Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-06-04
A CIRCULAR.

To THE FRIENDS OF THE INDIAN. The sub
scriber, having been personal witness to the
treatment of the Indians, and to the causes
which led to the late war in Oregon, feels as
sured that, when facts are fully known, the
spontaneous love of justice, which moves the
heart of every true American, will seek re-
dress for the wrongs of an injured race.
In confederation of the views of the sub
scriber, the following testimony is offered B.
Generals Scott and Wool agree in the state
ment that nine-tenths of cur Indian wars re-
suit from the aggression of the whites.
Joel Palmer, when Indian Commissioner on
the Pacific Coast, declared that the Indians
were Outraged By la,eiess -uagabonds, unworthy
Of the name Of men,
late California paper (Patuluma JournaD
says, that more than three hundred indians hare
been killed in round Valley, Mendocino Co.,
by The whites, within the last month,
The Tahama Gazette says sour neighbors
have adopted new plan to chastise the In
dams. Men are hired to hunt them, and are
paid in proportion to the number of scalps,
or other proofs they give of the number they
kill" When it is considered that these In
dams are not aggressors, and that they desire
only a home in the place of their birth, with
subsistence and protection for their wives and
little ones, it is hardly possible to conceive
of atrocity more horrible than the above ex-
hibits. Neither can we conceive of a more
direct means to deprave the public mind, and
to spreatl spirit of fraud and injustice, than
by pat a indifference, which is construed
by borir rufians - on approval of what
! they'd
II Il mistake, atheistical and cruel in the
extreme, 10 suppose thai the Indians perish
/ (neoessari'yl "hefore the march of cirilis-
alton" Tho above shows that they disappear
before an energized savagism as much more
savage in its expression as the revolver is
more destructive than the bow and arrow.
1t is also mistake to suppose that the In
dams are not disposed to live in peace, or to
acquire the arts of civilized life.
Commissioner Manypenny reports that SHE
Iudians are neper first to break treaty" And
it is significant fact, that not drop of
Quaker blood has ever been shed by an In
dian; and that, when fairly dealt with, they
have sacredly observed every engagement.
Webster's Dictionary, under the word Savage
says, " Our American Indians are remarkable
for their hospitality to strangers, land for their
fidelity to friends" (The exceptions we may
safely regard as the result of deterioration
and contact with maxins of perverted civ
ilization,)
The official reports of the Indian Depart
ment demonstrate, that Notwithstanding the
terrible pressure of adverse circumstances
they evince desire and capacity for as high
civilization as any people under heaven and
that even now there are many individuals of
the race, and some entire tribes, who are fully
equal to their palefaced neighbors in the nobl-
err traits of manhood.
And yet, in the br DAD daylight of these
facts, we read in our leading papers, that
treaties on the part of Government are I'M
fulfilled for years: meantime, large tribes west
of the mountains are driven from their lands,
and hundreds among them have persisted
with broken hearts and starvation. And, be-
cause of their disquiet, the tribes in Oregon
have been chastised with rifles and ravolvers,
and many of the noblest men (Indian Chiets)
have been hung as though they were traitors
and rebels.
In New Mexico and Arizona they have been
hunted and destroyed like wolves. letter
in the New York Times says, that one thous-
and houses, twenty thousand sheep, and five
hundred horses, besides an immense amount
of property, consisting of cattle, wheat and
corn, belonging to the Navagoes, has been
destroyed, and that the little children who
could not escape, or whose parents have been
killed, are commonly sold for 800 each.
] The subscriber feels that it would be an in
suit upon American Christians and philanth-
ropists to ask THEM to stop these enormities
and that It is libel upon the nation and up
on God, to say "there is no remedy
JOHN BEESoN.