The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-26
Indinn AnnirS.
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From the ". Y. Tribune.

The tenor OF all our news from the Indian
country OF late has been dscouraging. Latest
sdvices are so minute and full, and show so
irresistibly the existence of cruel and devas-
tatiDg war on the part of the Indians, that we
feel called upon to revise our Judgment, and
insist upon rigorous measures of repression.
We must have peace and order. We m ust
take the tomahawk and scalpipg- knife from
the Indian before we conclude our measures
OF justice. The savages appear to have risen
in small parties simultaneously all over the
Plains, from the western line of settlements in
Kansas tothe mountains OF Colorado, and thus
far there has been little variation in the story
of massacre and rapine. The settlers built
their cabins and staked out their homesteads
with too little regard of the dangers
OF their situation, and the outbreak of
hostilities found them so widely scat
tered that they could seldom make
common cause against the common enemy.
Nor ceuld they depend upon our small frontier
army for adequate protection. The savages,
therefore, have had things all their own way.
They fall in overwhelming force upon remote
ranches and isolated forts, and long before
force can be collected to face them they are
far out of reach General Sheridan has sent
out pursuing columns, and the well known
ability and energy of this illustrious and far
seeing commander give us assurance that the
campaign will be well fought; but for some
tlluO W Ooluc W0 Odu udIuly 6ApbCJ any uSCl-
sive advantage. So long as the prairies afford
forage for the Indian ponies, the pursuit will
generally be vain. The devastation will spread
from post to post along the border, and we
shall not be surprised il we hear of several
other disasters such as that wnich we chroni-
cled on Thursday on the Republican river.
Before long, however, the winter frosts will
help us, so that the savages will no longer be
able to scOur the Plains as they do now, and
tho frO0na will tab nd MA han
The facts that the war thi, time has broken
out Immediately upon the heels of treaty of
peace, and that it seems to have been without
provocation from the settlers, afford pointed
condemnation of our past policy towards the
Indians, and we hope will prove good lesson
in our future treatment of them. The Peace
Commission, from which some persons anti
cip,ated SO much good, proves to have been
only negative and merely moral success. II
ought to be evident by this time that the
savages have no faith in our agents and COM
missioners. They have been cheated by them
so often that they will never trust them again;
and we cannot blame them. We have
brought all this trouble on ourselves
first, by keeping swindling superinten-
dents in Office, and then by winking at
the wrongs and provocaions committed by
the settlers. We cannot set matters right,
however, by acknowledging our injustice and
resolving upon a new course. The dire ne
cessity of severe war is now upon us, and
there is but one policy for us to pursue-let
the war be short, sharp, and decisive. But
when 1t is over we insist that this ridiculous,
nay, this disastrous Indian Agency business
shall be radically and Immediately reformed.
The army can manage the savages, and the
army only. II we place the work in the hands
of Sherman or Sheridan, we may be conf
dent that it will be done wisely, economically,
effectively, and honestly. 1t will be done by
men whom the Indians will soon learn both
to trust and to fear; by men who will realize
the danger of mismanagement and pecula-
ton, and who will be animated by a sense of
honor which We need not expect to find in
broken-dOwn political adventures. So long
as we intrust Indian affairs to the class of
men who have hitherto had charge of them,
we may look for general savage war every
season.