The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-04-29
Oar Great National Reprsach-Ths Iadiaa
War.

Oar Great National Reprsach-Ths Iadiaa
War.
The statement recently published by Mr..
Bogy, late Commissioner of Indian Affairs, sub
stimulates the view which we have all along
taken of our difficulties with the Indian tribes,
and of the management Of our Indian affairs
generally. According to his showing the
impending war is due, not to the unreasonable
demands Of the chiefs, nor yet to the rapacity
Of the government agents or traders, upon
whose shoulders the blame has been so freely
laid, but to Encouragement in Washington.
With the exception Of band Of Sioux, headed
by . chief named Red Cloud, there are in
reality none Of the tribes hostilely disposed
towards us. Even this chief, irritated as he is
by bad treatment, could easily have been kept
quiet If disposition had been shown to con-
ciliate them. He is represented to be manly
and honest, and he has taken to arms simply
because after repeated remonstrances with the
agents of the government he has been suffered
to acquire the conviction that nothing remains
for him and his followers but the alternative
of fighting or starving. He now serves as the
leader around whom all the malcontent
spirits of the other tribes rally. Mr. Bogy
thinks it would be easy to satisfy the require
ments of this chief and his tribe, and that it
would be much more humane and economi-
cal policy for the government to spend .
few hundred thousand dollars in providing
them with reservations and cattle for stock
raising than to allow itself to be involved
in general Indian war, which, If once started,
will extend from the Missouri river 10 the foot
OF the Rocky Mountains, and from the mouth of
the Yellowstone to and including Arizona and
New Mexico, costing, as he believes, many mil
lions Of dollars, thousands of lives and the
entire suspending and perhaps destruction OF
the railroads now being built upon the plains.
The expedition sent out under General
Hancock is, Mr.. Bogy thinks, great mistake.
All that was wanted was the sending Of
small number Of men to the Yellowstone
to chastise the chief Red Cloud and his
adherents The effect Of the appearance Of
an army Of the magnitude OF that under
General Hancock's orders will be to alarm all
the well disposed tribes and render gen eral
war inevitable. These views, he says, he tried
mO0tnS ago 10 lmpfcSS uk'oH sue
but no attention was paid to them. This he
attributes to the influence Of the Indian Blu
reau at Washington, where, he contends, have
originated the numerous frauds that have per-
meated our Indian affairs and that have Gre
ated all the present difficulties. The head
Office there, he asserts, is surrounded by set Of
hesrtless cormorants who care but little for
the consequences, provided their rapacity is
satisfied.
In all this there Is but too much truth, and IL
Ia a melancholy reflection that repeatedly as
Il has been urged II has failed in producing
any impression. II We wage general war Of
determination against the trbes--and we do
not see what else Is to result from Hancock's
expediton--the world will, in view of these
statements, hold US responsible for blood
unnecessarily shed, while the addition to
our public debt Of the millions Of dollars
which the war win cost will render such
Of MS as are insensible to the moral guilt
ultimately convinced of its impolicy. II Is not
| - vet too late 10 retrace the steps that have
conducted us into such . criminal and danger
ous error. In the name Of humanity and Jus
] tics let thsrc be no delay In backing out Of II