or of the system in the elder
settlement of Virginia. Let us cherish that spirit of harmony which
prompted our forefathers to make the attempt, under circumstances more
favorable to its success than, perhaps, ever occurred upon earth. Let
us no less admire the candor with which they relinquished it, upon
discovering its irremediable inefficacy. To found principles of
government upon too advantageous an estimate of the human character is
an error of inexperience, the source of which is so amiable that it is
impossible to censure it with severity. We have seen the same mistake
committed in our own age, and upon a larger theatre. Happily for our
ancestors, their situation allowed them to repair it before its effects
had proved destructive. They had no pride of vain philosophy to support,
no perfidious rage of faction to glut, by persevering in their mistakes
until they should be extinguished in torrents of blood.

As the attempt to establish among themselves the community of goods was
a seal of that sacred bond which knit them so closely together, so the
conduct they observed toward the natives of the country displays
their steadfast adherence to the rules of justice and their faithful
attachment to those of benevolence and charity.

No European settlement ever formed upon this continent has been more
distinguished for undeviating kindness and equity toward the savages.
There are, indeed, moralists who have questioned the right of the
Europeans to intrude upon the possessions of the aboriginals in any
case, and under any limitations whatsoever. But have they maturely
considered the whole subject? The Indian right of possession itself
stands, with regard to the greater part of the country, upon a
questionable foundation. Their cultivated fields; their constructed
habitations; a space of ample sufficiency for their subsistence,
and whatever they had annexed to themselves by personal labor, was
undoubtedly, by the laws of nature, theirs. But what is the right of
a huntsman to the forest of a thousand miles over which he has
accidentally ranged in quest of prey? Shall the liberal bounties of
Providence to the race of man be monopolized by one of ten thousand for
whom they were created? Shall the exuberant bosom of the common mother,
amply adequate to the nourishment of millions, be claimed exclusively
by a few hundreds of her offspring? Shall the lordly savage not only
disdain the virtues and enjoyments of civilization himsel