they used it like giants. Let us examine the graphic and accurate account of the course pursued towards the Indians, presented to us by the Quarterly Reviewer. "The vast Indian empires of Mexico and Peru have, as we all know, been as completely depopulated by the inhabitants of the Old World, as the little cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were smothered by the lava and cinders of Vesuvius. "In less populous, though not less happy regions, by broadsides of artillery, by volleys of musketry, by the bayonet, by the terrific aid of horses, and even by the savage fury of dogs, the Christian world managed to extend the lodgment it had effected among a naked and inoffensive people. "In both hemispheres of America the same horrible system of violence and invasion are at this moment in operation. The most barbarous and unprovoked attempts to exterminate the mounted Indians in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres have lately been made. In the United States upwards of thirty-six millions of dollars have been expended, during the last four years, in the attempt to drive the Seminoles from their hunting-grounds. What quantity of Indian blood has been shed by this money is involved in mystery. The American general in command, it is said, tendered his resignation unless he were granted, in this dreadful war of extermination, the assistance of bloodhounds; and it has also been asserted that, on a motion being made in one of the State legislatures, for an inquiry into this allegation, the proposition was negatived and the investigation suppressed. At all events the aggression against the Seminoles still continues; a pack of bloodhounds has already been landed in the United States from the island of Cuba; and while the Indian women, with blackened faces, are mourning over the bereavement of their husbands and their sons, and trembling at the idea of their infants being massacred by the dogs of war which the authorities of the state of Florida have, it appears from the last American newspapers, determined to let loose, the republic rejoices at the anticipated extension of its territory, and, as usual, exultingly boasts that it is going a-head!' "In the Old World, war, like every other pestilence, rages here and there for a certain time only; but the gradual extinction of the Indian race has unceasingly been in operation from the first moment of our discovery of America to the present hour; for whether we come in contact with our red brethren as enemies or as friends, they everywhere melt before us like snow before the sun. Indeed, it is difficult to say whether our friendship or our enmity has been most fatal. "The infectious disorders which, in moments of profound peace, we have unfortunately introduced, have proved infinitely more destructive and merciless than our engines of war. By the small-pox alone it has been computed that half the Indian population of North America has been swept away. There is something particularly affecting in the idea of the inhabitants, even of a wigwam, being suddenly attacked by something from the Old World which, almost on the self-same day, has rendered them all incapable of providing for each other or even for themselves; and it is dreadful to consider in how many instances, by the simultaneous death of the adults, the young and helpless must have been left in the lone wilderness to starve !" The American poet Whittier has given a beautiful description of the ravages produced by European diseases in an Indian village, supposed to be narrated by the last survivor of the race. As Whittier's poems are unknown in Europe, we shall quote the passage:- There came unto my father's hut A man, weak creature of distress; The stranger's voice was not like ours, And murmured of his father-land, My father held his burning hand! He died at last-the funeral yell He died, even as the white man died- Like diamonds from the sunlit dew. And it was so-from day to day The spirit of the plague went on; They gave them to the hurrying waves. Turned loathing from the ghastly dead; By that destroying angel spread! Our gallant war-tribe passed away; And I alone am left to tell The story of its swift decay! "Not only whole families," continues the Reviewer, "but whole tribes, have been almost extinguished by this single disease, which is supposed to have proved fatal to at least seven millions of Indians. The Pawnee nation have been reduced by it from 25,000 to 10,000. When Mr. Catlin lately visited the Mandan tribe, it consisted of 2000 people, particularly distinguished by their handsome appearance, and by their high character for courage and probity. They received him with affectionate kindness, and not only admitted him to all their most secret mysteries, but installed him among the learned of their tribe, and afforded him every possible assistance. He had scarcely left them when two of the fur traders unintentionally infected them with the small-pox, which caused the death of the whole tribe! Not an individual has survived; and had not Mr. Catlin felt deep and honourable interest in their fate, it is more than probable it never would have reached the coast of the Atlantic, or been recorded in history. The American poet Whittier has given a beautiful description of the ravages produced by European diseases in an Indian village, supposed to be narrated by the last survivor of the race. As Whittier's poems are unknown in Europe, we shall quote the passage: There came unto my father's hut A man, weak creature of distress; The stranger's voice was not like ours, And murmured of his father-land, My father held his burning hand! He died at last-the funeral yell He died, even as the white man died- Like diamonds from the sunlit dew. |