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Show REPORT OF THE COMlIISSIONXR OF ISDIAN AFFAIRS. DEPARTMENOTF THE INTERIOR, O@ce Indian Affairs, i\bsember 26, 1653. SIR: I have the honor to submit a general view of the present co~ldi-tion of our Indian relations, and statement of the operations of this branch of the public service during the past year. Referring to the accompanj-iug reports of the different superintend-ents, agents, and other persons employed for the benefit of the Indians, for more detailed and. specific information in regard to their present con-dition and prospects, I would rcmnrk, that peace and tranquillity have prevailed generelly amon$ the emigrated and other tribes along the extensive inner frontiers, from Lake Superior and our northern boun-dary to Texas, with whom n-e 11;lre conventional relations and inter-course of long standing. In rr,prd tu thnsc Inore remote, and more recently brought under the super\.isir,n of the department, fewer oc-currences of a painful nature have becn reported than might have been anticipated. The whole number of Indian; n-it!lin our limits is estimated at 400,000. About 18,000 yet linccr in some of the States east of the hIississippi river-principall~ in Sc\x- lTork. Michigan, and Wisconsin ; the remainder, consisting ot Chcrr~kees, Chocta~vs, and Seminoles, being in Xorth Carolina, hlississipl)i, and Florida. The number in Minnesota, an:l :~!r,n~. the frontiers of the western States to Texas, comprising mainlj- emigrated tribes, is estimated at 110,000 ; those of the plains and Rock- mountains, and not within any of our organized territories, at 63,000 ; thoze in Texas at 29,000 ; those in New Mexico at 45,000; those in 'alifornia at 100,000; those in Utah at 12,000; and those in the Terrirorics of Oregon and Washing-ton at 23,000. The unfortunate and distracting controversy for some time existing among the Seneca Indians of New YI rk, in regard to their form of gov-ernment, seems happily to have terminated; the republican system, adopted by the majority in 1848, being apparently now acquiesced in by the remainder, by whom it was long and strenuously opposed. The dictates of humanity and good policy alike require the eerly and effective interposition of the government in respect to the Indlans of Michigan. These Indians, some seven thousand in number, are represented to be divided into more than sixty separate communities ; and are to be found in nearly every county of the State. Nany of them, being without any settled places of habitation, and padually imbibing the worst vices of' civilization, are beconling vitintrd and degraded, a pest and a nuisance to the neighborhoods where they resort. In. this unsettled, dispersed, and otherwise unfavorahle condition, nothing can be done to reclaim and improve them. Thosc of their more fortunate brethren, who have enjoyed the advantages of fixed locations, present - |