DEGENERACY OF THE INDIANS. 449 



rious as the ruins of America ; and to come down to 

 later times and countries comparatively familiar, tra- 

 dition sheds no light upon the round towers of Ire- 

 land, and the ruins of Stonehenge stand on Sahsbu- 

 ry plain without a tradition to carry us back to the 

 age or nation of their builders. 



The second argument I shall notice is, that a peo- 

 ple possessing the power, art, and skill to erect such 

 cities, never could have fallen so low as the misera- 

 ble Indians who now linger about their ruins. To 

 this, too, it might be sufficient to answer that their 

 present condition is the natural and inevitable con- 

 sequence of the same ruthless pohcy which laid the 

 axe at the root of all ancient recollections, and cut 

 off forever all traditionary knowledge. But waiving 

 this ground, the pages of written history are burden- 

 ed with changes in national character quite equal to 

 that here exhibited. And again, leaving entirely out 

 of the question all the analogous examples which 

 might be drawn from those pages, we have close at 

 hand, and under our very eyes, an illustration in 

 point. The Indians who inhabit that country now 

 are not more changed than their Spanish masters. 

 Whether debased, and but little above the grade of 

 brutes, as it was the policy of the Spaniards to rep- 

 resent them, or not, we know that at the time of the 

 conquest they were at least proud, fierce, and war- 

 like, and poured out their blood hke water to save 

 their inheritance from the grasp of strangers. Crush- 

 ed, humbled, and bowed down as they are now by 



Vol. II.— L l l 



