Toward the close of his life he went thither to indulge once
more, in the pleasures of the chase, where a forest apparently of
considerable extent, yet remained. He entered it, recognizing some of his
ancient friends among the more venerable of the trees, and hoping yet to
find abundant game. But he had not proceeded far before he approached an
opening; and his course was presently impeded by a fence, within the
enclosure of which, one of the pale faces was guiding the plow. With a
heavy heart he turned in another direction, the forest seeming yet to be
deep, and where he hoped to find a deer, as in the days when he was young.
But he had not traveled long, before another opening broke upon his view,
another fence impeded his course, and another cultivated field appeared
within. He sat down and wept." [Footnote: Circumstances related to Col.
Stone by a Seneca chief.]
It has been well observed: "The whole life of the Seneca chief was spent
in vain endeavors to preserve the independence of his tribe, and in active
opposition as well to the plans of civilization proposed by the
benevolent, as to the attempts at encroachment on the part of the
mercenary.... He yielded nothing to persuasion, to bribery, or to menace,
and never to his last hour remitted his exertions, in what he regarded the
noblest purpose of his life." [Footnote: McKenney's Biography.]
But at the close of life, Red Jacket began to realize more than ever the
power of those forces bearing down upon him, to resist which he had
summoned all the energies he could command.
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