McClure, David (1748-1820) to Henry Knox

[draft]
East Windsor Octbr. 22 1792

My dear General & friend

I received your kind & obliging letter of the 1st. instant, and return my most hearty thanks for that indearing pledge of a Friendship which my heart ardently reciprocates, & which strengthens with time, as good wine grows better by age.
I am under much obligation to you, particularly, for the favorable notice which you are pleased to shew to my intended publication on the Moral Law, and respect you more for the benevolent motives which excite you to encourage it, that a distribution of a number of them may be made among the poor, who have gone forth with a laudable zeal to settle the new countries. I wish it may not fall short of your just expectations, & be acceptable & useful to those whose welfare you seek.
I thank you especially for your communications on the subject of Indian affairs. They contain much valuable information, & your thoughts appear to me to be extremely just & benevolent.
To humanize the savage dispositions of the Indians, to dispose them to a peaceable & friendly alliance, & to embrace our useful arts & the precepts of wisdom, is indeed a glorious labour. Attempts have been heretofore made by enlightened & liberal men, to accomplish this, & the success has fell far short of their expectations. But a failure in past indeavours ought not to discourage further trial, when ever [struck: any] there is rational ground to hope that any valuable purposes can be answered thereby.
Perhaps the failure of attempts to civilize them has in a great measure originated in the mode of trial, & the business has been taken hold of at the wrong end. The plan has pretty universally been first to christianize [2] them in their savage state, concluding that on their embracing the christian system, they would [inserted: be] necessarily induced to practise the virtues of that system, & particularly the virtue of industry, in the labours necessary to build up & support families & society. But it has been found, that after they have been taught the principles of morality & religion, several discouragements have appeared in the way of their receiving the arts of civilization; and one great one, has been their inability, in their state of poverty, to furnish themselves, with the necessary implements & means, particulary in husbandry; and also the want of sober and skilful men who should go before them & instruct them in husbandry and the arts.
The plan, which you have hinted at in your Letter, in a good degree removes this objection. I am fully of the opinion, that our first labours ought to be to [inserted: teach them] civilization; and I think, Sir, you have [inserted: hit] upon perhaps the only plan, that has as yet been unessayed by either the british or american people; which is, an incorporation of white men & [inserted: wo]men with them by intermarriages. Could this be effected, we could entertain no reasonable doubt of their future attachment to us, as friendly allies; and of the extension of the blessings of civilization to them. If twenty or thirty young men of virtuous manners & industrious habits could be found, willing to engage, and none but persons of this character would answer the design proposed, and form connections among their tribes, I am persuaded with you, that in the course of a few years, they would tame & civilize the Indians and render them valuable Members of Society.
My thoughts suggest but two impediments in the way, - first, the present hostile disposition of the Indians, & secondly the supposed dishonor of such a Union. With regard to the first, the work must be gradual & without the Indians having a knowledge that it is an object of government, lest their jealousies should suggest, that we had a design upon them; & the trial be made with those, to whom we now have peace [3] peaceable access. With regard to the second objection, if such intermarriages should be patronized by government and the adventurers & their children deemed reputable in law, & equally intitled to the priviledges of citizens with other inhabitants of the states, it would go far towards doing away the dishonor, and the proposed pension to the adventurers, & provision for the education of their children, would I conceive operate as inviting motives.
The experiment would perhaps most successfully commence among the people bordering on the frontiers, or in the vicinity of the tribes who may now be in alliance with us. The habits of familiar acquaintance, may dispose the white people there, to feel less aversion to the colour and the Indian manners. They should be furnished with some of the most necessary implements for husbandry and their respective trades, and perhaps be compensated for their labour, & the produce of their labour be distributed among the Indians, in the towns in which they reside.
It has been remarked that the Indians, particularly the females are fond of associating with white men, and among the Canada Indians there have been many instances of intermarriages with the french. The marriages in contemplation should be sanctioned by law and equally binding with those among ourselves, otherwise a licencious intercourse would prevail, & frustrate the good proposed.
And every family of Indians in a Tribe or town, that should have a certain number of such intermarriages, within the same, should perhaps be intitled to a donation to a certain amount annually, for a certain number of years. And as fast as they inclined to till the ground, or learn mechanical trades, furnished with necessary impliments and tools, for their respective occupations.
To guard against an erroneous construction of the patriotic design of an association of whites with [4] Indians, the business should I imagine, be managed with out public notoriety, and by judicious men, perhaps some officers in the army, who may find a few either among the soldiery, or frontier settlers of sober morals who would be willing to engage. Or if it should be thought best to send those who have already formed such a connection & who have some knowledge of husbandry, I believe some such may be found among the New England Indians.
When this design shall have successfully begun its operation, schools for the instruction of their children might easily be introduced, and being thus far induced to think favorably of civilization, by the diffusion of its blessing among them, the way will be prepared for their conversion to christianity, by the labours of pious & judicious missionaries, & the habitations of cruelty become dwelling places of righteousness, & nations ready to perish rise up & bless the generous promoters of the divine charity.
In addition to the proposed design, and at the commencement of it, or perhaps previous to it, & to prepare the way for its introduction; suppose a number of promising Indian boys, should be invited from different tribes to come & reside among us, be placed in regular & exemplary families & under advantages to be taught our language, - the elements of husbandry and the mechanical arts, as well as the precepts of morality and religion, and when sent back into their own country, furnished with implements of husbandry, and the trades that have been taught them.
