"by inches"

[szaroczek]

Citation of "An Indian's Looking-Glass..." (in bigger context to make it clearer):

"Now I will ask if the Indians are not called the most ingenious people among us. And are they not said to be men of talents? And I would ask: Could there be a more efficient way to distress and murder them by inches(1) than the way they have taken(2)? And there is no people in the world but(3) who may be destroyed in the same way."

1) One meaning of "by inches" I encountered in the dictionaries was "almost". Is it a case here or it means something different?

2) Does "the way they have taken" here mean "the way it happened to them"?

3) I've received a good lesson here about the "but" word a while ago in a equivalent meaning I believe, so I'm just testing myself now. The last sentence in the quotation would in other words mean: "And there is no people in the world who could NOT be destroyed in the same way." Right?

[J&K Tutoring]

1. "by inches" usually means 'bit by bit'. Not enough context to be certain.

2. Does "the way they have taken" here mean "the way it happened to them"? You may be right, but there are way too many pronouns to be sure. Knowing enough US history, I'm guessing that the Indians are the ones being murdered, so "the way they have taken" means the method the US government used to murder the indians.

3. You are correct.

[szaroczek]

Thank you; that works. And by the way, what are you doing in... China!?

[J&K Tutoring]

Iceland was too cold...

[szaroczek]

O yeah, it really is!