It may seem strange that the good people who tell such _melting stories_ about the love of Christ, as exhibited in the conduct of the converted heathen, and who publish such marvellous accounts of the unprecedented success which attends missionary exertions, _ad captandum vulgus_, should have met with so little success among the Indians. This phenomenon, however, is not at all surprising to any one who has studied the Indian character. It is agreed on all hands that whatever vices may deform the character of the Indian warrior, he is in some respects characterized by a nobility of soul which is rarely met with in civilized nations. This very nobility causes him to look down upon the whites as a deceiving and treacherous race. He keeps his word sacred; if he pledges himself he performs his promise. The whites have broken almost every treaty they have made with the Indians. With them political expediency obtains the mastery over justice, honour, and truth. The missionaries, too, have in many cases endeavoured to wriggle into office and to lead an idle life instead of “learning and labouring truly to get their own living, and doing their duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased God to call them.” It is natural for men who hate injustice and detest lying, to despise the ministrations of such teachers. This appears to be one among the many causes which have prevented the efforts of the missionaries from being successful. And truly if the Indians had wisdom enough to anticipate the consequences likely to result from the success of missionary schemes, they would not only reject the ministrations of such teachers, but expel them from their territories. The “pale faces” are always dangerous to the man of America. Wherever the sound of the Asiatic gospel has been heard, the roar of the European cannon has speedily followed. _Brandy_, _Small Pox_, and the _Gospel_, are the three principal blessings we have given to the red men. The consequences resulting from the two former, have been more extensive than those resulting from the latter. The whites must abandon their own vices before they can expect to civilize the Aborigines of America. [Joshua Hobson, Printer, 5, Market Street, Briggate, Leeds.] FOOTNOTES [1] Robertson’s History of America, vol. 1. b. 3. [2] Robertson’s History of America, Note 46. [3] Penny Cyclopædia, Art. America. [4] Buchanan’s Sketches of Indian History, vol. 1, p. 37. [5] Montaigne’s Essay’s, Book, 1, Chap. 30, Cotton’s Translation. [6] Discourse to the New York Society, p.p. 49, 50. [7] Discourse to the New York Society, p. 71. [8] Heckewelder’s Historical account of the Indian Nations, p. 124. [9] Hunter’s Memoirs of a Captivity among the North American Indians, p. 43, &c. [10] Buchanan’s Sketches, North American Indians, Introduction, p. 14. [11] Hunter’s Memoirs, p. 48. [12] Voyages de Marchais, iv. 353. [13] Gumilla, ii. 101. [14] M. Fabry, quoted by Buffon, iii. 488.