Rough and almost savage as he sometimes was, he was still the index to a great improvement. Rude as the system was, it gave shape and order to what had before been mere chaos.
The ranger marks a new era, then; his existence is another chapter in the history of the west. Previous to his time, each pioneer depended only on himself for defence--his sole protection, against the wild beast and the savage, was his rifle--self-dependence was his peculiar characteristic. The idea of a fighting establishment--the germ of standing armies--had never occurred to him: even the rudest form of civil government was strange to him--taxes, salaries, assessments, were all "unknown quantities."
But, gradually, all this changed; and with his circumstances, his character was also modified. He lost a little of his sturdy independence, his jealousy of neighborhood was softened--his solitary habits became more social--he acknowledged the necessity for concert of action--he merged a part of his individuality into the community, and--became a ranger.
In this capacity, his character was but little different to what it had been before the change; and, though that change was a great improvement, considered with reference to society, it may safely be doubted whether it made the individual more respectable. He was a better _citizen_, because he now contributed to the common defence: but he was not a better _man_, because new associations brought novel temptations, and mingling with other men wore away the simplicity, which was the foundation of his manliness. Before assuming his new character, moreover, he never wielded a weapon except in his own defence--or, at most, in avenging his own wrongs. The idea of justice--claiming reparation for an injury, which he alone could estimate, because by him alone it was sustained--protected his moral sense. But, when he assumed the vindication of his neighbor's rights, and the reparation of his wrongs--however kind it may have been to do so--he was sustained only by the spirit of hatred to the savage, could feel no such justification as the consciousness of injury.
Here was the first introduction of the mercenary character, which actuates the hireling soldier; and, though civilization was not then far enough advanced, to make it very conspicuous, there were other elements mingled, which could not but depreciate the simple nobility of the pioneer's nature. Many of the qualities which, in him, had been merely passive, in the ranger became fierce and active. We have alluded, for example, to his hatred of the Indian; and this, habit soon strengthened and exaggerated. Nothing marks that change so plainly as his adoption of the barbarous practice of scalping enemies.