Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their coloniesHowitt, William
History
Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their colonies
Howitt, William
Indians, Treatment of; Indigenous peoples
“Having been thus called upon he began:—‘The Great Spirit,’ he said,
‘who made him and them, who ruled the heaven and the earth, and who
knew the innermost thoughts of man, knew that he and his friends had
a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with them, and to
serve them to the uttermost of their power. It was not their custom to
use hostile weapons against their fellow-creatures, for which reason
they had come unarmed. Their object was not to do injury, and thus
provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on the
broad pathway of goodfaith and goodwill, so that no advantage was to
be taken on either side, but all was to be openness, brotherhood, and
love.’ After these and other words, he unrolled the parchment, and, by
means of the same intrepreter, conveyed to them, article by article,
the conditions of the purchase, and the words of the compact then
made for their eternal union. Among other things, they were not to be
molested, even in the territory they had alienated, for it was to be
common to them and the English. They were to have the same liberty to
do all things therein relating to the improvement of their grounds
and providing sustenance for their families, which the English had.
If disputes should arise between the two, they should be settled by
twelve persons, half of whom should be English, and half Indians. He
then paid them for the land, and made them many presents besides from
the merchandise which had been open before them. Having done this,
he laid the roll of parchment on the ground, observing again that
the ground should be common to both people. He then added that he
would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call them children, or
brothers only: for often parents were apt to whip their children too
severely, and brothers sometimes would differ; neither would he compare
the friendship between him and them to a chain, for the rain might
sometimes rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; but he should
consider them as the same flesh and blood as the Christians, and the
same as if one man’s body was to be divided into two parts. He then
took up the parchment, and presented it to the Sachem who wore the horn
in the chaplet, and desired him and the other Sachems to preserve it
carefully for three generations, that their children might know what
had passed between them, just as if he himself had remained with them
to repeat it.
“The Indians in return, made long and stately harangues, of which,
however, no more seems to have been remembered, but that ‘they pledged
themselves to live in love with William Penn and his children as long
as the sun and moon shall endure.’ Thus ended this famous treaty, of
which Voltaire has remarked with so much truth and severity, ‘That it
was the only one ever concluded which was not ratified by an oath, and
the only one that never was broken.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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