A Tour of the West

LETTERS BY VIATOR FOR THE BRITISH WHIG - 1847

LETTER NO. II

The close of my first letter left me landed on the wharf at the village of Port Credit. This flourishing village is situated on both ...

... tend to the disadvantages of this dainty and flourishing village.

About the distance of two miles up the river is, or rather was, an Indian village, now desolate, as the tribe, with the exception of its Chief, the somewhat celebrated Peter Jones, and a squaw, the wife of a white, have removed West, out of the march of civilization. The village is prettily located on a high bank, overlooking the river. The "flats" on each side the river are highly rich, and afford luxuriant pasturage for cattle, long before the highlands begin to put on their verdant livery. Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" found here its counterpart. An air of quiet, solemn solitude breathed its spell over it.-- The houses tenantless, windows fastened up, no cheering hum from the schoolhouse, not a solitary being seen to break the monotony. -- I stood on the bank and looked down on the river, that crept along like a silver serpent, vainly expecting to see one of the stalwart tribe, as I saw them of yore, standing on the edge of the bank with poised spear, ready to plunge it into some scaly inhabitant of the flood; but I looked in vain. A saw mill's clatter reverberated through the solemn quiet. I turned away heart sick, but on it went. It seemed as if itwas proving to me with each "see-saw" the triumph of busy, bustling Art over wild and unsophisticated Nature.

Is it not a great pity that in the progress of events, no great good of any amount can be obtained without a vast amount of injury, both national and domestic. Look at the history of civilizednations at the present day. How have they introduced their dogmas &c.? Is it with the "olive branch of peace" or the Cannon's mouth "Civilization" the arts and sciences, and humanity itself have been taught to nations, tribes and casts, by usurpation, cruelty and death. Nay, the Bible -- the charter of humanity and peace -- has been preached at the bayonet's point; and love and friendship have been introduced, not by the warm embrace or the friendly grasp, but by the clash of swords and the struggle of hate. Strange this, but true. And if these be the means used, what must be the result?

What, I ask, has the boasted refinement and humanity of the "White" done for the Indian? It has destroyed that savage greatness of soul which once reigned with unsophisticated grandeur in the hearts of those sons of the forests. The introduction of the arts and sciences by the "pale face" has paved the way for the deep degradation of the "red man." That unhallowed thirst for gain which predominates amongst our race, induced the introduction of the accursed "fire water" as if to render their destruction more sure, and the annihilation of their manners, customs and independent nationality more complete. The march of civilization has with rapid strides stalked over their hunting grounds, once sacred to their throne alone; it has encroached on the prostrated their liberties, and converted their once noble lords of the soil into the condition of serfs dependent upon some haughty noble for liberty and subsistence. In a few short years we may look in vain for the red man's path; while wandering through the forests once their abode, and thinking perhaps of their hapless fate, our ears will be saluted, not with the stunning thrilling whoop which made the forest ring, and caused the warm blood to course quickly through the veins, but by the .... "gee-haw" of some plodding ploughman as he follows his patient oxen insome adjacent clearing. Alas! alas! that civilization is attended with such humiliating consequences.

I admit that Indians in an uncultivated state, were savage, barbarous and illiterate; but have we taught them better? have we improved their condition? We proposed to teach them morality, humanity, and religion; have we done so? Of the first, we have set them a fine example indeed; of the second, are we more humane? True, we do not scalp our enemies, &c.; but war with us and them differs more in kind than degree. As regards the last, what better is our holy hundred garbled systems of religion to their simple faith? Better, far better, to have left them to their simple and pure method of devotion, than inundate them with deacons, priests, dissenters, and the ghostly train which profess to expedite their way to the "Great Spirit," but have only involved them in doubts and fears, and debased their nobleness of soul, and made shipwreck of the simple and unalloyed faith of their fathers.

Leaving Port Credit I travelled for the distance of three or four miles through a dense fine tract to the pretty village of Cooksville. But as I have extended this letter to a reasonable length, I shall reserve a description of this place for a commencement of my next.

VIATOR

Township of Kingston, August 16 1847