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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 11 rights me generally disregmded, and shameless wneubinage, with its disgustiug concomitants, spreads its pestiferous stench through camp and lodge. The most loathsome, lingering, and fatal diseases, which reach many generations in their ruinous effects, are spread broadcast, 1 and the seeds of moral and physical death are planted among the mis- erable creatures. If vou wish to see some of the results of establishing milibry posts 1 i i ~th;! Indian country, I call your attention to the 600 OF 800 balf:bieeds till recently loafing mound Fort Laramie ; to the posts along the Mis-sonri; to port Sumner in New Mexico, before the-Nmajoe exodus, and to all our military posts in the Iicdian country, with no kmmn exception, If yon wish to exterminate the race, pursue them with the ball and blade; I if von ulease. massacre them wholGsale. as we sometimes have done: or, / to k a k i it ohmp, call them to A. peaeefhl feast, and feed them on beef salted with wolf bane; but,for h~rmanitym?~ke , save themfromthelinger-ing syphilitic poisons; so sure to be contracted about military posts.. 6. The d u c t of Indian ?faairs is, in my judgment, incornpatilde with thd uature and objects of the militnry department. The policy of our government has alwa.ys been to secure and maintain peaoeful and friendly relations with all the Indian tribes, and to advance their interests, by offering them inducements to abandon nomadic habits aud the chase, and to learn to adopt the habits and methods of civilized life. Tocmry this benevolent and humane policy into practical e.ffect, we have stipulated to settle them upon ample reserves of good laud, adapted to pastoral and agricultural pursnits ; to subsist them as long as requisite; to supply them with all neeessmy stock a i ~ dim plemellts, and teachers to instruct them in letters, iu the arts of civilization, and in our holy religion. But all these things pertain properly, as all wlll admit, to civil affairs, not military. Military officers %-ill doubtless dis-play wonderful skill in the erection of forts ; $ the bandling of arms and axmies, and in the management of campaigns, but who would not prefer a prab6oal civilian in the erection of con? cribs or hay racks ; in the mauanvering of ox teams and the successful management of reapers andmowersl A well-trai~~ed~ieutenautwilldoubtlpeesrsf orm admirably in drilling a squad in the manual of arms, but I doubt his capacity, as wgll as inclination, to teach Indians the profitable and eEcient use of the hoe or the mattock, or to successf~dlyin struct naked young Indian ideas how to shoot in a mechanical, literary, pr scientitic direction. You wish to make your son a farmer, a n~echan~ac , minister; you do not send him to be educated at West Point, but somewhere else to be taught as a civilian. Will you send professional soldiers, sword in one hand, musket in the other, and tactics on the brain, to texh thc wards of the nation agriculture, the nlechauic arts, theology, and peace B You would civilize the Indian ! Will you send him the sword? You would inspire him with the peaceful principles of Christianity! Is the bayonet their symbol? You would invite him to the sanctuary! Will you herald his approach with the clangor of arms and the thunder of artillery? The nation thinks of the War Deuartment as the chanoel t.hrou!-z h I the l i e c e ~ t dii r ( ~~Tt I6N . mo\.elneuts 01' O U ~~ I L U I ~al~l1S1 manugea all tile nlilitur) I~usiut.s.a*n d i~ifcrvtith01 ' tiit: n:~tior~n,o t ild the overseer. mardian. &her. and missionaxv of t,he Indiau tribes: it vt.g.~rdb~& otlici.r; ant1 soltlicrs as its s~rord"ror apel aud 11t111isiht s &~ r - nlies iu a.:~r, to g11;1n1a nd upcure its h o n ~a~nrd i~rterestn\,\ hc.nevt.r III~CPY sary, in peace; but not as its superintendents, agents, agricultural and mechanical teachers of peaceful Indian tribes. 7. The transfer to the War O@e aoill be ofemive to the Indians, and in i%sa me proportion injtwious to the tohitas. |