The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-06-21

day the debate was resumed and wa
participated in by Messrs. Doolittlt
; sherman, Williams, Fowler and other
! Mr.. CONNESS. / can hardly trus
; myself to say anything on this subject
! am SO thoroughly and entirely con
vinced that there is Il system so stupen
dous in its nature, in its fraud, being
carried on against the Government il
) New Mexico, and am so full of infor
nation on the subject from hundred
reliable sources, that ! can scarce trus
myself to utter word on the subject
The campaign was made against tn,
Navajos, under the direction of Genera
Carleton, under the immediate com
mand of Kit Carson, a campaign almos
utterly needless, and in its results bene
fetal only tothe men whoare disbursing
the public moneys in New Mexico t
the amount of millions of dollars.
scheme, in my judgment, from the he
ginningto collect eight thousand Indian.
upon place that we are told ut one tim,
is desert, has nothing in it, and al
another time blossoms as the rose
but in addition to whatever they
can produce there they are fed &c
the tune of 81 100000 per annum, as il
stated by the honorable Senator! Just
so long as military officers are permit.
ted to command and to be interested in
contracts, to control the commissariat
just so long it will be their interest tc
feed large number of Indians.
But how is it in New Mexico? We
hear of the Bosque Redondo, the Pecos
river, the travelling committee taken
possession of by the military comman-
der, feasted, handled, filed with facts,
with nothing in them! Mr.. President,
General Carleton went down there with
about three thousand troops from Cali
fOrnia. He had his commission from
the Governor of California. His three
thousand troops were as splendid men
as ever stepped; they were not enlisted
from the unemployed people of the
country. They We're commanded by
subaltern officers who were no ordinary
men, but who left their profitable busi-
ness, some of them avocations yielding
| five to ten and twenty thousand doll ars
annually, to acaptain's commission,
| with the expectation of meeting the foe
of their country in the field. They were
marched down to New Mexico and kept
there for three or four years, and they
have nearly all testified against the
gross corruption, the sacrifice of
the public interests, and the almost uni
versal plundcr that has been the rule in
that Territory. Their word is rs good
as the word of any man on earth.
have letter in my hand, received to-
night by this days mail, from lady,
and you would blush if | should read a
paragraph from it touching this COM
mander. | handed it to two or three
Senators few hours since-the Senator
from Massachusetts Mr.. WILSON |
read it--a letter from a responsible
man; but | cannot read extracts
from letters here. l have stated be-
fore this that / have made honest eff
forts to stop these swindlings, hut have
failed, utterly failed. If, however,
shall live till the next Congress shall
meet for business, and the War Depart
ment shall not do its duty by that time,
this body, and if necessary investigate
and put before the country the facts as
to the utter mismanagement and cor
ruption of the public administration in
that Territory.
Mr.. Shermans amendment to the
amendment was then agreed to. The
question then arose upon the amend
ment as amended.
Mr.. BUCKALEW. / desire to read
from the report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, dated October 81, 1865,
statement of the general question with
regard to these Indians. He said then {:
I "In regard to the Navajoes, now es-
tabished at the Bosque Redondo reser-
walton, the accumulated testimony is so
conflicting, derived from sources equally
entitled to credit, and from persons who
should have, and, SO far as appears, have
had but one object in view, the best in
terest of the Government and of the
Indians, that l am reluctant at present
to express decided opinion in regard
to the permanent policy to be adopted.
The difference is wide between the views
of the late superintendent, DR.. Steck,
| who urged, and was supported by eX-
cellent authority in urging, that the
Bosque RedondO reservation was barely
sufficient for the Apaches, for whom it
was set apart-that the Navajoes and
Apaches could not live together upon
| it i; that the Navajoes could best sup
port themselves upon reservation in
their own country where they had
always been AN agricultural and pastor
al people, raising large crops and max
| ing their own garments from the pro-
duce of their own tlocks, and that the
enormous expense of feeding them at
the Bosque Redondo, counting by mil
| lions almost, was an unnecessary eXpen-
diture-and those of General Carleton,
the military cOmmandant of the dis
trict, who insisted that for the sake Of
permanent peace the NavajOes must be
taken entirely away from their own
country, and that when once settled
upon Il reservation they would provide
for their own support.
'General Carleton took the respon-
slbility of testing the question by re-
moving the Navajoes to the reserva-
ton; and this being done, they have
been supported there by the War De-
partment, with the aid of an appropri-
alton of comparatively small amount
by Congress, placed at the disposal of
the Interior Department"
This was the experiment of General
Carleton, the military commander OF
the district, without any authority for
his proceedings other than that derived
from his power as commander, of the
} military district which included New
! Mexico; and it was done against th'
: opinion of the proper officer of the Gov
ernment who was in charge Of the In
dians, and whose opinion, as here sta
ted, was supported by the stronges
| reasons. This report shows that lht
; Indian agent at that time pointed oul
the very consequences which nave eslllc'
resulted from the adoption OF tilis eA'
/ neriment. We have stood silently Dy
and Dermitted this military commali,
der to try his experiment FOR perioa
t of two wears, till he has saddled US win
) an expense OF u million and haii per
D annuln merely for the support OF tnese
indians, and besides an additional en-,
= ormous amount for the support anu
or fhn trnnnS nnueT Ills