108 CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE INDIANS. 



people ; no missionaries have, to my knowledge, ever visited them, and 

 they have no more idea of Christianity than they have of the religion of 

 Mahomet. We find dwelling almost at our doors as barbarous and 

 heathenish a race as exists on the face of the earth ; and while our 

 benevolent and philanthropic citizens are making such efforts to ame- 

 liorate the condition of savages in other countries, should we not do 

 something for the benefit of these wild men of the prairies ? Those 

 dingy noblemen of nature, the original proprietors of all that vast do- 

 main included between the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific, have been 

 despoiled, supplanted, and robbed of their just and legitimate heritage, 

 by the avaricious and rapid encroachments of the white man. Numer- 

 ous and powerful nations have already become exterminated by unjusti- 

 fiable wars that he has waged with them, and by the effects of the 

 vices he has introduced and inculcated ; and of those that remain, but 

 few can be found who are not contaminated by the pernicious influences 

 of unprincipled and designing adventurers. It is not at this late day in 

 our power to atone for all the injustice inflicted upon the red men; but 

 it seems to me that a wise policy would dictate almost the only recom- 

 pense it is now in our power to make — that of introducing among them 

 the light of Christianity and the blessings of civilization, with their 

 attendant benefits of agriculture and the arts. 



