OCR Text |
Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 19 the Indians of Upper 3fissouri have been felt by many old settlers in D&o& but the superintendent is confident that it will be prevented. The condition of our relations with many of the tribes of the superintendency of New Mexico demands the earliest practicable interposition of the military force of the government, not only to preserve the lives and possessions of our resident citizens, but also to reduce the hostile tribes to subjection, punish them for the barbarous atrocities they are continually committing, and, in addition to this, to repel rebel invaders from Texas on the south and the Oomanches on the east. Unlike the southern supelintendeney, which is almost exclusively occupied by Indian nations and tribes, a majority of whom axe more or less advanced in civilization, and are not engaged, so far as we are reliably informed, in actual hostilities, this superintendency is checkered here and there with white settle-ments, which, by the withdrawal of the United States forces, are left almost without the means of defence. Several of the tribes within its borders are wild and warlike, are actively hostile, and, on account of their numerical strength, are truly formidable. Arizona is in aimed occupation of rebels from Texas, who threaten to extend their incursions further north, and do not scruple to aggravate the hostilities already subsisting between the white and red races. The withdrawal of the overland southern mail is believed by the Indians to have been a consequence of their hostility, and this supposed success has greatly encouraged and emboldened them, so that there is ample reason to fear that they will engage in still more formidable and daring atrocities. In many parts of the Territory our agents are driven from their agencies, and thus all present control is lost and the I u d h left to the unrestrained commission of their depredations. This condition of affairs ought not to be allowed to continue, and I earneatly hope that ere long the power of the government may be brought to boar upon them, and the peace and quiet of the Territory thereby restored. The most. formidable of the tribes thus al~ayed in hostility towards our people are the Apaches and the Navajoes. On the part of the former hostility is open and undisguised, while the latter are more insidious, but it is believed not less dan-. gerous. In gratifying contrast with the position assumed by the Apaches and Navajom may be mentioned the Pueblos and Mohuache Utahs, with whom our relations are as satisfactory as at any former period. The Pueblos are peace-~ able and loyal. They are to a considerable extent engaged in agricultural pur-. suits, and it is believed that a small exercise of the fostering care of the govern-ment in establishing and maintaining good schools in their midst, and in locating them upon a suitable reservation, will in a very few years entirely reclaim them from savage life, and cause them to become useful and good citizens. The Mo-- huache Utahs are formidable in numbers, and are enterprising, intelligent, and loyal to that degree that they have tendered their services for the protection of white settle13 against the assaults of rebels as well as savage foes. They, too, are highly meritorious objects of our care, and afford abundant evidence. that our efforts in their behalf will meet with an ample reward. I desire to call your attention to the necessity of concentrating the Indian population of this superintendency upon suitable reservations. The Mexi-. government, formerly in possession of this Territory, ditfered widely from ours in its policy and news in relation to the rights of the Indians in the soil. That government regaraed itself as the absolute and uu nalified owner of the soil, and held that the Indian had no usufructuary or o&er rights therein which it was in any manner bound to respect. Hence it negotiated no treaties with the Indians for the extinction of their title to laud, and in pusl~ingfo rward new set-tlements made no provision for their welfare or future homes. It hv.s been claimed that inasmuch as Mexico asserted and exercised this absolute and un-qualified right of ownership ip its soil, we, in acquiring from that nation the Territory in question, succeeded to its rights in the soil, and axe therefore under |