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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFBII1S. 11 1 which have been constantly pressed on this office. Attention was I called to this matter by Commissioner Lea, on the 7th April, 1852, in a comuiunicatiou to the Secretary of the Interior, in which he re- I commended tbat an appropriation should be made to enable the de-partment to investigate the claims. On the 13th of the same month, in response to a resolution of the Senate, he renewed thisrecommenda-tion; but no action was taken by Congress in reference to it until 1854, when, by the act of 29th July of that year, a special appro-priation of $183,825, "with interest thereon from the first day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, at the rate of ten per centum per annum," was made to pay John Charles FrBmont, who was one of the claimants. Congress having thus acknowledged the validity of these claims, I beg leave to renew the recommendation of Commis-sioner Lea, tbat they should be investigated with a view to their final settlement. As the matter stands at present, some of the commis-sioners are charged with large sums of money ; and as they allege that they were surrounded with such a state of affairs as to make these expenditures necessary in order to avert an Indian war, and that their action did have that effect, it isproper that their conduct I should be investi ated, and if found justifiable, that they should be relieved from su 8 h heavy liabilities, and have their accounts adjusted with the government. I would invite special attention to the report of the superintendent for Oregon and Washington, from which it appears to be manifest I that our relations with the lndians in those Territories are in a very critical condition, and that under the existing state of things there is 1 a constant liability to a general outbreak on their part from any dis-turbing cause, which must involve the expenditure of millions to sub- I due them, as well as the most lamentable loss of life and property by the insufficiently protected white inhabitants. The non-ratification of the treaties heretofore made to extinguish their title to the lands necessary for the occupancy and use of our citizens seems to have produced no little disappointment, and the continued extension of our settlements into their territory, without any compensation being made to them, is a constant source of dissatisfaction and hostile feel-ing. They are represented as being willing to dispose of their lands to the government, and I know of no alternative to the present un-satisfactory and dangerous state of things but the adoption of early measures for the extinguishment of their title, and their colonization on properly-located reservations, using and applying the consideration agreed to be allowed to them for their lands to subsist and clothe them until they can he taught and influenced to support and sustain themselves. The losses and damage to the government and to the citizens resulting from another general outbreak on the part of these Indians would probably fully equal, if not exceed, in amount what would be necessary to buy out and colonize them, so that they could be effectually controlled, if not improved and civilized. Our settlements, as well as the friendly Indians along Puget's Sound and the waters of Admiralty inlet, suffer materially from the preda-tory incursions of the Indians from Vancouver's island, and the other adjacent British and Russian possessions. They are an enterprising, |