Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-06-21
From the Washington Union Of June 10.
AFFAIRS IN KANSAS.
Governor Reeder 10 Commissioner .Manypeilay.
SHAWNEE MISSION, KANSAS TERRIToRy,
March 90 1883


SHAWNEE Mission, KANSAS TERRIToRY,
March 30, 1855. !.
SIR: On the 10th January last four contracts
made with Hon. D W. Johnson, for the sale of
four tracts of land in this Territory reserved to
halfbreed Kansas Indians, were submitted to you
the head of the Indian bureau for report there
on, with memorials of the reserves praying that
the contracts might be confirmed, and they al
lowed to make the deeds. These contracts were,
for convenience sake, made in the name of Judge
Johnson, although it was we'll understood that
Judge Gilmore, Colonel lsacks, and myself were
equally interested. The grantors were Joseph
James, Louis Papin and wife, Francois Aubrey
and wife, and Moses Belmard and wife.
In your report to the President, of January
18th, you recommend that these contracts be
not confirmed; you alludc to them /" dsrepu-
table attempts OF certain official tunctionaries to
speculate on these lands;" you characterize them
"as having demoralizng tendency upon the
inhabitants Of the Territory, both Indians and
whites you state that "these purchases are the
result of a systematic plan to forestall COMPETE
ton in the purchase and monopoly at low prices
of these reserves" you stigmatize them as
marked "by indelicacy and mpropriety;" you
undertake to quote from, and endorse as s. en-
titled to the fullest credit" letter in which it is
said that grantors have been " cheated;" and at
the close of your report, in speaking of these
agreements, you say that they disclose
diton of things among the federal officers which,
If not soon rebuked, must produce state of de-
morazation in the Territory, the effects of which
will be as lamentable as the acts themselves are
disgraceful." This report Of yours you have
given to the public in the shape of a congressional
document, under a resolution of the House of
Representatives calling upon your department
for information, which resolution, | have reason
to believe, was offered by your procurement
under other circumstances The law and the
nt ms ke frntf il md
amusing theme, but matters of a grave import ex-
clude discussion. You have thus raised an issue be-
tween yourself, on the one hand, and myself and
three Of the territorial officers the other, which
must be settled not ina corner but in the full blaze
of day, and before the whole public and it is no
less grave question than whether, on the one
hand, we are dishonest, dishonorable meI, guilty
of revolving fraud, or whether you vile and
INSCRIPTIONS slanderer, who does not recognize
the binding obligations of truth and Justice or
the sacredness of private reputation You have
deliberately and publicly asserted the one side of
that issue, and lnow deliberately and publicly
assert the other, and before | am done with
you, sir, intend to do with my proposition what
you have not attempted to do, and cannot do
with yours-establish it by competent proof. A
controversy of this kind is to every man of we'll
regulated mind, delicacy of feeling, most
dstaseful occupation; to the innocent man who
does not repel it with defiant Indignation it is an
wantonly, and without foundation, provokes it ,
it is the netiaceable brand of injustice brutality
and falsehood. That you have been in this bust
ness only the credulous tool of other men, who
have for their own purposes used you to traduce
me, cannot alter the course which my self-respect
requires me to pursue. If they have duped you
into difficulty from which you cannot be ex-
treated, it is no concern of mine. ] am equally
bound to defend my reputation against your fe-
rocisus ASSAULT whether it DE dictated by malice
or stupidity. As set-oif to your wholesale
charges of fraud, will, before coming to the
main object of this letter, state few facts which,
for the present, rest on my assertion. First,
however, assert what | supposed no sensible
man will deny-that an individual by accepting
public Office does not forfeit his right to buy
land, and make profit if he can, provided the
vendor is fully competent to manage his own
affairs, and make his own bargains, and no fraud
deceit, or misrepresentation is practised upon
him. The man who denies this proposition
shall not attempt to convince He is welcome
to believe what he pleases, and shall undertake
no such Quixotic task to supply his de-
hciencies of common sense. With this pre-
face, ] assert that these vendors, whom you
have probably led the public to regard as
wild, untutored savages, are, in truth, as com
petent to manage their their own affairs as you or
i. Louis Papin is white mana shrewd and
intelligent Frenchman, who speaks the French
and English WE'LL and is quite at home in all the
ordinary transactions Of hfe and who is so far
from being an Indian that he has not the slight
est mixture of Indian blood, and, |. think cannot
even speak the language. Aubrey is precisely
the same, and no more of an Indian than your
self. Their wives are the daughters of Louis
Gonvil, a French trader, and his Indian wife,
quite as intelligent as their parentage and station
would indicate, and with whom the French is
their daily and domestic language. Joseph James
is the son of white father and Indian mother
and with his brother Baptiste, the United States
interpreter, is among the most intelligent of his
tribe He Gas we'll as Papin, Belmard, and Au-
brey) follows, on small scale, farming and rails
ing stock buys and sells when necessary, speaks
English, Indian, and, i think, some French and
is quite as shrewd and keen in his bargains as
though he were full-blooded white man instead
of half-breed. His contract was made after
several days reflection and fun consultation with
his brother, the United States interpreter. Bel
mard is Frenchman, who speaks French and
English; is an intelligent man, fully competent
TO all the ordinary business Of life, and with not
the slightest mixture Of Indian blood or any
knowledge of the language His wife Adele is a
half-breed daughter Of Clement Lasett, a French
trader, has all the manners and habits of a white
is acute and intelligent, and converses well in
probably two more languages than yourself In
deed, If / am allowed to venture an opinion,
should say that Mr. and Mrs Belmard are quite
as competent to superntend your bargains as you
or your agent IS TO superintend theirs. The
prices fixed by these persons were simply accept
cd by us, and are four and fivefold the amount
which you had just before, in your treaty with tho
Shawnees, agreed to pay for better lands; and
have yet to learn that code of morality which
considers the Indian fairly paid for choice lands
by the Commissioner Of Indian Affairs at sixty
cents acre, and is shocked at the injury in
flicted on white man with half-breed wife when
individual pays him three dollars. That these
lands could have been sold for little more money
had they been hawked about in the market and
efforts made to get purchasers, and the sale de-
layed till the country filed up, is very possible;
but that proves nothing, and Is common to all
contracts. The price was more than we had i'm
tended to give-more than had ever been offered
before, although it was well known the vendors
were anxious to sell-was the price fixed by the
owners themselves, after consultation with each
other and their friends, and was all that any man
could afford to give at that time to make il de-
srable investment. Three, at least, of the ven
doris, being white men, could have pre-cmpted
quite as good land at one dollar and twenty-five
cents an acre, and intended on consummation of
these sales, TO do No approach TO fraud, de-
ceit or misrepresentation was practised upon
them. The contracts were to have no effect, nor