5 SEPTEMBER 1846, Page 18

M 4 EBNNET'8 MEMOIRS ON THB RED INDIANS AND INDIAN AFFAIRS.

then= the elder, and it would seem by all accounts the better age of the American Government, the trade with the Indians was a state affair, in which private persons were not forbidden to engage, but in which they encountered numerous obstacles. The object of the Government was doubtless political, and aimed at establishing relations with the different tribes, so as by the influence and power of a central authority to check border raids and Indian wars, as well as to arrange them when they did occur. The plan appears to have been carried out with a consi- derate liberality. The supply of goods at the different stations was large and well adapted to the Indian wants ; no profit was sought for in the transaction, and the sale of spirits was strictly forbidden. This Government trade appears to have been abolished lately by the rampant Democracy, under the plea of monopoly ; but in its vigour, Mr. M'Kenney was appointed Superintendent, (in 1816,) and subsequently (in 1824) he rose to be chief of the Indian bureau. This post he held till 1830; when he was dismissed by General Jackson, on the new principle of making a clean sweep in the offices, by which he signalized his advent to the Presi- dentship. Mr. M'Kenney has since that time been lecturing on the origin and history of the Red Indians, (about which subjects nobody can know much,) and on the injustice with which they have ever been treated by the Whites, especially since the accession of the extreme Democratical party to power under Jackson.

The second part of the two-volumed book before us contains a report of these lectures : the first part consists of Mr. M'Kenney's official ex- periences; and, done upon an unselected chronological basis, it is rather of a miscellaneous cast : the author's appointments—the state in which he found affairs in the office—his own good management—his different jour- neyings and adventures among the Indians—stories of his own treatment by the Jackson Government, accompanied by an expos4 of various jobs, and an account of the frauds by which and the cruelties with which the Indians were expelled from their lands, by the general Government, yield- ing to the influences of the States. Strange as it may seem, one of the last things acquired by the mind is the power of generalising details into a whole, seeing things as they really are, and so describing them—using words as a medium to accurate- ly reflect ideas, but holding them as nothing in themselves. The power of generalization belongs to education : the vulgar rarely have it,—as any one may ascertain by listening to the endless and useless details of their stories. The other faculty of seeing things as they are, and naturally describing them, is connected with the power of generalization, but is rarer. It is in fact the last acquirement of the classic in literature and the gentleman in life, and is never attained in either without much prac- tice or experience. So far as we have had means of judging, the native American mind has not yet reached this stage of cultivation. Among the best of the home-bred there is something unreal ; a want of completeness and character in the ideas, and a verbosity or turgidity of style, which in the mass degenerates into a weak dilution of details and a straining pomp -of words. From these defects Mr. M'Kenney is not altogether free; but he has less of the pomp than of the details, save where he thinks it necessary to befine. Considered as a memoir, a political exposé, or a series of sketches and adventures, the book is of slender value in a literary sense ; but it is not useless. It draws, not very fully but clearly enough as far as it goes, a contrast between the old American system and the new, very much in favour of the former: it certainly exhibits, and with the particularity of an eye-witness, several shameful jobs amongst the patriots of Washington, exceedingly after the fashion of Warren Hastings : it also displays the unprincipled conduct of the Government towards the Red Indians, though this was perhaps enforced upon them by State influence rather than the Federal wish : and there are many anecdotes and stories of the Red Indians, that have interest if not novelty. The lectures are much inferior to the memoirs. Their chief interest, indeed, arises from their scattered anecdotes, and their proposal to preserve the lives and lands of the tribes now forcibly removed and settled West of the Mississippi, by erecting their district into a Territory, with power to be- come a State on the same terms as other States.

As the two volumes are bound in one, we shall not mark the works whence the extracts are taken ; but they will chiefly come from the Memoirs. Here is a story of the effect of a burning-glass upon the Red Indians ; to which the Honourable Charles Murray is probably indebted for a similar scene in his Prairie Bird,—though the fact is better ma- naged in the reality than in the fiction.

" An old Indian seated near me took out of his pouch a bit of spank, and flint and steel, and began to strike fire to light his pipe. I directed the inter- peter to tell him he need not be at that trouble,—that I would bring down fire from the sun, and light his pipe with that. He looked at me a while, and shook Lis head, as much as to say, Nonsense ' I rose and went to him, drawing from my pocket a min-glass, and carefully concealing it from his view, drew through it the focal rays, and told him to smoke. He did so; when the tobacco being ignited, and the smoke from it filling his mouth, he first looked at me, then at the sun, then at his pipe, with eyes that danced in their sockets with amazement and awe."

We have met the earlier part of this anecdote of the celebrated Randolph of Virginia before ; but the latter part is new, and a singular example of the influence of honours upon Republicanism.

" I was present in the hall of the House of Representatives at Washington an exciting debate, on the one aide of which was Mr. Randolph, and on theerMr. Jacksoni of Virginia. Mr. Randolph had spoken, when Mr. Jack- son rose n reply. lie had not proceeded far, when, having occasion to refer to some part of Mr. Randolph's speech, he addressed him as ' my friend from Vir- ginia.' He had scarcely given utterance to the word friend,' when Mr. Randolph sprang to his feet, and, throwing his lustrous eyes first on Mr. Jackson and then on the Speaker, keeping his arm extended meantime, and his long, bony finger pointing at Mr. Jackson, said, in that peculiar voice of his—'Mr. Speaker, I am not that gentleman's need, Sir; I have never been his friend, Sir; nor do I ever mean to be his friend, Sir! '—when he took his seat.

