Washington telegraph., 1851-05-07
From the Journal of Commerce.
HE WESTERN INDIANS.

AZ L 1E1 w ESIERN INDIANS.
The hostility of the prairie tribes of the vast re-
gion OF country lying between the Missouri River
and State OF Texas manifested in frequent attacks
upon Santa Fe traders and upon engrants and
travellers to Oregon and California is generally as
croed to native ferocty Of disposition, and to
TIE sentiment common among barbarous people |
which prompts to the supply of their wants by |
the punder Of their neigf'bors. In many cases,
however, their acts of hostility are traceabIe to
more legitimate and justfable causes. The In
dian depends for sustenapce not less on the pro- |
duce of his hunting grounds than his corn fields; /
and the gradual encroa chment of the whites rem
ders the chase from year to year less productive,
and will soon destroy all reliance upon it for sub !
sistence. The settlement Of Oregon and the con-
quest have made The tIloroughfare for multitude
nous caravans, whose relish for game is even ex-
ceeded by their eagerness for SPORT who waste
and destroy as well as consumes and in these var
Gus ways sweep the broad belt OF country which /
they traverse clean Of the hunters prev. Nor do |
the prvations to which the Indians are subjected
by the passage of emgrants through their terrific |
ries, result solely from the destruction Of the game.
The grass is consumed, which is iudispensabl BILE TO
the success of their agricultural operations; and
they are dispoied of vast quantities timber Nor
do these causes and consequences produce injuries
OF only temporary operation. Permanent military
and trading posts-the for the protection Of
travellers from those hostilities which their own
ARE rendered necessary by the constantly in
creasng emigration; and all the features of wilder
hess are fast disappearing before the progress OF
Western settlement Arrangementsare now max
ing for the running of mail coaches to Santa Fe,
and it is not improbable that the existing genera
ton will see these superseded by Railroad.
However desrabIs these results as indicative of
human progress, it is undeniabe that their imme-
date effect has been to strip the Indians Of property
Tor whose possession and enjoyment they are fully
entitled to the protection of the U. S government,
in some instances by express stipulation and con-
tract founded on the relnquishment of their rights
to other territory, well in return for the alle
glance which they yield. Impressed alike with a
sense of their wrongs and their weakness, they
have repeatedly applied to the agents Of the govern
ment for redress, and have received promises Of
compensation for the depredations committed upon
their soil. With these assurances they have hiti-
erto been kept comparatively quiet. At length,
finding the promise unfultilled, general restless
ness is manifested among The tribes, and occasional
outbreaks of ferocty and yengence are announced
in attacks upon travellers and predatory incursons
into the settlements. The Indians are thus making
reprisals for the spcilations with which they them
selves have been hairassed, aud to which tney
submitted till all hope OF redress referred, made
their hearts savage. And now Tie government is
called on TO repress Indian disturbances, to punish
Indian atrocities, and to protect our own frontiers
and those of Mexico from rapme and bloodshed;
and duty to our own citizens, and treaty stpuIa-
tlonS with Mexico, require that the demand be
promptly and efficiently complied with. The mea-
sures requisite to meet the emergency will of
involve "a much greater expenditure than would
have suficed to liqudate the Indians claims for
compensation; but the misfortune is that the cost
OF repression and punishment must now be super
added to that of compensation, for the justice Of
the claim remains as before, and it cannot be eX-
pected that the tribes will remain quiet under
sense of injury, after the repressive force is with
drawn. Justice, exerted promptly to redress
INJURY as to punish aggression, is the only rule
which the untutored sons of the forest COM
prehend, the only law to which they eau be made
ODE dent.
AT the first session of the last Congress-, the
Senate unanimously passed bill appropratng
two hundred thousand dollars to compensate the
various prairie and mountain tribes for the destruc-
tion of their game, timber and grass, by the cti-
zens and soldiers of the United States passing
through their country without their consent. If
the House had affirmed this legislation at that
time; it is probable that the recent disturbances.
would not have occurred. For though there are
other well founded causes Of dissatisfaction, this
measure Of justice would have encouraged the ex-
pectation Of further redress and thereby perhaps
have prevented much sacrifice of life and squan-
deriDg of treasure past and to come.
One Other source of complaint exists in the prac-
tce the part of the government, of retaining
portions of the annuities payable to the border
tribes, to satisfy CLAIMS that some white men may
have represented against them at Washington city.
What right have the government to interpose Tor
the protection of their creditors, an er-porte
application! The only proper and just course is
to pay the whole annuity TO the Indian, and let
him settle the claim with his creditor hmsell.
H. -e ~~~7~-~->-~--~--~~-~-~-~>-~~~
PARsoN BRowNLow PUTTING IN THE
BIC LICKs "A late nIlnber Of Brown
lows Wing. published at Knoxville Ten
nessee, contains the following sketch of
some people who live and move in and
about that place. '.h .bf7l'3sa
The anxious inquirer. after UiZiianS
may push the conquest of his researches
from Zembla to Cape Horn, and from the
equator TO either pole aud he will never
find the equal of some men we have
here, whether we regard them as hypo-
crits, bigots, christian churls, lukewarm
Laodiceans, self-secure pretenders, pro-
pagandists of gross error, self-ballanced
slanders, blasphemous scofers, worship
pers of Bacchus, licentioas debauches,
loathsome gamblers. abomiuabe swind-
Iers, aud other appliances of vice and pas
sion in human form. ~ llaasr FC
so Collect all the scoundrels of other
clines in one grand mass meeting, and
our villains here will be found peering
around them like the magnetic rod around
which the iightnings of Heaven play,
and towering head and shoulders above
them all.
Our rascals stand out in bold relief,
robed in the rainbow, of their own infa-
my, and throned in Internal night, hold
ing their high eliminating point in the
armament of crime, daily shedding their