154 THE LIFE OF

the day to assert that the Indians cannot be raised up
out of their degraded state, and educated for God and
heaven. None need be discouraged since the Ojebwas
in VVestern Canada have been converted. No lan-
guage is adequate to portray the misery, wretchedness,
and degradation in which we were, when the word of
God was first brought and preached to us.

It is not necessary to detail each and every Wrong,
that my poor people have suffered at the hands of the
white man. Enough has already been said in various
parts of the work, to prove that they have been most
grossly abused, peeled, and wronged. Nor shall I
notice the personal wrongs that I myself have received;
and from those, too, of whom I had good reason to hope
better things. I once thought, that there were some
things that I could never forgive; but the religion of
Jesus, and the law of love, have taught me differently.
I do forgive them ; and may God forgive them and me
too.

I have sometimes heard it said, that our forefathers
were cruel to the forefathers of the whites. But was

not this done through ignorance, or in self defense?
Had your fathers adopted the plan of the great philan-

thropist, William Penn, neither fields, nor clubs, nor
waters, would have been crimsoned with each other’s
blood. The white men have been like the greedy
lion, pouncing upon and devouring its prey. The)-
have driven us from our nation, our homes, and posses-
sions; compelled us to seek a refuge in Missouri,
among strangers, and wild beasts; and will, perhaps,
soon compel us to scale the Rocky Mountains; and,