The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and PrivateJefferson, Thomas
History
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8 (of 9): Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's
cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold
and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the
last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an
advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my
countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, "Logan is the
friend of white men." I had even thought to have lived with
you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last
spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations
of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There
runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature.
This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed
many: I have fully glutted my vengeance: for my country I rejoice
at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that
mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not
turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for
Logan?--Not one."[40]
Before we condemn the Indians of this continent as wanting
genius, we must consider that letters have not yet been introduced
among them. Were we to compare them in their present state
with the Europeans, north of the Alps, when the Roman arms
and arts first crossed those mountains, the comparison would be
unequal, because, at that time, those parts of Europe were swarming
with numbers; because numbers produce emulation, and
multiply the chances of improvement, and one improvement begets
another. Yet I may safely ask, how many good poets, how
many able mathematicians, how many great inventors in arts or
sciences, had Europe, north of the Alps, then produced? And
it was sixteen centuries after this before a Newton could be
formed. I do not mean to deny that there are varieties in the
race of man, distinguished by their powers both of body and
mind. I believe there are, as I see to be the case in the races
of other animals. I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether the
bulk and faculties of animals depend on the side of the Atlantic
on which their food happens to grow, or which furnishes the elements
of which they are compounded? Whether nature has
enlisted herself as a Cis- or Trans-Atlantic partisan? I am induced
to suspect there has been more eloquence than sound
reasoning displayed in support of this theory; that it is one of
those cases where the judgment has been seduced by a glowing
pen; and whilst I render every tribute of honor and esteem to
the celebrated zoologist, who has added, and is still adding, so
many precious things to the treasures of science, I must doubt
whether in this instance he has not cherished error also, by lending
her for a moment his vivid imagination and bewitching language. (4.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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