The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-07-31
Minnessss Indian Affairs In Congress.

On the 10th, the Indian Appropriation
bill was before the committee Of the
Whole in the House. Mr.. Fitch, Of In
diana, made charge of stupendous fraud
against Col. Medill, Commissioner OF
Indian Affairs during Mr.. Folks admin
istration) in his negotiations with the
Menomonee Indians for their lands in
Wisconsin. Mr.. Fitch, who is Demo-
crat, was met in his charges by Messrs.
Johnson, of Arkansas, Odds and Sweet
ger, of Ohio, and Phelps, of Missouri
During the debate, Mr.. SrpLEr took oc-
casion to urge upon the committee, as will
be seen by his remarks which follow, a
matter of vital importance to the welfare
Of the Indian tribes within our borders.
We copy all of his speech that relates to
the subject:
Mr.. SIBLEY. l have not risen with
any design Of making set speech or of
consuming much of the time of the COM
mittee. deemed it bu, right and proper
in me, however, in view of the fact that
an attack had been made upon gentle
man who formerly occupied distinguish
ed position under this Government, to
yield portion of my time to the gentle
man from Ohio, Mr.. Swceizer] to ena-
bic him to reply to the very serious
charge made against Colonel Medill, by
members of the Committee on Indian Az
fairs of this House. It was but Justice
to the absent, that the reply should go
forth to the country simultaneously with
the accusation against him and to effect
this object, l very cheerfulIy permitted
the gentleman from Ohio Mr.. Sweetzer]
to occupy as much Of my time as he might
deem necessary to devote to the defence
of the former Commissioner of Indian
Affairs. Being myself ignorant of all the
facts connected with the transactions be-
tween the Government and the Menomo-
nee Indians, l have nothing to say on that
subject. l propose to detain the COM
mittee for a short time in the discussion
of another matter of very general inter-
est to the country at large, and particu-
larly 10 the Indians themselves. Sir, the
aboriginal tribes upon this continent, and
especially those inhabi'ing the northern
portions of it, are subjected to great a.
mount of suffering, because of the want
of food and proper clothing. This is a
subject which had the honor Of bring
ing before this House during the last Con-
gress, in speech l made urnn the gen.
eral topic of our Indian relations, when
took occasion among other things to state,
that the miserable condition of the wild
tribes Of the West was far from being
realized by Congress and by the country.
Sir, but two short years have passed
since that speech was delivered, and my
observation and the information l have
gathered since that time, have entirely cor
roborat ed the statements therein contained.
have seen whole bands of Indians, COM
prising men, women, and chilren, reduced
to state of emaciation from hunger,
shocking to behold in this fair land, which
God has blessed with an abundance of all
the elements necessary for the support Of
human life. | have witnessed the vora-
city with which these poor creatures have
seized upon and lcvoured CARL age the most
disgusting, from which The very pampered
dogs Of Your cities would turn away with
loathing. 1t would be some consolation
to be able to assert with truth, that re-
duced to these extremi,ics, there was still
no reason TO believe that any had actually
persisted from the want of some kind of
food capable of sustaining lie. Unior-
tunately even that solacc is denied us.
| have reason to know from statements
which have been made to me by respec-
table men in the Indian country, that du-
ring the last year in the Territory which
| have the honor TO represent upon this
floor, there have been from sixty TO one
hundred deaths among the Indians, from
actual starvation. may be met here with
the statement that these calami,ics befall
them because of their improvidence.
have no disposition to deny that such is
the case 10 some extent. Everybody
who knows anything about the character
of an Indian is aware that he acts up to
to the scri plural maxim of letting "the
morrow take thought for the things Of it.
SELF" If he has but sufficient to feed
himself and his family for one day, he
does not trouble himself much about wha,
he is to have of fare for the next. That
is especially the case with the Indians
who depend exclusively upon the game
for subsistence. Now, l have reason to
know, that many of the large western
prairies which formerly abuunded in wild
animals are now entirely denuded of them
The consequence is, that within two or
three years bands of Indians who relied
entirely upon the buffalo, elk, and ante
lope for their daily supply of food, have
been reduced to the last stages of desti-
tuition.
propose in an amendment l shall Of
fer TO the bill under consideration, before
take my seat. TO appropriate the sum OF
100000, to be applied by the Secretary
Of the Interior TO relieve such cases of
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