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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 41 . ' CroDs, the eatherine of five thousand bushelsof rice.. and manufacture' of one ~~ ~ ~ ~~ hn&lied aid 6fty ';hou~and poullds of maple sugar, full employment. They nurnhered one thuu~andn ino huudred and sixty-six soul^ at the lnnt enumernriot~. The Red Lakr and PemLint ba~rl.w irh whom. after rnuch dimculr"v.. a trearv waa made last year, and ratified with sundry ~ u ~ p l e r n e n taarrti~cl es daring thg last session of Congress, have received their first annnities under the treaty, and the various provisions made for their benefit will be carried into operation by the ensuing spring. By this treaty a large tract of land is ceded to the United States, and a right of way is secured for the extensive and growing commerce with the British possessions by way of the Red River of the North. The settlement of the Chippewas of Lake Superior upon a number of small reservations is attended with the same evils which attach to other cases of the kind. Especially are the Lake Court O~eillesandL ake Flambeau reservations i open to this remark, and the cost to the 1ndian.of ti.avelling to and from the agency at the annual payments is often nearly as much as the amount received. The best policy to be pursued would seem to be the abandonment, as soon as practicable, of these small reservations, and concentration of the Indians npon larger ones. The land thus abandoned would furnish, on being sold, a consid-erable fund for the benefit of the Indians. Allusion has hesn made to a line of policy advocated by Major General Pope, as the best to he pursued towards the Indians, and the high position of that officer, as commanding the extensive military department of the northwest. which bas so long been the scene of Indian hostilities, seems to require remark upon his views here, as they attractedznnch attention when laid before the puh-lic in the early part of the present year. His letter npon the subject was re-ferred to this office, and I had the honor of submitting a report in reply. As both of these papera accompany this report I will not occupy more space here ( in a discussion of the matter, except to remark that the longer experience I , have in dealing with the Indians, the greater difficulty do I find in laying down ; general rules applicable to all cases. That which may be successfully applied to one tribe will prove ruinous to another. So many differences exist iu their degrees of intelligence, friend' - -7 hostile feeling towards the whites; dsiposition to a roving life or to the pnrsnns of agriculture ; the character of the country over which they roam; the traaitions of long-continued friendship towards the whites, or of feuds to be continued and revenge to he satiated; vicinity to a large population of white people and military forces, or a life on the plains, or in mountain fastnesses, where a white face is rarely seen; and the presence or absence among them.of missionaries and teachers--that the policy to be pursued in each ease must necessarily be governed by its particular circumstances and surroundings. While I am far from insisting that the policy thus far pursued has been in all cases the best for the Indiaus, and am sensible that our course is liable to he called a system of temporary expedients, I still think it ?he best which the condition of things and the times present to us, and shall always be ready to adopt the course which. shall, in the view of the department, seem best adapted for the real good of the people placed under the charge of this office. Concerning the military operations during this year against the hostile Sioux, and the results obtained, I have but vague and indefinite information, no official reports having been received at this office. A con~iderahlep ortion, at least, of the troops employed in those operations during the summer have been with-drawn to other fields of duty. Whether or not the campaign has resulted in such salutary punishment of the Indians as will prevent further hostilities, I have no means of judging, but the latest information from that quarter does not furnish much ground for the hope that such is the case. It seems proper that allusion should be made here to the mission of Rev. Father De Smet to the Upper Missouri, with aview to endeavor, by the exercise of the influence which he had obtabed by a long course of friendly o5ees for |