St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-03-09
Reform Of the :: Indian ll|i;l' /
I. ......... System. ~- o..s-a..
SPEECH OF HON. Il. DoNNELLY.

SPEECH OF HON. I. DONNELLY. "
Delivered I'm tho House OF Represents.
+s3 tives, Feb. Z, 1865. >'>.]+
Mr.. CHAIRMAN: j. ~ ]'' '....'. !
The condition of the Indian tribes
within the limits Of the United States
is a matter Of the first consequence to
our government and people. 's'' 2
During the first half century after
the formation of the government the
flow Of population on our continent was
confinsd to movement from the Allan
tic coast westwardly, and the process of
displacement Of the original race was
comparatively simple ; the Indian re-
ceded as the white man advanced. Lat
terly, however, new tides Of population
have set in from the shores of the Pa
ciic, and the two mighty currents are
now co'nmingling their waters amid the
gold-bearing ranges IF the interior. -
The cmigrant from Minnesota meets in
the field of Montana the miner from Or
egon and California. With the termi-
nation OF our great war, now near its
close, a migration will spring up Of
which the world has at yet known no
parallel and in few short years ev.
cry tract capable Of settlement aud cul.
tivation will pass into the occupancy Of
the white man t,.
What is to become of the Indians as
the races of the world thus draw to-
gether from the opposite shores Of the
continent? Caught between the upper
and the neither millstoncs-now so re-
morselessly approaching each other
what is to be its fate? The land that
will not sustain the white man will not
sustain the Indian. The soil whose
grasses will not nourish the domestic
cattle Of the herdsman will not support
the buffalo. The Indian must either
be driven to starvation in the sterile
wastes or We must permit him to share
with US the lands capable Of cultiva-
ton
Let it not be Said that the nation
shall advance in its career Of greatness
regardless OF tho destruction of the red
man. There is room enough in Gods
world for all the races lie has created
! to inhabit it. Thirty million white
people can certainly find space soa'e.
where on this broad continent for
third Of million of those who original
]y possessed the whole ef it. While we
are inviting to our shores the oppressed
races Of mankind, let US at least deal
justly by those whose rights here ante
date our own by countless centuries.
1t is the destiny Of the white man to
overrun the world but it is as plainly
his destiny to carry in..his train the great
forces which constitute his superiority
civilization and christianity. We arc
exhibiting to-day the unequalcd specta-
Gle OF superior race sharing its ncblest
privileges with the humblest of man.
kind, and lifting up to the conditions Of
freedom and happiness those who from
the dawn Of time have been either bar
barians or slaves. One touch of nature
makes the whole. world kin. Let US
then be merciful in our judgment Of the
races of men. We know not to whose
hands the torch of civilization may yet
be committed ere the work If God
through man is completed on the face
Of the earth. It was little anticipated
by the great nations Of antiquity that
the religious mind of the world would
be dominated for centuries by the in
tcllect Of an obscure branch of the Arab
race. " .., .,,...... , .. j., ...-..s ; ,.....
If, then, it would be uaworthy of US
to consider for one moment the alterna.
tive Of the destruction Of the Indians >ol
the United States,; let us turn to the
other aspect which the problem pre-.
sents us. -,.. .,... a.ty T.. ..... ..L.
i How shall the Indian nomad, 9
hunter, Q barbarian an-compete on the
same soil apd under the same circum'
ta noes in the great struggle for life
with tho civilized white man? ...f,,.
Civilization means energy, industry
acuteness, skill and perseverance: Bar
: barism means Incidence, torpidity, igno
rance and irresolption. How can The
: two. be brought together and the inferi
Or not fall at once a sacrifice to the ra
fpacity, Of the superior? This is th'
problem before u.s. y s'" '&>'''" '%@
The government ,nnst interpose il
l