, 1856-02-29

SCH 10 meet you uere to-day. immaculate
| ly after my return from the arduous duties
imposed upon me by virtue of my Office as
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, in the
Blackfoot country, / visited several points
on the Sound for the purpose of comforting
with the the friendly Indians concentrated
upon the reserves / thought it E\matter
great Importance to talk with them, and
to assure them, so long as they re-
nained friendly, Of the protection of the
government These, with other important
duties connected with the present Indian
war, gave me but little leisure time, and !
regretted exceedingly that l was unable to
meet my fellow.citizcns of the town of
Steilacoom, aud the county of Pierce, on
my former trip through tho Sound but ]
now meet you at this early day to speak.
to you of the difficulties which now sur
round US. You all know full we'll that we
are in the midst OF savage and barbarous
war Our citizens have been indiscrimil-
ately slaughtered, their property destroyed,
and portions Of the territory laid waste
all this has been done by tribes Of Indians
that but short time before, entered into
solemn treaties with the government Of the
United States, extinguisLing their title to
lands belonging 10 them, for Which the
government agreed to pay a stipulated
sum the Indians guaranteeing to settlers
who might occupy those lands, perfect Sc
curity in their properly and lives. On the
part Of the government, reservations were
made upon which the indians were to live,
and the location Of such reservations were
chosen BY the Indians themselves. The
treaties made with tile Indians in the
Puget Sound district, were ratified by the
United States Senate. The treaties made
last spring have notyet been ratified. These
treaties were entered into at the most ur.
gent request Of the Indians themselves, who,
fearing that the whites would ehcroach
upon them wished their lands purchased,
and reservations set apart for them to live
upon, 50 that all parties might know their
proper places 7, as Superintendent Of In
dian Affairs for this Territory, aeceded to
their wishes, and appointed o day to meet
them in council. The council met at the
appointed time, and the treaties l have
spoken of were concluded, and when left
the Indians on the west side Of the Cascade
mountains, they, all expressed themselves
satisfied and thanked me with many ex-
pressions of gratitude for what had done
for them!i 1 then proceeded, according to
prior arrangement, to enter into treaties
with the different Indian tribes living with
10 the boundaries Of this territory east of
the Cascade mountains. Gen. Palmer,
the Superintendent Of Indians Affairs for
Oregon territory, had made similar ar
rangement with the Indian tribes belong
ing to that territory west Of the mountains.
! Mr.. James Doty,, had gone among the
Indians Of Washington, east Of the Cascade
mountains, by my Orders,to ascertain their
feelings with. regard to making treaties
| with the whites. He visited the CGynses,
4 Whlla-Wallas, Nez!Perces and Yackahnas,
4 who one and all expressed themselves de.
4 sirons to make treaties, and sell their lands.
Most of the chiefs wished the council to
be held at Walla-Walla, as that was the
usual place Of holding councils in former
ttmes,' So that spot was selected as the
council ground. The council was convened,
and lasted fourteen days. The greatest
care was taken to make the objects Of the
treaties well understood by the,lIndians.
Faithfuland sworn interpreters were en-
4 1ployed-men whose Yeracity cannot be
] questioned the Indians might fully
understand everything connected with the
I Scouncilg Il am thus particular in stating
/ these things, as it bias been asserted by
some, that the principles and main features
Of the treaty were not understood by the
1 Indians, and that the Indians were de-
4 cefved; and for that reason they com
Z menced this war Of destruction and death.
4 This is not 50, fellow-citizens, they we'll un-
derstood the treaties as they signed them,
and as further proof Of this fact, l will
: here state, that Gen. Palmer and myself
asked the chiefs Of the different tribes to pick
out reservations to suit themselVes-to point
out such lands as they wished to live upon,
which they refused to do. We gave them
time to consider, and then asked them
again, they second time declined We
then asked them third time to consider
our proposition, they still declined to name
the lands they wished reserved for them.
; They then requested Us to choose for them.
We did 50, and proposed to reserve such
lands as we thought would best suit them.
i The Nez-Perces accepted our proposition.
The other tribes rejected them. Then we
J again asked these tribes to aamo their res