New-York tribune., 1867-05-15
HOW TO CONQUEB IHDIANS.

minded of the popular outcry OF mad dog
On easy proyocati0n the public are ready TO
take for granted that the Indian Is "a savage
as the dog is mad. The whole bureau mob OF
agents and contractors are on the alert Tor the
hue and CRY and bounding down. Army hunts
after this wild-bcast of an Indian and his
dusliy s1uaw are common lie is, in fact,
wretched outcast, too hungry half his time to
be civil to anybody--too thirsty not to have
touch of hydrophoba in the dog-days A natural
temperance did once exist among these dogs OF
Indians, but the mdest and milkicsJ of ciyiza-
ton, with the sword in one hand and the
brandy-bottle in the other has undertaken
to bring them up by hand. The unromantlc
Indian, by turns imbccile and dcmOnlac, CON
fcsses TO thirst for iircwatcr; he IL an un-
thrift, vagabOnd and outcast, and the waters
of bracksh bitterness drown his soul. When
the hunt is up he is sure to bite somebody,
sure to poison the tcmpcrs of iudicous military
men. Once in n while he literally deyOurs whole
garrsons, and only leaves horrible TUT OF
scalps to tell the story. Squads and parties
are gobbled up. trains are ambushed' small
outp03ts are swept away with a iierce WINK
and the mad dog il still insatiatc and unpun-
ishcd. All who have had dealings with the
Savages agree that, when thoroughly aroused,
there is something dragOn-likc in their thirst
for blood but this fact offers imperfect reason
for the care which his lawful guar
dians take to keep him in state of
continual iIrit1bility and bloOdthiTstinesS.
Are our Indian possessions to be considered
only sort of national preserve, wherein the
savage and the wild beast are to be maintained
g n,u,IitV N
than one the Indian Territory appears to he IA
common hunting-ground Tribes OF savaScs,
like herds of buifaoes appear to exist only to
be shot at We know that Indian troubles
sporadic OF epidemic, are pest ol the first
cass. and keep alive the worst of military
feycrs. Year after year we are taught tie
unhappines5 and cost OF keeping our border
in chronic state of inflammation and fear.
The lesson grows stale. and still our Indian
patient and client suffers all the conseq ucnces
of murderous quackery-quackery for which
we have 10 pay, scruplc for scrupe, in the
cost of reckless agencies, the sowing OF
the tares of falsehoOd that spring up III assas-
snatOn and massacre, the negotiation OF mean-
ingless treaties. the pursuit OF an enemy
that can never be caught, and the
bore aud folly of numbciless small campaigns
contemplate in point of result but expensive
month by month and year by year. We have
TO regularly foot the bill for keeping the Indian
inplacable. We must pay To the uttermOst
farthing for his incorrgibility. We must rem
der n rigid account To ourselves for making
the Indian no better by the treatment which
we impose on him for the chronic crime IN
which or msgovenmcnt has trained and eX-
erciScd him. We must answer for the injustice
done ourselves by the reckless manner III which
our Indian affairs have been made more odious
and troublesome and costly day by day. The
fact is that tho Indian is no more savage than
our ignorant and cruel misgoyenment of him,
and that our agents and contractors arc highly
entitled to the scalping which they constantly
avoid A system of mcrcenary guardianship
so long and irresponsibly established that it
has become rs common 10 say that
n Government agent is Il swindlcr
as that an Indian is a savage, is likely to mys-
tify the subject of Indian reform for some
time to come. But this we do know that our
Bureau management of Indian affairs has been
for years a shame and a calamity, rs conscience
less as Slaye-tradng, as liccntous in point ot
total irresponsibility as Mormonsm. The mad
dog is hunted in the neighborhood of the
prairies year after year. and we confess the
snort is ruiuous to both parties, TO judge by
the speed of the animal, the virulencc of his
bite, the clumsncsS of his pursucrs. Who IS It
that makes him mad, and keeps him so, in
order to pay for the pleasure of being bitten!
Granted that the Indian is a savage, not
wanting original gall to make oppression bitter.
Granted, besides, that he has low traits of cum
ming and malgnty which missionary york will
not in one day be able to exercise from him.
We still believe that he possesses moral relies
of manhood that made him in his day the
very best type of all the savage races OF the
world. We believe that he is placable and con
yertible. Our wrctched system OF treaty patch
ing shows that if ignorant and distrustful of the
whites, he has scarcely less faith and patience
than his ncighbors. We are morally certain
that he is q man and not wild beast, and
that We can govern him only by the natural law
of justice, which to violate involves the
worst of bargains. Whether man or
beast, it is impossible TO exteimlnate
him, and it il well for themselves and
the country that military men refuse to enter
tain such III idea. "An army of 100000 men,
writes an intelligent correspondent from the In
dian country "could not exteminate them IN
"ten years" Our army can act, therefore, at the
best, only as sort of police, well aware that
if the Indians were to unite against our present
small forces they would make short work of
them. Such a union of the savages against
the authority of their Great Father can
only grow out of the way in which this pa
rent has been cheating, and selling, and kill
ing his copper-colored children through Gov
eminent agents and garrisons