please, and without our leave. These are evils which seem to increase upon us, and call loudly for redress.

"Another evil arising from the pressure of the whites upon us, and our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency with which our Indians are thrown into jail, and that too for the most trifling causes. This is very galling to our feelings, and should not be allowed to the extent to which our white neighbours, in order to gratify their bad passions, now carry this practice.

"In our hunting and fishing, too, we are greatly interrupted our venison is stolen from the trees where we have hung it to be reclaimed after the chase; our hunting camps have been fired into, and we have been warned that we should no longer be permitted to pursue the deer in those forests which were so lately all our own. The fish which, in the Buffalo and Tonnewanto Creeks, used to supply us with food, are now, by the dams and other obstructions of the white people, prevented from multiplying, and we are almost entirely deprived of that accustomed sustenance.

"Our great father, the president, has recommended to our young men to be industrious, to plough, and to sow. This we have done, and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means he has afforded us of carrying it into effect: we are happier in consequence of it.

"But another thing recommended to us has created great confusion among us, and is making us a quarrelsome and divided people; and that is the introduction of preachers into our nation. These Black-robes contrive to get consent of some of the Indians to preach among us; and whenever this is the case, confusion and disorder are sure to follow, and the encroachment of the whites upon our land is the invariable consequence. The governor must not think hard of me for speaking thus of the preachers. I have observed their progress, and when I look back to see what has taken place of old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were forerunners of their dispersion; that they introduced the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and decrease, and be driven back, in proportion to the number of preachers that came among them."

After some other, and stronger, complaints on this subject, Red Jacket concludes by stating that "The great source of all our grievances is, that the white men are among us. Let them be removed, and we shall 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."

* The usual Indian appellation for the missionaries.

Of the authenticity of this address there can be no doubt. It was dictated by Red Jacket, in the presence of several of his principal Indians, and regularly transmitted in writing through the accredited interpreter, in January, 1821, to Governor De Witt Clinton, at Albany, by whom it was deemed of sufficient importance to be officially laid by him before the legislature of the state of New York.

The objections urged by this celebrated Seneca chief against the Christian missions, are by no means confined to one party or band of Indians; and the same sentiments will generally be found still to prevail among the tribes, which were felt at a very early period by the Narragansets. When Mr. Mahew, about the middle of the seventeenth century, requested permission of a Narraganset sachem to preach to his Indians, the chief reIplied -"Go and teach the English to be good first." It is but too probable that, throughout North America, the greater part of the Indian nations are little disposed to admit the religious interference of the missionaries. A distrust actuates the Indian of the present day similar to that which was once expressed in so characteristic a style by the Delaware tribes, as recorded by Dr. Boudinot, a corresponding member of the Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. Two missionaries had been edu

cated and ordained for the purpose of being sent to convert that people: "When they were ready to depart," says Dr. Boudinot, we wrote a letter in the Indian style to the Delaware nation, informing them that we had, by the goodness of the Great Spirit, been favoured with a knowledge of his will as to the worship he required of his creatures, and the means he would bless to promote the happiness of man, both in this life and that which was to come. That, thus enjoying so much happiness ourselves, we could not but think of our red brethren in the wilderness, and wished to communicate the glad tidings to them, that they might be partakers with us. We had, therefore, sent them two ministers of the Gospel, who would teach them great things; and we earnestly recommended these missionaries to their careful attention."

The two missionaries accordingly set out, and arrived in safety at the place of their destination in the Indian country. The Delaware chiefs immediately assembled, and said they would take the subject into consideration; that, in the meantime the missionaries might instruct the women, but were not to speak to the men. The chiefs spent fourteen days in council, and the result of their deliberation was, that they very courteously dismissed the two strangers, with an answer to those by whom they had been sent. "This answer," continues

Dr. Boudinot, "made great acknowledgments for the favour we had done them. They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being favoured by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness; but they could not help recollecting that we had a people among us who, because they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, causing them to suffer great hardships, and lead miserable lives. Now they could not see any reason, if a people being black entitled us thus to deal with them, why a red colour would not equally justify the same treatment. They, therefore, had determined to wait and see whether all the black people amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered so much and so long by our means, should be entitled to our first attention: that, therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our missionaries."

1

"This," adds the narrator," is what in any other case would be called close reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations upon.

Boudinot's Star in the West, ch. 8.