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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. - DEPARTMEONR TTH E INTERIOR, Ojice Indian Afl~irsN,o vember 30, 1852. SIR: Among,the errors that abound respecting our Indian relations, there is one so mjurious to our national reputation that it should not be disregarded. The opinion is extensively entertained that our whole course of conduct towards the red men of this country has been I marked by injustice and inhumanity. An enlightened comideration of the subject will lead to a different conclusion. When civilization and barbarism are brought in such relation that they cannot coexist together, it is right that the superiority of the former shonld be asserted anJ the latter compelled to givs way. It is, I therefore,uo matter of regret or reproach that so large a portion of our territory has been wrested from its aboriginal inhabitants and made the happy abodes of an enlightened and Christian people. That the I I means employed to effect this grand result have not always been just, or that the conquest has been attended by a vast amount of human suffering, cannot be denied. Of the Indian's wrongs there is, indeed, no earthly record. But it will not be forgotten, by those who have a correct understanding of this subject, that much of the injury of which the red man and his friends complain has been the inevitable conse-quence of his own perverse and ricious nature. In the long and varied conflict between the u-hite man and the red-civilization and barbar-ism- the former has olien been compelled to recede, and be destroyed, or to advance and destroy. The history of the contest, however, bears witness to the fact that the xictor has, in ,general, manifested a generous desire, not o+ to spare the vanquished, but to improve his condition. It would be a difficult task to count the enormous sums of money that have been expended by the government and by hilan-thropic individuals in their manifold efforts to reclaim and civi f' ize the Indians within our limits; and who can fail to remember, with rever-ence and regret, LL the noble army of martyrs" who have sacrificed themselves in this holy cause? The results, it is true, have not been commensurate with the means employed; but enough has been achieved to attest the practicability of the lndian's redemption, and to stimulate to further and persevering exertions to accomplish the work. Those tribes with whom we have'treaty engagements, and who are more closely connected with us, through the medium of agents, con-tinue to receive healthful impulses towards a higher and better con-dition. And even those who are more wild, and less inclined to cast off their indigenous habits of indolence and improvidence, are begitlr ning to profit by the good example of the other class. The embarrass- - to wh& they are subiected, in consequence of the onward pressure of the whites, are gradually teaching them the im-l e s s o n t h a t t h e y e th e11 mode ot Me, or cease to' |