INDIAN IDEAS. 65 
many scions of the stock may arise to kindle anew the burn- 
ing fires of their eloquence-and reflect new splendor upon 
ancient aboriginal renown. Let us cherish the hopé, that ere 
long the Indian representative may be found occupying his 
seat in our national legislature, to advocate his own cause and 
secure his rights from oppression. 
I was not surpriged in conversing with many of the old 
men of the tribes, on the subject of this bill, to find them al! 
of one opinion. 
They are strongly opposed to it, and we up all their con- 
versations with the same conclusion, viz., that it is a scheme 
of the white man to dispossess them of their lands. They 
say, “ We got land now, we keep him ; white man come, all is 
gone.” ! 
This idea is a necessary consequence of their inherent dis- 
trust of our race. At heart they hate us, and are only kept 
apparent friends by either fear or self-interest. 
The young men who have had some advantages of educa- 
tion, and mingled more with the population of the States, are 
more fayourably disposed to the newly proposed arrangement, 
a fact which is acknowledged by the old men with much bit- 
“ean and either denounced as treason or as a scheme to 
rise in eoeet and influence in the tribes. 
I took my leave of this fair spot in earth’s fee with 
mingled feelings of regret ‘and pity—regret, that so much 
beauty and fertility was wasted upon indolence and obtuse- 
ness ; -pity, to find all but the = of man divine. 
