Kansas weekly herald., 1855-04-27

competent tekmanage his own affairs and
make his own bargains, and no fraud, de-
ceit or misrepresentation is practiced upon
him. The man who denies this proposition
/ shall not attempt to convince. He is well
come to believe what he pleases, and shall
not undertake such Quixotic task as to sup
ply his deficiencies of common sense.
2 With this preface. assert that these
vendors whom you have probably led the
public to regard as wild, untutored savages,
are, In fact, as competent to manage their
own as you or /. Louis PAPIN is white
mana shrewd and intelligent Frenchman,
who speaks the French and English we'll,
is quite at home in all the ordinary trans.
actions of life, and so far from being an In.
dian, that he has not the slightest admix.
ture OF Indian, blood, and cannot speak the
language. AuBREY. is precisely the same.
and no more of an Indian than yourself.
Their wives are the daughters Of Lou1s
GoNEILs Ca French trader) and his Indian
wlfe-quite as intelligent as their parentsge
Eand station would indicate, and with whom
the French is their daily and domestic Ian.
guager JosEPH JAMES is the son Of white
father and Indian mother. and with his bro.
ther, the United States Interpreter, is a.
mong the most intelligent of his tribe. He
Gas well as PAPIN ,BELMARD and AUBRxY)
follows, on a moderate scale, farming and
| raising stock, buying and selling when ne.
cessary, speaks English, Indian, and, I
think some French, and is quite as keen
and shrewd in his bargains as though he
| were full blooded white man, instead of
half-breed. His contract with us was
made after several days reflection, and full
consultation with his brother, the interpre-
ter. BELAARD is Frenchman who speaks
the French and English-is an intelIi-
gent man. fully competent to all the orth-
nary 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 CLr.
MEET LAsErTE, Ga French trader has
all the manners and habits Of the white. is
acute and intelligent. and eonFerses well in
one or two more languages than yourself.
Indeed, if were allowed to venture an
opinion, should say that Mr.. and Mrs. BEL
MARD are quite as competent to superintend
your bargains as you or your agent are to
superintend theirs. The prices fixed by all
of them were simply accepted by us, and
are four and iye-fold the amount which, in
before agreed to pay for better lands; and
/ have yet TO learn that code of morality
which considers the Indian fairly paid for
| choice lands at sixty cents an acre, by the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and il
shocked at the injury inflicted on white
man with half-breed wife, when an lndivid.
ual pays him three dollars.
I That these lands could have been sold
for little more, had they been hawked
about in the market, efforts made to get
purchasers, and the sale delayed till the
; country filled up, is very probable; but that
, proves nothing, and is common to all con-
tracts. The prices were more than we had
intended to give-more than had ever oeen
offered before, although it was generally
known that the venders- were anxious to
sell--were fixed by the owners themselves.
after consultation with each other and their
frionds, and were all that any man could
afford to give at that time to make 1t a de.
sirable investment. Three of the vendors,
; being white men, could have pre-empted
quite as good land at one dollar and twenty
five cents per acre and intended, on consum-
nation of these agreements, to do so.s No
i approach to fraud, deceit or representation
was practiced upon them. The contrasts
were to have no effect, nor any possession
: taken, till ratified by the Government, and
the purchase money was to be paid in cash
when the deeds were made.
But to return to the purpose of this letter.
) My colleagues are absent from the Terri
tory, and l cheer(ully assume this defence
upon myself. Your report upon the con.
tracts makes, as have shown, fierce charg-
. es of fraud. If true, am dishonest man;
fif false, you are slanderer. One of US,
then, disgraces the office he holds, and it
is time to know which is the man. In view
of this, / propose to you, sir, a compact,
that, if you shall before the first day Of Oc-
tober next, make good these charges, to the
satisfaction of the President, he shall at
Ionce remove me from effices and if you
fail, the same penalfy shall be Eneted out to
you. You have soWn Your gratuitous, in
Iexcusablc calumny broadcast over the Uni
on, and Low I solicit, ehallange, defy
you to this test. II there is spark of man.
illness In your composition, you will Anoa
lshrink from it. desire 10 goad you to its
acceptance. Office. In my estimation, is Of
little value equation is priceless; and my
loniy fear that you will decline this offer is
based upon the evidence that you intimate
of these, commodities is an inverse ratio to
1 mine.
l shall make this letter public. and await
your early reply, addressed to Easton, Pa.
Hoping that It will be categorical, distinct
and positive acceptance or rejecting OF my
proposal, without any evasion of the point
or creation of new issues. / will make no
other issue. and enter into no discussion
with you, until this is disposed Of, a..d your