Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1855-03-14
GENERAL CASS ON THE MAINE LAW

The distinguished Senator has taken
the ground in favor of applying the Maine
Law to Indians, though he does not seem
to think it SO necessary for pale faces
In his speech in the Senate last week, he
said
Mr.. President, after all, the greatest
injury we have ever done the Indians has
been in giving them what they call L" FIRE
water"-whiskey. II has made them in
carnate devils cannot call them by any
other name. I: Las a most extraordinary
operation upon them. never saw an In
dian who was not affected by it in pre-
cisely the same manner Some white men
laugh when intoxicated, some cry, some
do one thing, some another but every In
dian goes on in the same way
1t seems a national idiosyncrasy-
| The devil In the heart of the drunkard is
let loose, and he is ready to do any deed
of horror When they are drunk they
Will kill each other, and there would be
awful scenes of murder among them if it
was not for the fact that at every such
frantic orgie the first business of the
squaws is to remove all the knives and i'm
plements Of war The men are impartial
in the qualification of their passions
Blood they must have and if they cannot
get the blood of one man, they will have
the blood of another The son kills the
father, and the brother the brother.
The Senate may judge of the effect of
this terrible habit, when I relate fact
which came under my own observation-
At the treaty of Chicago, perhaps in 1881,
there was an elderly Pottawatamie chief
who was at the head of his nation really a
respectable man, named Top nj pee had
| the confidence of the Indians, and was ap-
preaching almost his hundredth year but
, still in the possession of bis mental facul-
ties, and physically well preserved. / was
urging on them not to drink whiskey. l
told them we might, if we chose, give them
whiskey, and thus get them drunk, and
cheat them out of their lands but that
was not what we intended to do l said
we want you to keep sober. and to make
the best bargain you can for yourselves,
your women and children.
Top nj bee answered me, and he spoke
for and before the whole tribe g We do
not care for the land, nor the money, nor
the goods what we want is whiskey; give
us whiskey !"
You may take this as a type of the
Indian feeling on that subject. [ say,
then, that the first duty of every honest
commissioner, who is sent to the Indians
with a view to make any just arrange
ments with them, is as the Indians say,
to drive the buDg into the barrel and not
let them have one drop of whiskey Ifit
is brought into their neighborhood know
no power which can prevent their getting
it. The cupidity of one party. and the
raving appetite of the other. are sure to
overcome all Intervening obstacles"
BEAUTIFUL ExTRAcT-When the sum-
mer of youth is slowly wasting away into
nightfall of age, and the shadow of past
years grow deeper and deeper, as life
wears on its close. it is pleasant to look
back through the vista of time upon the
sorrows and felicities of our earlier years
If we have home to shelter, and hearts
to rejoice with us, and friends have been
gathered together around our fresides,
then the rough place Of our way -fariDg
will have been worn and smothereG away,
in the twilight of life, while the sunny
spots we have passed through. will grow
brighter and more beautiful Happy in
deed are they whose intercourse with the
world has not changed the tone of their
holier feeling or broken those musical
chords of the heart, whose vibrations are
so melodious, so tender and touching ID
the evening of age.
~ A bashful printer refused stu
for