the wild and inhuman inhabitants of the woods?--to delegate to the
merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of
this barbarous war against our brethren? My Lords, these enormities cry
aloud for redress and punishment. But, my Lords, this barbarous measure has
been defended, not only on the principles of policy and necessity but also
on those of morality; "for it is perfectly justifiable," says Lord Suffolk,
"to use all the means which God and nature have put into our hands." I am
astonished!--I am shocked! to hear such principles confessed;--to hear them
avowed in this House, or in this country. My Lords, I did not intend to
encroach so much on your attention, but I cannot repress my indignation--I
feel myself impelled to speak. My Lords, we are called upon as members of
this House, as men, as Christians, to protest against such horrible
barbarity!--"That God and nature have put into our hands"! What ideas of
God and nature that noble lord may entertain, I know not; but I know, that
such detestable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity.
What! to attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacres
of the Indian scalping-knife! to the cannibal savage, torturing, murdering,
devouring, drinking the blood of his mangled victims! Such notions shock
every precept of morality, every feeling of humanity, every sentiment of
honor. These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of
them, demand the most decisive indignation.

I call upon that right reverend, and this most learned bench, to vindicate
the religion of their God, to support the justice of their country. I call
upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn; upon
the learned judges to interpose the enmity of their ermine,--to save us
from this pollution. I call upon the honor of your Lordships, to reverence
the dignity of our ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the
spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character. I
invoke the genius of the constitution! From the tapestry that adorns these