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removal with the least possible delay. Late advices from the special agent represent that Bowlegs adheres to his promise. since his return. A council of his people had been called for the purpose of making preliminary arrangements, and a general emigration may reasonably be expected at an early day. At the last session of Congress an appropriation was made for the Eurpo,,e of effecting the removal from Texas of certain Indians who ave intruded themselves into that State from the territories of the Uni-ted States." Suitable instructions in regard to this subject have been given to the pioper agents of the department; but the measure contem-plated is difficult to execute, and su5cient time and information have not yet been afforded to determine when and in what way the object may be accomplished. I have been informed, though nnofficially, that the legislature of Texas have passed some act or resolution authorizing the Governor of the State to open negotiations with the Executive of the United States concerning the allotment of a portion of her territory as a common home for the Indians resident within her limits. The ex- / pediency of such an arrangement has been repeatedly and earnestly urged in reports from this office. It is, indeed, indispensable to a proper adjustment of Indian affairs in that State. The most recent advices from New Mexico represent the Indians in that Territory as generally friendly, and that our relations with them are in a more satisfactory condition. In the vicinity of El Paso, how-ever, the depredations of the Apaches are of frequent occurrence. A well organized and energetic body of mounted men, acting as scouting arties through the region infested by these marauding sa\.ages, is, per-gaps, the only eEectual means of holding them in check. The Kavajos and other tribes in this Te r r i t o ~h,e retofore ho>de and mischievous, have recently manifested a disposition to abandon their p r e d a t o ~h abits and to seek support in the cultivation of the soil. To this end they are anxious to be furnished with agricultural and other implements of husbandry, and a judicious expenditure of a moderate appropriation in this way would doubtless be justified by considerations of economy alone. Notwithstanding the mountain and rairie Indians continue to suffer from the vast number of emigrants w! o pass through their country, destroying their means of support, and scattering disease and death among them, yet those who were parties to the treaty concluded at Fort Laramie in the fall of 1851 have been true to their obli ations, and have remained at peace among themselves and with the wktes. The negotiations provided for by a late act of Congess with the Comanches, Kioways, and other Indians on the Ark- ri\-er, have been necessarily postponed until the ensuing spring. It will then be expedient to make them parties to the treaty of Fort Laramie or to one containing similar provistons. At an early period in the last summer, the agent for the Indians in Utah undertook, with the approbation of the governor of the Territory, an expedition to the various tribes therein occupd&g the region west of the Great Salt Lake. The thoroughfare of travel to California and Oregon passes through their country, and ihe object of the ex edition was to prevent a recurrence, if possible, of numerous and o? te n fatal |
