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Show 18 REPORT OF THE CObfMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the ruins of a crumbling heathenism. These faithful men went forth '' bearing precious seed," struggled and toiled, endured severe privations, afflictions, and trials, and sowed in tears t,he germs of light,, truth, and hope, which have ripened into a glorious harvest of intelhgence and Christian civilization. This tribe are not only civilized and self-sup-porting, but before the fearful disast,ers of the great rebellion fell upon them? were perhaps the richest people, per capita, in the world. Thls historical sketch demonstrates beyond question that the main- * springs of Cherokee civilization were, first, the circumscribing of their territorial domain ; this resulted in, second,,the localization of the mem-bers of the tribe, and consequently in, thud, the necessity of agricul-ture and pastoral pursnits iustead of the chase as amcans of existence; and as a logical seqnence, fourth, the introduction of ideas of property in things, of sale and barter, &c.; ,and hence, fifth, of come, a corre-sponding change from the ideas, habits, and customs of savages to those of civilized life; and, sixth, the great coadjutor in the whole work ill all its progress, the Christian teacher and missionary, moving paripma with every other cause. Unless history is a fable, and the observation and the experience of living men a delusion or a lie, I have demonst,rated that an Indian tribe nu7 become civilized. I think the causes also operating that result are clcirlj sllunn, su that t11e.y are putcnt ;in11 i,;~lG~l!tlor >rery obscrvvr. Au11 1 111ig11ctl ose the ar&wnlcLn1t1 el.ew ith, -It id ~leo~oustn~rr~l." Ihrt truth mnst not only he (lemonstratell, it is nrreasors 8\31> to inl-press it with fact upon faet; argument must not only be conclusive, but it must be made weighty by cumulative truths. To make thelogic of the argument and the conclusions irresistible,let it be remembered thit the history of the civilization of each of the other tribes I have named is in all its leading features the same. The necessi-ties imposed by diminished territory, of individual localization and permanent habitation, of abandonment ot the chase, of resorting to the herd, the flock, the field, the plough, the loom, and the anvil, of embracing ideas of property in things, of a cl~angeo f habits, customs, laws, &c., to suit new ideas and new metliods of life, and of imbibing corresponding ideas of morals and religion, operated alike in all these tribes and led them each through the same pathway into the broad sunlight oi our civ-ilization. Now. if the laws of God me immutable. the ao..~ licationo f similar ca~~svs'eto81 cl1o f the other tribes 11nder our:ju~.i~(lictioinal udt i,n,tl~~cne like effrrt I I ~ U I Ir: ic.ll. If rllr Cl~erolieesC, l~oct:~\vCs:,h icliasn\va, Cn.eka, s11tl Svn~inolrR~IP civilized nnll a( l \ -nl~cii~n ~tlct. vrlonn~ertt.s o \rill be I . . the Cl~ej ru~~-r4i1j1,n pal1ovd, Al~;rehesl,C iom>~(r:, oalaucl~e~,Si~n~ntol sa,l l our tntl~c~rrri l~~.isf , we \\.ill only u.ie rile menlls i n their cnser; 111811 ]lave been so wondeifully successfulin the first named tribe. It may he objected that some of our tribes have long been under the action of kindred causes, but have not advanced in numbers, knowledge, or civilization. This I emlihatimlly deny. If tribes long under the care of the government have failed to improve and advance, the causes of the failure lie on the surface and are easilJ-seen by those who will take the trouble to look. Our course has generally been t~ circumscribe, but not tolocalize them in the proper sense, and thus give them the certainty of fixed and per-manent homes, bnt to bold them as pilgrims resting a year or two on this reservation and then removing them to a new one on the outer verge of civilization, &ere to linger awhile in sad suspense till the remorseless rapacity of our race requires them to move farther back into darkness again. |