The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-16
APPEAL OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
AID ASSOCIATION FOR HELP.

| IneSe nave been chiefly the zeal and efforts OF
a few individuals, sustained mostly from their
own resources. Still, our cause has prospered
/ Several other associations, outgrowths of this
have been established in different States, the
most recent one of which is that, formed under
most favorable auspices in sister city, called
The Philadelphia Association for the Protec-
ton and Education of the Indian Tribes In
addition to this the public journals, at first so
! lukewarm, because they considered our cause
hopeless one, are coming into the work, par
ticularly the press, both secular and religious
Of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington |;
influential persons in various parts of the I'm
! ion, including eminent statesmen, have pledged
us their cooperation and the existence of our
Institution and its objects are becoming known
in the remotest settlements, and the various In
dian agents and border whites are becoming
aware that the public eye is on them, and that
their treatment of the Indians is liable to come
for Judgment before the American people.
The first aim of this Association is to bring
moral influence to bear on the country-its
! Government, its agents, our borderers and Dor
der settlements-which shall compel respect
for the rights and life of the Indian. Does
any one doubt that such work is needed, as
much as any other charity at home or abroad
! for which money is spent, as much as that the
starving man should be fed, or that the woman
beset by rufiians in our streets should be de-
Tended? God help us to understand. Let us
consider, calmly, five can.
The California news published in the morn
! ing papers of May l6 contains the following
items of intelligence:
"The Indian war in Humboldt county has
been finished, at a cost to the State of $50, 900.
"The PetGlumG Journal says more than
300 Indians, mainly males, have been killed
within the past month by the white settlers in
Round Valley, Mendocino county.
"The 1ehdnG Gazette, speaking about Indian
troubles on the eastern border of Sacramento
| Valley, says:
"A new plan has been adopted by our neigh
bors opposite Tehama, to chastise the Indians
for their many depredations during the past
winter. Some men are hired to hunt them, who
are recompensed by receiving so much for each
scalp, or some other satisfactory evidence that
they have been killed. The money has been
made up by subscription
"There win be very little need of Indian
reservations in California in 1865"
/ This last paragraph can mean nothing else
than that, according to the expectations Of the
writer, all the native inhabitants of California
will be exterminated in some FIVE or six years
More than 300 Indians, mainly males, killed in
one locality in a single mOnth-possibly ma
jority of the fathers, husbands, and brothers of
a tribe. And in another locality they are hir
ing men to hunt the natives like wild beasts,
| for so much scalp! 1t does not appear that
! Government, State or National, has anything
to do with this. 1t is our neighbors " who
are doing it, and the bounty is "made up by
subscription"
| Later advices from Round Valley-arrival
of May 20-furnished by the same Tehama
| Gazette, estimate the slaughter of Indians with
! In the three weeks last past at nearly 400, in
Guiding bucks" women, and children.
Nor are these atrocities confined to the Pa
c6c side of our country. The city papers of
May 10 contain the following paragrap PHI
"Austin (Texas) advices to the 18th inst
state that Capt. Bayer entered the Upper Re
serve on the Sd, with fifty men, and killed fif
teen Indians and fled, A party of dragons
and Indians were pursuing him, There was
great excitement, and the Indians in the Lower
Reserve had left their farms for Capt. Rios en-
campment"
Here, it appears, the United States troops in
terfered for the preservation of the Indians,
and went in pursuit of Capt. Bayer, who is
| probably the leader of some volunteer compa-
ny raised among our neighbors."
1nls association begs to assure the public
that these barbarities, these wholesale murders,
often perpetrated on the innocent and molten
sive, are nat erceptions, but are fair specimens
of what Is constantly occurring on our extensive
frontiers, both east and west of the Rocky
Mountains; and that every day delay in ma
king the public voice heard is day of peril to
the Indian, and of mourning to all good people
Our Government is not wilfully vicious IN its
treatment of the Indians but where there is no
public voice to sustain it in the defence of this
oppressed race, it is naturally overborne by the
clamor of the selfish and avaricous. intent on
making plumber of the Indians land. When
New Mexico was annexed to the United
States, the Navaj Oes within its borders were a
comparatively civilized and furnishing people
They lived in villages wove blankets, raised
wheat, corn, and other vegetables, and had ex-
tensye focks and herds, What is their condi-
! ton to-day? Recent accounts state that thew
are broken up, scattered, and dying by scores.
of famine. Last fall under various pretexts
growing out of a claim to some portion of their
landS--a claim originating in a sale made by
some chief, which the people refused to ratify-
this tribe was attacked by our troops their vii.
lagos burned, their crops destroyed, their coun-
try devastated, and large numbers of them mas
| sacred or dispersed. We have seen it stated in
the public prints that 1000 horses, 10000
sheep, and 500 head of cattle, belonging to these
poor people, were either driven away by our
troops, or slaughtered on the ground because
they could not drive them away; and that the
little children, too small to escape, were made
a subject of trade and barter By our people
sometimes bringing 500 piecel
is there, then, not need of such q societv
as ours, to call attention to these enormitieS
and to labor for their suppression? Who can
answer "No?" And, on the other hand who
will answer " Yes" and respond to this appeal
with material aid? We have appealed to the
churches, but they are occupied with other
benevolent and worthy objects, and have failed
tally to appreciate the Importance of this. Be-
sides, some OF them are little jealous of u.s.
They tear we shall interfere in some manner
with their missionary work among the Indians
NOT at all, except Tor their advantage, in pro
duclng state OF things, by shutting away the
whisky-dealer and the ruffian. who counteroct
and overawe the missionary by their nresanco
and their threats, which will enable them m
make their labors efficient. With our objects
1t is needtul that we occupy q ground on which
all sects and parties can unite but we war ON
none, and desire to cooperate with all. In order
70 success, we must move the nation, especially
the humane and religious portion of it, who hold
the moral destiny of the country in their hands.
Shall we, have help2 4 few of the clergy
men OF New York have preached to their con- on
gregatons on the subject of the WRONGS of the
Indians, and taken up collections for our hen.
eht. We thank them for it. A few persons
have also given us donations. Will other min.
listers and citizens, here or in other places. fol-
low the example? The efficiency of our Iabors
Will be IN proportion to our means. If small
we can PRINT little, and make our voices but
laintiy nearo and the process of arousing and
combining publc sentiment, by the establish
country, will go. on but slowly and the barbaT;.
1 Of