| OCR Text |
Show Extract from the report of the Secretar?] of the interior relative $0 the report of the Commissioner of Indian Afairs. The number of Indians residing within the ju~isdietion of the United States does not probabiy exceed 350,000, B large majority of n.hr.hom maintained during the past year pesoeful relations. Some of them have made gratifying progress in eivilisntian, and manifested, during the late war, a stcadfest loyalty to our flag worthy of emphatic commendation. Civil-ized ~ n pdow erful tribes, however, residing within the Indian territory, united eady in the year 1W1 with the Indians of the prairies immediately west and north, for hostile operations . .(r.i.nt the UnitedStates. I n flagrant violation of tml~tiesw hich had been observed by us with E ' nlous good faith, and in the absence of any just round of complaint, these con-f& r&%dinns entered intoan alliance with thc rebel aut%alttics and raised regiments in npport of. their oause. Their organized troops fought side by side with rebel soldiers, 4W s d ba nds made fre uent assaolts on the neighbmingwhite settlements ivhichwere ribbcmt adequate means of %fence, and .on the Indians who maintained hiendly relations with thbgovernment. This state of t h i n g canti~~xteudn til the surrender of the rebel forces rat d the Mississippi. Hostilities \yen, then suspended, and, ot the request of the Indiam, &mei.airmen were sent to neootiate a treaty of peace. S11eh preliminary arrangements w m m& as, it is believed, vilyresult in the abolition of slmry among them, the cession within +he Indisn territory of lands for the settlement of the civilized Indians now residiug oa laervatim swhere, md the ultimate establishment of civil government, subject to the 8 - r 0 ' &"te"tateS. psrfkhaq cbnduct of theIndians in making i~np~ovokwedn r upon us has bcen visited with tba sever& ritribution. The country within the Indian tprritoly has been Isid waste, vast -nu dpoperty destroyed, and the inhahitants redneed from a. prospernus condition to sac* exhm+flcaIitution that thousands of them must inmitablp perish during the pres-provision be mads by this government for their relief. as haw existed for several generations, continue betreen many of tb h .ad warlike tribes of New Mexico and Arisons, and the white inhabitants. A d i k y force is necessary for theprotection of the latter, and the msrinte~lsnoe of kac*. %a of -Gins, who subsist chiefly an buffalo, follow them on tbeir migration srud tbendh in tbe early part of the summer, and return in autumn, spreading over the wdem pert of the Ststc of Kansas and the Territories of Nobl.sska, Dakota, Montms, and Cdon&. Inflnsnoed by the unfriendly Indians of thesouthwest, and probably i,ncited by d l &a rias, they maintained active and vigorous hostilities. Our defenceless frontier h t s yer e bawssed; the communication between tho Mississippi valley and our pos-rrioa on the Psoifio seriously interrupted; emigrant and ovelnment trains assailed; , ef great value destroyed, and men, women, and ohiljren 'barbarously murdered. the imperative duty of the government to send militnry expeditions against these ' mngq a-hieh checked the commission of further outrages, and induced them to sue for paw. On the recommendation of the generals in command of our forces, 8. commission, copll*qd of officers of the m y an d oivilisns, was sent to the Upper Arkansas and the Upper Ylvoln Satisfactory treaties have been negotiated with a. large number of these tribes. *ofthem could not be reached on account of tho lateness of the season, but it is believed % similar arrangements em be mode with them during tho osdy part of tho approaching ,Tt%dif fiou~t o maintain peaeefnl relations with the Indians in Minnesota. The terrible m*.u..e Fe of the whits inhabitmts in the year 1862 is fresh in the memory af the coun- "#hs intonse exasperation w11iL.h fonowed led in that State to s policy, which has also prevailed to some extent in several of our organized Territories, inducing s persond prede-tory warfare between the frontier citizens, emigrants, and miners, and isainted bands of In-dims belonging, i n many institnees, to t~ibesr ~pt e ace with the government. This awakens ' .a spirit of retaliation, inciting atrocious acts of violence, which, oft repeated, result in irre-parable disasters to both races. The policy of the total destrudionof the 1ndians.hes bcen openly advocated by gentlemen .of high position, intelligence, and ersonal oharseter; but no enlightened nation csn adopt or sanction it without a forfeitore $its self-respect and the respect of the civilised nations of the earth. Financial coonsiderntiions forbid the inauguration of such s polioy. The sttempteddestmction |
