Nebraska advertiser., 1867-08-08

auQ 10 every m0AtUCA Va -
adopt some Legislation which shall bring
IL 20 1 termination. Il is with thar Pnr-
pose that I rise TO ask the Senate 10 give
this bill, ora bill similar to il, favorable
consideration. I do not come here 10
advocate the exterminallon Of The Indians;
and If nv friend from Maine would take
q trip 10 the border and spend q year
there, or ' six months ! pledge him
my word, If il is worth anything hat he
would come back q new man IN reference
10 this question, renewed in heart and
spirit. be would come back with entirely
Aferent notions in regard to The border
and to this Indian question. How can
enc unerdstand the question clearly; how
can one be thoroughly posted who has
never seen lat region of country and
only Judges 81 reports inthe newspapers.
| have seen dispatch after dispatch sent
abroad oVer this country which gave an
entire erroneous view as 10 the condition
Of things and as to the causes Of these
difficulties. No matter who may be to
blame, whether the white people or the
Indians, the necessity comes home 70 us
to act so as to arrest the existing state OF
things. We had better spend a million
to-day in carrying out a system of policy
that shall put an end u these difficulties
than Eve hundred millions two years
hence for if this state Of things continues
il will come to that.
grant you there has been no declara-
ton of val OF the part of Congress. and
DO proclamation has been issued BY the
President declaring the existence Of a
state of hos.iliiiss: bu. there is a hostile
condition of things there, which the bor-
der appeals to Congress TO arrest. If
there is to be a war; the people Of the
border want a short, quick, sharp, i%ncisive
and decisive campaign, and want the
matter ended. / believe no instructions
whatever have been given to General
Sherman as TO whether he shall carry on
a war or not. l do not believe General
Sherman wants a war. / have in my
hand a letter received from him a few
days ago, in which he says:
I'm the mean time l trust Congress
will prescribe clearly by law what the
military ought to do, and say who shall
declare war against anyand what Indians.
This should not be left an open question"
He has only troops enough to guard
the two lines Of railroad, and is not even
able to afford protection TO them at all
points. Ye. he is doing MS utmost to
accomplish that object.
\
But TO come back to the question as to
the origin of this war and the allegation
that it is gotten up by the people on the
border, by the fronliersmen, | stand here
to say TO the Senate, speaking in behalf
of every class of the community on the
border, speaking in behalf of every in
dustrial pursuit, that nothing can be more
abhorrent. nothing more dreaded by
them then an Indian war. Why. sir,
until these hos,ilities upon the frontier
everything was prosperous there; the
commerce on the Plains had risen to an
magnitude; we could talk about
the commerce of the Plains as well as
YOU could talk Of the commerce of the
seas aud the lakes. There were men
who went out upon the Plains and did
business in the mountains. You could
90 in no direction across these vast Plains
that you did not see long caravans of trains
bearing merchandise from all points Of
the Missouri to all the Territories In the
mountains and away 10 the northwest. =
Il is the main source of our income it is
the market for our productive industry ;
and TO send it forth to this nation that we
frontiersmen are in for a war to make
money is the mos! atrocious calumnity of
the nineteenth century. Why, sir, the
the very gamblers and thieves whom
Chicago, and St. Louis, and New York,
and Cincinnati, and Boston, and Phila-
delphla have faild to hang dread an Id.
dian war. We have some of that class
of people there. / am sorry for it, but
it is because you in the East have not
done your duty and hung them. They
fed out there to escape, bO. they DO not
represent the border. My friend from
New York Mr.. ConkliDg suggests that
they do not come from New York. If
so, it is because they treat them so kind.
ly there that they do not have to run
away they vote the right way in New
York city. [Laughter,]
Let me say to my friend from Maine
that if he would visite the border, be
would change his views somewhat. And
there is no one whome / would welcome
there more cordially than l would him,
for there is no man who is actuated more
by high and honorable impulses than he
is. | tell him as a friend. frankly, with.
out prejudice, that he would come back
with different ideas as to that section of
country. He talks about Christianity
and about c utilization. Why, sir, from
whence did the people of the border
They came from New England.
Men have setlled there, whom | have the
honor now in part to represent, whom be
has heretofore represented on this floor.
The people Of the border are bone of
your bone and flesh Of your flesh. They
have carried thessame civilization which
has marked your progress in Maine, in
Massachusetts, in New York, and Ohio.
on to the border. Sir, l have seen a
Christian people there coming from their
humble cabins, meeting at crossroads, or
by. roads, in an ~improylsed school house ;
and | have seen them there RAISE The
voice of thanksgiving and the song of
praise to Almighty God, and worship
Him with as much feeling and as much
sincerity as is manifested by those who
worship in the gorgeous labernacles Of
your eastern cities. You will find there
an humble Christianity: but it is as pure
as that which dwells in the East. You
nil ind thara rs enlirhfenad &c infaI