I would further beg [inserted: leave] to suggest, that leave being obtained from the Indians, [struck: that] a number of steady and skilful farmers, at the public expence, be immediately, or as soon as may be, sent into the Indian Country, say five or six men with a Team, ploughs &c. into every considerable town of Indians, engaging that said men should never claim as their property, a foot of such ground as they should cultivate within the Indian Territory; and the whole produce of their labour be distri[5]buted gratis among the Indian families of the towns that receive them. And if such white men should go with families, that they be furnished with spining wheels & looms for domestic manufactures. This regulation would have a happy effect on the Indian youths who should return from among [inserted: us] [struck: the English]...
[6] The remnants of Narragansets, Mohegan, & Stockbridge Indian Tribes, consisting each of about thirty families, do considerable in the cultivation of the ground & support themselves by husbandry, altho' I believe the chief assistance that they had had from the white people, has been an exemption from public taxes, and also a supply of Missionaries & school masters, by charitable societies in Boston & else where, for the propogation of Christianity.
The two latter tribes a few years ago removed into the Country of the Onoidas, where they now subsist principally by husbandry, as I am informed by Rev.d Messrs. Kirkland & Sergeant. The latter gentleman in Missionary to the Stockbridge Indians.
Some years past in an excursion into Rhode Island, I stoped at the house of an Indian farmer in Narraganset. His house was comfortable & his family hospitable, living in the mode of white people. He owned a Team & supported himself by husbandry. The greater part however of the N.ew England Indians are slovenly farmers. But by what has been done by slender assistances afforded them, we may hope that much more may be done, with greater assistance.
Tho' the Indians have no legal claim to this attention, yet it seems to be a debt we owe to humanity, & to the divine Author of universal philanthropy, who has by the luster of his example & the sublimest precepts taught us to feed & cloath our enemies, to whom we may have access; to conquer them by kindness, & not be weary in well doing. And this demand, gratitude to heaven seems to claim from the favored people of these states, who now flourish on the soil, that once supported their tawny ancestors. In this work, some rays of that gratitude for countless blessings, will shed their chearing influence on the remnants of nations, who without our friendship, have only desolation & ruin in prospect before them; and who secretly pine in sorrow & revenge that the white people possess the country which they can no longer call their own. This sentiment some of the Councillors & Larriors of the Delaware Nation expressed, repeatedly to me, at Muskingum in 1772, when [7] in company with Rev. M.r Frisby, we [want] to [inserted: attempt] establish the establishment of Missions among the Ohio Indians, under the direction of the honorable board of Correspondents in N.ew Jersey.
After all, I am sensible it is easier to project plans of usefulness towards the Indians, than successfully to execute them. Heretofore, insurmountable difficulties have frustrated the wisest plans that have been attempted. But what you mention is new & has not yet been tried...
I heartily wish it may be found practicable. The additional circumstances, which I have taken the liberty to suggest, would aid its operation.
Tho' the spirit of the country is high against indian barbarity, and justly too, yet if any plan can be devised to tame & civilize so dreadful a foe, all wise & thinking people of all denominations, I should conclude, would rather see some of the streams of national wealth, thus flow to spread the blessings of peace & security to the wilderness, than to attempt the extirpation of its inhabitants. Humanity would wish it, especially since the attempt to extirpate them, must be attended with hazard and loss, and the nation suffer most in the tenderest & most vulnerable parts, the defenceless frontiers; and to the catalogue of their sufferings we must add the list of brave men that must fall in the dreadful conflict.
These considerations powerfully second the humanity of your thoughts in the present Crisis. I pray heaven to direct & grant success to your efforts.
If by such friendly means, they cannot be reclaimed, a regard to our own preservation, must justify repeling by utmost force, their cruel & sanguinary purposes.
Thus, my dear sir, I have taken the liberty to suggest at some length, to you, my best thoughts, and they are but supplementary to your own; they are however the result of reflections of long standing, on Indian affairs.
But I feel a diffidence in almost all plans for the civilization of Indians, principally because such a mode as would be effectual, has been concealed from us hitherto, altho' much pains have been taken, & the studies, labours & lives of many worthy men have been devoted to their good. It seems [inserted: as] if heaven had preserved them as a Rod to chastise us & teach us our dependence & from past dispensations towards them, perhaps we may draw the probible conclusion that, that rod will be finally broken & destroyed. But we know not futurity and are justified in every rational measure to ensure peace. May heaven [8] succeed your labors to accomplish so desirable an object. There is perhaps, no one man, who has it in his powers, as you are immediately appointed to this business, to do so much in this way, as yourself, & I am persuaded that your humanity & benevolence will not be wanting in enterprising whatever is possible to be done, both to guard the unhappy sufferers on the frontiers & to persuade if possible the Indians to peace, & to civilize & save the remnants of nations, now perishing in darkness. Your labour, dear sir, is immensely great. May you go thro' it, with dignity to yourself, & glory to our common Country. Regard not the feeble shafts of malice, thrown by the hands of faction or disappointed ambition. A consciousness of integrity is our best defence. Mankind are more prone to judge of measures by their success, than by their justice or expediency.
I beg leave to mention, that in this part of the country, our judicious men, express most uneasiness, that the western posts, are still detained; especially because it is said, that from them, the hostile Indians receive supplies, comfort & assistances to annoy & distress us, & by them, are countenanced & caressed in all their hostile designs. I hope, that the reasons, which some time ago, were alledged to justify the detention, are by this time done away, & that they will, in good time, be delivered up. perhaps such an event, would put a new & favorable complexion on Indian Affairs. For my own part, I confide in the wisdom of those who are at the helm of government; and we have nothing to despair of, under providence, while our illustrious Chief is there. Whose life and usefulness may heaven long preserve.
The length of this Letter needs an Apology, I have no other to offer, than that you was pleased to open a large field for me to rove over. If any thoughts may be suggested that you shall approve as useful, it will be a gratification, My dear General & friend, to your
Obliged & affectionate friend
& very Obedient servant
David McClure
The Honble
General Knox -