Kansas weekly herald., 1854-10-27

'Iday when every officially would dbe removed,
and access to the country would be unob.
structed and free. .ssaH
This delay we trusted, would not. be
long; for the gathering indeed of public sen-
1timent bringing together great assembliesto
consult upon the favorite project with which
newspapers teemed, and the Halls Of Con-
gress began to be- agitated-gave assu-
rance that the national will would soon
open to us the gates Of the Territory. So
| Then came the appropriation for treaties
with the Indians, the consequent visit to
them of the Cornmissioner of Indian affairs,
and sof their delegation to Washington,
with the protraetsd discussions In Congress
upon the Kansas and Nebraska Bili-nnlak.
ing the country mad with excitement, and
ESPECIALLY the masses, gathering upon the
frontier; who stood tiptoe, watching eager.
ly every telegraphic flash of news from
Washington. ia. -. yesl-i - s-.ass
Through all this-restrainedb by nothing
but our respect for law and order-we In
vaded no Indian lands; we violated no
treaties; we disregarded no expressed wish
of the Government; but, with business sus-
pended and wasting means, we wearily
waited upon the banks of the Missouri,
for the formula of the pre-destined act,
which should permit us legally to cross the
slight barrier between us and this long
closed domain.
| AT last letters came to us from members
of Congress, informing us that the passage
of the long expected bill was just at hand;
that the Indians were treating for the sale
of their lands, and that the prairies of Kan
sas invited our occupancy. ssos
The accumulated multitude, SO long
stopped by the great river, then burst into
the country and we came with It.. Care
fully aseertaining, as far as possible, from
the Indians the limits of their proposed res
crvations, and, aided by them in our selec-
tions, We proceeded in the confidence of
men who exercised an acknowledged right
to build our cabins, and gather round us
the rude appliances of a settlers home.
We thought at last our wanderings were
over; that we had reached s'the west!" and
that, renouneing change and removal for the
future, we should, througha few years of
isolated struggle with poverty and privation
achieve for our children the better destiny
denied to us-of the advantages of social
life, education, independence and ease.
Our hands, however, were soon weaken
ed by the strange report that only the des-
ert lands-far west Of us, which these inn
migrant Indians of Kansas would not re-
ceive in the apportionment of 1S30-were
open to the white settlers; and that those we
occupied were to be held in reserve for a
sale, at distant day, under such arrange
ment as left no chance of a. home here for
the poor.
We were deligtfully encouraged and re-
assured, soon after however, by the pass
age of the act of 22d, July, making the
Ipre-emption law of ls41, applicable to all
the lands, "to which the Indian title had
been or should be extinguished," in this
Territory.
Not being profound lawyers we, in ON
simplicity, received this law in its plair
; and obvious sense as confirming the pas
policy of the country, and giving US the
hardly earned, and customary privileges o
securing our little homesteads on term:
adapted to our slender means. *
The Delaware treaty, which appeared
in the public prints soon after the law
seemed to be at variance with the latter
/ but the treaty making power which had con
: firmed them both-we did not doubt woult
find way to reconcile the difficulty, ant
Il see that Congress rendered us no decep
tive terms when it invited us to settle on
L and purchase these ceded lands under th'
! conditions Of the law of 1S41.
. To our great distress we find, from th'
S recently published opinion of the Attorne.
General, that the contract with US is repu
dated, and that we are considered by th'
Government as trespassers, and liable II
the violent expulsion with which the Com
missioner of Indian affairs has reeentl,
threatened us.
t We do not presume to argue the lega
| question against such high authority; bu
present to you our earnest appeal for sucl
) action. on your part, as shall avert ruiz
, from us, and, at the same time, pfomot,
the best interests of the Delawares and on
young Territory. - p
: We. ask for such a modification. of th,