The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-22
THE NEW YORK PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
1poN CURRENT ToPICs-CoMPILED EVERY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
.,vsr or Not. as we Choose"


saving. "We can have an Indian war or not,
as we choose"
We beg our Government at Washington to
understand that the American people do not
choose to soil their hands with an Indian war.
We beg them to reflect that the time has come
when the nation demands summary reform
in the inefIable wickedness which has been
dignifed by the name of ''our Indian policy"
Everybody knows what that policy is-to
swindle the savages first in making our
treaties and then in the execution of them;
TO drive them from one reservation to another;
TO molest them perpetually, even on the lands
we have formally set apart for their use; to
plunder their lodges; to insult their women;
to turn loose among them lot of thieving
agents: to hunt them like wild game when
they get impatient under our encroach-
ments; and then to proclaim an 'Indian
war;" and raise a howl for 'eXtermina-
ton" We fay, them alive, and expect
them to smile under it. We put upon
them the cruelest provocation, and wonder
that they feel it. We exasperate them, and
grumble if they get angry. When General
Hancock met the Kiowas at Fort Larned on
the I'd of May, a prominent chief, named
Satanta, who is described as the most import
ant Indian west of the Missouri river, was
summoned to his presence, and, in a speech
of rude eloquence, which is not without its
touches of pathos, exposed some of the wrongs
Of his tribe, and charged the Indian agent,
who was sitting by the Generals side, with
appropriating to his own use the annuities he
had been appointed to distribute. 81 want
friends" said Satanta, ''and am doing all l
can for peace. Little Mountain, who was
chief before me, did all he could to make
peace; bat the'white man kept doing some
thing bad to him, and he was in so much
L s.1 I
our tmber-there are no trees now on all
this Arkansas river or any of these northern
streams. There are no butfaloes nor anything
we can kill to live on; the white men have
driven them all off. We are all poor men, but
our hearts are strong; we can make robes and
sell them; and such articles as the white men
may throw away we will pick up, and brush
of, and use, and make out the best we can. l
thought when the railroad came that we
should get our annuity goods, but have not
seen them. Send us an agent who is an
honest man, and who will not steal half our
goods and hide them in the earth" And the
accusation which the chieftain made in this
public manner was substantiated on the oath
of white men who had been privy to the
swindle.
With what composure, after a scene like
this, the United States commander could talk
of peace or threaten punishment, or upbraid
the untutored children of the prairie with
treachery and theft we are at loss to ina
gine. The case of the Kiowas is only one out
of hundred. The best of our frontier off,
GERS, who have passed the greater part of their
Lives among the savages, are unanimously
of the opinion that we brought all our In
dian troubles on ourselves. The Western
settler is often worse outlaw than his copper
colored neighbor; the teamster, the hunter,
the camp follower, or, worst, sometimes, of
all, the Indian agent, kindles trebrand
Il. 81
after months of desolation and bloOdshed.
General Sherman is right: we can have peace
or war, just as we choose.
We were told that the Sioux and Cheyennes
between the Platte and Arkansas rivers were
to be hunted to the death wherever found;
and the remark was coolly added that, ''as it
Is one of the most difficult matters in the
world to distinguish Sioux or Cheyennes from
KiOwas Camanches, or Arrapahoes, the latter
tribes will be compelled to remain south of the
Arkansas, unless they wish to fight" In
other words, every Indian encountered in that
great belt Of country, which forms one of the
choicest hunting grounds of the West, is to be
incontinently shot, whether friend or enemy.
This is no way for great nation to punish
ew savage depredators. This is no way for a
Christian Government to avenge the wrongs
provoked by its own injustice. This is not
worthy employment for soldiers who have won
honorable scars in fighting for holy cause.
1t is nothing better than a grand batue. A
war of determination, under such a system of
hostilities, indeed seems inevitable. The
question must be settled not only with sharp
sword but with clear head and an honest
heart.
The General who is to give us peace ON the
Plains must be not only soldier, but sensi-
ble statesman. We have no one but Sherman
himself great enough in both the field and the
cabinet to do this work; and we trust that he
will not set out on his picnic round the world
until he has averted the danger which hangs
over us--the danger not only of war, but of
national dishonor.
We tell the Government again that the peo-
pie choose not to have an Indian war; They
want TO try little justice before they come to
gunpoWder; and If we are dragged into the
horrors of a savage campaign by reckless mis-
management at Washington, or rashness in
our military councils or the devilish trickery
of the speculators who watch for battles with
the eagerness of vultures, and scent plunder
In every breath of hostility, the country will
see that the responsibility is laid where it
belongs, remembering General Sherman s
words:-"We can have an Indian war or not,
as we choose"
Tne Negro VOte-The Conduct OF the
NaoIcal Leaders Its Logical Result
From The Herald.
In the present indecent haste to seize and
caoura that syrand s,,ol