Diary in America, Series Two

The Indians have distinct Jewish features, and neither in mind, manners, nor religion, bear any affinity to the Tartar race. I have endeavoured to show this by their traditions, by their religion, by their ceremonies, which retain so much of the ancient worship. But there is one proof more, which, in my mind, removes all doubt. Sir Alexander MacKenzie, in his journal of a tour to the north-west continent of America, declares from his own observation, that the Chippewa Indians practise circumcision, which fact is corroborated by several other travellers amongst the various tribes.

It will scarcely be necessary for me to refer you to the many prophetic warnings relative to the sins, the denunciations, the promises, the dispersion and redemption of the Jewish people, which we find throughout the Bible. With that good book you all are or should be familiar—it is a delightful book, view it in any manner you please. Let the unbeliever sneer and the philosopher doubt, it is certain that the most important events predicted by the prophets have come to pass, giving an assurance which is stripped of all doubt, that what remains to be fulfilled, will be fulfilled. In what direction are we to look for the missing tribes according to the prophets? From Jeremiah we learn that they are to come from a country north and west from Judea. From Isaiah, “it is a country far from Judea,” and answering also “from the ends of the earth.”

In Zachariah we are told, it must be in the western regions, or the country of the going down of the sun; and according to the historian, Esdras, it must be a land wherein mankind never before had dwelt, and, of course, free from the residence of the heathen.

Our prophet Isaiah has a noble reference to the dispersed tribes and their redemption, which may be here appropriately quoted. I use his language, the Hebrew, which from its peculiar associations should be always interesting to you.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth.

“And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel, in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”

May I not with propriety refer, among other evidences, to the cruel persecutions which have uniformly been practised towards the Indians of this continent, not unlike those which the chosen people have suffered for the last eighteen centuries?

“What makes you so melancholy?” said General Knox to the chief of an Indian deputation, that he was entertaining in this city, at the close of the revolutionary war. “I’ll tell you, brother,” said the aged chief; “I have been looking at your beautiful city—the great water full of ships, the fine country, and see how prosperous you all are. But, then, I could not help thinking that this fine country was ours. Our ancestors lived here. They enjoyed it as their own in peace. It was the gift of the Great Spirit to them and their children. At last, white men came in a great canoe. They only asked to let them tie it to a tree, lest the water should carry it away. We consented. They then said some of their people were sick, and they asked permission to land them, and put them under the shade of the trees. The ice then came, and they could not go away. They then begged a piece of land to build wigwams for the winter. We granted it to them. They then asked for corn to keep them from starving. We furnished it out of our own scanty supply. They promised to go away when the ice melted. When this happened, they, instead of going, pointed to the big guns round the wigwams, and said, ‘we shall stay here.’ Afterwards came more: they brought intoxicating drinks, of which the Indians became fond. They persuaded them to sell their land, and, finally, have driven us back, from time to time, to the wilderness, far from the water, the fish, and the oysters. They have scared away our game—my people are wasting away. We live in the want of all things, while you are enjoying abundance in our fine and beautiful country. This makes me sorry, brother, and I cannot help it.”

These persecutions and repeated acts of cruelty and injustice appear to have no termination—the work of destruction, commenced with the Narragansetts, will extend to the Ceminoles, and gradually to the blue waters of the Pacific. Look even now at the contest maintained by a handful of Indians in the everglades of Florida. Do they war against unequal numbers for a crown—for a part of that immense surplus which overflows from the coffers of a country which was once their own? No—they fight for the privilege of dying where the bones of their ancestors lie buried: and yet we, Christians as we call ourselves, deny them that boon, and drive the lords of the soil into the den of the otter.

In referring to the splendid specimens of Indian oratory, where, I would ask, can you find such wisdom, such lofty and pure eloquence, among the Chinese and Tartars, even at this day?

The Indians, like the Hebrews, speak in parables. Of their dialects, there is no doubt that the Algonquins and Huron are the parents of five hundred Indian tongues—they are copious, rich, regular, forcible, and comprehensive; and although here and there strong Hebrew analogies may be found, yet it is reasonable to suppose, that the Indian languages are a compound of all those tongues belonging to the various Asiatic nations through which they passed during their pilgrimage.

Firmly as I believe the American Indian to have been descended from the tribes of Israel, and that our continent is full of the most extraordinary vestiges of antiquity, there is one point, a religious as well as an historical point, in which you may possibly continue to doubt, amidst almost convincing evidences.

