The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-06
The Aborigiues.

propriely and justice of admitting tie red
men to the privileges and mmunities of
citizens, as fast as q wise and sound sys-
tenn of public instruction could be
brought to bear, 50 as to produce intel
leetual fitness for the civil position.
Put them, if they desire it, on an
equal footing with citizens. We urge
their claims on the grounds of Right, of
Justice, and Hunanity-as the only re-
ward of worth ti.a ,lame, and meager
one at that, for the aggressions and en-
croaehments that have dispoSsessed them,
one portion of domain after another,
once all their own.
They have been forced back, step by
step, by the approach of a power, agggres-
siye, systematic, and irresistible-forced
TO make treaties, and cede land on which
they were indigenous, to make room for
those born upon foreign soil.
Foreign governments lave virtually
said to their paupers and criminals,
T" Come forth. YOU tia. kennel in dark
ness and depravity. show yourselves.
Here you must starYe, or be hung. There
are ships-ge to America-Jonathan
will give you bread and citizenship
GO" They come, but the gallows BIOS
SONS, and State prisons. like Aldermen,
are enlarged, and open their mouths with
out measure. Crammed with the white.
skinned ofal of foreign, and our own
population-citzens, FREEMEN, VOT-
ERS-our prisons present more the ap-
pearance of the distended stomach of the
Mexican buzzard, than schools for moral
and mental discipline.
Lo! the poor Indian! He escheweth
the gallows, and keepeth out of the way
of the penitentiary. He walks with
kingly dignity and decorum through his
own forests, and remains an aliea in the
land of his nativity
His social position is such, that he
must, at no distant day, be absorbed by
the inevitable laws of population.
They are bounded, and beset on all
sides by influences irresistible inter
marriages with the white race are paling
tileir features from generation to genera
ton. Why not give them the civil
rights to which they are justly entitled,
as soon, at least, as our naturalization
laws can be complied with. They have
certainly been in the country long enough
to satisfy the acquisitions of the law in
point of time-and opportunities for
being posted Oh the practical workings
of our republican institutions, which
they could not have enjoyed, had they
been born and reared on a foreign soil.
Why not, then, confer on them citizen
ship?
Are they more vicious, more igno-
rant, more intractable than thousands of
our imported and native-born citizens :?
Decidedly, no. Let the recorders of our
courts, the purlieus of our penitentaries
and alms-houses, render their rebutting
testimony.
The attorney for the district of San
Francisco, stated in open court little
more than year ago, that within the
four previous years, thirteen hundred
murders had been perpetrated in that
vicinity, and, in consequence of bribery
and corruption, without one solitary con-
viction.
Had the red race been the perpetra-
tors, it would have insured their exterm-
nation.
But We find many of the aborigines,
intelligent, agricultural, moral, and dis
posed to take upon themselves the obi
cations and immunities of citizens
What valid objections exist? None.-
1t is their right. Let philanthropy exert
itself somewhat in this department of
the field of humanity, and shed over the
fading race the egis of its defense. Let
us, while We pay our tithes OF mint,
anise, and cumin, not fepudiate the
weightier principles Of justice, mercy.
and fidelity.