-1763] Contrast of Spanish relations with natives. 99 in dealing with the natives; no two British colonies could agree upon the same course, and in the eighteenth century, the necessity of a single council capable of undertaking all Indian negotiations was seen to be pressing. On the other hand the French failed to make the Indian and French military forces one. La Mothe Cadillac schemed to enlist the Indians in regiments and to give them posts as officers equal with the French ; but it was argued against him that it was dangerous to introduce dis- cipline, when the want of it was the chief source of Indian weakness. La Mothe Cadillac's own sincerity seems to have been doubted ; if his plan had been developed by a great military organiser, French colonial history might have pursued a very different course. On the other hand, the difference between the circumstances of the French and those of the Spaniards in the New World led to a marked diversity in their relations with the Indians. The northern Indians were not conquered until they were almost exterminated; and neither France nor Great Britain ever had under their rule a vast subject Indian population, yielding tribute and forced labour. The relations of the Spaniards with the Indians were just as intimate as those of the French, but, being based on governmental supremacy, were of a very different character. The Spanish government, after the barbarities of the first colonists had shown the necessity for interference, stepped in to protect the Indians by a whole code of regulations, the main object of which was to prevent the exploiting and extermination of the population on which the prosperity of Spain in the New World was seen to depend. These regulations, which exhibit the Spanish system in its best aspect, have no parallel in the early colonial schemes of any other nation. The scheme of protection, humane and tender as in many points it was, involved, on the other hand, perpetual tutelage for the protected, and was in no way educative. The small and widely scattered population of French settlers was not in a position to attempt a protective system. They were compelled by the circumstances of the case to treat the Indians as equals, and this was plainly shown in the abortive attempt of the Jesuits to protect the Indians from the dangers of the liquor trade. The English attitude towards the Indians varied with time and place. From the time of Ralegh and Hakluyt the practical wisdom of humane and sympathetic treatment had been inculcated by the enlightened ; but the colonists, whose interests came much into conflict with those of the natives, early displayed a different inclination. The Virginian resolution never to end the wars with the Indians, and the open rejoicing at the out- break of hostilities, " because the way of conquering them is much more easy than the way of civilising them by fair means, besides that a conquest may be of many and at once, whereas civility is particular and slow, 1 " expressed the feelings of the less sheltered colonists. Another school found a way to reconcile the expulsion of the natives with the principles CH. in.
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