of this nation had often penetrated into the country of the Chickasaws; and had been so successful in his depredations, eluding his pursuers with so much dexterity, and opposing them with so much valour, that Sassoonan held him in the highest admiration, and was desirous to make him his friend; to which end he endeavoured to conclude a peace between the two nations. The interest that Sassoonan had with the wisest sachems, and the influence he exerted over the rest of the people by his eloquence, (for he was esteemed the most eloquent of any among the neighbouring nations) soon enabled him to undertake a treaty with their antagonists. Sassoonan set out with two sachems, and thirty of their young men. As he went, he mused with pleasure on the hope of increasing the number of his brave friends; but, before he reached the enemy's country, his expectations were frustrated by an accident that changed his wonted love for war into disgust.

In their progress, his young companions amused themselves with hunting, but were less pleased with such exercise than with the real dangers of war. They had not yet been sated with the blood of their enemies, and the praises of their countrymen; but, notwithstanding, really acquiesced in the purposes of Sassoonan, and when they set out intended nothing but peace. The unpolished minds of these young savages, however, were not governed by the motives that actuated Sassoonan in making peace with his enemies. The passions, in an uncultivated state, are constantly put in motion by the circumstances of the passing minute, and are too tumultuous to be checked and turned from their course by the slight impression that any thing distant makes upon them. As the young men were pursuing their sports at a distance from Sassoonan and the two chiefs, they met by accident, not far from Lake Erie, with a party of their enemies; who, unapprized of the purpose of their coming, and imagining their intention to be hostile, put themselves in a posture of defence. The young Chickasaws, at sight of their enemies, almost forgot the command of their leader, that they were to forbear every provocation, should they by accident meet with any of their foes; but when the strangers shewed themselves prepared for an attack, and even provoked them to the fight by their menaces, they could no longer refrain from the battle, and gave a loose to all the rage that had begun to burn within them before they were stimulated by defiance. The numbers being nearly equal, the fight was carried on with their wonted fury; and many were killed before Sassoonan and his friends reached the place. At sight of an increase of numbers to the Chickasaws, their enemies fled, leaving the wounded where they fell. The young men, on perceiving Sassoonan, were as much ashamed as if they had been defeated, and he reprehended them with the utmost severity for overthrowing his plan of reconciliation. Under a tree, at a little distance, he observed one of the youths preparing to scalp his enemy, who lay wounded, and unable to resist. Sassoonan ran to stop his hand; when, to his utter astonishment, he found it was the gallant man whose friendship he had so long wished to conciliate, and who had unfortunately headed the party that had thus encountered the Chickasaws. He trembled with passion and disappointment; and, in his fury, was about to strike his tomahawk into the body of the young man who had slain him. But his hand was restrained by one of the chiefs: Do not,' said the sachem, break the chain of love that binds the Chickasaws together. Shame, O Sassoonan! is a greater punishment than death to thy

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countrymen!' The dying warrior began to tell of the actions by which his name became celebrated, and boasted of his invincible fortitude. Sassoonan seized him by the hand, and told him how he loved the brave ......told him how he had come, for his sake, to unite the two nations ......that he desired to be no longer his enemy, but his friend.. ...that they would hate each other's enemies, and love each other's friends..... that the same bear should fall by the hands of both, and their names should be united in the mouths of both their nations.......But his words. were spoken to the air, for the eyes of the warrior were already closed. He stretched out his body in the agonies of death; his hand fell from the hand of his friend; and he expired, unconscious of the generous wishes of Sassoonan !

The chiefs urged him to retire with speed, before their enemies could return to revenge the death of their first war-leader; and, since blood had been shed upon the paths of peace, and accident had planted the bitter root of hatred where they expected to have gathered the blossoms of kindness, to hasten home, and consult what conduct would be required of them. Sassoonan refused to go, till he had paid due respect to the body of the dead warrior. He accordingly raised it on a bier of wood; and, after his companions had assisted him to over-arch it with wicker and leaves, and had enumerated the great actions atchieved by the deceased hero, he consented to quit the spot, and accompany them into his own country.

As they returned, the impetuosity of Sassoonan's temper vented itself on the brutality of war, that impelled men of mutual good qualities, in the delirium of rage, to cut cach other off in the midst of their glory. He therefore determined to enter no more into the wars of his countrymen, when they arose only from the idle motives which are usually the origin of contention between nations.

