Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-07-05
Letter from Colorado.
DIR SITUATION.


the most unexpected and startling,
constantly bring home the feeling to
us that we are but waits and strays
of poor humanity, liable to be tossed
and blown about the realms of space
and saipwrecked at any moment ON
rocks and shoals of whose very exist
ence we are ignorant. Thus it goes
with the prosperity of territories as
well as individuals. %
b. These. reflections are called forth
by the sudden shipwreck the fortunes
of Colorado have sustained at the
hands of the general government, a
calamity as unexpected as it is disas-
trous. We have asked our paternaI
government Tor bread and they have
rendered US stones, and very f1inty
ones at that. We have asked them
tor protection against savages, and
they reply with sneers that we must
protect ourselves. We agree to pro-
tect ourselves if they will but contri-
butte little of the sinews of war, and
our offer is rejected with contumely by
the humble servant of the sovereign p
people-SRrman. [ am well aware
that there is strong feeling in the
eastern states that the white man is
wrong, and the Indian in the right
that the Indian is civilized and the
white man a savage. [ do not pro-
pose to argue this little matter, or dis
abuse any one of any romantic notions
| they may have conceived concerning
the "poor Indian" Conviction can
only come to them as they progress
westward, and one day spent west of
, the Missouri river will be more effec-
tive than whole pages Of argument.
What should be done, however, is
to impress congress and the powers
that be, that Indian hostility is fact
4 "a terrible fact, and must be dealt
: with as such, and that the people in.
habiting the territories of the Rocky
Mountains have claim on them which
they are bound by all the laws, human
and divine, to respect. 1t is no long
4 er a question of what caused this war
q The war is here, and is being levieC
against citizens Of the Republic with
( out distinction of age or sex, by thou
d sands of armed Indians. The duty
0 of the government in this matter i
$ plain. The foe must be met an,
i promptly subdued. Anything shor
of this will only render the govern
/, mentof the United States, whose deed
e of arms have lately electrified the ma
= tons of the earth, despicable in tn
-" eyes Of many of the people-despiC
a able in the eyes Of the whole worlC
70 Shall it be said that the government
1t of the United States will permit ii
ct citizens to be butchered with impun
el ty in the heart of its territory ?
Why, had half the massacres that hay
a occurred on the plains during the la,
I'd six weeks, been perpetrated in I'll
ie most remote settlement of the BIRTHS
" empire, the little island would hay
ha been aroused from one end to the OF
o. er, and men and arms vomited fort
g until righteous vengeance was appe
u sed and security for the subjects a
~ tanned. What Great Britain can {
bo ford to do and does do for settlement
M separated from her by thousands {
lis miles Of ocean, surely the Unit
he. States can do for her territories lyil
'u1 in the heart of the country, midwi
- between the Atlantic and the Pacif
he A strong appeal might be made to t
fis- pockets, and therefore to the intereS
a of the eastern people, for the who
u country expect to reap wealth fr(
- the mines of the Rocky Mountains NJ
being developed under very great d
liter advantages. They must know that
mp
the government cannot protect
"a "a overland route, nor give these India
an emphatic enunciation of its powe
Il" the progress and prosperity Of t
'Ai- and other territories will be thro
'@n back for years.
u We claim that by our paying ia.
'lo the same as other citizens of the sta
ons to support the general government,
ays are as much entitled to protect
'lhe from the common enemies of the
''ei ton as residents of New York or {
per ton. We have paid our taxes with
Jun Oni a murmur, and the amount of Inter
n '30 Revenue collected in Colorado, wo
. be alone nearly sufficient for US,
: ''' onl y to protect our own frontiers,
HI but the line of rails on both roads
pun tween Denver and the Missouri ri
Is it not monstrous, that after s,
$50 lowing our monies, the representa-
of the United States in these reg
~. should curse our citizens when t
On ask for protection On the public b
:, a ways, and then coolly tell then
~