of the Union took place, that is to say when our common
ancestors first settled in this country, how was their
object effected? Why, by driving from their possessions
near the sea, in order to make room for themselves, those
very nations whom we are accused of a desire to exterminate,
as if out of a mere spirit of wantonness. Did either
Dutch or English then hesitate as to what course THEY
should pursue, or suffer any qualms of conscience to
interfere with their Colonial plans? No; as a measure of
policy--as a means of security--they sought to conciliate
the Indians, but not the less determined were they to
attain their end. Who, then, among Englishmen, would have
thought of blaming their fellow countrymen, when the
object in view was the aggrandizement of the national
power, and the furtherance of individual interests? While
the Colonists continued tributary to England they could
do no wrong; they inclined no censure. Each succeding
year saw them, with a spirit of enterprize that was THEN
deemed worthy of commendation, pushing their advantages,
and extending their possessions to the utter exclusion,
and at the expense of the original possessors of the
soil. For this they incurred no blame: but mark the
change. No sooner had the war of the revolution terminated
in our emancipation from the leading strings of childhood;
no sooner had we taken rank among the acknowledged nations
of the world; no sooner had we, in a word, started into
existence as an original people, than the course we had
undeviatingly pursued in infancy, and from which we did
not dream of swerving in manhood, became a subject for
unqualified censure. What had been considered laudable