海伦ˇ亨特ˇ杰克逊
(HELEN HUNT JACKSON)

百年耻辱
A Century of Dishonor

在过去的三十年中ˇ太平洋大陆架上的印第安人所遭受的欺凌、压榨和杀戳……可怕得难以令人置信。

海伦ˇ (费斯克ˇ)亨待ˇ杰克逊(1830ˇ1885)出生在麻萨诸塞州的亚姆赫斯特。她长大成爲一个普通的妻子和母亲。她的父亲于亚姆赫斯特大学教她学习拉丁文和哲学。她是埃米莉ˇ狄金森的邻居和终身朋友。海伦小的时候 于易卜斯威治和纽约读私塾ˇ1852年嫁给一个名叫爱德华ˇBˇ亨特的军官。当她的丈夫被重新分配到外地时ˇ她尽妇道随他而去ˇ并生下两个儿子。其中的一个儿子幼年 夭折。婚后的第十一年ˇ她的丈夫在一次事故中丧身ˇ两年以后ˇ她的第二个儿子也死去。丧失亲人以后ˇ她开始爲几家杂志写诗和文章。1875年ˇ她再嫁威廉ˇSˇ杰克逊ˇ并定居于科罗拉多泉。由于听了一次讲座ˇ她开始关心起印地安人的悲惨遭遇ˇ并着手开展广泛的调查研究ˇ以揭露政府对印地安人所施行的苛政。她于1881年发表了《百年耻辱》ˇ并将它分送给每个议员。以下爲该文节选。

在这三百群(美国的)印地安人中ˇ没有一人不曾遭受政府或白人殖民者的残酷欺压。这些人越穷、越是没有身份、越是无依无靠ˇ就越有可能遭到他们一直遭受的这种残酷欺 凌。生活在太平洋大陆架上的那些印地安人的情况尤其是这样。他们突然发ˇ自己被蜂拥而至的淘金殖民者团团包围ˇ活ˇ岸上无可奈何的动物被卷入潮水一样被他们吞没。政府没能够来得及与殖民者们签订合约ˇ甚至连公衆社会也没能够来得及制定有关的法律。在过去的30年中ˇ太平洋大陆架上的印地安人所遭受的欺 凌、压榨和杀戮可以编成一整部书ˇ它可怕得令人难以置信。

然而ˇ无论翻开印地安人历史的哪一部分ˇ其中的每一页和每一年都可以见到斑斑血迹。发生在一个部落的事就是发生在全体印地安人身上的事ˇ其中所不同的仅仅是时间和地点而已ˇ而不同的时间和地点却反映了ˇ同的事实。科罗拉多州的今天就跟1880年的乔治亚州和1795年的俄亥俄州一样贪得无厌并且无法无天。美国政府违背诺言ˇ其手法不亚 于当年ˇ手段越演越高明。

他们之所以这样的一个主要原因是ˇ人们讨厌印地安人ˇ不能容忍这块“文明的绊脚石”的存在ˇ以及怀疑他们的存在是一种潜在的危ˇ的这种情绪普遍蔓延。那些充满印地安战争恐怖情节的古老拓荒生活的故事经过两三代人的传说ˇ使它在一般人的心里産生一种似乎是遗传下来的不容置疑又不可理喻的嫌恶本能ˇ这种嫌恶几乎到了不可ˇ除或减缓的地步。

在印地安人方面有几百页无懈可击的证词ˇ但毫无用处ˇ它们被看成是感伤主义的东西和党派的偏见而置之不理。一任接一任的总统委派一个又一个的委员会调查汇报印地安人的问题ˇ并要求它们提出处理这些问题的最佳方案。他们的那些汇报都雄辩地描述了印地安人所遭受的 凌辱和政府方面的种种背信弃义ˇ他们用最诚恳的语言建议试用简单明了的权宜办法ˇ做到说实话、讲信义、办事公平合理。这些汇报被订进了政府的年度报告ˇ但仅此而已。在每一万名美国公民中见到或听说过这些汇报的人还不到一个ˇ这样说也许一点儿也不过分。然而ˇ在全国的那些思维正常情感健全的男人们和女人们中间传阅的每一份汇报ˇ其本身就是一份“游说公文”ˇ它将引起一场革命ˇ这样的革命只有在印地安人得到ˇ在尚不可能获得的平冤昭雪之后才能平息下来。

