Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-07-21
THE INDIANS.


race, judging from present indications,
is q foregone conclusion, and will most
probably be witnessed by the genera
lions nov coming upon the stage OF
action. According to official estimates,
the number of Indians now roaming
wild over our Western territory Is not
over $50, 900. Instead Of increasing,
their numbers are annually diminish
ing. By natural constitution they are
not a prolific race, under the most
favorable circumstances. But under
the increasing pressure upon their
resourcesfrom white immigration, and
under the fatal operation Of physical
and moral diseases introduced by the
same agency, the destruction Of life Is
fearful. Starvation, smallpox and
whisky have wrought havoc among
them. Sentimental philosophy pro-
fesses to find in the rude simplicity Of
savage life the realization Of the poetic
dream Of the golden age. in which the
gods dwelt OH earth and human nature
was pure ard innocent. Practical
common sense, however, enlightened
BY wider and more thorough observa-
ton. has developed the fact that savage
simplicity Is not innocence ; that mis-
cry and depravity vegetate no less
rapidly amid the shades Of barbarism
than amid the refinements Of civiliza-
ton. The savage nature seems to be
afflicted with a helpless mental and
moral imbecility, disabling 1t from
properly appreciating its fatal posi-
ton, or from devising any methods Of
escape. In the first place, it is scarcely
to be denied that the Indian Is consti-
tutionally lazy. In the chase or in the
fishery he will endure with stolid pa
thence extreme privation and undergo
exhausting labor; but the routine
travail Of agriculture is to the last
degree irksome. Secondly, laziness Is
reinforced and fortified by pride. TO
the warrior labor is not only disagree
able, but it is degrading. 10 escape
the unavoidable labnrs Of ever savage
life, he reduces his wretched squaw
to the condition of a mere beast
Of burden, and thus, to the
other evils OF his low grade Of unsocial
life, he adds the permanent and un-
speakable EQUALIZATION of the female
sex. Overwhelmed by the moral
weakness su~rerinduced by such evils,
he finds the attainment Of civilized
habits Of industry and sobriety almost
hopeless. But this is not the worst
feature Of the case. Civilization bears
to him a militant aspect Of unfriendli-
ness. This Is the result, not Of civil
ization itself, but Of the barbaric ac-
compartments which still cling to it In
the highest form it has yet attained on
earth. 1t is a sad truth that civilized
men too often, in their treatment Of
their savage brethren, feel themselves
absolved from the obligations Of that
comfy which they expect and enforce
from each other. The ignorance and
superstition Of the barbarian are un-
scrupulously taken advantage Of for
the purpose Of fraud and %spollatlon.
Such treatment as this, quadrating In
the mind of the poor savage with his
own low cunning, treachery and cru
city, Is ineligible only on the ground
that civilization itself Is but q more
powerful and polished incarnation of
those very vices. Thus the glorious
ideal OF civilization is obscured, and
the savage heart and mind Is hopelessly
barred against it. Such teachers as
William Penn opened up to their dark
ened understandings its more genial
aspects, and succeeded in revealing
something Of that law Of kindness
which lies at It's base. Had the spirit
of this illustrious lawgiver animated
all our intercourse with the Indians,
who eau doubt that multitudes of those
wasted tribes might have been.rescued
from the delusions and moral weak
nesses Of savage life. But unhappily
the anti Christian elements seem to
gather special Roadway just at those
points where civilized and savage life
come in contact, presenting combina-
lions OF cold-blooded selfishness, and
of hot, secthing, malignant pas
sions, whose outbreaks no adj
illustrative power Of Govern
ment can repreSs. AL the real
elements of our Indian problem arc
seen in false positions and by false
lights. While the great heart Of the
American people in the older States is
touched with pity, shame and indig-
nation at the wrongs Of the "poor In
dian," the Western Pioneers, exasper-
ated by the reeking horrors of massa-
cree and torture inflicted upon helpless
women and children, regard him as q
fiend incarnate, whose extirpation Is
demanded by every principle of justice.
One class looks solely ut the abstract,
while the other is absorbed by the con-
crete elements Of the question. Place
the Eastern philanthrophist for a time
amidst these terrible realities of West
ern lite, and he finds the strain upon
his personal sympathies too strong to
be resisted. and he partakes Of the
elective passions Of the community
around him. Remove the Western set
tier from those horrid Surroundings,
and amid the peaceful pursuits of civil
lied life, he finds himself more fro
Quantity lookinp ut the abstract claims