New-York tribune., 1867-02-05

Government and these people. The great mass
think a change of some kind would do " If
this is tea, give me coffee; if coffee, give me
"tcan
This agitation is not the result Of any effort
The Indians, being connected with the Govern
ment only by the Indian Bureau, and knowing
Of our Government only that however ignO-
rant they may be, could not be supposed to be
guilty of the folly of expecting any reform
from it, Congress, on the other hand, having
plenty of work to do could not be expected,
voluntarily, to stir up sleeping dog. The de-
bate itself proves that it was not their knOwl-
edge of the subject that drew to it their at
tentiOn. Not a man of them seems to have
devised remedy for what they unite in pro-
nouncing the greatest misgovernment." "TTn
it over to the War Department. Why not
turn it over to the Navy? Our venerable
Secretary, Gideon Welles might get up scheme
Of colonization or, il there was no spot on
terra f1,ua on which to land the Abongines,
he might get them aboard the relics OF our
mighty fleet-gunbOats and all-and steer
for "Holmess Hole" in grand crusade OF
deliverance.
Seriously speaking, the question has to he
met, because the developments OF our ciyiliza-
ton precipitate it. The growth of settlements
pushes the Indian to the wall. He needs more
country than n White man, because he has been
taught to depend on hunting and on his
horses. We @ @@ast teach each thss sayages some
thing else, or star9e them, or feed them py
wholesale. Ii we are going to do the latter, 1t
might be well to abolish the system of swim
ding by which they only get one-fourth OF what
we vote them. If the efforts Of Congress are
to be confined to remedying the latter abuse,
they have not yet understood the work required
of them; although it is proper to admit that
they have considerable of a job on their hands.
When investigating committees Of Congress are
gotten UP because this or that Commissioner
happens to favor or dsfavor this or that CON
tractor, it is high TING that decent regard for
appearances, if nothing more, should cause
radical change in the system.
Upon Congress rests still greater and heavier
responsibility. There must be q new, and, at
the same time, humane and Christian disposition
made of the Indian question. Congress has
come to the public confessional, and admitted
this piece of governmental work to be rotten
ness and mismanagement. They cannot escape
the responsibility of remedy, OF another con-
fession-their own incompetence. NO mere
transfer to the War Department will do. The
War Department is already the most heavily
burdened. Are we sure that Bureau that has
contaminated statesmen and politicians, Sena-
tors. Diyines, Christian and Pagan alike, will
not corrupt the War Department. When we
place shoulder-straps on man, do they elevate
him above all temptationsi Is a military Oiii-
A. .tad
preachers and eminent civilians have fallen ?
We fear not. Something must be allowed
for q system that seems to have sucked IN so
many prominent and trusted men into Its pol
luton The temptation to prey on helpless
race is ever the hardest experiment for govern
mcnt. Can we afford, therefore, to corrupt the
Armyf or can Congress, with propriety, say to
the Secretary of War, "Ilere is system so
"rotten that we can neither endure, nor devise
"a remedy for it-Take itf'
Look Mt the experiment of British India /!
Was anything in the shape Of government ever
80 fertile of cOiruption7 How must it ever be
with nation of quiet men, ruled by active
and money seeking adgenturers9 How must it
be when a hapess race is turned over to the
tender merces of those who possess the nerve
%
anity or mercy9 How terrible was the struggle
OF the best Indian rulers to eliminate from the
East Indian GoyeTnment its worst abuses!
Many OF them fell; all were abused by the
hordes of merciless money-seekers.
1t is not small job. 1t cannot be turned
over to the "War Department" 1t cannet be
got rid Of How is Iit to be metz The Senate
bill for "Board" of Inspectors is q mere ex-
pedient. 1t may help to give light 1t is not
remedy. In the first place, what guarantee
have we that the Board viii be honest, any
more than Comm missioners and Superintendentsf
The religious dodge" is its worst feature In
allowing religious bodies" TO nominate
clergyman TO apublic post of $4,000 year, we
corrupt the clergy, set them at office-seeking,
and are almost sure to get the greatest money
seeker in the diocese or synod.
To permit the War Department to have the
management of the wild Indians of the Plains
of those who are not upon reserves and
among whom no experiments of civilization are
being tried-might do. To quartera few hund-
red of our common soldiers among a tribe of
Indians on a reserve to "civilize them,p would
be to demorliz6 Soldiers and people. The
patience, the Christian forbearance and hope,
the self-abnegatiOn, needed to lift up senior
wholly barous men, need an enthusiast;
and an army officer is, or ought to be, an en-
thusiast only in his profession.
The march OF American civilization to-day
demands a remedy. The Indians are the
ancient owners of the country we claim. Our
boast is that We take it to make Christian
community. Let lis prove it, In a few years
the whole West will be full of settlers. To-day,
they push into these Western wilds with an
energy before which the stagglings of early
settlements were like tLe rivuletS comnored In