DISPOSITIONS OF SAVAGE NATIONS. 



183 



ions cannot be enjoyed by mankind at large. 

 To counteract this irrational and most deplora 

 ble propensity, by every energetic mean which 

 reason, humanity, and Christianity can suggest, 

 must be the duty of every one who is desirous to 

 promote the present and everlasting happiness of 

 his species.* 



SECTION II. 



STATE OF MORALS IN MODERN TIMES. 



Moral state of Savage Nations. 



I shall now take a very brief survpy of the 

 state of morals in modern times, and 01 the pre 

 vailing dispositions which are displayed by the 

 existing inhabitants of our globe. Were I to 

 enter into those minute and circumstantial details 

 which the illustration of this subject would re 

 quire, several volumes would be filled with the 

 detail of facts, and with the sketches of moral 

 scenery which might be brought forward. And 

 such a work, if judiciously executed, might be 

 rendered highly interesting, and might produce a 

 variety of benignant effects both on Christian 

 and on general society. But the narrow limits 

 within which the present work must be com 

 prised, compels me to confine my attention to 

 a few prominent features in the characters of 

 mankind, and, to a few insulated facts by which 

 they may be illustrated. I shall consider, in the 

 first place, some of the 



Prominent dispositions which appear a nong Sa - 

 vage and Half Civilized Nation . 



It is not to be disputed, that numerous indi 

 viduals among the uncivilized tribes of mankind, 

 have occasionally displayed the exercise of many 

 of the social virtues, that they have been brave 

 and magnanimous, faithful to their promises, 

 strong in their attachments, and generous and 

 affectionate to their friends and relatives. But 

 their virtues, for the most part, proceed from a 

 principle of selfishness, and are confined to the 

 clan or tribe to which they belong. Towards 

 their enemies, and towards all who have injured 

 them in the slightest degree, they almost uni 

 formly display cruel, perfidious, and revengeful 

 dispositions. The following facts and descrip 

 tions, selected from the authentic records of voy 

 agers and travellers, will tend to corroborate these 

 positions. 



The most prominent feature which appears in 



* The Author intended, had his limits permitted, to 

 6t;ite some additional considerations to show the 

 felly and wickedness of war. In the mean time, he 

 refers his readers to &quot;Letters addressed to Caleb 

 Strong, Esq.,&quot; which contain a series of energetic and 

 impressive reasonings on the subject.&quot; Pictures of 

 War,&quot; by Irenicus, and a duodecimo volume, lately 

 l-ujblished, entitled, &quot; An Inquiry into the accordancy 

 of War with the principles of Christianity,&quot; &c. 



the character of savage nations, is, their disposi 

 tion for war, and to inflict revenge (or real or sup 

 posed injuries. With respect to .the NORTH 

 AMERICAN Indians, it is the uniform description 

 given of them by all traveller s, that, if we except 

 hunting, war is the only employment of the men, 

 and every other concern is left to the women. ^ 

 Their most common motive for entering into war, 

 is, either to revenge themselves for the death of 

 some lost friends, or to acquire prisoners, who 

 may assist them in their hunting, and whom they 

 adopt into their society. In these wars, they are 

 cruel and savage, to an incredible degree. They 

 enter unawares, the villages of their foes, and, 

 while the flower of ^the nation are engaged in 

 hunting, massacre all the children, women, and 

 helpless old men, or make prisoners of as many as 

 they can manage. But when the enemy is appriz 

 ed of their design, and^ coming on in arms against 

 them, they throw themselves flat on the ground, 

 among the withered herbs and leaves, which 

 their faces are painted to resemble. They then r 

 allow a part to pass unmolested ; when, all at 

 once, with a tremendous shout, rising up from 

 their ambush, they pour a storm of musket-balls on 

 their foes. If the force on each side continues 

 nearly equal, the fierce spirits of these savages, 

 inflamed by the loss of friends, can no longer be 

 restrained. They abandon their distant war, 

 they rush upon one another with clubs and 

 hatchets in their hands, magnifying their own 

 courage, and insulting their enemies. A cruel 

 combat ensues , death appears in a thousand hide 

 ous forms, which would congeal thebloodof civi 

 lized nations to behold, hut which r &amp;gt;use the fury 

 of these savages. They trample, they insult over 

 the dead bodies, tearing the scalp from the head, 

 wallowing in their blood like wild beasts, and 

 sometimes devouring their flesh. The flame 

 rages on till it meets with no resistance ; then 

 the prisoners are secured, whose fate is a thou 

 sand times more dreadful than theirs who have 

 died in the field. The conquerors setup a hide 

 ous howling, to lament the friends they have lost. 

 They approach to their own village ; the women, 

 with frightful shrieks, come out to mourn their 

 dead brothers, or their husbands. An orator 

 proclaims aloud a circumstantial account of every 

 particular of the expedition; and as he mentions 

 the names of those who have fallen, the shriek s 

 of the women are redoubled. The last ceremony 

 is the proclamation of victory : each individual 

 then forgets his private misfortune, and joins in 

 the triumph of his nation ; all tears are wiped 

 from their eyes, and, by an unaccountable transi 

 tion, they pass in a moment from the bitterness o 

 sorrow, to an extravagance of joy.* 



As they feel nothing but revenge for the ene 

 mies of their nation, their prisoners are treated 

 with cruelty in the extreme. The cruelties in- 



* See Ency. Brit- Art. America- 



