Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/124

104 romancers have given of the Indian, as so misleading and wholly fanciful, he says: —

The Indian, "where we are compelled to meet with him,—in his native village, on the war-path, and when raiding upon our frontier settlements and lines of travel,—forfeits his claim to the appellation of the 'noble red man.' We see him as he is, and, so far as all knowledge goes, as he ever has been,—a savage in every sense of the word; not worse, perhaps, than his white brother would be similarly born and bred, but one whose cruel and ferocious nature far exceeds that of any wild beast of the desert. That this is true, no one who has been brought into intimate contact with the wild tribes will deny. Perhaps there are some who, as members of peace commissions, or as wandering agents of some benevolent society, may have visited these tribes, or attended with them at councils held for some pacific purpose, and who by passing through the villages of the Indian while at peace may imagine their opportunities for judging of the Indian nature all that could be desired; but the Indian, while he can seldom be accused of indulging in a great variety of wardrobe, can be said to have a character capable of adapting itself to almost every occasion. He has one character — perhaps his most serviceable one—which he preserves carefully, and only airs it when making his appeal to the Government or its agents, for arms, ammunition, and license to employ them. This character is invariably paraded, and often with telling effect, when the motive is a peaceful one. Prominent chiefs invited to visit Washington invariably don this character, and in their 'talks' with the 'Great Father' and other less prominent personages they successfully contrive to exhibit but this one phase. Seeing them under these or similar circumstances only, it is not surprising that by many the Indian is looked upon as a simple-minded 'son of Nature,' desiring nothing beyond the privilege of roaming and hunting over the vast unsettled wilds of the West, inheriting and asserting but few native rights, and never trespassing upon the rights of others. This view is equally erroneous with that which regards the Indian as a creature possessing the human form, but divested of all other attributes of humanity, and whose traits of character, habits, modes of life, disposition, and savage customs disqualify him from the exercise of all rights and privileges, even those pertaining to life itself. Taking him as we find him, at peace or at