He had often heard, with eagerness, the tales which the Europeans, who lived amongst the Indians, were wont to tell them of the affairs of their countrymen, and the knowledge and abilities which they possessed, superior to the people of the woods. He therefore conceived the design of crossing the Great Sea; and accordingly repaired to one of the ports of North America, accompanied by many of his friends. He found a ship ready to depart for England: his friends commended him to the Great Spirit, and returned to their wonted pursuits of war or hunting; while Sassoonan set sail, to learn the customs of polished nations, and to improve himself by the wisdom of long established societies.

Sassoonan was at first very much perplexed with the complicated scene that a great nation presented to him; and it was long before he could understand the nature of its internal regulations. The mode of its external defence, the manner in which it carried on its wars, were objects that particularly attracted his attention. He imagined that each individual, and every circumstance that aided in the operations, should be not only adequate to the performance of its own part, and useful in its proper sphere, but that it should also have a share of grandeur suitable to the compacted force of the whole, and proportioned to those powerful exertions which had so greatly excited his wonder.

But he was deceived in his opinion. He observed, with chagrin, the whole going on by a kind of animated machinery. He saw that the surprising phenomena of a great state were performed by powers that

derived their value solely from their mutual relation; and that it required a blind and implicit direction of capacities, faculties, and powers, by some superior will and intention. In the wars which he saw prosecuted, he observed the armies and fleets were as large bodies inspired by single minds; and from thence their power was united, and the effects were adequate to the force. But then the extraordinary greatness and dignity which he had expected to find in each individual in the society, was confined to the power that overlooked and ruled the whole; and the rest were sunk to the level of unconscious mechanism, their mental abilities being useless or contracted, and either withered by inactivity, or wasted on trifles incapable of affording any praise which Sassoonan did not blush to hear bestowed upon men.

It was otherwise among the Indians; whose affairs being more narrow and confined, required no extraordinary capacity to direct them. They did not admit of much complication or intricacy from the extent of their operations, nor could they be greatly entangled by unforeseen accidents. Their wars arose not from any such remote interests as to require schemes of policy which should effect their purpose, amidst the opposition of motives and interests, from a skilful foresight into the tendency of natural circumstances. Their conduct in making war was so simple that very little depended on the leader; the success rested chiefly on the dexterity and intrepidity of single men. Their exploits almost wholly consisted in ensnaring their enemies in subtle wiles, or in darting into their villages and castles unawares; and their fame was proportioned to the fierceness of their depredations, their skill in this man-hunting, or the sagacity with which they eluded the foe. Sometimes they met in equal parties, and contended in what is called by Europeans a fair and honourable engagement; but it was done without order, and scarcely required the management of a leader.

From this narrow plan of action each one was enabled to comprehend the full scope of the enterprize, and they shared equally in the honour of performing heroic actions from heroic motives.

In the comparison between the apparatus of war among the Indians, and that of an European nation, Sassoonan was immediately stsuck with the minuteness and feebleness of the one, and the magnificence and energy of the other; but when he began to consider the principles which put them both in motion, the inequality was in a great measure removed, and the uncivilized state appeared to greater advantage.

Objects of gigantic structure, or that display a dangerous might, agitate the mind of a spectator with greater violence than the rectitude of the power that governs them. It is only from a closer view, and a more cool enquiry, that we learn to disavow the influence that uncommon external appearances have over us, and estimate the value of things by the rationality of their principles. It is natural for youth and enthusiasm to be influenced by the more obvious characters of grandeur, and admire whatever is vast and elevated in nature or in art. The striking effects of Power raise in them stronger emotions than the capacious reach of Wisdom, or the calmn purposes of Virtue; which do not obtrude themselves immediately on the senses, but are discovered by reflection.

It is impossible to with-hold that admiration which rises involuntarily in every mind, on first beholding the ships of war which defend this

country. Sassoonan saw, with infinite surprise; the havock made by those enormous structures; and blushed, for a moment, to look back on the harmless wars of his countrymen, and to reflect that he had gained his fame by such inconsiderable actions as the storming a few little huts, or contriving stratagems which should only be employed against wild beasts. He felt like a man who had been long accustomed to pride himself on the deeds he has performed, as placing him at the height of glory, and at last perceives them shrink and fade away before an eminent superiority.

This emotion was yet more increased, when he became acquainted with the wisdom displayed in the European art of war; in the ingenuity with which their schemes are planned and executed; in the discipline and subordination that renders the force of vast multitudes capable of being employed without confusion; and in the support of them, through many seasons, without impoverishing the nations on whom they depend.

