Western Characters | Page 4

people of the emigrants from every clime.
And, when this nation shall have become thoroughly
homogeneous--when the world shall recognise the race, and, above this,
the power of the race--will there be no interest in tracing through the
mists of many generations, the outlines of that foundation on which is
built the mighty fabric? Even the infirmities and vices of the men who
piled the first stones of great empires, are chronicled in history as facts
deserving record. The portrait of an ancient hero is a treasure beyond
value, even though the features be but conjectural. How much more
precious would be a faithful portrait of his character, in which the
features should be his salient traits--the expression, outline, and
complexion of his nature!
To furnish a series of such portraits--embracing a few of the earlier
characters, whose "mark" is traceable in the growing civilization of the
West and South--is the design of the present work. The reader will
observe that its logic is not the selection of actual, but of ideal,
individuals, each representing a class; and that, although it is arranged
chronologically, the periods are not historical, but characteristic. The

design, then, is double; first, to select a class, which indicates a certain
stage of social or political advancement; and, second, to present a
picture of an imaginary individual, who combines the prominent traits,
belonging to the class thus chosen.
The series halts, beyond the Rubicon of contemporaneous portraiture,
for very obvious reasons; but there are still in existence abundant
means of verifying, or correcting, every sketch. I have endeavored to
give the consciousness of this fact its full weight--to resist the
temptation (which, I must admit, was sometimes strong) to touch the
borders of satire; and, in conclusion, I can only hope that these wishes,
with an earnest effort at fidelity, have enabled me to present truthful
pictures.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "Were it a clear stream, it would soon scoop itself out a channel
from bluff to bluff."--Flint's Geography, p. 103.

I.
THE INDIAN.
"In the same beaten channel still have run The blessed streams of
human sympathy; And, though I know this ever hath been done, The
why and wherefore, I could never see!"
PHEBE CAREY.
In a work which professes to trace, even indistinctly, the reclamation of
a country from a state of barbarism, some notice of that from which it
was reclaimed is, of course, necessary; and an attempt to distinguish
the successive periods, each by its representative character, determines
the logic of such notice. Were we as well acquainted with the
gradations of Indian advancement--for such unquestionably, there
were--as we are with those of the civilized man, we should be able to
distinguish eras and periods, so as to represent them, each by its

separate ideal. But civilization and barbarism are comparative terms;
and, though it is difficult, perhaps impossible, precisely to fix the point
at which one ceases and the other begins, yet, within that limit, we must
consider barbarism as one period. Of this period, in our plan, the Indian,
without reference to distinction of tribe, or variation in degree of
advancement, is the representative. As all triangles agree in certain
properties, though widely different in others, so all Indians are alike in
certain characteristics, though differing, almost radically, each from
every other: But, as the points of coincidence in triangles are those
which determine the class, and the differences only indicate subspecies,
so the similar characteristics in the Indian, are those which distinguish
the species, and the variations of character are, at most, only tribal
limits. An Indian who should combine all the equivalent traits, without
any of the inequalities, would, therefore, be the pure ideal of his race.
And his composition should include the evil as well as the good; for a
portrait of the savage, which should represent him as only generous and
brave, would be as far from a complete ideal, as one which should
display only his cruelty and cunning.
My object in this article is, therefore, to combine as many as
possible--or as many as are necessary--of the general characteristics of
the Indian, both good and bad--so as to give a fair view of the character,
according to the principle intimated above. And I may, perhaps without
impropriety, here state, that this may be taken as the key to all the
sketches which are to follow. It is quite probable that many examples
of each class treated, might be found, who are exceptions to the rules
stated, in almost every particular; and it is possible, that no one, of any
class treated, combined all the characteristics elaborated. Excepting
when historical facts are related, or well-authenticated legends worked
in, my object is not to give portraits of individuals, however prominent.
As was hinted above--the logic of the book