Message from the President of the United States, in answer to a resolution of the Senate relative to the British establishments on the Columbia, and the state of the fur trade &c.

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[ 39 J -0 In answer to your first inquiry, I will remark, that my ideas on this sub­ject wt·re commu11icated to a part of the represeutation in Congress from 1\'lissouri three years ago. l then did, and do yet, believe that a mounted force is the only one that can operate advantageously in tha1 country. This force ot..ght, in my opinion, to consist of about five hundred mounted rifle­men, who should be enlistet.l expressly for that service, anticipating at the time of enlistment the privations peculiar to it, or selections made of suita­ble men now in the army. These troops ou~ht to subsist themselves, which they could do with convenience, so soon as the officers become acquainted with the country in 'which they would have to operate. In addition to the rifle, one half of the command should be armed with sabres. Four pieces of light artillery would be found convenient and useful. The patent rifle which I examined in your office appears, in one particular, to be well calculated for this service, in a8 much as it ean be convenien1ly and quickly charged on horseback; but I have been heretofore prejudiced against this description of gun~, believing that they were subject, by u~e, to get out of order, and could not be repaired without mueh difficulty. Putting, therefore, these guns out of 1he question, of the utility of which I know but little, I would recommend a rifle, th.e l~arrel of which ~hould not exceed three feet in length, carrying a ball we1ghmg ~bout tl.1ree fourths of an ounce) and having metal sufficient to support a ball of tha1 size. I have used the percussion locks but little, but believe them admirabiy well constructed for general use, but more particu­larly for the prairies, where severe winds and rains prevail at certain sea­sous of the year. Great convenience would be experienced from having every gun of the same dimensions, every $pring, screw, &c , &c., of the loc~s, of the same si.ze and .form. This being the case, every material of one would fit, and m1~ht be used m any one. The gun stick, er thimble rod, ought to be of lar~e size, and of wood; iron sometimes batters the muz­zle, and ma.kes the gun Rhoot wild. The only difference should be in the le~gth of the b~eech: some should, in this partirular, be longer than others, to S~It the arms of those who use them. In 1 heir weight, and in every other par­ticular, except the breech, they ought to be the same. In that case, when a ~an became accustomed to the use of one, he could, with the same conve­nience, u~e any on~ of them. The sabre will he found useful, and almost indis­pensable m operatiOns a~ainst Indians mounted on horseback and armed with bo~s a~d arro~s.' ~ hich thPy nse with great dexterity ;nd effect. The Indian~~~ the VlCimty of the Rocky mountains are very much in the habit of ~ortifymg some strong point convenient to where thev intend attacking their enemv by the way f · h · · · • • w ' ,. o covermg t e1r retreat tf unsuccessful and fear- Ing pursUit. rhcy us" e the S arne precauti.O n w h en 'e ncamped when' ever they apprehend tlanger · When covered in this way they figh; desperately be-fore they can b.e ousted · It I· s m· cases o f t hI' s' km· d, as well as I· n many othe~s, that artillery would be found convenient. ~~ve hundred .troops, armed and equipped as proposed, would, in my opmwn.' be suffictent to contend against any Indian force that could be convemently brought :1gainst th · · h 1 · · f d " . . em, a muc ess number mwht be In dan.,.er o e.1eat provided the Indi II h 1 · r-, :o us I ' . ans genera Y s ou d be disposed to w-1r agamst f · t Jeems ~0 me, t~at, If the Government undertake to protect the fron- Iers anh tr 1 ·addeb m questwn, it ought to be done effectually. No half. way mea-sures s ou e adopted. sho ffi . " . all · · ' . ~a su c~ent wrce In the country to put down shoowp posi·t ion, and all o£p pos1hon will cease without .C:-'h ed d ' f b) d B t 1 n g o oo . u ~ an Incompetent orce, which may tempt the Indians to attack and de-s [ 39 J feat it, and the result will not only be the loss of many lives and extreme mortification, but the expenditure of money to reach the object in view more than perhaps five or ten times the amount which will be necessary, should the Government p~.rsue the proper course in the first instance. The protection to be afforded should be extended as eq~ally as practicable to all our citizens engaged in the trade of that country, whether to Santa Fe or with the Indians. And as it cannot be expected that every caravan will be furnished an escort, let its destination be where it ma.r, the force ought there­f<:> re to be sufficient to overawe the Indians, and thereby render escorts unne­ce~ sary It seems to me that economy of lives and money dic.tates this course. To operate against the Indians who have heretofore committed out­rag,~ s upon our Santa Fe traders, one hundred men would be all sufficient; but it is reasonable to suppose 1hat the success of the offenders on this route will induce others to join them. Let us consider the force of the Indians in th::~ t qu~rter who are now recognised as our enemies; those who have taken a menacing; attitude, and those who are, or pretend to be, friendly, but who may be broll~ht to action against us. In this way it may be better seen whether protectioll is necessary, and what that protection ought to be. The Indians south of the Arkan~as r iver I know but little about; they are very troublesome to the Spanish settleme•Jts, and are considered dangerous in that quarter. They are charged with participating in the recent depreda­tions on the Santa Fe route; but I am of opinion that the principal actors in these ou trages, and perhaps the only ones, were the Arapahoes and the K e1 w.1s. These people reside on the head waters of the Arkansas, between the Santa Fe road and the mountains. They extend their excursions to the head waters of the Pbtte, and across the mountains to the Rio Colorado of the west. ThPy can muster about five hundret.l warriors, and arc tolerably \veil supplied with arms and p.mmunition. From many circumstances withia my own knowledge, in relation to the condnct of these people, and from accounts received from some of the Santa Fe traders who were robbed last faU, I feel assur('d that tiwse tribes of Indians have been the offenders. They are the particular fri ends and relati ,·es of the Blackfoots, who reside on the head waters of the Nlissouri, and whn are our most bitter enemies. These tribes keep up a constant intercourse with each other. In August, 1825, seven hundred famili es of the Blackfoots visited the Arap:-~hoes, and remained with or near them until the ensuin~ summer. The Blackfoots have alto­gether amon~ their several bands from four to six thousand warriors at least. In the course of the last 18 months, these people have repea tedly ex­tended their war excursions entirely across 011r territory west of the Rocky n1ountains, aqd harassed, robbed, and slaugh tered our citizens. They can at any time conveniently reinforce the Arapahoes with one or two thousand warriors. They are well armed and supplied with amm11nition by the Hudson's Bay Company. .1\'lajor Doherty, (] nited ~tates In~ian ~gent, has aiven it as his opinion that the Pawnees, who are mcluded m h1s agency, have determined to wage war against us. The chara.cter of l\1ajor D., .his means of information, and his knowledge of the lndtan character, entitle his opinion to the gn~atest credit 1 know, too. t~at the Pawnees have bP.en dissatisfied, and have repeatedly threatened us w1th war. I was once With that nation more than a month at the same time, when they were very much excited. I heard their threats, and plans to execute them. Notwithstanding all these circumstances, [ am inclined to belie\'e that they are not yet pre­pared, and wHl not, therefore, yet commence hostilities. They want to feeJ