格兰特总统于1869年委派一个九人委员会代表六个主要州政府的权力和关怀到访几个不同的印地安人居留地“检查有关印地安人的所有问题”。

在这个委员会的汇报中有这样几段话ˇ“认爲‘印地安人不愿意劳动’的断言就ˇ说白人不愿意劳动一样ˇ纯属谎言。“经验告诉印地安人他们的劳动産品明天将被白人抢走ˇ可他们爲什麽除了每日糊口以外还得种粮食、围田地、建房屋和做其它的活呢?在同样的情况下ˇ最勤劳的白人也会变懒ˇ而许多印地安人(那些委员们该更令人信服地说明是十三万印地安人)都已经在劳动。这足以驳斥‘印地安人不愿意劳动’的这一论点。无情的事实是回避不了的。

“政府与印地安人之间的关系史是一部记载不光彩的背信弃义的案卷ˇ边界白人与印地安人之间的关系史是一部记载多半是白人对印地安人的摧残、ˇˇ、掠夺和凌辱ˇ以及偶尔印地安人的猛烈暴动和难以形容的野蛮行爲的不堪入目的案卷。

“政府说过他们有权受人尊敬ˇ而他们的这些权利却一直遭到贪得无厌的白人的破坏ˇ所以ˇ他们本来该举起来保护自己的手臂却一直只能准备用来挡架别人的攻击。

“有一些美国最高层军官的证词还记录在案。其中大致上是说ˇ在我们的每次印地安战争中几乎毫无例外地是由白人首先挑起ˇ而每一位研究这个问题的非军方知名人士都证实了这一点ˇ除了那些在未开发地区肆意搜刮而不受惩罚的强盗匪徒之外ˇ还有一大批爲了从战争中派来的军队和政府的经费开支中渔利的假冒正人君子ˇ他们不择一切权力手段挑起印地安战争。他们随时用口头或书面形式ˇ印地安人报告死亡人数ˇ而对死者是否有罪不作任何区别。他们激起社会最底层的人们犯下最不光彩的罪行ˇ而且身爲法官和陪审员ˇ他们庇护这些人而使他们免遭他们所犯罪行应得的惩罚。白人对印地安人所犯下的每一个罪行都得到包庇和辩解ˇ而印地安人对白人的每一点冒犯却马上被戴上事实上存在的或莫须有的罪名ˇ通过报纸或电讯传遍全国的各个角落。美国人民必须警惕这一类影ˇ。

如果认爲ˇ除以往长期以来的损害和医治精神上的创伤ˇ纠正这个国家今后对印地安人的政策ˇ并立刻保证印地安人的安全和幸福是一件很容易的事或只要通过某一个突然可能的立法原则就能得实ˇˇ那是一种草率而且愚昧的判断错误。认爲只要使所有的印地安人立刻成爲美国公民便是医治他们一切创伤和政府心病的灵丹妙药的那种似乎被越来越多人接受的ˇ法是极欠考虑的。如果突然让所有粗俗或文明的印地安人一下子都变成完全的公民ˇ那就ˇ给他们所有的人同一种药而不考虑他们不同的症状和需要那样是一个荒唐的错误。受它伤害的人要比被它治好的人更多。然而ˇ1857年调查印地安人问题的一位负责人所做的具体分析是没有错的ˇ“只要他们还不是美国公民ˇ他们所拥有的财産权就无法保证不受侵犯。既然联邦法庭的大门是ˇ他们连同受他们监护和赡养的人紧闭着ˇ那麽他们就只能行使自由政府的部分权利ˇ或只好把那种足以使他们受到尊敬的尊严交给制定、行使并解释少有的几条法律的那些人。在他们继续单独地检验合衆国桌上掉下的面包屑的时候ˇ游手好闲、浪费、负债将成爲司空见惯ˇ而勤劳、节俭和不欠债的ˇˇ将成爲凤毛ˇ角。他们对土地完全没有拥有权ˇ这使他们每个人都失去了劳动与奋斗的主要动力ˇˇ一个民族的财富赖以存在的主要动因。”

一切爲了保证他们的安全和出路的审慎的规划和措施都必须包含使他们尽早成爲公民的各ˇ条例ˇ而且必须在此之前保护他们的第一ˇ权利ˇ尤其是我们的法律藉以保护其它那些非公民“人们”的权利。

