The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-09

own way, the difficulties presen41 BY them
'hssh suggesk 70 her citizens Tho wisdom OF
Fektaining from positive jntervenatoa on sub
ese domestic to the United States, which are
ust as aieicult, as defeats. and as uniit for TO-
'eign rsfbrmsti on.
the Critics, and Congr ess
We find in the last number of the North
fslerican Recies1 quite severe criticism of
the three volumes issued by way Of install
ments of the ponderous work Of SCHOOL, CRAFT
on the History, Condition, and Prospects Of
the Indian Tribes, prepared and Published un-
der the direction of the Bureau of Indian At
fairs, by authority OF the act Of Congress of
l847. Certain il is that the Indian Bureau
have printed magnificent work. 1t is mon
ument of typographical luxury. The beauti-
fully-cut type, the white, soft, and heavy pa
per, the expensive line engravings, the numer-
GUS colored Autographs and finely executed il
Illustrations on wood, all bear honorable testi-
mony to the progress of the arts in this coun-
try But when we examine the text of the
volumes, aud scrutnize the matter Of which
they are composed, we can readily believe that
Baron HuMBoLDT pronounced the work a
crude and worthless compilation, and expressed
surprise that it should be allowed to appear
with the sanction and at tie expense Of the
Government of the United States.
The writer in the North american, whom
we suspect to be Mr.. Bowen, the editor, CEN
sures with good deal of justice the subjects Of
many Of the engravngs. He may well in
quire what useful end is answered by multi
plying costly line engravings of such fanciful
scenes as those Of the Landing Of the Whites
in Virginia in 1884, the Interview of Hen
drick Hudson with the Indians in 1909, the
Interview of Massasoit with the Pilgrims III
1920, the Defeat of Vasquex D'Ayllon by
the Chicoreans in 1918, and De Soto with his
party at Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1892 And
with reference to the object of Congress in its
appropriation for the collection of tsuch stats
tics and materials as may illustrate the history,
the condition, and the future prospects of the
Indian tribes of the United States" it might
be asked with equal significance what connexion
could be traced between such object and en-
graved views of the valley of the St. Peters,
the Ruins of old Fort Mackinaw, Esopus Land
ing on the Hudson river. Pittsburg in 1890,
and Humboldt Landing. California.
The following paragraph presents the critics
Judicial summing up on the contents of the
three massive volumes:
"Ihe whole work forms only huge repertory,
in which are jumbled together all the materials
that the editor can lay his hands upon-letters
from correspondents, abstracts of old books, vo-
cabularies statistics, Independent essays on gene
raj subjects, any matter to illustrate fine en-
craving, &c. A reference, near or remote, to the
North American Indians is generally perceptible
but not always. Here, for instance, is an essay
three pages long, by the editor himself, on the
Importance of the Pastoral State on Races OF
Men, and it is followed by one, four pages in
length, from the pen of John Johnston, esq.,, on
the Means of Meloration.' Some notices OF
the natural in the Sioux country, taken
from the posthumous papers of Mr.. Nicolet, pre-
cede diary kept by Lieutenant Whipple while
surveying the southern boundary line of Califor-
mia. What distinct information respecting the
History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian
Tribes can be gathered from so miscellaneous a
selection, or collection of papers this, we leave
our readers to imagine.
The critic is at a loss to imagine how it hap
pens that Congress has appropriated nearly
100000 volume TO the production Of this
work. when it suffers the explorations of Moo
LET and Fremont, the geological surveys of
FOSTER and WHITNEY, and the annual reports
of the distinguished head of the Coast Survey,
to appear in dngy pamphlets the typography Of
which would be disgrace to penny news
paper. If Mr.. Bowen had enjoyed near
view Of the proceedings of Congress as long as
we have. he would not be surprised at any
such Inconsistency. 1t is of piece with all
their legislation. Shall men, who are fit for
nothing but the obs truction of public business,
waste nineteen-twentieths of the session in idle
speeches on subjects of no moment, and crowd
all the real business into the last week? Every
thing is then thrown into hotch pot, and what
is lost, and what luckily or unluckily finds its
way into the laws of the land, nobody knows
till the authorized publication of the statutes
1t is not more strange that Congress should
lavish $4,000 volume on this work of
ScHooLcRAFT's, than that they should squan-
der twice the amount volume on the minute
report of their own trivial and insignificant
party speeches. Yet such is the case. We
suspect that every volume of the Congressional
Globe costs full as much as one of these su-
perb books, and Heaven knows that a more la
mentable collection Of trash was never put into
type. Wretched. unmeaning, paltry discus
sions on interlocutory matters, form the staple
of this vast job for Democratic benefciaries
who have already built up enormous fortunes
on Congressional patronage. The real merits
of public questions are but seldom touched upon
in debates which are reported in full for the
benefit of the printers--for the public see and