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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 21 ~ to the difficulty of a proper adjustment. No language can describe theenormity of the crimes committed by the Sioux; and no one will~denyth at swift and condign punishment should be meted out to the wicked perpetrators of those crimes, end the most ample security provided against their repetition. Happily we have now within the State ample means to enforce any line of policy we may choose to adopt. For the time the management of the Sioux is confided to the military authorities under the direoti6n of the War Department. I have already cs+lled your attention to the decision of a court-martial, convened by General Pope, to try a large number of the warriors engaged in the massacres, who have voluntarily, as I understand, surrendered, by which over three hun-dred of tho number have been condemned to death I cannot refrain from the expression of an opinion that the execution of this sentence would partakemore of the character of revenge than of punishmeut. I t must not be forgotten that , these savages, still red with the blood of our slaughtered kinsmen, have volun-tarily surrendered as plisoners, and that we shall never be justified in judging them by our standard of morals. They are savages, far beneath us in both moral and intellectual,culture. Their chiefs and head men wield an influence over them which it is difficult for us to uuderstand or appreciate. Upon theirleaders , rests the burden of their guilt, and upon those leaders the weight of punishment should. fall. I cannot hut believe that the death penalty, visited upon the fiends who instigated and procured the commission of these dark and bloody crimes, and a milder form of punishment for those who, it may be, were their willing tools, will be found as effectual in preventing tlieir repetition, and fdr more in accordance with the demands of justice and the spirit of the age in which welive. I find that I hav'e already extended my remarks iu relation to this superin-tendency to s much greater length than I had intended, and shall $lose with a very brief allusion to the other Indians within its limits. The Chippewas of Lake Superior, although intimately related with those of the Mississippi, and very much under the influence of Hole-in-the-day, I am graaed to state, have maintained their usual quiet and friendly relations, and have made a commendable degree of improvement during the past year. I t was at one time greatly feared that they would join in the wicked schemes of Hole-in-the-day; hut by the influence of Agent Webb, and others, in whom they have confidence, and especially of Senators ltice and Wade, who were fortunately in t.heir neighborhood at the time of the apprehended danger, they were restrained. For reasons ahearly stated, the attempt to negotiate a treaty with the Chip pewas of Pemhina and Red Lake failed. The Indians assembled at the point agreed upon for the purpose of negotiating a treaty, and there remained until they had consumed all the provisions they had brought with them, and all they could procure. They then seized about $25,000 worth of goods, mostly the property, Pt is said, of British subjects, with which Mr. Ritteon, already men-tioned, happened to he passing tl~rough the country. They stated, at the time of this seizure, that they. still desired to treat with the United States, a d were |
