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Show 20 REPORT OF THE no obligation to treat with Indians occnpying the same for the extinguisllment of their title. If this position is correct, it would seem to follow that the policy so long pursuea by onr government in negotiating treaties with Indians, and thus extinguishing their titles to land within our borders, has been radically wrong; for as the Indians occupied the territory of both nations prior to the advent of the European races upon this continent, it seems clear t.hat they held lands in the territory of Mexico and the United States by precisely the same tenure. Be this as it may, the necessity that the Indians of this snperintend-ency shall he concentrated upon suitable reservations is imperative. The rapid spread of our population has reached this as well as our other Territories. New settlements are everywhere springing up ; the Indians in large and imposing numbers are in their midst, leading a wild and predatory life, gaining a scanty subsistence by the chase and an irregular and iuqierfect cultivation of the soil ; a constant source of irritation and vexation to the whites, and it would seem in a condition utterly at variance with the prosperity, welfare, and improvement of themselves or their white neighbors. To cure all bhese evils ; to foster and pro-tect our own settlements; to secure theultimate perpetuity of the Territory, and a speedy development of its resources, and to reclaim and civilize the Indians, but one course is, in my judgment, left, and that is the concentration of the In-dians upon ample reseiliittions suitable for their permanent and happy homes, and to he sacredly held for that purpose. To effect this desirable object two methods are suggested; the one is to set apart from the public domain ample and snitable reservations, and by liberal appropriations provide a fund whereby the Indians may be located thereon, and enabled to commence their new mode of life under favorable circumstances; the other is to aclcnowledge that they hold the public domain by the same tenure that Indiana held in other Territories, negotiate treaties with them for the extinguishment of their title, and thus pro-vide a fund for the purposes above mentioned. That the latter method is prefer-able I have no doubt, for the reason that whichever may he adopted will be attended with the same expense; while the latter, by a treaty, to which the Indians are themselves parties, forever silences all claims they may have to that part of the public domain not reserved by them, for which they will feel that they have received a fair equivalent. Besides, they will not feel, as would he the case if tlie former method is adopted, that they have been removed by irre-aistihle power from the lands over which they and their ancestors once held. absolute dominion, and that to make room for the white man they are robbed of their hunting grounde, crowded upon scanty reservations,, and compelled to anhsist upon his bounty. It may well be suggested, in support of the plan for which I have thns ex-pressed a preference, that while the act of transfer of the territory occupied by these Indians not only reserved to them all tlie rights wbich they had obtained by the consent of the Btexim anthorities, it also placed them within the pro-tection of the. general policy established by the United States for the govem-ment of other tribes. It would seem to be au anomaly to pursne that policy as to a portion of the trihes and withhold it from others, and would produce con-fusion in the working of the system. That one or. the other of these methods should be adopted, not only in this but also in the Utah and Dalifo~nia.super-intendencies, is demanded by every consideration, whether it be of prudence, economv. or enli~gh,t ened states mans hi^. and I therefore trust that this snbiect may bbl,rrcentt.cl to (lon~n,.+a;ti it3 approncl.ing pr-?ion, itnd i t s runsidrr~Tiou ot and approprinrc action upot~t he. same enm~!ctly= olicired. One ort~eri uhjt.ct of romnlaiot in rhi- euv~rint~~ndetdtcrmv nndd immvdinre arr~nrion. It i; :he indemGty claims of many of its citizens for losses sustained by Indian depre-dations. These claims are numerous, and in the aggregate large. They extend over a series of years, and some of them are exceedingly complex and difficult of adjustment. As each year's delay only serves to add to the difficulties of a |