Samuel Hopkins

“ Should not our Eyes therefore affect our Hearts, when we behold them in such miserable Circumstances? And should we not exert ourselves in all proper Ways for their Help? Did the Wounds of the poor Man half dead, who fell among Thieves, plead with so much Eloquence for human Compassion, as the unhappy State of the poor Natives does for Christian Charity? ”

“ And if we should encourage the Settlement of other Indian Towns upon our Frontiers, where Hunting is most handy to them, as Stockbridge has been encouraged; should we give them Townships of Land suitable for their Improvement, build a Meeting-House and School-House in each Town, and support Ministers and School-Masters in them; would not this convince them that we are their true Friends, and seek their Good? Would it not induce them to settle in our Borders? especially those of them who are desirous that they themselves and their Children should be instructed? ”

“ What has been done for the Indians at Stockbridge, has doubtless been much observed and approved of by the Natives far and near. That there is a School set up at Canada, in Imitation of Mr. Sergeant’s School at Stockbridge, and a large Number of Scholars in it, we have heard and receive for Truth. That the French, who esteem Ignorance to be the Mother of Devotion, and do not desire to teach the Indians any Thing more than to say their Beads, and to cross themselves, have done this out of Choice, is not at all likely. They do not desire that their Indians should become a knowing People. ”

“ And yet their Powers, both of Body and Mind, are not inferior to our own. Were they brought to Civility and Industry, they might stand upon equal Ground with us, respecting the Comforts of Life; and were they instructed in divine Things, made acquainted with the great and important Truths of the Gospel, they might stand as fair for the Kingdom of Heaven as we do. ”

“ Trade, &c. and are become a wealthy People: And, were we as willing as we are able, might we not spare large Sums for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen? Ought we not then to shew our Gratitude to the glorious Author of all our Comforts, by employing a Part of his Bounty to promote the Redeemer’s Kingdom? Is it not fit that we should thus honour the Lord with our Substance? Does it not lie as a Reproach upon us, who make an high Profession, that we expend so little to promote the Knowledge of God among the Natives, and so much to ill Purposes? ”

“ I am to shew, that it is of vast Importance, that we be in good Terms with the Natives; and that we engage them in our Interest. I freely grant, that the Indians, simply considered, are not of such great Consequence to us. We can subsist without them. But yet, their Trade is a considerable Article, worthy the Care of any politick People, and managed as it might, and ought to be, would yield us great Profit. ”

“ Another Step, and perhaps the most promising one we can take, to engage the Indians in Friendship with us is, to send Missionaries among their respective Tribes, Ministers and Schoolmasters, to instruct them in the Principles, and to persuade them to the Practice of Christianity. Tho’ they have so long lived near us, and been conversant with us, yet [19] they remain ignorant of the Way of Salvation, Strangers to the Gospel, and are perishing for lack of Knowledge: A Case that might well move our Pity and Compassion towards them, and put us upon doing what we can for their Relief. ”

“ The most effectual Way to induce them to trust us, is to trust them; and they will be ready enough to protect our Trade if we desire it, and shew that we confide in them to do it. And when a little Experience has taught them how advantageous such a Trade would be to them, they would be ready enough to do it for their own Advantage. If therefore we should desire them to admit a Trader into one of their own Forts, or to build a Fort at our Charge in some convenient Place for such a Design, and to take Care that our Trade be safe ”

“ As all other People are governed by Interest, so are they. And the principal Handle we can take hold of, to attach them to us by, is their Interest, and that would not fail of doing it. If a Tribe of Indians can sell their Skins to us for Twenty Shillings, and buy their Blankets for Ten Shillings; they will never go to Canada where they must sell their Skins for Ten Shillings, and give Twenty Shillings for a Blanket. Convince them that it is much for their Interest [9] and Advantage to be our Friends and Allies, and we need not fear but that they will be so. ”

“ It is very true, that in order to obtain the End proposed, our Trade with the Indians must not be in private Hands. It must not be in the Power of every private Person to treat them as he pleases. We may upon good Grounds despair of their being treated with Equity and Justice, if every one may gratify his avaricious Temper in dealing with them. Our Trade therefore must be of a publick Nature, and must be committed to the Care and Management of faithful Men: Not to such as will seek the Service, and make Friends to procure the Post for them ”

“ They are at Home in it. The People therefore who inhabit our Frontiers, while they follow their necessary Business, are exposed to be an easy Prey to them; and many of them have been surpriz’d in their Fields and Houses, and in a most barbarous Manner put to Death. A small Number of Indians, encouraged and supported by the French (which they are ready enough to do) can easily keep us in a constant Alarm, put us to an immense Charge, destroy many, and impoverish more, in our exposed Places, and not put themselves [5] at all out of their Way ”

