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TO A

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IN RELATION Tti

I^BIAX CTVILIZATIOJ<.

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BY THE DOMESTIC SECRETARY, OF THE UNITED FOREIGN

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MISSIONARY SOCIETY,

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NEW-YORK:

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PRINTED BY DANIEL FANSHAW,

No. 20 Slote-Lane.

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LETTER

TO A

mastsam <&9 <^%m%w&^u

&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

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

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

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-

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-

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^

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

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

/■?''»>»

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,

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