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Show REPORT OF CORIMISSIONER. 9 recent law of Congress, the commission was dissolved, and the duty of prosecuting negotiations with the Indians in Oregon was imposed on the regular officers of the Indian department in that Territory. Superintendent Dart reports that he met a delegation from almost every tribe east of the Cascade mountains, and all, except the Snake and Rogue river Indians, were snbmissive to his authority; and he considers the In-dians generally, in Oregon, as the most temperate, peaceful, and easily manaeed of all our wilder tribes. He has been successfi~l in ne~oriatina sex-era important treaties wit11 them, >j-l~ichar e represented as hiihly ad: rantageous to the Government, but they have not yet been received at this I office. From our agents in California much interesting information has been received concerning the Indians in that State, but it is unfortunately of too desultory a character to be entirely satisfactory. A number of treaties have been made with these Indians, embracing from eighty to ninety tribes or bands; and, although considerable opposition by citizens of California to the measures of the agents has been exhibited, yet there is reason to believe that much good has resulted from their efforts to put a stop to hostilities, and secure peace for the future between the whites and the Jndians. Of the necessity or expediency of the particular measures adopted by them for this and other purposes, it is difficult, at this distance from the scene of I operations, to judgk 16th confidence, especially as there is on some pointsa difference of opinion anlong the agents themselves. In the treatles negotiated with the Indians in California and Oregon there are novel provisions, the practical operation of which cannot be fore-seen. Whether they shall be ratified as they stand, is a question which will, of course, be duly considered by those whose cunstitutional province it is to determine in 1\.11at fonn they shall become a part of the supreme law of the land. The means heretofore placed at the disposal of the Department applica-ble to Indian purposes in California have been manifestly inadequate. It isquite evident that, without the expenditures of large sums of money, our Indian affairs in California and Oregon cannot be properly conducted; and in this connexion I respectfully suggest the policy of passing a law estab-lishing the office of Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs for that State and Territory. A general and controlling power, more direct than it is possible for this office to bring to bear, is of the highest importance in the adjusto~enot f our relations with the numerous tribes of Indians in those remote portions of our wide-spread domain. It will be seen from the reports of the Governor and ex officio Snperin-tendent of Indian Affairs in New Mexico, that no material change has taken place in the condition of our Indian relations in that Territory since my last annual report. The apparently slow progress which has been made in the work uf establishing friendly relations with such Indians of the Territory as have been for years plundering and murdering the inhah-itants, without fear or restraint, may be justly attributed to a combination of circnn~stances over which the officers of this Department have had no control. The country itself, wild, desert, and mountainous; the savage nature and ontamed habits of most of the Indians who roam over it; the lawlessness of manr of its other inhabitants, often more reckless than the Indians rl~amselvt~tsh; e scnnr:rrd, mixed, and hrterogeneous cll;trac~rro f its pul~ulution in qenenl-111 tend lo prodnce a elate uf rliinq 20 discredit- I |
