264 The Winning of the West 



sessions of the Indian, as the buccaneers of the 

 Spanish Main had once lusted for the possessions 

 of the Spaniard. There was but little more heed 

 paid to the rights of the assailed in one case than in 

 the other. 



Yet in its results, and viewed from the standpoint 

 of applied ethics, the conquest and settlement by 

 the whites of the Indian lands was necessary to the 

 greatness of the race and to the well-being of civ 

 ilized mankind. It was as ultimately beneficial as it 

 was inevitable. Huge tomes might be filled with ar 

 guments as to the morality or immorality of such 

 conquests. But these arguments appeal chiefly to 

 the cultivated men in highly civilized communities 

 who have neither the wish nor the power -to lead 

 warlike expeditions into savage lands. Such con 

 quests are commonly undertaken by those reckless 

 and daring adventurers who shape and guide each 

 race's territorial growth. They are sure to come 

 when a masterful people, still in its raw, barbarian 

 prime, finds itself face to face with the weaker and 

 wholly alien race which holds a coveted prize in its 

 feeble grasp. 



Many good persons seem prone to speak of all 

 wars of conquest as necessarily evil. This is, of 

 course, a shortsighted view. In its after affects a 

 conquest may be fraught either with evil or with 

 good for mankind, according to the comparative 

 worth of the conquering and conquered peoples. It 

 is useless to try to generalize about conquests simply 

 as such in the abstract; each case or set of cases 



