OCR Text |
Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFILIRS. 25 outrages. In the month of August last, they attacked one of the reservations; killed and took captive several of the Indians ; compelled the government employ& to flee for their lives; drove off a large quantity of stock, and did great damage to the crops which were in course of cultivation for the support of the Indians. The superintend-ent estimates the loss and injury thus sustained, on the reservation, at $16,000. He states that these lawless Indians have been notorious from the early settlement of Oregon for their outrages upon emigrants, and that "it is believed that at least a hundred whites, many of them women and children, within the last ten years, have fallen by their hands." They should be severely chastised for their cruel and inhu-man conduct. This officer represents that the necessity is constantly becoming more urgent for a small and swift armed steamer in the waters of Puget's Sound, for protection against the marauding expeditions of the pirati-cal Coast Indians, north of our territory, who move so rapidly in their large war canoes that thev cannot be interce.nt ed exce.pt bv means of " an& a vessel. The appointment of an additional superintendent for the Indians in Oregon and Washington was recommended in the last two annual re-ports from this office, and the carrying out of the new treaties with those Indians will materiallv increase the sunerintendent's duties. and ,create a still greater necessity for a second officer of that grade. ' Two reservations have been established in Oregon, on which 3,000 Indians have been colonized, and are gradually being taught to labor for themselves. The new treaties provide for ten more such colonic%- three in Oregon, six in Washington Territory, and one, the boundaries of which embrace a portion of both the State and Territory. This res-ervation system is costly at first; because, for the first year or two, the Indians have to be supplied with everything, but within a reasonable period it can be made self-sustaining,; and while far more effectual, as a means of controlling and domestmating the Indians, it will, with prop~r.management, be in the end more economical than the old and pernlclous system of large and continuous money annuities. It is the last resort to save the race from extermination; and, if it fails or is abandoned, their doom may then be pronounced. As stated in last year's report, serious errors weje committed in the commencement of the system, by which it was made more expensive than it should have been, and without the expected advantages to the Indians. Too much was attempted to he done for them; they were not thrown sufficiently on their own resources, and compelled to realize the necessity of try- in.g. to help themselves. A reform in these ~articulars \vnspromi~rrl,a nd, nu f;r; as pr:~cticnblr,i t is now being cnriie~lo ut. Bv the aertntl~y ectivn ot'thz act " lnokin"a annronriatiun~fo r tlic cur- L L & rent&nd contingent expenses of the Indiandepartment, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June 30, 1860," approved February 28, 1859, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, was required to prepare rules and regulations for the government of the Indian ser-vice, and for trade and Intercourse with the Indian tribes; which rules and regulations, when approved by tho President, are to he submitted . |