men, battling there in the shadows of Shasta for all that is sacred to the Christian or the savage, holding the forces of the United States at bay for half a year, looking death firmly in the face and fighting on without a word day by day, every day counting a diminished number, shrinking to a diminished circle; bleeding, starving, dying ; knowing that annihilation was only a question of time. Knowing the awful cost and yet counting down the price bravely and without a murmur. There is nothing nobler in all the histories of the hemispheres. But they shall not be forgotten. Passion will pass away, and even their enemies of to-day will yet speak of them with respect.
I know that men will answer that it is impossible to deal peaceably with the Indians. I ask, who has tried it ? Penn tried it, and found them the most peaceable, upright, and gentle of beings. The Mormons, certainly not the most noble type of men at first, tried it, and they were treated like brothers. A destitute and half-desperate band of wanderers, they sat down in the midst of the wildest and the worst of Indians, and the red men gave them meat to eat, lands to plough, and protection and food till they could protect and feed themselves. These are the only two examples of an honest and continued attempt to deal peaceably and fairly with the Indians that you can point to since the savage first lifted his hands in welcome to Columbus.
When I die I shall take this book in my hand and hold it up in the Day of Judgment,
