The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1856-01-25
INDIAN AFFAIRS IN THE UNITED
STATES-THE WHITE AND THE
. RED RACES
From the N. Y. HERALD

Having given the interesting report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs to our readers
it has occurred to us that the occasion is an
appropriate one to make some observations
upon the past condition of the tribes in
this country in connection with the rapid
extension of our frontier limits. 1t is i'm
possible not to see that the aborigines are
everywhere regarded as something less than
men. We have sought to improve their con-
dition by establishing missionary schools
amongst them; they have been pensioners
upon the public. treasury-wards of the ex-
ecuive departments. They have always ex-
cited large share of public sympathy, and
strong hopes have been entertained that they
might be reclaimed from barbarsm and ee
waited to the spheres of social, moral ana reli.
gious enlightenment.
The Indians are certainly an interesting
race, and 1t is agreeable to read the accounts
which the federal Commissioner has given of
the humane efforts of the government to pro-
mote their welfare. He is sangune OF final
success in these labors. He reports the ex-
istence, within our urextenGed Territorial limits,
of three hundred and fourteen thousand of
these red men of the forest-these remarkable
links which seem to unite the brute with the
humln species. Not comment is made up
on the statement which the Commissioner
has published in regard to the number of his
wards. He sees nothing in this fact to inhu
ence his opinions concerning the destiny of
his people. He encourages us with consider
able progress among the Chippewas of Mich-
igan, and the combined Chippcwas, Ottlwas,
and Pottawattamips of Wisconsin, and ma
jority of five tlbes have also evinced no little
advancement in Texas! This is, with trfng
variations, the sum total of Indian civilization,
after two hundred years of effort. From
many millions of men and the sole masters
of the contradiction many hundred tribes
existing in the pride of superiority--the ac-
knowledged chiefs OF empire and of domain
in Amerca--they have been reduced to n
trhe over Il quarter of million of men, and
to day give up scarcely single hope that hu-
man efforts are capable of elevating them TO
the scale of civilization and Christianity. 1t
would almost seem as if Providence had closed
the doors of progress against them. Unknown
to the Christian age, to the Egyptians, to the
Chinese, to the Hebrews, to the Greeks and
to the Romans, they have steadily resisted
every effort to introduce amongst them the
arts of civilization which existed in those ma
tions. This may seemto be harsh judgment,
and one unsuitcd to the spirit of Christianity
and To the temper of the present age; but we
prefer to look the matter in the face and to
be rational and practical. We cannot ignore
the past if we would, and there is not in all
the variety of our relations with the red man,
in peace or in war, politically, religiously or
socially, solitary sign of their regeneration
and enlightenment.
1t is in vain to say they have been severely
and harshly treated-it is in vain to refer to
their original strength and rights on this con-
tinent and to their present weakness and de-
pendence-these things prove rather their
stubborn resistance to all the efforts of civil
ization, than the cruelty of the white races
The sun gives his rays TO the white and red
alike; the earth is impartial in the fruit it
bears to those who apply the conditions of
productions and so it is with the conditions
of civiization-they too, are fortunately i'm
partial, generous and communicative. The |
examples to the Indian have been valueless
and it is precisely such causes which have
been foremost in leading the white race step
by step to its present condition Of enighten-
ment
A stationary people can no longer hope for
a protracted existence-and this is made OBJ
vious by the simplest comparison between
the Anglo American and the aboriginal and
Mexican races on this continent. The former
have driven out the latter, just as the English
are driving out the natives of the East, and
rs Russia is steadily advancing upon the o.
toman empire. The same grand scheme Of
operations is going on in every part of the
globe.
Judged by the standards of experience ard
it is not difficult TO come to the
conclusion that the native barbarous races of
both the Eastern and Western continents are
working out their destiny precisely as an
Dverrung Providence intended they should.
On this side Of the water the Indians never
held more than mere right of passage-a
highway privilege of the country. They new
.r turned the earth to uses Of production
They added nothing to the wealth or the
civilization of mankind. While population
was crowding on production in the Old
World, they occupied the New, and withheld
i from the uses OF the human family
Their expulsion was n high Christian duty
IA work of humanity-and what is now
exhibited is sufficient proof of the justice of
his idea.
The chronic efforts of the government 10
EDUCATE, civize and Christianize them, con.
,titute one of those stubborn features Of
policy transmitted TO us from our ancestors,
which, Ike the Indians themselves, is capable
of resisting the force of experience anc the
teachings of common sense aud Justice
They are actually degraded by contact with