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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 171 by a member of the, nation, Mr. W. P. Boudinot, is published weekly in the English aiid Cherokee languages. If let alone, lie, did not think that their most earnest friends would have cause to complain of their future development. So far, all complaints about their condition came, not from them they were anxious to be pro-tected in their homes and institutions but from interested parties beyond their country, lie fully indorsed tin- remarks of previous speakers about the, allowing of the Indians to remain peaceably upon their present reservations, particularly in the Indian Territory, which should be as sacredly preserved as it had been solemnly pledged by all departments of the Government for the exclusive, homes of the Indians as long as '' grass grew or water run." The influences at work to u open " this last home of the race are powerful, representing great and diversitied interests. White men all around them want their lands, and railroad companies want it with their contingent land-grants covering from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 of acres of the choicest portions of the Terri-tory. Politicians want it, to appease their constituents at home and open np a new field for place- and preferment. It is said we have too much land. This is a mistake, when the now overrated character of the country shall be duly estimated, and the Indians from Kansas and elsewhere, who must tind'uew homes, shall be brought into the Territory. But even if such were the case, what more right has any man to say that I and my children shall have only so much of that which is our own, than he has to parcel out, upon the same principle, the lands, money, houses, ami possessions of the citizens of your cities and States ? The constant agitation of the Indian question is most injurious iii its effects upon the Indians, and would demoralize any people. How can you expect them to build substantial houses, mills, and farms, plant orchards, and make comfortable homes, when they have, no assurance that they will not soon be driven from them without so much as adequate compensation ? The question of a territorial government now deeply interests us. " The Ocmulgee Con-stitution," adopted at a general council of the Territory in 1870, and which was framed for a purely Indian organization with limited powers and within the purview of then-treaties', has failed to be put into operation in consequence of amendments proposed in bills before Congress, and which entirely change its character and made it simply a territorial government of the United States. Those amendments placed the appoint-ment of all its executive and judicial officers in the hands of the Executive, and deprived them of any voice in electing those to rule over them ; a change to which whites would not consent.. With every confidence in President Grant, they could not foresee the char-acter of men who might succeed him in the executive chair and change entirely his policy of justice and humanity, already productive of purifying and happy results. If let alone, the civilized tribes were destined to exert a wide influence over their wild brethren of the plains. They met many of them in council last April, established peace with them, ad vised peace toward the whites and invited them to visit them at their homes and to adopt their habits of civilization. Since then there have been no serious disturbance and no bloody raids, by any of the Indians then repersented, into Texas. The party guilty of the Fort Richardson massacre were not at the council, but were then on tho war- path, as alleged, against the Ute Indians. He was most hopeful for the, future of even those Indians. SAMUEL CIIICOTE, principal chief of the Creek Nation, was invited to address the conference. The chief spoke, through an interpreter, D. N. Mclntosh, in brief as fol-lows : I am glad to meet with the gentlemen of the peace commission, the honorable Secre-tary of the Interior, and the officers of the missionary societies present. I believe that you are here to do the work your Heavenly Father has given you to do. I have lis-tened with great gratiri cation to your reports of the progress of Christianizing and' civilizing the Indians. Our people once occupied the country east of the Mississippi. While there the missionaries came to us and taught us the law of one common Father to all men from the law of God. They were sowers sowing the good seed which was afterward to spring up an hundredfold among them in their new homes in the Indian country. It was to them the fountain of all knowledge, and shed light upon their people which has since spread all over their land. They began to learn to cultivate the soil, raise stock, and follow in the path of the white man. For this progress they are indebted to the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Moravians, and Episcopalians, and they still pray earnestly that these religious bodies will continue their efforts among them, and that the (' reeks may still further advance in Christianity and the arts of civilization. If he had planted a field and saw it growing prosperously he should feel that it deserved his careful attention until the grain had ripened and the harvest was gathered. Particularly do they desire that their children shall be educated in the English language. The old people should have, translations read to them. The Creeks have thirty- two neighborhood schools, and two manual- labor schools, fdled with pupils. Soon after the late war closed, the Methodist manual- labor school took lire and was destroyed. The Creek council appropriated $ 10,000 to rebuild it. When completed there were eighty scholars admitted, and over fifty additional appli-cants rejected for want of room. |