OCR Text |
Show I lo REPORT OF THE In the recent negotiations for their lands the Indians dwelt upon the former pledges and promises made to them, and were averse gen-erally to the surrender of any portion of their country. They said that they were to have the land "as long as grass grew or water run," and they feared the result if they should consent to yield any part of their possessions. When they did consent to sell, it was only on the condition that each tribe should retain a portion of their tract as a permanent home. All were unitedly and firmly opposed to an-other removal. So fixed and settled was this idea, that propositions clearly for their interests were rejected by them. The residence of the tribes who have recently ceded their lands should, therefore, be considered (subject in a few cases to a contraction of limits) as permanently fixed. Already the white populutiou is occupying the lands between and adjacent to the Indian reservations, and even going west of and beyond them; and at no distant day all the country immediately to the west of the reserves which is worth occupying will have been taken up. And then the current of popula-tion, until within a few years flowing only from the east, now comes sweeping like an avalanche from the Pacific coast, almost overwhelm-ing the indigenous Indians in its approaches. It is therefore, in my judgment, clear, beyond doubt or question, that the emigrated tribes in Kansas Territory are permanently there-there to be thoroughly civilized, and to become a constituent portion of the population, or there to be destroyed and exterminated. What a spectacle for the view of the statesman, philanthropist, Christian-a subject for the most profound consideration and reflection1 With reservations dot-ting the eastern portion of the Territory, th* they stand, the repre-sentatives and remnants of tribes once as powerful and dreaded as they are now weak anddispirited. By alternate persuasion and force, some of these tribes have been removed, step by step, from mountain to valley, and from river to plain, until they have been pashed half-way across the continent. They can go no further; on the ground they now occupy the crisis must be met, and their future determined. Among them may be found the educated, civilized, and converted Indian, the benighted and inveterate heathen, and every intermediate grade. But there they are, and as they are, with outstanding obliga-tions in their behalf of the mast solemn and imperative character, voluntarily assumed by the government. Their condition is a critical one; such as to entitle them not only to the justice of the government, but to the most profound sympathy of the people. Extermination may be their fate, but not of necessity. By a union of good influences and proper effort, I believe they may, and will, be saved, and their complete civilization effected. Be that as it may, however, the duty of the government is, in my opinion, plain. It should fulfil, with the greatest promptness and fidelity, every treaty stipulation with these Indians; frown down, at the first dahing, any and every attempt to corrupt them; see that their ample annuities are directed faithfully to their education and improvement, and not made the means of their destruction; inces-santly resist the efforts of the selfish and heartless men who, by spe-cious plans and devices for their own gain, may seek to distract and |