We Reckon Them Slaves In Comparison To Us, And Intruders,
As Oft As They Enter Our Houses, Or Hunt Near
Our Dwellings.
But if we will admit Reason to be our Guide, she will inform us,
that these Indians are
The freest People in the World,
and so far from being Intruders upon us, that we have abandon'd
our own Native Soil, to drive them out, and possess theirs;
neither have we any true Balance, in Judging of these poor Heathens,
because we neither give Allowance for their Natural Disposition,
nor the Sylvian Education, and strange Customs, (uncouth to us)
they lie under and have ever been train'd up to; these are false Measures
for Christians to take, and indeed no Man can be reckon'd a Moralist only,
who will not make choice and use, of better Rules to walk and act by:
We trade with them, it's true, but to what End? Not to shew them
the Steps of Vertue, and the Golden Rule, to do as we would be done by.
No, we have furnished them with the Vice of Drunkenness,
which is the open Road to all others, and daily cheat them
in every thing we sell, and esteem it a Gift of Christianity,
not to sell to them so cheap as we do to the Christians,
as we call our selves. Pray let me know where is there to be found
one Sacred Command or Precept of our Master, that counsels us
to such Behaviour? Besides, I believe it will not appear,
but that all the Wars, which we have had with the Savages,
were occasion'd by the unjust Dealings of the Christians towards them.
I can name more than a few, which my own Enquiry has given me
a right Understanding of, and I am afraid the remainder
(if they come to the test) will prove themselves Birds of the same Feather.
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