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Show 1 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. It is by industry or extinction that the problem of their w u s t , solved One of the surest guarantees for the ood conduct of our Indians is an adeouate knowledge of the mwer o f the eovemment. Where such knovle&ge prevails, iris corn a;atively easy tz control them ; but where displays of our power have l! een feeble or fit ul, the natural tendencies of the Indian to rapine and slaughter operate with but little restraint. In the extension of our settlements and the increasing intercourse be-tween our Atlantic and Pacific possessions much opportunity is afforded the aborigines of the interior to learn the truth concerning us. And it is only where this opportunity is wanting,. or where there has been remissness on our part to make proper exhibitions of our superior strength, that a disposition is found to thwart the policy or provoke the hostility of the government. . . Though some of the tribes with whom we baGe treaty relations have suffered through indolence, vice, and an obstinate adherence to ahorigi-nal modes and habits, it is gratifying to know that a majority of them are substantially improving their condition ; and notwithstanding their gnEeringe, in many cases, have doubtless been severe, perha s the wis-dom they have thus acquired has not been purchased too dear f y. Deep- I seated maladies can be remedied by no superficial curatives; and it has been the work of hunger, disease, and death to arouse in the sur-vivors a pe~ceptiouo f the only conditions upon which human life and comfort can ha sustained on earth. The mission and other schools established amongst the various tribes are generally prosperous, especially those in which the principle of manual labor is a leading feature. As impatience of regular labor, ex-hibited in unsteadiness of application, is the radical defect of the Indian character, it is but a dictate of common sense to address ourselves first and mainly to its correction. This effected, a foundation is laid upon which our best hopes for the reclamation of the savage may be safely built. Without it, no matter to what extent we may educate a few individnals of a tribe, lasting good is rarely produced. The merely book-taught Indian, if the radical failing be unreformed, is almost cer-tain to resume, at length, the barbarism of his original condition, de-riving no other advantages from his acq6irements than a more rehed cunnmng, and a greater ability to concoct and perpetrate schemes of 1 mischicf and violence. The dissensions among the Seneca Indians in New York, respecting their form of government, having assumed a serious aspect, the Presi-dent, in July last, directed that steps should he taken to ascertain the sense of the nation on the subject. An election was accordingly held, at which all the votes cast were in favor of the rebtablishment of the old system of government by chiefs. But the number of votes was only 194, while the whole number of voters on the several reservations amounts to 664; and it appears that those in favor of maintaining the present elective government unanimously refused to attend the polls. rhis they did on the ground that it would be wrong to take part in any revolutionary proceeding, as their constitution provides that it shall stand unchanged for at least five years. The result of the election not |