“ Upon the Supposition that those Officers are faithful, and deal justly by the Indians, it is surely a wise and politick Method to engage them in their Favour. And so long as every private Person in the English Government is at Liberty to trade with them, when, and where, he pleases, and to cheat them out of what they have, what can we expect but that they will repair to Canada, where they may be better used? ”

“ The French are not upon equal Ground with us in this Affair. For their Northern Climate is much more inhospitable and severe than ours is: Their Country is not so productive of those Fruits, which the Indians very much live upon, as ours: Nor can they afford Goods which are proper and necessary for the Indians at so cheap a Lay as we can: Therefore we can give them those Advantages which Canada cannot. ”

“ Sergeant, in his Journal of November 25, 1734, says,—‘The Mohawks are generally Professors of Christianity, but for want of Instruction have but little of it in Reality.—’ They are so ignorant of the Principles of Religion, that they know not the Difference between one who is baptized, and calls himself a Christian, and one who lives agreeably to the Rules Christ has given us to walk by. ”

“ Sufficient indeed it was to shew that those good Gentlemen were possest of an excellent Spirit, and of a laudable Zeal for the Good of the poor Natives; but yet I apprehend not sufficient to discourage further Attempts. If those Gentlemen, who went in a private Capacity, had sustained a publick Character, perhaps they had been more regarded. But however, when we have used our best Endeavours, and they indeed prove unsuccessful, we may be excusable; but can we look [21] upon ourselves so, if we sit still, and use no Endeavours for the Help of those poor benighted People? ”

“ Compassion on the neighbouring Heathen, and use our best Endeavours that they also may be made Partakers of the Light and Blessings of the Gospel?
3. Should we not be moved to such charitable Endeavours from the Consideration of the wretched and forlorn Circumstances, in which the poor Natives appear before our Eyes? We often behold those piteous Objects, appearing half naked, and almost starved; which is the Effect of their vicious Way of Living. ”

“ And if no proper Measures are taken to prevent their being ill used, will not those who are yet behind soon follow their Brethren? Yea, if we furnish them with large Quantities of Rum, make them drunk, and then defraud them of what they have, do we not reduce them to a Necessity, either of living low and miserable with us, or of going from us, that they may fare better? ”

“ Tho’ the Indians are sunk below the Dignity of human Nature, and their Lust after Drink exposes them to be cheated out of what little they have; yet this gives us no Right to deal unjustly by them. They have a natural Right to Justice, and may, with great Propriety, challenge it at our Hands, seeing we profess to be subject to the Laws of Christ, [11] which teach us to do that which is altogether just. ”

“ If we should send Persons well qualified for the Business to reside among them, and support them well, there would be no Foundation for any Jealousy that we have an ill Design upon them, and if at any time such Jealousies should arise, they would soon subside, upon the Indians having a little Experience of our Kindness and Friendship to them. ”

“ But if we consider them with Relation to Peace and War, as attached to us, or to our Enemies, they are of the last Importance to us; for they certainly have the Ballance of Power in their Hands, and are able to turn it for or against us, according as they stand affected to us. ”

“ There they live at Ease, distress and impoverish us, and the adjacent Wilderness is their Refuge. By retiring into it, they are soon out of our Reach; and long Experience has taught us how ineffectual the Measures we have taken for our Safety and Defence have proved. ”

“ We should not, in a Case of such Importance, content ourselves with being barely just in our Treatment of them, but we should also be kind and generous, as a proper Expedient to obtain the End proposed. ”

“ Tho’ Christianizing those Indians may prove a difficult Work, yet if our Endeavours might, by the divine Blessing, be succeeded, would not the Advantage thence arising to them, and us, more than compensate the Pains and Expence we should be at? ”

“ This again appears from the Temper and Conduct of that Part of the Tribe of the River Indians who live at Stockbridge. For tho’ they were, for a considerable Time, extremely jealous, that we had some ill Design upon them, even in the Favours they received at our Hands (a Jealousy founded, I suppose, upon the ill Usage the Natives have too often been the Subjects of) yet by the just Treatment they, for a Course of Years, have met with from the Government, from Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Woodbridge, and others, they are become our hearty Friends; willing to live or die with us, whether in Peace or War. ”

“ That such a Proceeding will be a very great Expence to the Publick, for our Trade cannot be safe, unless it be protected by a considerable Force. A Fort must be built, and a Garrison of 50, 60, or perhaps 100 Men, with their proper Officers, must be maintained at each Place where the Trade is set up ”

“ And we should be so far from taking the Advantage of their Ignorance, Vice and Poverty, to defraud them of what is their just Right, that we should rather be moved to Pity, and compassionate their deplorable State, and be Eyes to the Blind, &c. ”

“ A third, and perhaps much the greatest Difficulty that would attend this good Design is, that those Indians esteem themselves Christians already, and value themselves upon their being as good Christians as their Neighbours. ”