or,
"I venerate the Pilgrim's cause,
Yet for the red man dare to plead:
We bow to Heaven's recorded laws,
He turns to Nature for his creed."
Sprague.
The history of the borders is filled with legends of the sufferings ofisolated families, during the troubled scenes of colonial warfare. Thosewhich we now offer to the reader, are distinctive in many of their leadingfacts, if not rigidly true in the details. The first alone is necessary tothe legitimate objects of fiction.
One of the misfortunes of a nation, is to hear little besides its ownpraises. Although the American revolution was probably as just an effortas was ever made by a people to resist the first inroads of oppression,the cause had its evil aspects, as well as all other human struggles. Wehave been so much accustomed to hear everything extolled, of late years,that could be dragged into the remotest connection with that great event,and the principles which led to it, that there is danger of overlookingtruth, in a pseudo patriotism. Nothing is really patriotic, however, thatis not strictly true and just; any more than it is paternal love toundermine the constitution of a child by an indiscriminate indulgence inpernicious diet. That there were demagogues in 1776, is as certain as thatthere are demagogues in 1843, and will probably continue to be demagoguesas long as means for misleading the common mind shall exist.
A great deal of undigested morality is uttered to the world, under thedisguise of a pretended public virtue. In the eye of reason, the man whodeliberately and voluntarily contracts civil engagements is more strictlybound to their fulfilment, than he whose whole obligations consist of anaccident over which he had not the smallest control, that of birth; thoughthe very reverse of this is usually maintained under the influence ofpopular prejudice. The reader will probably discover how we view thismaster, in the course of our narrative.
Perhaps this story is obnoxious to the charge of a slight anachronism, inrepresenting the activity of the Indians a year earlier than any wereactually employed in the struggle of 1775. During the century of warfarethat existed between the English and French colonies, the savage tribeswere important agents in furthering the views of the respectivebelligerents. The war was on the frontiers, and these fierce savages were,in a measure, necessary to the management of hostilities that invadedtheir own villages and hunting-grounds. In 1775, the enemy came from theside of the Atlantic, and it was only after the struggle had acquiredforce, that the operations of the interior rendered the services of suchallies desirable. In other respects, without pretending to refer to anyreal events, the incidents of this tale are believed to be sufficientlyhistorical for all the legitimate purposes of fiction.
In this book the writer has aimed at sketching several distinct varietiesof the human race, as true to the governing impulses of their educations,habits, modes of thinking and natures. The red man had his morality, asmuch as his white brother, and it is well known that even Christian ethicsare coloured and governed, by standards of opinion set up on purely humanauthority. The honesty of one Christian is not always that of another, anymore than his humanity, truth, fidelity or faith. Th