Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

SKETCH OF THE REPORT

TO BE LAID BEFORE THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

BY THE

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS

OF THE

SOCIETY FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL AMONG THE HEATHEN.

PREFATORY.

A sad commentary is it, indeed, upon the attitude of the Government of the United States towards the aboriginal occupants of this country, that the subjoined memorial should ever have been called forth-a summary, although written in the interests of humanity and in defense of the cause of the work of Christ and the unselfish labors of the Moravian Missionaries, yet from the very nature of impelling circumstances, breathing a spirit of apologetic recital.

As is mentioned in the introductory paragraph of the venerable John Heckewelder's sketch, he had compiled the account for the Society of the United Brethren for the propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, in pursuance of a resolution adopted by the United States. Senate on Feb. 22d., 1822, the particulars whereof are set forth in the following abstract of the proceedings of the Senate as published in "The History of Congress."

"The following resolutions, moved on Feb. 20, by Mr. Benton of Missouri, were considered and adopted:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to lay before the Senate a copy of the patent (if any such there be in the Treasury Department) which issued under an act of Congress of June 1, 1796, conveying to the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, three tracts of land of 4000 acres, to include the towns of Gnadenhütten, Schönbrunn and Salem, on the Muskingum, in the state of Ohio, in trust to said Society, for the sole use of the Christian Indians formerly settled there.

"Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to collect and communicate to the Senate, at the commencement of the next session of Congress, the best information which he may be ableto obtain relative to the said Christian Indians and the lands intended for their benefit, in the above mentioned grant; showing as correctly as possible, the advance or decline of said Indians in numbers, morals and intellectual endowments; whether the said lands have enured to their benefit, and if not, to whom, in whole or in part, have such benefits accrued.

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate furnish a copy of the above resolutions to the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, addressed to the President of the Society, at Bethlehem, in Northampton County, in the state of Pennsylvania."

Mr. Benton undertook to show by a dry detail of historical facts, the propriety of adopting them. He refers to the first labors of Spangenberg and others among the Creek Indians in the Colony of Georgia and their subsequent entrance into the Colony of Connecticut, being invited thither, as reports say, by the Indians themselves.

Mr. Benton would not undertake to gainsay the alleged fact of the invitation, nor was it material to the point in hand; but he could say that such an invitation implied a contradiction of every spring of human action, there being no principle in the breast of man, whether civilized or barbarian, which can impel him to invite another to make an attack upon the articles of his faith and the sanctity of his God. Be that as it may, said Mr. Benton, history goes on to show that the converted Indians. increased in number and in grace until they became an example to the people of Connecticut.

Continuing to increase in numbers and to widen their theatre, the Brethren appeared in Pennsylvania among the Delawares and Shawnese, then in great numbers along the Susquehanna river and in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. He mentioned Nain, Bethlehem, Shamo

« AnteriorContinuar »