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Show to protect the Indian, whether nnder treaty stipulations or roaming at will over his wild hunting-grounds, fi.om,ahnse by unscrupulous whites, while at the same time it must concede every reasonable privilege to the spirit of enterprise and adventure which is pouring its hardy population into the western country; when these things are con~idered, the task assigned to this bqreau will not seem so light as it is sometimes thought. I will endeavor, however, to be as hrief as possible consistent with justice to the subjects embraced in the report. The labors of the office have been very much increased during the past year from various causes, nearly all having their origin in the patent fact that the white population is rapidly crowding westwa~cl upon the Indians, either in the search for farming lands or for the precious minerals ; and the people who have. held these lands are compelled to give way before the advancing tide. If they are wandering hands, subsisting upon game or the products of the forest, they must submit to see their resources grow yearly less as the white population ad-vances ; while, if they have become so far civilized as to be willing to till the soil, a class of settlers too often gathers around them who regard but little the rights of the red men. As the years move forward, these diffici~lties continu-ally increase. It is the law of nature and of the progress of mankind, and its operations cannot he stayed. To endeavor to regulate its movement to some extent is the endeavor of this office, and we may claim to he reasonably suc-cessful, when the difficulties in the Nay are considered. Occupying the chief place among the events of the year, one subject pre-sents itself first for consideration, to wit, that of INDIAN TREATIES. The year 1866 will be memorable as one in which a large number of very important treaties have been ratified by the government and gone into effect, most of them having been concluded within the year; and inasmuch as several of these treaties have been concluded in this city after long negotiations, the labors of the office have been very much increased, while, for several months, the halls of the department building have been filled with delegates from the various tribes, comprising all classes, from. the educated and intelligent men representing the nations in the Indian country south of IIansas, to the Chip-pewas of the far north, near the British line, to whose lands the greed for gold is leading large numbers of enterprising whites. A hrief review of these treat-ies may not prove uninteresting, and will serve for future reference. I TREATIES MADE IN 1865 AND PREVlOIlS THERETO. A~apahoesa nd Cheyenne8: Concluded with these confederated tribes Octo-ber 14, 1865, by General Sanborn, General Harney, Superintendent Murphy. Colonel Carson, Colonel Bent, Agent Leavenworth, and James Steele, commis-sioners appointed by the President of the United States : ratitieatiou advised May 22,&f866, witg an amendment. Has heen sent to tie Iadians fur their assent to the amendment. These tribes, by the treaty of Fort Wise, in 1860. ceded a ver"v laree tract of land in Colorado, reserving a tract upon the Arkansas, where their payments were to be made, and large expenditures were in progress for their permanent benefit. A considerable portion of the tribes, however, never joined in or con-sented to that treaty, and when the Sioux of the plains and of Dakota broke out into hostility, many of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes joined them, there being large hands of their people liviog in the Sioux country, not parties to the treaty referred to. There is no occasion to repeat here the story of the loss of life and damage to propertycaused by attacks npon the overland routes, nor of the exasperation of the people of Colorado, whfch culminated in the attack, by a regiment of volunteers of that Territory, nnder Colonel Chiviogton, npon a 4 |