在某一阶层人的心里存在一种讨厌反对横行霸道的倾ˇˇ它不适应于迅速严厉的除恶大计。这种倾ˇ是说不通的。当一个新国家的拓荒者们发ˇ有一片有毒的沼泽荒野需要开垦的时候ˇ他们在清楚地看到条条道路该通往何处、清新的泉水该从哪里冒出、还有在这片开垦出来的土地上最好种哪些庄稼之前ˇ决不会放下手中烧荒的火和劈山的斧。他们首先清理沼泽地。因此ˇ在我们国家的这个影ˇ极坏而又十分棘手的问题上ˇ也让我们首先来“清理这片沼泽地”。

无论我们在这麽晚的时候在处理类似替印地安人伸张正义这样的每一ˇ计划的细节中会遇到多麽复杂和困难的问题ˇ无论优秀的政治家和善良的人们对该做的那些事情要达成统一的认识有多麽大的困难ˇ但是ˇ就哪些事不该做ˇ以及在采取第一批步骤爲目前ˇ我们印地安人的情况平冤昭雪、医治创伤和雪洗耻辱之前ˇ哪些事不该继续做下去的问题上ˇ肯定不存在ˇ而且也不应该存在任何困惑和任何困难。欺骗、掠夺、违背诺言ˇˇ这三件事明ˇ不能再继续下去了。还有一件事是拒绝给予印地安人财産权、“生命权、自由权及追求幸福的权利”的法律上的保障。

只有当这四件事不再继续下去以后ˇ时间、治国之才、博爱精神、基督教义才能慢慢准确无误地做好其余的事。在这四件事完全停止下来之前ˇ治国之才和博爱精神同样是徒劳无功的ˇ甚至基督教的作用也将是微乎其微的。

There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians [in the United States] one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the Government or of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have been subjected. This is especially true of the bands on the Pacific slopes. These Indians found themselves of a sudden surrounded by and caught up in the great influx of gold-seeking settlers, as helpless creatures on a shore are caught up in a tidal wave. There was not time for the Government to make treaties; not even time for communities to make laws. The tale of the wrongs, the oppressions, the murders of the Pacific-slope Indians in the last thirty years would be a volume by itself, and is too monstrous to be believed.

    It makes little difference, however, where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain. The story of one tribe is the story of all, varied only by differences of time and place; but neither time nor place makes any difference in the main facts. Colorado is as greedy and unjust in 1880 as was Georgia in 1830, and Ohio in 1795; and the United States Government breaks promises now as deftly as then, and with added ingenuity from long practice.

    One of its strongest supports in so doing is the wide-spread sentiment among the people of dislike to the Indian, of impatience with his presence as a "barrier to civilization," and distrust of it as a possible danger. The old tales of the frontier life, with its horrors of Indian warfare, have gradually, by two or three generations' telling, produced in the average mind something like an hereditary instinct of unquestioning and unreasoning aversion which it is almost impossible to dislodge or soften.

    There are hundreds of pages of unimpeachable testimony on the side of the Indian; but it goes for nothing, is set down as sentimentalism or partisanship, tossed aside and forgotten.

    President after president has appointed commission after commission to inquire into and report upon Indian affairs, and to make suggestions as to the best methods of managing them. The reports are filled with eloquent statements of wrongs done to the Indians, of perfidies on the part of the Government; they counsel, as earnestly as words can, a trial of the simple and unperplexing expedients of telling truth, keeping promises, making fair bargains, dealing justly in all ways and all things. These reports are bound up with the Government's Annual Reports, and that is the end of them. It would probably be no exaggeration to say that not one American citizen out of ten thousand ever sees them or knows that they exist, and yet any one of them, circulated throughout the country, read by the right-thinking, right-feeling men and women of this land, would be of itself a "campaign document" that would initiate a revolution which would not subside until the Indians' wrongs were, so far as is now left possible, righted.

    In 1869 President Grant appointed a commission of nine men, representing the influence and philanthropy of six leading States, to visit the different Indian reservations, and to "examine all matters appertaining to Indian affairs."

    In the report of this commission are such paragraphs as the following: "To assert that 'the Indian will not work' is as true as it would be to say that the white man will not work.

    'Why should the Indian be expected to plant corn, fence lands, build houses, or do anything but get food from day to day, when experience has taught him that the product of his labor will be seized by the white man to-morrow? The most industrious white man would become a drone under similar circumstances. Nevertheless, many of the Indians" (the commissioners might more forcibly have said 130,000 of the Indians) "are already at work, and furnish ample refutation of the assertion that 'the Indian will not work.' There is no escape from the inexorable logic of facts.

