The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-04-23
TERMS OF TREATIES HEREAFTER TO BE MADE
WITH CERTAIN TRIBES OF INDIANS.

WITH CERTAIN TRIBES OF INDIANS
Report o. NJ. orr from Ae Committee Indian Affairs.
The Committee on Indian Affairs to whom was referred
House bill No 2l0 defining the terms which treaties
shall hereafter be made with certain tribes of Indians and
for other purposes, report:
That they have given the bill that consideration which
its novelty and Importance merit and have determined
with unanty 10 commend il 10 the favorable action OF
the House There much in the history of the aborg
of the western continent 70 challenge the investigation Of
the philosopher and excite the sympathy OF the
philanthropst The rapid decay Of this noble Of
tive Americans should the attention of the
man and policy he adopted to the remnant Of
this proud and powerful people from humiliation II
would be prompted by considerations OF humanity
but when the first discovery of the New World
by Columbusan event which has exercised potent an
influence in the history OF race; when remember
the progress Of its early settlement and the kind hospital
iy enjoyed in the rude wgwams of the red
men of the forest, gratitude alone mperiousy demands
that should spare his posterity extinction
which policy towards them Is fastening with certain
y Your committee entertain sanguine hope that the
policy shadowd forth in the bill may stay that desruo
ton which former system is rapidly accomplishing
II is proposed to extend it, experiment to those
tribes who have heretofore been removed from the States
to west Of the Mississippi and who are now located in the
projected Territories of Kansas and Nebraska also to
the Usage and Kansas tribes who indigenous but who
have conveyed heretofore most of their lands to the United
States reservng only small portion of their extend
ed possessions, which they reside.
If the experiment succeeds with the emgrated tribes,
Of whom already have partial knowledge OF agr-
culture and the civilization of the whites it be extend
ed settlements progress westward to the wild tribes
who have experience in tilling the SOIL and who
rely exclusively upon the chase for the means of subss-
ence. ua4t t
The present destitute condition of OF the eigraed
tribes Of and contiguous Missouri and Iowa.
melancholy memorial Of the sad failure of mudged
efforts to civilize tins fated raced.
Enlightened philanthropy now suggests an abandonment
Of former SYSTEM and the institution OF new one
which will ALLEVIATE the Indian from the precarous fortunes
of the chase and attach him 10 the stable and happy
pursuits of agriculture.
In their homes they have been disappointed in the
permanent and abundant supplies OF game furnished by
the forests and prares of the West When they removed
far towards the setting and abandoned the wgwams
and graves Of their fathers told them they would get
beyond the reach of the vices decepons and expressions
of bad white men, and that the Great Spirit they reye-
enced would bounteously supply them abundanty with
the deer elk, and buffalo. Their tastes and habits made
them yield willing ear to the stories which we told them
of this promised land Their hearts saddened, doubtless,
when they turned and gazed for the last time their
tive heath and still they cheered in the hope Of
bright future to be realized in the stiffness of that wild to
which they were treadng their way.
The policy towards the Indians when adopted seemed
wise and humane Its authors anticipated the rapid
progress Of the extension Of our settlements and popu
ation westward II supposed the Mississippi would,
for long years mark the western confines OF this
Union and present barrier to western expansion not
TO be overcome Soon, however the Illusion was diss-
pated for the sturdy pioneer leaped the rolling Hood OF
the Father of Waters and began TO fell and conquer the
forests the western slopes of its great valleys In few
brief years tier Of States formed "oyer the waters
and then il confidently believed that the broad plains
and praries mountains and valleys westward to the Pa
cifc would only be trod by the wild beasts of the forest
and his natural enemy the red hunter few more years
however demonstrates the mpotency of the most sangune
imagination TO fix limits to march westward The ac-
QUESTION and settlement of California and Oregon has
ated the necessity Of converting much Of the Indian will
derness into great highway and thoroughfue Not less
than seventy thousand OF citizens annually traverse
the Indian country their journeyings to and from the
Pacific coast The red is longer permitted to
the wilderness the baleul presence of the hated
paleface He the buffalo driven farther and farther
from his lands, his lodges, and his wigwams. He finds
that the annual slaughter of this noble animal for his
subsistence that Of the white that dot and en
the plains and for the robes TO supply the wants Of
civilized and savage life amounts to upwards of four hun
dred thousand.
Unforeseen circumstances such human foresight
could have anticipated have defeated the great object
sought TO be attained by the removal of these tribes
Want may justly famine, is gripping at their heels
The rapid destruction of the buffalo is exhausting the
only larder from whence they draw their support; the
broad prairie yields them nothing but game which is now
taken only by labor toll and priyaton and when found
its quantity is 50 meaere as TO rather tantahe than e
pease the dreadful cravings Of hunger.
Some of the tribes the frontiers of Missouri when
they leave their lodges ~ the spring and fall to enter upon
the precarou hunt for food traverse several hundred miles
OF foodess desert before reaching their harvestedhe
herds of buffalo Very they will cease to gather
harvest for the buffalo viii only he known in the natural
history Of past age
An increasing emigration and settlement along these
great highways and the large number Of labores and
poyecs the Pacific railroad TO be constructed viii
destroy all the game supporting the Indian and what viii
be his fate? fhe should rob and murder to procure food
that his broken spirit and tortured body may be postponed
dissolution should it excite SURPRISE And II justice re-
quired expaton for the crime would not callous
judge melt in tears Of pity when gaun famine pleads its
justification for the deed
When the buffalo is exhausted the small game win feed
them but very brief Having neither breadtus
vegetables with nothing but meat TO subsist upon the
ordinary demands Of nature would not be appcaed by less
than from five 10 ten pounds per day The deer Is already
growing and II cannot be depended on TO subsis
the Indians when the buffalo Is gone
IL idle then to look longer the chase means Of
support for the Indian tribes They reduced to one Of
three alternatyes-either TO starve plumber, labor
humanity reyots at the prospect Of perishng for food in
country where old mother earth generously rewards
the labor Of the husbandman but the second Is yolAye
OF every social and moral duty and its preparation must
bring ignominious punishment The adoption by his own
free choice Of the last alternative should possible be Sc
cured and II Is the solemn duty Of Congress ny its egs
laton TO aid this contamination for the benefit OF IT'S
wards and thereby discharge s hducary trust to the In
dians now weak and poweriess II can only be done by
- IL