The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-14
A SHOW or JUSTICE TOWARDS THE


A SHOW or JUSTICE TOWARDS THE
INDIANS.
ALTHOUGH the Senate Of the Cnited States has
thus far persistently refused TO break up the
'foul nest of thieves" known as the Indian
Bureau. by transferring IL to the War Depart
ment to which il was originally attached, the
legislation of the first session Of the Forty-6rst
Congress was such rs to give us some cause for
hoping that a reasonable Indian policy is at last
about to be adopted by the Federal Government
The sum of 81, 900, 900 has been placed in the
hands of the President for the purpose of pacify-
ing the Indians during the coming summer, and
it is now announced that the advisory
commission of eleven Intelligent and
philanthropic persons is about to be appointed
Ii will be the duty of this commission to advise
with the Secretary Of the Interior and the other
officials to whom is entrusted the management
of our Indian affairs, and as its members will not
il the letter and spirit of the law are both com
piled with, be taken from the ranks Of the Ordi-
nary class Of plundering and conscienceless
ofice-seokers we may anticipate the inaugura-
ton of new Indian system, by which it will no
longer be possible for those who have heretofore
lived by swindling both the Government and the
aborigines to perpetrate their rascaities.
President Grant has also selected rs the head
of the Indian Bureau General Eli s. Parker who
is well known throughout the country as one of
the few persons with large measure of
Indian blood in his veins that have ever been
brought successfully under the influences of
civilized life. General Parker is descended from
a family which was founded by an officer of the
French army Mt the time when old Fort Du
Quesne was in possession of that nationality
The daughter of this officer by woman of the
Seneca tribe of Indians was the great-grand-
mother of the new Commissioner of Indian
Affairs. Gen. Parker's immediate ancestors have
long resided on the Tonawanda Reservation, in the
State of New York. The family is reported to
besone of unusual intelligence and every faci-
lity was afforded to the member of it under con-
sideration to obtain thorough education. Early
in life he was selected by the Seneca tribe of
Indians as their Chief in place of Jimmy John
son, who had in turn been preceded by the cele-
brated Red Jacket. The Office is not hereditary,
and consequently it was not necessary that Gene
raj Parker should have been descendant of that
tamods warrior TO enable him to rise to the head
of his tribe. He began life as a
civil engineer, and while experimenting
the construction of some Government work
in the West made the acquaintance Of
President Grant, at that time an ex-captain of
the regular army. A firm friendship appears to
received commission general officer, early
In the war, he invited Parker to position on his
staff The offer was accepted and Parker served
as an aid-de-camp on Grants staff throughout
the war, attaining the rank of Colonel and Breyet
Brigadier-GeneraL In March, 1885, he also re-
ceived commission in the regular army, his
present rank being that of first lieutenant of
cavalry.
II remains 10 be seen what will he the resuIt of
this experiment by the President, but the
chances are that when the Indians learn the
antecedents of the man with whom they will
have to deal In the future, they viii be inspired
with reliance upon the good faith of the Gov
ernment and its desire to concede to them every
thing that justice can demand. The selection of
General Parker for the position is another step
in the policy inaugurated by the new President
of dealing with different races of men through
officials of their own species. Colored men are
to represent the United States at the capitals of
Hayti and Liberia, and an Indian will preside
over the Indian Bureau. To be ia keeping,
our Minister TO China should have
been Tung- -Kang-Chien, or some other
prominent Celestial of San Francisco, Louisiana
Creole should have been sent to the Court of
France a member of the Cuban Junta at New
York should have been despatched to Madrid
Carl Shurz would have satisfied Prussia, Friedrich
Hassaurek, our former Minister to Ecuador,
should be transferred to Vienna, the ex-MayOr of
Sitka would not have thought the climate of st.
Petersburg SO chilling We fear it will be found
by our Ex-Governor, and Goldwin Smith might
have been persuaded TO again enter political life
by the temptation of the mission to Great
Britain.