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For ibc Democrat. Progress — Position of the Red ant White Man.We are 00 accustomed lo pass the Indian out lialf'hrother man, as we pass the ox ot horse, that his history has no page in 0111 memory, nor does his approaching Jestinj excite nor sympathy. But to the student the Red Man is a volume of groat interest On it.e pages we can trace the hand writing of God, in alphabetical Big'ris of Emotiona Keelings, which have become a moral Ian guage ic the higher form of Sentiment in the white man's mind. The mystic feeling of inspiration, struggling for biit.Ii in tblt; red man’s vision of the future, becomes tt the white man the revelator of the attribute! of God. The religion of the Pagan Indian!La based upon the theory of aiu'evcalsd nature, that of the white man upon nature re vealed; the former upon nature -is it appeart to the Eye, the latter upon nature as it appears in demonstration. There is no progress where nature is wore re fi led, nur to s mind whose emotions have not matured ir sentiment. The red man’s all nr a rude heap jof earth, or gathered stones, carries back to (Pyramidal days, but show no progiess ir. ithe ways of Art or Scieuoe or moral guod-‘ness.• He still remains the same, inspired only by emotions springing from the wildness oi ! his nature, ond in his future life ho makes the spirit of his dog companion with his own. and the grosser things in nature sacramenr-al to his own feelings of devotion. But the white man elevates his emotions to the higher aims of sentiment, and of nature makes one funeral pile aa far too gross to symbolize the soil], but on the iuceriPc of the sacra lice sends his prayer to Gntl that, he may be endowed with higher aims than nature can impart, and in his future life seeks coin-panic ns.hip with God.’1 he customs and institutions of the red man, like the laws of Li 10 Modes and Per- i si ana, have no change. They are true re oamie as it. appears to them. Their minds! seem stereotyped by nature in rs wi duess The charms of purity and refinement in bo~| eial life, when chastened ir.to'livteg form by1 the aid ot art and science may oxcte an emotion of pleasure, hut have no response in their no tore of enduring sentiment.Emotions are germ3 of Sentiment. Or-nnmems are the Symbols which represent the former, as Asylums and Hospitals represent the latter. The red in .in is emotional in the highest sense of the term, but his :emotions never mature in sentiment. Be there‘ore does not possess the elements of ■progress. Even kris religion is emoliona], [excited only by 1 he occcsinn, ends with the |cccaion, and therefore answers no inimical purpose. And this U (kmbidets tl e case with many who claim the honors of civilization. Still the whito man has the constitutional rudiments of developing a sent)menUl I devotion of practical benefit even to eu enemy. All men have the same en oMona without regard to race. But the distinction of races would cease ii these common emotions could have a parallel development. Mind ia its constitutional turn lutes exh'bila the same serial distinctions which murk the order of species, and the varieitea incidental to every class of ch'ctimstance''.. Upon this hypothesis progress ends with each ultimate of development. All beyond is mere imitation of higher orders.An Indian may learn our rndimerts of progress but he cannot become so suspired w'th tbf-m as to transmit the sen i Line ot as an inspiring instinct. As a wild fowl hutched and reared bj' the domestic linn, on coming to maturity will seek i is native wilds, so t.ie Indian, though educated in the art-3, science, and religion, of the whito man, will, on coming to his freedom, seek his blanket, the hazard of the chase, and be a .-?agau still.And yet every emotion which chastens the soul of the white man, has its nursery in the red man’s breast, which he see us to publish by snme ornamental sign. Even the feathers rudely stuck in bis hair show that lt;he desires lo be more than nature mado him, while the bells in his ear show that harmony has made a claim in his soul. And stijl more ominous is that star on bte breast, pointing to those infant emotions which are cradled in the manger ot his animal nature; and though destined to bo crucified in the grossness of that type of man, will yet have 1 a glorious resurrection in tho Anglo-Baxon race. Indeed that crucifixion and resit recti on are now going on. Already that child of the virgin heart is giving up tho Ghost. The hope of the red man is being ’aid in the sepulchre of oppression , and the great stone of political power is I id upon it. Bet the' Angel of Freedom has begun to roll back that massive stone. Ah early this child of God has arisen, and is boing seen of men. He hath power to cure the patsy of aristoc-| racy, and to raise to soc:al and political free-'dont, nations that are dead to hu malty and I moral independence. But lol He hath ascended above all creeds, constitutions, laws, and above ail progress, and is preparing the future fur the habitation of man freed from the oppressor’s power, sectarian bigotry, and the slavery of ignorance.Such is the history of that infini emotion to which the simple Indian would call our attention by the tinsel star upon his breast, and such is the history cf all progreas. Christ waa the model 11 f its graces in human form divinely represented, symbolizing the paBt, the present, and the future—the germ and ultimate development of the common and universal attributes of mind. 1. m- r.
Newspaper Details
Oshkosh Democrat
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, US
Fri, Jun 25, 1852
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Uw -.
WI, USA 21 Oct 2024
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