If these are the remnants of the nine and a half tribes which were carried into Assyria, and if we are to believe in all the promises of the restoration, and the fulfilment of the prophecies, respecting the final advent of the Jewish nation, what is to become of these our red brethren, whom we are driving before us so rapidly, that a century more will find them lingering on the borders of the Pacific Ocean?

Possibly the restoration may be near enough to include even a portion of those interesting people. Our learned Rabbis have always deemed it sinful to compute the period of the restoration; they believe that when the sins of the nation were atoned for, the miracle of their redemption would be manifested. My faith does not rest wholly in miracles—Providence disposes of events, human agency must carry them out. That benign and supreme power which the children of Israel had never forsaken, has protected the chosen people amidst the most appalling dangers, has saved them from the uplifted sword of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, and while the most powerful nations of antiquity have crumbled to pieces, we have been preserved, united, and unbroken, the same now as we were in the days of the patriarchs—brought from darkness to light, from the early and rude periods of learning to the bright reality of civilisation, of arts, of education and of science.

The Jewish people must now do something for themselves; they must move onward to the accomplishment of that great event long foretold—long promised—long expected; and when they do move, that mighty power which has for thousands of years rebuked the proscription and intolerance shown to the Jews, by a benign protection of the whole nation, will still cover them with his invincible standard.

My belief is, that Syria will revert to the Jewish nation by purchase, and that the facility exhibited in the accumulation of wealth, has been a providential and peculiar gift to enable them, at a proper time, to re-occupy their ancient possessions by the purse—string instead of the sword.

We live in a remarkable age, and political events are producing extraordinary changes among the nations of the earth.

Russia, with its gigantic power, continues to press hard on Turkey. The Pacha of Egypt, taking advantage of the improvements and inventions of men of genius, is extending his territory and influence to the straits of Babelmandel on the Red Sea, and to the borders of the Russian empire; and the combined force of Russia, Turkey, Persia, and Egypt, seriously threaten the safety of British possessions in the East Indies. An immediate and balancing power is required to check this thirst of conquest and territorial possession, and to keep in check the advances of Russia in Turkey and Persia, and the ambition and love of conquest of Egypt. This can be done by restoring Syria to its rightful owners, not by revolution or blood, but as I have said, by the purchase of that territory from the Pacha of Egypt, for a sum of money too tempting in its amount for him to refuse, in the present reduced state of his coffers. Twelve or thirteen millions of dollars have been spoken of in reference to the cession of that interesting territory, a sum of no consideration to the Jews, for the good-will and peaceable possession of a land, which to them is above all price. Under the co-operation and protection of England and France, this re-occupation of Syria within its old territorial limits is at once reasonable and practicable.

By opening the ports of Damascus, Tripoli, Joppa, Acre, etcetera, the whole of the commerce of Turkey, Egypt, and the Mediterranean will be in the hands of those, who, even now in part, control the commerce of Europe. From the Danube, the Dneister, the Ukraine, Wallachia, and Moldavia, the best of agriculturists would revive the former fertility of Palestine. Manufacturers from Germany and Holland; an army of experience and bravery from France and Italy; ingenuity, intelligence, activity, energy, and enterprise from all parts of the world, would, under a just, a tolerant, and a liberal government, present a formidable barrier to the encroachments of surrounding powers, and be a bulwark to the interests of England and France, as well as the rising liberties of Greece.

Once again unfurl the standard of Judah on Mount Zion, the four corners of the earth will give up the chosen people as the sea will give up its dead, at the sound of the last trumpet. Let the cry be ‘Jerusalem,’ as it was in the days of the Saracen and the lion-hearted Richard of England, and the rags and wretchedness which have for eighteen centuries enveloped the persons of the Jews, crushed as they were by persecution and injustice, will fall to the earth; and they will stand forth. The richest, the most powerful, the most intelligent nation on the face of the globe, with incalculable wealth, and holding in pledge the crowns and sceptres of kings. Placed in possession of their ancient heritage by and with the consent and co-operation of their Christian brethren, establishing a government of peace and good-will on earth, it may then be said, behold the fulfilment of prediction and prophecy: behold the chosen and favoured people of Almighty God, who, in defence of his unity and omnipotence, have been the outcast and proscribed of all nations, and who, for thousands of years, have patiently endured the severest of human sufferings, in the hope of that great advent of which they never have despaired;—and then, when taking their rank once more among the nations of the earth, with the good wishes and affectionate regards of the great family of mankind, they may by their tolerance, their good faith, their charity, and enlarged liberal views, merit what has been said in their behalf by inspired writers, “Blessed are they who bless Israel.”