concurrent enterprises of benevolence, as to have organized and put in operation a civil government of their own, and resolved to abide in their place, and retain possession of their acknowledged rights. The fate of their institutions has already been stated. They have been annihilated by the legislation and arms of Georgia. The doom of this tribe presents a more prominent example. But they are only one of many. All the incipient improvements of the Indians on the east of the Mississippi, have been crushed by the same blow; and all their rising and beaming hopes blasted by the same cloud, which has so recently come over their prospects. If any possible remedy for these disasters remains to be devised, it is as yet entirely out of sight of the wisest and most discerning. The energies of these benevolent exertions have been utterly paralyzed, and all their fruits blighted in the bud of expectation. All the advantages gained in civilizing the Indians are doomed to be buried and lost in the change, to which they are destined; and all the advancements are alike consigned to a retrograde march, to be arrested no prophet can tell when, or where. Backward they must go, if there be any light in experience; and whether to utter annihilation, is a problem, which remains

162 PLAN FOR REMOVING THE INDIANS.

to be solved, and its results to be born in the openings of futurity.

The utter impossibility of amalgamating at once so many tribes of barbarians, of different languages, and indulging more or less of hostile feeling, needs only to be named, to be felt. The collisions, which must inevitably result from their contact; the insurmountable difficulties of framing and applying to such a group a civil policy; the project of governing them, in such a condition, either by themselves, or by any authorities imposed; the notion of an armed force to keep the peace, as well as to keep out intruders, which would be alike necessary, as the object, even by such provisions, would be impracticable ;—what a community! What a government! Every form and feature of this scheme is so utterly romantic, that one might well imagine it, what in fact it is, the child of necessity-the necessity of violence.

CHAPTER X.

REPRESENTATIONS FROM VARIOUS INDIAN TRIBES AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON IN THE WINTER OF 1830-31, THEIR APPEARANCE, OBJECTS, &c.

AFTER having witnessed the scenes described in the first volume, which occurred in the autumn of 1830, it happened to be my lot to spend the following winter at the city of Washington. As none of the difficulties, resulting from the controversy between the New York tribes at Green Bay on the one side, and the native Indians on the other, had been adjusted, by the labours of the Commissioners from Government, ostensibly sent up for that purpose; or, more properly, the controversy between the New York Indians and the white citizens of Green Bay, who had been the authors and instigators of the quarrel ;the whole matter was brought up to the Government at Washington, to be reviewed and decided

on under the immediate inspection of the President. For this purpose delegations from the tribes interested from the Oneidas, Stockbridges, Brothertons, and others, who had originally, and some of whom still, lived in the State of New York; from the Menomenies and Winnebagoes, of the North-West Territory; and the Commissioners, who had been sent down to hold a council with them, and the history of whose doings has already been given somewhat at length;-all these parties made their appearance at the seat of Government, in the winter the Indians to "hold a talk" with their great father, the President, for the purpose of setting forth their grievances to his ear. The Rev. Mr. Williams and Daniel Bread, of the Oneidas, were there; and John Quiny, of the Stockbridges; and some others, representing the New York Indians, whose names are forgotten. It will be understood, that the New York Indians, present on this occasion, being civilized, had nothing in their persons, dress, or manners, to distinguish them from the white citizens of the States, except their complexion, and those peculiar features and expressions of countenance, which belong to the Indian character. Most of them speak the English language in its purity. Mr. Williams I have

already exhibited, as a man of thorough education, accomplished in his manners, and acquainted with men and things, in consequence of having been much in the world since his earliest days, and not a little in the most public and active scenes of war and state, before he was a clergyman; and since that time devoted, in all possible ways, private and public, as a minister of religion and as a chief, to the temporal and spiritual welfare of his race. Mrs. Williams also accompanied her husband to Washington.

The delegations from the wild tribes of the North-West, were of a very different character. The chiefs, with their wives, sons, and daughters, all made their appearance at Washington, in their own costume; and exhibited themselves in all respects, as they do at home :-in the blanket, moccasins, gaiters, belts of wampum, feathers, paint, with sundries of tawdry and brilliant ornaments; together with tomahawk, rifle, bow and arrow, and that most and altogether indispensable article of an Indian's furniture of life and war his pipe. A wild Indian cannot change his habits by a transfer into the scenes of civilized society. He makes the same show, and exhibits the same set of manners, in the drawingroom of a palace, as he does in his own humble cabin, or in his lodge constructed of reeds. In