Halkett's, Historical Notes.on.the Indians of North America. 
wretch -has, recovered, his, reason, he, la-, 
ments, in, yajn the misery, which; his, own 
funy has entailed upon. him ;, but while; he 
justly aseribes,to the; European. the. blame 
of, haying, supplied him, with, what, caused 
such odesolation,he, will not, scruple to 
seize the. first,opportunity.of again obtain- 
ing,jit,), and ,plunging, with. headlong. infa- 
tuation, into.new-scenes, of riot and blood. 
shed. bis cuosl 
o;The.French missionary, Le Jeune, in 
one of,his early reports from. Canada to the 
superior jof.,his.,order, in France, observes, 
“ Our interpreter, told me, that the Indians, 
belonging to .atribe, of whom one is now 
im. prison for . killing,.a, Frenchman,  re- 
proach, us extremely ;. saying it was the 
liguor,,not the; Indian, that, committed, the 
rourder.,,,./ Send your wine and brandy. to 
prison,’ they | exclaimed,‘ it is these, and 
not we, jyvho,do;the mischief.’’ In, the 
report for the subsequent year, the same 
Ymissionary, remarks ;. ‘ Sinee the arrival. of 
the, Buropeans..the Indians. haye become 
such drunkards, that, although they perceive 
very. clearly, that, the use of spirituous li- 
quor, is | \depopulating their country, and, 
although they themselves, complain of this, 
yet, they. cannot abstain from drinking it, 
They die in great numbers in, consequence; 
and indeed, I,am, surprised that many of 
them. resist, its, mortal effects so long as 
they do; because, if you give to a couple 
of Indians two or three bottles of brandy, 
they will sit down, and without eating any 
thing, will drink, the one ‘after the other, 
till they have emptied the contents of the 
whole,’,,,At. another place, he observes: 
«There are many, orphans among these 
people, for since they, have addicted them- 
selves, to, the use, of spirituous liquors, there 
is, great mortality among them ; and these 
poor children are dispersed among the 
cabins of their.relations, by whom they. are 
taken care, of as if they were their own 
offspring.’ ” 
»“ Boucher, who long held the situation 
of governor of Three Rivers, in Canada, 
remarks, that, ‘ Those Indians who have 
communication with the Europeans, almost 
always. become drunkards; which causes 
much mischief amongst us, many of those 
who, had been converted having again. re- 
lapsed, The Jesuit.fathers have done all 
in,their, power to. check the evil. The 
sayages drink for the sole purpose of be- 
coming intoxicated; and when once they 
begin, they would part, with every thing 
they. possess for a bottle of brandy in order 
to get drunk.’ Monsieur, Denys, who was 
governor, of. a large, district towards. the 
mouth. of: the , river , St. Lawrence, ,and 
Nova. Scotia, thus expresses himself on the 
same subject :—-* In their drinking enter- 
tainments,, they are never, satisfied. unless 
sthey. get,,completely and brutally intoxi- 
ed;,anc, they, think, they ¢annot have 
; enough,, without... haying... beat, and 
noeked, each other to, pieces... The wo- 
dotervy 
615 
men,.,upon these .oceasions,, often. take 
away, the,.guns, . hatchets,.,, daggers, ‘and 
knives,),, This. they.are, allowed todo. if 
the drinking has not, begun, otherwise the 
women, would | not. venture). to go) into, 
their-cabins,,, When they have thus taken 
away the weapons, the women sometimes 
go, into the woods, where) they: conceal 
themselves, with their, children, not, ven- 
turing to appear. until the. effects .of the 
debauch is past ; and.in the course of which. 
the men generally fight and beat, each other 
with the poles that support their bark tents 
or lodges.’ ”” 
Then we have introduced the small- 
pox, and that, with the aid we hu- 
manely lent one nation (by our forces) 
to exterminate another, to us, entirely 
unoffending party; and, the, Christian 
use we made (as spies).of those ser- 
vants of God that were admitted. among 
them, as messengers of peace, to. teach 
them the way to Him; has urged.on 
pretty effectually the civilizing work of 
extermination. And thus it is that 
innumerable tribes of our fellow-beings, 
who covered a space of many thousands 
of miles, are, in the year 1825, reduced 
(and are reducing daily, more and more), 
to 50,000. Good God, what —is the popu- 
lation of a continent reduced to 50,000— 
to less than the number of the inhabi- 
tants of some of our suburbian parishes, 
Is it thus we proffer them a religion 
of peace and benevolence, and profess 
to teach them brotherly love and good 
will to all, and point them the path to 
heaven? We boast that that religion 
has civilized Europe; and that the pu- 
rity of it, among ourselves, has made 
us more powerful and civilized than all 
other nations; and yet, with the words’ 
of that religion in our mouths, and with 
the profession of diffusing its blessings 
among poor ignorant savages, not con- 
version but depopulation’ has’ marked 
our footsteps: nor ours alone—the 
states of North America’ continue to 
follow, in their national independence, 
the example we taught them in their 
state of colonization. 
But we will let Dr. Morse, in_ his 
Indian Report to the American, Go- 
vernment. in 1820, shew the. state to 
which our suffering brethren. are  re- 
duced; and the remembrance they: have 
of the causes of their desolation. 
“ Tt cannot be doubted, indeed, but that 
the, Indians, for successive _ generations, 
have looked upon the Whites as, a fraudu- 
lent, unjust, and immoral race ;, preaching 
what they did not practice,.and oyerreach- 
ing their red brethren upon every occasion, 
and by all the. means in. their power. bid 
nee 
