The New Hampshire Gazette

From the NEW AMERICAN MAGAZINE.

To Sylvanus Americanus. Author of the New AMERICAN MAGAZINE.

SIR,

The following little Indian Piece was found lately, as some Labourers were digging a Well, wrote in Hieroglyphicks; upon a Kind of Bark of curious Workmanship. inclos'd in an Earthen Urn. The Interpreter informs me, that from some Circumstances, he believes the Speaker was Chief of the Manta's, a Tribe of the Delaware Nation ; which Tribe, at the Arrival of the English, inhabited somewhere about the City of Burlington, in West Jersey. It seems to have been delivered towards the Conclusion of a ruinous War, in a national Council. The Translator, despairing of doing Justice to the laconic Spirit and manly Force of the Original, has adapted it to modern Ears. by which, doubtless, much of the Fire is lost.

NOTHING, O my Friends, has fill'd my Soul with more pungent Grief, or brought my hoary Head nearer the Grave, than the calamitous Successes of this War, begun under the Auspices of Heaven, on Grounds juster than which never animated the Sword of our Heroes ; but infinite Wisdom, for Ends hidden from our Eyes, permits the Enemy to triumph in Universal Success.

You know my Voice has ever been for an honourable Peace ; you have witnessed, Brethren, my indefatigable Endeavours to save the Blood of Thousands. but never at the Expence of Honour or Liberty : For them this withered Arm shall yet hurl the Dart, and point the Arrow. Our perfidious Enemies, ever harbouring our Destruction, who outwit us in War and undermine us in Peace, have now provok'd our most fiery Vengeance; it once was fiery Vengeance ! They have now beheld, through the thin Covering of Boasting and Rhodomontade, our naked Weakness; yes, they have now foil'd us, O Shame ! in our own Field.

Had ye not vanquish'd yourselves, O ye People, the Rancocas had not beaten your Warriors : Sunk in Sloth, and debilitated with Effeminacy, you suffer'd the Spirit of your Fathers, that Spirit by which this Nation gain'd immortal Renown, to evaporate, while you yet retain the Name of Mantas, and fondly imagine, that the borrow'd Arts of Luxury but made you better Men and better Citizens. You have felt your Mistake, as yet but very gently; but Reform or suffer, is the Cry which must rouze you, if ever you escape Destruction.

Begin every Individual with himself,and the Work is well nigh compleated : It is of absolute Necessity. that you rectify Disorder at Home, before you conquer abroad: Say not your Constitution the most excellent and most neglected, is perfect, and wants not Amendment : Time and Accidents, which span Mountains, will render spiritless the best contrived Laws and well-founded Customs. Regard well therefore what is amiss in publick Conduct, ye Sages, and apply a speedy Remedy ; for Delays are dangerous, emphatically dangerous, to national Demands.

You are not ignorant, that among the Warriors are weak and corrupt Men, of scandalous Lives, and Contemners of God: You know, that, as if you were in Jest, you commission Boys and Children, (who have more Need of a Dishclout) to command that Force, which, under Providence, ought to be the Safe guard of our Lives, our Liberties, and Properties. : Can you expect, with Modesty, that the Almighty Regards will rest with such Armies ? What avails it, that you guard your Castles on the Frontiers ? Is the Country the safer, or the Enemy at all hindered ? When they present themselves at your Gates, you surrender. How do the young Men spend their Time at the Castles which remain ?

Your Commands are, that they penetrate the Country of your Adversaries. destroy their Towns, and carry away Captive their Wives and Children. How many Instances have you of this being done ? One or two patriot Strokes you can mention : And you think your Duty discharged in recommending it, when ye ought, ye Chieftains, to head the Bands, and set the glorious Example.

You see the Land depopulated, and the Tribes around, at your Expence, enriched with Wealth and with People, flourishing in Commerce and the Arts of Life ; you cannot restrain the Departure of your People ; but it is your Duty, and it is in your Power, by opening the Sluices of Trade, and the Establishment of all Kinds of Manufactures which Indians use, to render their Homes delightful and easy. Dive into the Causes of this fatal Decline. O Sachems ! Reflect with Remorse on the supine Negligence of former Rulers, and Yourselves ! Do you not possess an excellent Country, abounding in good Things ? And have you not been greatly wanting in its Population and rational Improvement ? Thereby forgetting your Duty to the Publick, Yourselves, and above all, to GOD, who constituted you his Stewards, to render happy Yourselves, your Neighbours, and every Thing about you.

But the Way to atone for past Misconduct, is to apply the present Hour with double Vigour. Sink not, I beseech you; for I see you mov'd, even to Tears, at this Representation. Shake off that Lethargy, which hangs upon you like a gnawing Serpent ; from henceforth, let every Man of this Audience be, what he ought to be, just to himself, and he will be so to others. The Enemy is now at our Doors : let us make them reasonable Proposals for a solid and lasting Peace : If they accept them not. we will. O Delawares ! One and All, draw our Bows ; there is no Medium between Liberty and Death : Let as we are to the Spirit of Liberty, for the Manes of our Ancestors, and for the Glory of our Name, we will die or conquer.