But as Sassoonan grew familiarized with these affairs, his admiration began to abate; and, on a more intimate consideration, he formed other opinions.

The appearance of mere strength, or of ingenuity which can add to its power by the manner of its application, may oblige us for a while to admire; but it is only a knowledge of the power by which it is governed, its intention, and utility, that can secure our applause.

The mis-application of power shews an error and weakness in the governing mind; and ignorance and imbecility are incompatible with a rational admiration. When the emotions any thing singular raise in us die away from the habit of beholding it, or when the imperfect views that captivate enthusiasm and youth are rendered more distinct, men judge and admire according to the impulses of the ruling intellect, and overlook the capacities and brutal power of external things, as not being objects of a reasonable approbation or dislike. Therefore, the magnitude, extent, and superior force, of the European operations of war, as being only extraneous, when compared with the lesser scale of the Indians, could cast no just contempt upon them; for the want of power is not meanness, nor the possession of it dignity.

The true criterion, then, of warlike merit......if any merit it has...... is in the sentiment with which it is pursued, and the causes from whence it arises. It is according to these that we ought to form our opinion of the state of war, as practised among civilized and barbarous nations.

The Europeans, Sassoonan learned, on the commencement of their wars, were careful to screen themselves under the forms of equity, and the sanction of the laws of nations. They displayed to the world their plausible pretences, complained of the violation of treaties, and professed to expect the assistance of the Deity against their treacherous enemies. But it was seldom that their contentions did not originate in interest or ambition. Their schemes were brooded in the cabinet of the state, and opportunities were made to begin hostilities. If some nations were careful how they entered into a war, it was not often to be attributed to the uprightness of their principles. Weakness and fear prevented the lesser states; and the greater were deterred by the expectation of more advantage in refraining, than they might hope to derive from vie

lence. In the republican form which Europe maintained, it was evidently too much the interest of each state that an equilibrium of power should be preserved, for any one to expect great superiority in consequence of a Some inconsiderable acquisitions of territory, some commercial advantage, or some bonourable punctilio, Sassoonan found, were the motives which involved this polished world in their destructive

war.

wars.

When the views of ambition are opposed to the avaricious expectations of interest, there are few who will not be dazzled by the splendor of the one, rather than attracted by the sordid gain of the other; and account the former of the two the most honourable incitement to war. On a comparison of the practice of war among the Indians and among the Europeans, in the question, Which is the most entitled to our respect? if we omit, on the European side, the interested motives, and take only those of ambition, it will be sufficiently favourable to the polished world.

Indeed, the wars to which avarice has prompted the Europeans, will ever remain, in the annals of the world, as a blot on human kind. We are taught to dishonour the ravages committed by Cæsar, Alexander, and the Tartarian conquerors; but we return to them with some complacency, after viewing the cruelties committed by Europeans on nations too rude and unskilful in war to afford them any honour from their conquests. The wars that have arisen among the Europeans themselves from objects of gain, if they be less execrable, they from thence enable us to regard them with the contempt and ridicule that is due to the meanness of their quarrel.

When a war is begun by two powerful nations about some acres of sugar-cane, or indigo; about a piece of ground convenient for a factory; which shall be most in favour with the princes of China or Japan, that they may receive their commodities at a cheaper rate; or about some trifle which may enable them to outsel their neighbours in the markets of Europe: whatever be the skill or valour of the combatants, or how terrible soever the force employed, we must still despise the contest, though it may present to us some scenes which raise in us admiration and astonishment.

Commerce and merchandize are the chief sources of strength in cultivated nations, and give not only power to societies, but disperse among men the products of nature and art; adding to the conveniences of life, and enlarging the circle of our enjoyments: yet commerce and merchandize belong only to peace. It is their boast to connect the several regions of the globe, and to diffuse over it an extensive spirit of sociality; but they can afford no commendable motives to

war.

The objects of private gain, when opposed to the distresses and desolation occasioned by the contention of communities, shew that their advantages are an insufficient counterbalance to misery. It must ever create abhorrence, to see dispensable conveniences, and factitious wants, purchased with the blood of men.

It is the heroic passion, or the love of glory, that appears to be the natural incentive to war, and is more adequate to the evils that attend it than the meaner views of interest. Though, in effect, ambition, as well as interest, is a selfish passion; to love the one is the mark of a generous spirit, while attention to the other tends only to narrow the