"Mr. Jackson, meantime, keeping his position on the floor, looking first upon Mr. Randolph, and then at the Speaker, replied—' Mr. Speaker, I am at a loss to know by what title to address the honourable Member from Virginia': then pausing awhile, with his finger beside his neee, he said= I have it, Sir—I haire shall be'—looking Mr. Randolph full in the face—' the right honourable descendant of her Majesty Queen Pocahontas!' " The entire countenance of Mr. Randolph changed instantly; and from a look of mingled aversion and contempt to a smile the most complaisant and gracious. The storm-cloud was dissipated, and the rainbow seemed to reflect all its hues upon his countenance, in one glow of heart-felt reconciliation; when he bowed most courteously, giving evidence, that of all the honours he had ever coveted, that of having descended from that Heaven-inspired woman was the one he most highly prized."

Mr. M'Kenney was not dismissed from the Indian bureau at once, on account of the remonstrances of the Secretary of War, who could not do without him ; but he was in constant danger. The following scene of place-hunting at the Capitol occurred soon after he had been to the Pre- sident to free himself from some ridiculous party charges; and General Jackson had expressed himself satisfied. The " Kickapoo Ambassador" was a sobriquet given to our author by General Duff Green of the Telegraph. " The next morning, I believe it was, or if not the next some morning not far off, a Mr. R—b—s--n, a very worthygentlemanly fellow, and well known to me, came into my office. You are busy, Colonel ?' he said, as he entered. No, Sir, not very,' I replied; come in; I have learned to write and talk too at the same time. Come in; sit down; I am glad to see you.' Looking round the office, the entire walls of which I bad covered with portraits of Indians, he asked, pointing to the one that hung over my desk, Who is that?' Red Jacket; I answered And that?' Shin-grab-O'Wassm,' I replied. And so he continued, till, paus- ing a moment, he asked, And which is the Kickapoo Ambassador ?" Oh, Sir,' I answered, rising, he has the honour of standing before you as propria per- sona." Come. come, Mac,' said he, a little put out; and have you really no Indian here called the Kickapoo Ambassador? None, I assure you, except my- self; and that is the title by which I have been honoured, and which, believe me, I cherish with becoming pride and a corresponding pleasure.' Excuse me, Co- lonel; I really was honest in supposing that a chief was among your collection of paintings, so called.' He then asked, Who wrote the treaties with the In- dians, and gave instructions to commissions, and in general carried on the cor- respondence of the office ? ' These are within the circle of my duties, the whole being under a general supervision of the Secretary of War,' I answered. then,' after a pause, he said, the office will not suit me." What office ? ' I asked. This,' he replied: General Jackson told me, this morning, it was at my service; but, before seeing the Secretary of War, I thought I would come and have a little chat with you first.'

" I rose from my chair, saying, Take it, my dear Sir, take it. The sword of Damocles has been hanging over my head long enough.' No; said he, it is not the sort of place for me. I prefer an auditor's office, where forms are established."

These confessions of a rain-maker, whom Mr. M'Kenney bribed to un- fold his secret, indicate a readiness that a European mountebank might envy : had he really possessed a meteor stone, he might have been thought a dupe to his art.

" He stood up again, and looked, and listened; and then seating himself, began. Long time ago, I was lying in the shade of a tree, on the side of a valley. There had been no rain for a long time; the tongues of the horses, and cattle, and. dogs, all being out of their mouths, 'and they panted for some water. I was thirsty; everybody was dry. The leaves were all parched up, and the sun win hot. I was sorry; when, looking up, the Great Spirit snapped his eyes, and fire flew out of them in streams all over the heavens. He spoke, and the earth shook. Just as the fire streamed from the eyes of the Great Spirit, I saw a pine-tree, that stood on the other side of the valley, tom all to pieces by the fire. The bark and limbs flew all round, when all was still. Then the Great Spirit spoke to me, and said, Go to that pine-tree, and dig down to the root where the earth is stirred up, and you will find what split the tree. Take it, wrap it carefully up, and wear it next your body; and when the earth shall become dry again, and the horses and cattle suffer for water, go out on some hill-top, and ask me, and I will make it rain. I have obeyed the Great Spirit; and ever since, when I ask bin; he makes it rain.'

" I asked to see this thunderbolt that had shivered the pine-tree. He rose upon his feet again, and, looking well around him, sat down, and drawing from his bosom a roll which was fastened round his neck by a bit of deer-akin, began to unwrap the folds. These were of every sort of thing; a piece of old blanket, then one of calico, another of cotton; laying each piece as he removed it carefully on his knee. At last, and after taking off as many folds as were once employed to encase an Egyptian mummy, he came to one that was made of deer-skin, which, being unwound, he took out the thunderbolt, and, holding it with great care be- tween his finger and thumb, said, This is it!' I took it, and examined it with an expression of great interest, telling him it certainly was a wonderful revelation and a great sight: then handing it back to him, he carefully wrapped it up again with the same wrappers, and put it back in his bosom. " The reader is no doubt curious to know what this talismanic charm, this thunderbolt, was. Well, it was nothing more nor less than that part of a glass stopper that fills the mouth of a decanter, the upper or fiat part having been broken off."