for their unnatural instincts, of thé almost invincible - ignorance of every law of decency which seems to be-thé lot of our unfortunate red men?'
" I have been in a position," said our dear friend, " to appreciate these poor Indians. - A band of thym once came to me to receive holy baptism. I gave them thé proper in struction, and made them children of heaven. Then they besought me earnestly to come again to them thé following year, and I promised to do so. I returned at thé appointed time, and as they showed an eager desire to approach thé sacraments, I asked them what faults they had been guilty of since my last visit. They looked at me with astonishment and a kind of stupor, and said, 'do you suppose, Father, that after all thé benefactions we have received from God, those of creation, rédemption, thé knowledge of thé true son of God, jésus Christ, and your coming to us, do you suppose that we could be so wicked as to offend thé Lord and appear before you charged with sins or crimes? ' You see, brethren, those unhappy Indians were hurt,' at thé thought that any one could think them capable of ingratitude toward God. Admirable sentiments! which explain why they had no faults upon their consciences to reproach themselves with.- How many Christians, even among our practicing Catholics, could say as much ?
Always, yes, always, brethren, our missionary took up thé defense of his Indians. He suffered for them, he sympathized with them, and he used to say that in order to judge them justly one must live among them and be able to put himself in their place. The Indians have often shown themselves, it is true, embittered against thé whites and inclined to revolt; but thé reason of their behavior is easily understood. Have they not been hunted and driven like wild beasts ? Do they not know that they have been thrust back by successive degrees from thé shores of thé Atlantic to thé edge of thé Pacific océan? They have learned from their forefathers, and experienced it themselves, that they are to be despoiled of their lands, foot by