, 1862-07-19

Inc 1nuldnS OF oregon anu w dSIlnglOn are Oy
their habits and modes of life, divided into three
distinct classes. Those inhabting the coast, bays
inlets, and margins of the rivers were called by
Washington Irving, Piscatory tribes. but we
on our coast, demon mate them in plain Saxon,
Fish Eaters" What their original condition
may have been before they were cursed with the
system of so-called civilization, which our Govern
ment and people everywhere extend to the unfor-
unate aboriginal race is Of but little present prac
teal consequence. uffce it to say, that those Of
them not exterminated by the cvilizng influences
of whiskey and loathsome diseases, obtained and
contracted from our own race, are at present sunk
to the lowest depths of moral and physical degra-
dation, fer below the reach of the philanthropic
aid Of the most ardent humanitarian.
Another class is embraced in the general appel
lation of "Diggers." They inhabt mostly the
arid districts of eastern and southeastern Oregon,
and the southeastern portions of Washington
Territory, remote from the great watercourses,
and along the bases of the mountains They are
destitute of almost all articles of clothing, and
live in holes in the ground, subssting upon bugs,
grasshoppers, crickets, lizards, and the seeds of
perennial grasses. Diet has doubtessly had much
to do with reducing them to about the lowest
grade of humanity, and they are evidentynot the
specimens of the aboriginal race which Cooper
and other writer's of fiction had in their eye when
deneating Indian character. Nothing is now
wanting but the close proximity and civilizing in
huences of our Christian race to complete their
degradation and final extinction.
A third, and better class, are by some called
Equestrian Indians, brave, athletic, finely
formed, and comparatively virtuous and intelli-
gent people. They have horses and cattle, cult
vate some of the substantial articles of agricultural
productions, and occasionally make long journeys
to the Rocky mountains for the purpose of hunt
ing the buffalo, or to make war upon their ancient
and implacable enemies, the Blackfeet.
The Nez Perces, the people with whom the
amendment contemplates treating, belong to the
latter of the three divisions, and are the best of
the lot; they approach nearer to that utopian
character ascribed to primitive man by fanciful
writers than any Indians whom have met in my
not very limited acquaintance with the race.
But lest l should be misunderstood, it is per-
haps proper that 1 should say that have known
individuals among the Nez Perces who were no
better than the average of white men. Indeed,
have known some great rogues among them
Lewis and Clark spent some time among them,
and made the canoes in which they descended to
the Pacific ocean, upon the banks of the Cearwa-
ter or Kooskooska, and within the limits Of their
present reservation. That small and enfeebled
party of white men-the first who crossed the
continent-were the harbingers of the thousands
who have followed and who are now building up
an empire in that remote region, where, but few
years since, 1" rolled the Oregon, and heard no
sound save her own dashings." That party were
perfectly in the power of and at the mercy of the
Nez Perces. The arms, horses, and the few ar
tices of goods in the hands of the explorers,
would have been prize sufficient to tempt the
cupidity of ary tribe of savages less honest than
the Nez Perces. So far from despoiling the par
ty, they rendered them every assistance in their
power, and kept their horses for them during the
winter of 1906 and 1906, while the party visited
and wintered at the mouth of the Columbia On
their return to the Kooskooska in the spring of
1906, the natives delivered to them their horses
and other property with a fidelity that would
have reflected credit upon a civilized people.
From the days of Lewis and Clark to the pres
ent time they have been, tribe the fast friends
of our people and Governments and it is their
boast that the blood of the white man never
stained their hands. They gave strong evidence
of their loyalty in 1866, when Governor Stevens
was returning from the Blackfoot treaty ground
with small and enfeebled party of white men
the hostile tribes declared their intention to cut
off and destroy tie Governor and his party; but
the Nez Perces hearing of the contemplated mas
sacre, of their own voliton sent out at their own
expense strong war party in the dead of winter,
and conducted the Governor and his men safely
through the surrounding and hostile tribes.
Missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, have
labored among these people for many years and
while I am of the opinion that they have not sue
ceeded in imparting to them any very definite
idea of the plan of saivation about which inteli-
gent and highly educated white men differ so much
among themselves, am of the opinion that their
counsel and advice in relation to temporal affairs,
and particularly the knowledge which the mission
aries have impaired to them of agriculture, and
the stimulus to follow its pursuits, have been of
great and lasting benefit to the tribe If they are
not Christians, some of them set a very good ex-
ample to white persons who pretend to be such.
Mr. President, if there is any one department
of our Government worse managed than another,
it is that which relates to our Indian affairs. Mis-
management, bad faith, fraud, peculation, and
downright robbery have been its Distinguishing
features Its defects have their origin in being
organized upon a wrong basis.
When William Penn met in council with the
Delawares and Mingoes in 1852, and made that
famous treaty which Voltare says " was never
thing approaching to equality between the con-
tracing parties. Neither was sufficiently power
full to impose unjust or unreas enable terms upon
the other, and, while honesty and fair deal
ing charactized the compact neither of the par
ties desired, nor could they Afford to violate its
provisions Since the days of Penn, the weak and
scattered settlements have grown to be power
ful nation. Yet the policy of treating with and
regarding the Indians as independent nations
which had its origin in our own weakness-has