    "The history of the Government connections with the Indians is a shameful record of broken treaties and unfulfilled promises. The history of the border, white man's connection with the Indians is a sickening record of murder, outrage, robbery, and wrongs committed by the former, as the rule, and occasional savage outbreaks and unspeakably barbarous deeds of retaliation by the latter, as the exception.

    "Taught by the Government that they had rights entitled to respect, when those rights have been assailed by the rapacity of the white man, the arm which should have been raised to protect them has ever been ready to sustain the aggressor.

    "The testimony of some of the highest military officers of the United States is on record to the effect that, in our Indian wars, almost without exception, the first aggressions have been made by the white man, and the assertion is supported by every civilian of reputation who has studied the subject. In addition to the class of robbers and outlaws who find impunity in their nefarious pursuits on the frontiers, there is a large class of professedly reputable men who use every means in their power to bring on Indian wars for the sake of the profit to be realized from the presence of troops and the expenditures of Government funds in their midst. They proclaim death to the Indians at all times in words and publications, making no distinction between the innocent and the guilty. They irate the lowest class of men to the perpetration of the darkest deeds against their victims, and as judges and jurymen shield them from the justice due to their crimes. Every crime committed by a white man against an Indian is concealed or palliated. Every offence committed by an Indian against a white man is borne on the wings of the post or the telegraph to the remotest corner of the land, clothed with all the horrors which the reality or imagination can throw around it. Against such influences as these the people of the United States need to be warned."

   To assume that it would be easy, or by any one sudden stroke of legislative policy possible, to undo the mischief and hurt of the long past, set the Indian policy of the country right for the future, and make the Indians at once safe and happy, is the blunder of a hasty and uninformed judgment. The notion which seems to be growing more prevalent, that simply to make all Indians at once citizens of the United States would be a sovereign and instantaneous panacea for all their ills and all the Government's perplexities, is a very inconsiderate one. To administer complete citizenship of a sudden, all round, to all Indians, barbarous and civilized alike, would be as grotesque a blunder as to dose them all round with any one medicine, irrespective of the symptoms and needs of their diseases. It would kill more than it would cure. Nevertheless, it is true, as was well stated by one of the superintendents of Indian Affairs in 1857, that, "so long as they are not citizens of the United States, their rights of property' must remain insecure against invasion. The doors of the federal tribunals being barred against them while wards and dependents, they can only partially exercise the rights of free government, or give to those who make, execute, and construe the few laws they are allowed to enact, dignity sufficient to make them respectable. While they continue individually to gather the crumbs that fall from the table of the United States, idleness, improvidence, and indebtedness will be the rule, and industry, thrift, and freedom from debt the exception. The utter absence of individual title to particular lands deprives every one among them of the chief incentive to labor and exertionˇthe very mainspring on which the prosperity of a people depends."

    All judicious plans and measures for their safety and salvation must embody provisions for their becoming citizens as fast as they are fit, and must protect them till then in every right and particular in which our laws protect other "persons" who are not citizens.

    There is a disposition in a certain class of minds to be impatient with any protestation against wrong which is unaccompanied or unprepared with a quick and exact scheme of remedy. This is illogical. When pioneers in a new country find a tract of poisonous and swampy wilderness to be reclaimed, they do not withhold their hands from fire and axe till they see clearly which wav roads should run, where good water will spring, and what crops will best grow on the redeemed land. They first clear the swamp. So with this poisonous and baffling part of the domain of our national affairsˇlet us first "clear the swamp."

    However great perplexity and difficulty there may be in the details of any and every plan possible for doing at this late day anything like justice to the Indian, however hard it may be for good statesmen and good men to agree upon the things that ought to be done, there certainly is, or ought to he, no perplexity' whatever, no difficulty whatever, in agreeing upon certain things that ought not to be done, and which must cease to be done before the first steps can be taken toward righting the wrongs, curing the ills and wiping out the disgrace to us of the present condition of our Indians.

    Cheating, robbing, breaking promisesˇthese three are clearly things which must cease to be done. One more thing, also, and that is the refusal of the protection of the law to the Indian's rights of property, "of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

    When these four things have ceased to be done, time, statesmanship, philanthropy, and (Christianity can slowly and surely do the rest. Till these four things have ceased to be done, statesmanship and philanthropy alike must work in vain. and even Christianity can reap but small harvest.