The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1852-03-04
New Advertise ments.
sJP See first column on this puge.
The Treaties.

/ Minnesota, is of half as much importance
as the ratification Of the treaties. Divorce
bills, railroad bills, ferry charters, liquor
,aws-all other objects of public or private
concern, sink into insignficance, compared
with this. However our people may he d.
vi,ied on other questions, upon this, we are
unanimous, that the treaties must be ratIfl-
ed. Heretofore, we have generally agreed
tina, the treaties were expedieni; but in the
present condition Of things, it is no longer
question Of expodiency, but one OF necessi-
iy--of necessity to the whites, OF necessity
to the indians--and we might almost say,
of necessity to the Government. With but
q narrow portion Of territory, entirely on
The east side OF the Mississippi river, OF ce-
del ian Is, including large share ofswamps
and land that is not arabic, Congress right
!y Judged thar it was neediul to the growth
ami development, Of Minnesota, to cxtn-
ruish the Indian title on The west side of the
river. In anticipation of this, the Organic
Act very properly provided for the exercise
and enjoyment of political rights, on the
west side of the river, as upon the cas-, side.
/ II ,cas hardly ,eorM ,ohiie for Congress to
give q territorial government, to the narroW
strip only Of Minnesota, that tcas coded
When Congress gave Minnesota govern
ment. it also gave a pledge to extinguish
the Indian tAls. Without the lands on the
west side, Mnnesoia is mere rind a
mere pairing, the mere husk and shell OF
territory. Government well understood
this. Would $4,000 or $4,000 Il year,
he expen led for the government of mere
county, mere handful of our people! Or,
did government contemplate the existence
aud growth here of a giant State, advnnc-
ing with rapid strides TO the dignity of
sovereign Of the confederacy?
The usua! lbcrality of Congress, the ex
perience of all other territories, the very
creation Of territorial government for US,
but above all, the appropriation Of money
last year for the express purpose of effect
ing treaties and extnguishing the Indian IT,
tie, was proof, ,ras demonstration, that the
lands west Of the river were to be ours
Our own people and immigrants from
abroad, oyer the face of the whole world,
have acted upon the faith that the Indian
title would be extingushed. Hundreds
have sold ont their possessions at home,
and moved here, expressly to occupy these
lands. The Indians have also acted upon
the same expectation-they have permitted
the settlers to come into their midst and
4 Iive-,hey have fed upon the substance Of
! the white man, for having, last season. done
nothing but attend treaties, and being ever
since ready, like the children Of Israel be-
lore their Exodus from Egypt, for their de-
parture, "with their loins girt about" they
have had nothing to live on but what they
could borrow, be,, or steal. The Govern
,nent ought to know and to understand, that
the Sioux have beeh saved from starvation
the past winter by the whites; and that but
for their aid, voice of lamentation and
suffering from the Dakotas, such rs was
never before heard, would have filed the
ears of their Great Father. If the Sioux
Agent had possessed the power (and five
hundred Sioux Agents could not have done
itD to keep the white settlers out, since the
treaty, it would have been cruelty and star
walton to the Indians, to have kept them
out. Settlers have not only gone over, but
have built houses aud stables, AMI cleared
lands, not dozens Of settlers, or scores, or
hundreds, bu, thousands of them-not near
the river alone, bat every where from the
line of Iowa up, along the waters Of Cannon
river, the Vermillion, and the whole length
Of the fertile Minnesota, and upon the wa
tiers Of the Blue Earth. Men are exploring
/ for coal and mineral around the head wa
! tiers of the Des Moines--the whole country
west, for a vastly greater extent than the
whole part Of Minnesota, east Of the river,
! is now swarming with settlers and alive
with daring men Of enterprise; some with
families, living in bran new log houses, and
others without; hut none Of them having
the remotest idea Of doing any thing short
of staying where they are, and buying their
lands of the Government, whenever they
are offered for sale.3 Meantime the Indians,
who just begin to understand tina, if the
treaties are not ratified, they are in danger
Of losing their homes without getting any
equivalent, payment or annuities for their
lands, are becoming exceedingly jealous;
and do not hesitate TO threaten violence to
the settlers who have come in, in case the
treaties are not ratified and settlers do not
leave. That the Sioux Indians, the most
war-like Of all the tribes in North America,
will form war parties aud attack the settlers
that we shall have an indian war (for
| the settlers will never abandon their homes
aIive,) is just as inevitable as fate, unless
the treaties he ratified .tage. s9o Obi
Let every person attend the mass meet