The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1845-11-14
AN INDIAN STATE.

the fact that the Choctaw Indians
upon our southwestern border were
DESTROYS that territorial govern
mcnt should be extended over them
by the United States, and that they
had already elected Pytchlyn, one |
Of their chiefs, delegate to con-
gress. We are informed that the
delegate elect will, upon the assem-
bling of congress, present himself
before that body-ask that the usu-
al Territorial laws may be extended |
over his people-and if the request
of the Indians be granted, take his
seat as delegate in the house of rep
resentatives.-Judging of public
opinion from the tone of the press
upon the subject, we suppose there
is no doubt but that the Choctaw
nation will be organized into "a terri
tory of the United States, and, dur
ing the next session of congress, an
Indian delegate will sit in the great
council halls of the pail faces Old
enmities will be forgotten-the to-
mahawk will be buried for ever
the calumet will be smoked in token
of eternal peace and friendship
and the great republican confedera-
cy will embrace the red man and
the white, and make their aims,
their interests, and their aspirations
one.
The Choctaws are certainly well
worthy Of this sacred fellowship.
However much Intercourse with the
whites may have been disadvantage
eous to other tribes, and proved to
them sure sourse of wasting and
desolation, it has not been without
its civilizing, refining, and elcvating
influence upon the Choctaws.-By
them the sports of the chase have
been forgotten, and its precarous
means of subsistence have been
exchanged for assiduous cultivation
of the soil. Agriculture in all its
various branches, has been brought
to perfection by them which might
shame the farmers of the eastern
and older states. Churches and
school houses, and hourishing vii
lagos, are found among them-the
decencies and reiinemcnts of civil
zed life, attended with but few of
its usual vices, have raised these
Indians from barbarism to civiliza-
ton, and made them in every respect
qualified to appreciate and enjoy
the blessings of our republican go
vernment. Their delegate elect is
said to be a half breed of superior
intelligence. His mind has been
well dcciplined by superior educa-
tion-he is man of fine address,
commanding personal appearance,
and polished manners-has spent
several winters at Washington, and
is said to be amply qualified to fiji
the station to which he has been
elected.
For this happy change in their
temporal condition, and the bless
ings which may hereafter flow from
it, the Choctaws are mainly indebt-
ed to the labors of the humble and
pious missionaries. We are not
aware that the general govern
ment base done any more for them
than for the other Indian tribes. 1t
may be true that the habits OF the
Choctaws were originally less row
ing, predatory, and warlik, and this
may have placed them more within
the reach of active philanthrophic cf-
forts, but it remains equally true
that the past policy of our govern
ment towards the Indians has no,
been calculated to elevate them in
the scale Of eXistance, and inform
and christianize their condition. AL
aspirationg for higher and better
life have beeu smothered in their
brcasts-all inducements to nobl,
exertion have been withheld from
them-the proiligate trader in ''fre.
water" has been allowed perfec
freedom to spread among them the
: quickly maturing seeds of misery
desolation, and dcatl-they hav,
been driven and scattered before tn,
advancing footsteps Of the white maj
like the forest leaves before the au,
tumn frosts-they have been allow,
ed neither opportunity nor means o
improvement. And if, now that ther,
hardly remains within our border
another place to which the red mar
can be driven, our government i
willing to radically change its poll
cy, incorporate the Indians into on
body polite, make them partici
= pants in the blessings of our institu
: tons as fast as sound policy and hu
It manity shall dictate, and endeavo
: to civilizc and elevate, instead c
c barbarizing and depressing then