merit the ap- 
 probation, and the support of the community. The pre- 
 sent system of combining the two objects of civilizing 
 and christianizing the Indian Tribes, is already ** in 
 the full tide of successful experiment ;" and, I cannot 
 but deeply regret, that a measure should find its advo- 
 cates in Congress, which appears to be calculated to 
 give a powerful check, if not to erect an insurmounta- 
 ble barrier, to both. 
 
 Upon this country, Sir, rests a responsibility, in 
 relation to the Indian Tribes, of deep and tremen- 
 dous import. ^' Sovereigns from time immemorial 
 of the interminable forests, which overshadow this 
 vast Continent, this injured race have gradually 
 been driven, by the white usurpers of their soil, with- 
 in the limits of their present precarious posses- 
 sions. One after another of their favourite rivers has 
 been reluctantly abandoned, until the range of the 
 hunter is bounded by lines prescribed by his invader, 
 and the independence of the warrior is no more. Of 
 the innumerable Tribes, which, a few centuries since, 
 roamed, fearless and independent, in their native fo- 
 rests, how many have been swept into oblivion, and 
 are with the generations before the flood ! Of others, not 
 a trace remains but in tradition, or in the person of 
 some solitary wanderer, the last of his Tribe, who 
 hovers like a ghost among the sepulchres of his fa- 
 thers — a spark still faintly glimmering in the ashes of 
 an extinguished race." Alas ! Sir, shall the sword of 
 avarice, or the strong arm of civilized power, still pur- 
 sue this unhappy people ? Shall the unceasing acd re- 
 lentless force of emigration drive them from forest to 
 forest, until the last remnant, struggling for existence, 
 
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 shall fall on the verge of the Western Ocean, or perish 
 in its flood ! Will not the voice of humanity prompt us 
 to arrest this unremitting progress of extermination ? 
 Does not the glory of our country require, that we ex- 
 tend to those who still survive, the hand of friendship, 
 convey to them the blessings of social life, and raise 
 them to a high and happy destiny ? And how, Sir, 
 shall this be accomplished ? Break down the restric- 
 tions which have happily been placed upon Indian 
 trade, and you will let loose upon the untutored te- 
 nants of the wilderness, a horde of selfish and unprin- 
 cipled adventurers, to pollute, debase, deceive, and 
 destroy. But, continue and enforce those restric- 
 tions—encourage and aid the Missionary Institutions 
 of our country, and you will find a host of pious minis- 
 ters, teachers, farmers, and mechanics, who will go 
 forth to the work of civilizing the Indians, with no 
 other motive than that of promoting their temporal 
 and eternal benefit, and expecting and wishing no 
 earthly remuneration for their privations and their 
 toils. Adopt this course, and you will have Agents 
 who will carry on the noble designs of the government 
 in relation to the Indian Tribes, with a spirit of disin- 
 terestedness, perseverance, and fidelity, which, in any 
 other way, or on any other principle, cannot be found. 
 Adopt this course, and with cheering hope you may 
 look forward to the period, when the savage shall be 
 converted into the citizen ; when the hunter shall be 
 changed to the agriculturalist or the mechanic; when 
 the farm, the workshop, the school-house, and the 
 church, shall adorn every Indian village; when the 
 fruits of industry, good order, and sound morals, shall 
 bless every Indian dwelling ; and when, throughout 
 the vast range of country from the Mississippi to the 
 
 /■?''»>» 
 
i 
 
 16 
 
 Pacific, the red man and the white man shall every 
 where be found, mingling in the same pursuits, cherish- 
 ing the same benevolent and friendly views, fellow- 
 citizens of the same civil and religious community, and 
 fellow-heirs to an eternal inheritance in the kingdom 
 of glory. 
 
 I am, Sir, very respectfully, Your's, &c. 
 
 Z. Lewis, 
 
 Domestic Secretary of the United Foreign Missionary Society, 
 
 .. M. ^.^- .,- .,j-., , , - . ...„•■ . . ...V<ii