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Article SPEECH OF A CREEK INDIAN, ← Page 3 of 3 Article THE USE AND ABUSE OF SPEECH. Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Speech Of A Creek Indian,
and exposes the rudeness of ' daring to approach those lovely crea' tures with unhallowed lips , breathing the noisome smell of a dia' helical juice ; or to roll into their downy embrace in a state infe' rior to the brutes , losing all that rapturous intercourse of love and ' friendship , all those most exalted of human enjoyments , which f they ; and ohltheyare capable of communicating . ' -
y , The speaker concludes in the most pathetic manner , conjuring his countrymen by every interested motive , * to make the cup of mode-* ration henceforward the crown of their festivities ; to save their ' country ; to maintain and elevate her glory , and to transmit health , ' freedom , and'honour to their posterity . ' ,. That no person may doubt the authenticity of this speechor
, think the sentiments of it ahove the Indian genius , the translator has g iven us several extracts from the Indian speeches at their treaties with the English on several occasions , in which the same sentiments , metaphors , & c . are found . This is such evidence as cannot be resisted .
*—He observes besides , that we need not wonder there should be found so many orators among the Indians , since speech-making is the sure effect of a republican government , where no person can claim any pre-eminence among his fellow-citizens , but what his age , wisdom , and figure in councils , gives him . The Indians , continues he , have a great vivacity and sprightliness of imagination in their harangues . Their action seems to us somewhat vehementbut appears to
cor-, respond exactly to the sevei ^ al passions . Though their language has but few roots , they render it . copious , and extremely fit for oratory , by varying and compounding their words , and by having constant recourse to metaphors , & cJ after the Eastern manner . By the frequent use of gutturals , their language is also sonorous and masculine . Nevertheless extremelnice in their turns of
, they are y expression ; and few even Of their best orators are so ¦ far masters of their language as never to offend the ear of an Indian audience , which seems not less difficult and fine than the ear of the Athenians , when Demosthenes and JEscbiues melted them with rival periods . M ,
The Use And Abuse Of Speech.
THE USE AND ABUSE OF SPEECH .
JHT'HE use of speech hath by some been represented as . an essential j \ mark which distinguishes man from the other inhabitants of this creation . I suppose these persons mean the power of conveying ideas to each other by speech , for that of articulating sounds we may observe in several others . Nor , perhaps , will the observation hold extremely true with regard to the other quality ; inasmuch as I see great reason
to believe all animals have a sort of language , whereby they converse with one another : though , perhaps , . they have not a faculty of modulating sounds with as great a variety as man ; having , perhaps , a less variety of ideas ; yet , whoever has been at all conversant with them , cannot , I think , doubt their power of communicating necessary hints .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Speech Of A Creek Indian,
and exposes the rudeness of ' daring to approach those lovely crea' tures with unhallowed lips , breathing the noisome smell of a dia' helical juice ; or to roll into their downy embrace in a state infe' rior to the brutes , losing all that rapturous intercourse of love and ' friendship , all those most exalted of human enjoyments , which f they ; and ohltheyare capable of communicating . ' -
y , The speaker concludes in the most pathetic manner , conjuring his countrymen by every interested motive , * to make the cup of mode-* ration henceforward the crown of their festivities ; to save their ' country ; to maintain and elevate her glory , and to transmit health , ' freedom , and'honour to their posterity . ' ,. That no person may doubt the authenticity of this speechor
, think the sentiments of it ahove the Indian genius , the translator has g iven us several extracts from the Indian speeches at their treaties with the English on several occasions , in which the same sentiments , metaphors , & c . are found . This is such evidence as cannot be resisted .
*—He observes besides , that we need not wonder there should be found so many orators among the Indians , since speech-making is the sure effect of a republican government , where no person can claim any pre-eminence among his fellow-citizens , but what his age , wisdom , and figure in councils , gives him . The Indians , continues he , have a great vivacity and sprightliness of imagination in their harangues . Their action seems to us somewhat vehementbut appears to
cor-, respond exactly to the sevei ^ al passions . Though their language has but few roots , they render it . copious , and extremely fit for oratory , by varying and compounding their words , and by having constant recourse to metaphors , & cJ after the Eastern manner . By the frequent use of gutturals , their language is also sonorous and masculine . Nevertheless extremelnice in their turns of
, they are y expression ; and few even Of their best orators are so ¦ far masters of their language as never to offend the ear of an Indian audience , which seems not less difficult and fine than the ear of the Athenians , when Demosthenes and JEscbiues melted them with rival periods . M ,
The Use And Abuse Of Speech.
THE USE AND ABUSE OF SPEECH .
JHT'HE use of speech hath by some been represented as . an essential j \ mark which distinguishes man from the other inhabitants of this creation . I suppose these persons mean the power of conveying ideas to each other by speech , for that of articulating sounds we may observe in several others . Nor , perhaps , will the observation hold extremely true with regard to the other quality ; inasmuch as I see great reason
to believe all animals have a sort of language , whereby they converse with one another : though , perhaps , . they have not a faculty of modulating sounds with as great a variety as man ; having , perhaps , a less variety of ideas ; yet , whoever has been at all conversant with them , cannot , I think , doubt their power of communicating necessary hints .