Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-01-28

oUR INDIAN SYSTEM.

from the Blight Rev. H. b. WHIPpLE, the bishop
Of the Protestant Episcopal Church IN the diocese
OF Minnesota, exposing the iniquites and calling
for reform of our present :" Indian System. In
making this appeal the writer states that 1t IS not
his purpose to assai the officials at present charged
with the administration of the system, but to call
public attention TO the crying evils which grow
out OF the system itself He cheerfully bears wit
ness to the fidelity Of some Government employees,
bat he says they have failed signally to subserve
the ends Of humanity and justice because the sys-
tenn was stronger than their personal efforts Bishop
Whipple suggests that besides motives Of humanity
and JUS ice there indispensable considerations
of public safety to the inhabitants of frontier
which call for reform in our Indian policy. The
two advancing waves of civilization from the
Atlantic and Pacific are soon to meet pressing the
Indian population in each direction to that inevi-
table doom which awaits them, and 10 the crisis
of which they may turn upon their pursuers long
enough to wake {" such wall of agony from the
horrors of Indian warfare we have never heard.
In view of this impending crisis he calls on all
men who love justice and fear God to listen
calmly to what he says, with the invocation that
God may touch their hearts to redress every
wrong
It is plain that the Indians who sell their hunt
ing grounds must either become civilized or perish
and treaties should be framed as much to secure
their civilization and chrstianization to dvest
them Of their partial title to the lands they inhabt
At present, says Bishop Whipple, it sickens one
L. H. 49,
made" The proceedings which generally attend
sucb transaction are thus described by the reve-
rend writer:
An Indian treaty usually has but end that end
To put money white mans pocket The Indian
told of his great fathers pity and love for red men, OF his
esre TO see them made like their white brt TIERS that he
has no houses FIRE fire horses that he knows not
how to cultivate the SOIL that be has no schoos nor books
nor Teachers knowledge OF God, that all these and
many more blessings will to him and his children if
h. will not turn deaf to his great fathers words He
believes the lying fable He knows not how this is to be
accom- plshed but he trusts the smooth words. He
NOT read and so supposes all this 10 the bond Often
there are lying codcs added or false interpretations
iyen 10 abs5rb large of money for special claims al
WAYS provided such claimants VIII pay liberal commits
aon Ia secure them The treaty ratified. Then
deferred hopes the irritation Of the perng Of annuity
goods the squanderng of money by fraudulent contracts
The theft Of annutes then diseases which follow vice be
gin to hold carnival every village there no govern
ment or law protect person, property or life The
deadly fire water changes the savage to devil When
he has only choice of DEATHS these long pent up passions
burst out in the horrors of massacre
The Indian treaty now the snrest way 10 the public
treasury The traders and the chiefs whom they can
brbe ask for il the agents and Department find il in their
interest and cunning politicians who never act unless
their palms crossed with silver know how TO use all
fhese for personal ends There should be offers made
or Inducements used TO the Indians except such the
Government will faithfully and honestly fulfilled The
policy of bribing chiefs must be stopped The treaty
should not RECOGNIZES wandering savage tribe as an m
10 ,.saaf ko aanhn laaa fhrnf hA
simple clear statement Of the phghted faith OF Christian
patton 70 its Indian wards
at now system of reward for political lavorites The
superntendens and agents generally selected by their
patron reward Tor the service done IN
bis own election The case IL 80 plain that no man can
secure such ece, matter bow high his character
ness "A reward for party service. The agent Usually
nnopts lis subordnates from the motives and even
II be desired 10 his whole duty he could not resist the
out.ie political pressure and he must obey party man
dates or ose his place Under wise syatem OF govern
nent ,ueb appointments would be mischiev0ns but they
work far greater evils under tina present Indian system
As the Indian, unlike the negro, il not an appre-
oisblc element in our politics, it may be doubted
whether the wrongs of the former, as so eloquenty
rected by Bishop Whipple, will arouse much SEN
sibility in answer to his moving representations
The claims Of justice and humanity" when ar
uounced in the name Of the Indian, find buta weak
response from the generality Of the American people,
and that Divine vengeance which has been SO often
invoked to redress the wrongs Of the black man is
popularity supposed to sleep over the wrongs OF the
red man. It is commonly supposed that the speedy
extinction Of the entire Indian race IL poFtended
by physical laws, whose operation is SO inevitable
and Discriminate that recognition Of their preya-
lence sbsolves the people and Government of the
United States from all moral responsibility in the
premises No who knows any thing of our
Indian system, and of the abuses which attend 1t,
can thus summarily eliminate the element Of hu nan
responsibility from the problem this nation is Sov-
ing with regard to this hapless race. That there
sre remorsele.s laws, as well physical as moral,
which determine in large degree the condition
and destiny of AZ inferior race when brought into
sontact with asuperior one, is known to all History
and statistics alike attest the presenseof these laws,
now booming to temporary enslagement,
and now appointing another to determination. But
these laws are always implicated with the moral
working Of the free agents under whose hands they
bear their bitter fruits, whether of slavery DEATH
and the superior race cannot escape the response
biity entailed upon it, or dismiss the Divine in
QUESTION for guilt with the querulous words Of the
FIRST homicide, when he fippantly asked, " Am