LECTURE XIX

Summary

Having reviewed the preliminary steps which are necessary to place native tribes, in colonized countries, within reach of civilization, the next point to be considered is—the duty of government in promoting that most desirable work itself.

And here I must begin by reminding you of an opinion already expressed in a former part of these lectures, namely, that the only experiments in civilizing savage tribes, which offer the remotest prospect of success, are those which commence with their religious instruction. This opinion, I am aware, has been much controverted: there are many who hold the reverse; namely, that Christianity is the religion of civilized man, and the savage must therefore be prepared by partial civilization before he can receive its truths with profit. But if this were so, the difficulty of commencing the operation would surely be insuperable. That difficulty is, to find a fulcrum for the engines which we are to put in action. In what mode are we to excite the mind of the savage to desire civilization? Its wants and tendencies are unknown to him. Its restraints are intolerable. The greater number have little curiosity respecting it, but acquiesce resignedly in the superiority of their white invaders. Of the few who are sufficiently advanced in intellect to be excited even to a feeling of emulation, there are still fewer—if any—in whom that feeling would be sufficiently powerful to overcome, to the extent of a brief and occasional impulse only, the indolence and the spirit of independence natural to their race.