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democracy in america-1-第129章

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d a secret charm for him which he was unable to define: he returned to it again and again: at length he abandoned it with poignant regret; and when he was at length fixed among the whites; several of his children refused to share his tranquil and easy situation。 I saw Tanner myself at the lower end of Lake Superior; he seemed to me to be more like a savage than a civilized being。  His book is written without either taste or order; but he gives; even unconsciously; a lively picture of the prejudices; the passions; the vices; and; above all; of the destitution in which he lived。'

When the Indians undertake to imitate their European neighbors; and to till the earth like the settlers; they are immediately exposed to a very formidable competition。  The white man is skilled in the craft of agriculture; the Indian is a rough beginner in an art with which he is unacquainted。  The former reaps abundant crops without difficulty; the latter meets with a thousand obstacles in raising the fruits of the earth。

The European is placed amongst a population whose wants he knows and partakes。  The savage is isolated in the midst of a hostile people; with whose manners; language; and laws he is imperfectly acquainted; but without whose assistance he cannot live。  He can only procure the materials of comfort by bartering his commodities against the goods of the European; for the assistance of his countrymen is wholly insufficient to supply his wants。 When the Indian wishes to sell the produce of his labor; he cannot always meet with a purchaser; whilst the European readily finds a market; and the former can only produce at a considerable cost that which the latter vends at a very low rate。  Thus the Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which barbarous nations are exposed; than he is subjected to the still greater miseries of civilized communities; and he finds is scarcely less difficult to live in the midst of our abundance; than in the depth of his own wilderness。

He has not yet lost the habits of his erratic life; the traditions of his fathers and his passion for the chase are still alive within him。  The wild enjoyments which formerly animated him in the woods; painfully excite his troubled imagination; and his former privations appear to be less keen; his former perils less appalling。  He contrasts the independence which he possessed amongst his equals with the servile position which he occupies in civilized society。  On the other hand; the solitudes which were so long his free home are still at hand; a few hours' march will bring him back to them once more。  The whites offer him a sum; which seems to him to be considerable; for the ground which he has begun to clear。  This money of the Europeans may possibly furnish him with the means of a happy and peaceful subsistence in remoter regions; and he quits the plough; resumes his native arms; and returns to the wilderness forever。 *s The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees; to which I have already alluded; sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable picture。

'Footnote s: The destructive influence of highly civilized nations upon others which are less so; has been exemplified by the Europeans themselves。 About a century ago the French founded the town of Vincennes up on the Wabash; in the middle of the desert; and they lived there in great plenty until the arrival of the American settlers; who first ruined the previous inhabitants by their competition; and afterwards purchased their lands at a very low rate。  At the time when M。 de Volney; from whom I borrow these details; passed through Vincennes; the number of the French was reduced to a hundred individuals; most of whom were about to pass over to Louisiana or to Canada。  These French settlers were worthy people; but idle and uninstructed: they had contracted many of the habits of savages。  The Americans; who were perhaps their inferiors; in a moral point of view; were immeasurably superior to them in intelligence: they were industrious; well informed; rich; and accustomed to govern their own community。

I myself saw in Canada; where the intellectual difference between the two races is less striking; that the English are the masters of commerce and manufacture in the Canadian country; that they spread on all sides; and confine the French within limits which scarcely suffice to contain them。  In like manner; in Louisiana; almost all activity in commerce and manufacture centres in the hands of the Anglo…Americans。


But the case of Texas is still more striking: the State of Texas is a part of Mexico; and lies upon the frontier between that country and the United States。  In the course of the last few years the Anglo…Americans have penetrated into this province; which is still thinly peopled; they purchase land; they produce the commodities of the country; and supplant the original population。  It may easily be foreseen that if Mexico takes no steps to check this change; the province of Texas will very shortly cease to belong to that government。

If the different degrees … comparatively so slight … which exist in European civilization produce results of such magnitude; the consequences which must ensue from the collision of the most perfect European civilization with Indian savages may readily be conceived。'

The Indians; in the little which they have done; have unquestionably displayed as much natural genius as the peoples of Europe in their most important designs; but nations as well as men require time to learn; whatever may be their intelligence and their zeal。  Whilst the savages were engaged in the work of civilization; the Europeans continued to surround them on every side; and to confine them within narrower limits; the two races gradually met; and they are now in immediate juxtaposition to each other。 The Indian is already superior to his barbarous parent; but he is still very far below his white neighbor。  With their resources and acquired knowledge; the Europeans soon appropriated to themselves most of the advantages which the natives might have derived from the possession of the soil; they have settled in the country; they have purchased land at a very low rate or have occupied it by force; and the Indians have been ruined by a competition which they had not the means of resisting。  They were isolated in their own country; and their race only constituted a colony of troublesome aliens in the midst of a numerous and domineering people。 *t 

'Footnote t: See in the Legislative Documents (21st Congress; No。 89) instances of excesses of every kind committed by the whites upon the territory of the Indians; either in taking possession of a part of their lands; until compelled to retire by the troops of Congress; or carrying off their cattle; burning their houses; cutting down their corn; and doing violence to their persons。  It appears; nevertheless; from all these documents that the claims of the natives are constantly protected by the government from the abuse of force。  The Union has a representative agent continually employed to reside among the Indians; and the report of the Cherokee agent; which is among the documents I have referred to; is almost always favorable to the Indians。  〃The intrusion of
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