Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-05-11

| ana resorts 10 MS hhllNt lutaue OF utlcnNt
There are two methods Of dealing with thu
Indians. The first is to cxtcrminate them
the second is to incorporate and amalgamat
them. The third method, which the govern
ment has been trying for years, that Of plant
ing them in reservations, giving them aunui
ties and leaving them there subject to thoii
own customs and laws and not amenable t
our laws, has proved abortiye, expensive, anC
an absolute failure. We have been in ho
water with the Indians ever since it was
adopted. The reservations are too small tC
sustain them in their usual method Of subsis
tence, by hunting and fishing, and the subsidy
is too small to maintain them without work,
and what there is Of it is nearly all stolen
from them before it reaches their hands. The
system Of Indian agencies and reservations is
a gigantic scheme Of fraud and robbery, in
which the government is defrauded in the
first place, and the Indians wronged, out
ragged and robbed ia the last place, and driven
to desperation and hostilitics And it is now
one Of the most urgent and important ques-
tions before the government, what shall
be done with the Indan2 To any one con-
yersant with the history Of Indian affairs,
there would seem to be but one fair answer to
it. We owe it to the honor and success Of
republican institutions, to every principle Of
our advanced civilization and Christianity,
to incorporate the aboriginal tribes into our
body polite We cannot shut them up in
their reservations, while we deny to them the
means Of subsistence. We cannot enter upon
war Of determination, for that is abhorent
to every human sentiment, to every Christian
principle, and to the integrity Of our govern
mont. 1t only remains, as our government
advances its power over their territories, and
our population extends into the regions
which have been their hunting-grounds, that
we should bring them unrcstrictedly under
our laws, customs aud forms Of life. We
should throw over them the shield of our
laws, and stimulate them to less nomadiC
and industrious life We should open to them
the omploymcnts and labors of civilized So
ciety giving them the opportunity to acquire
their bread by the sweat Of the brow, and
protecting them in the use and enjoyment Of
every right that belongs to men. They should
be subject equally with their white neighbors
to all the prohibitions, restraints and priv
ileges Of the government; not allowed al
independent political existence Of their own
We doubt if it is wise policy to recognise
any general right of domain by the Iudiar
tribes, or to purchase from them their assert
ed rights. The soil belongs not to those who
hunt and roam over it, nor the waters to thos,
who fish in them, but the territory Of coun
try belongs only to those who settle upon and
cultivate it, and make it bring forth its per
manent fruits and cover it with permanent
dwellings. We might as well say that bir'
acquires property in the air by flying in it, o.
a wolf in the forest by prowling through it
as that an Indian acquires title in the lane
by hunting over it, or building his wigwam
deserted almost as soon as built upon it.
We think the principle ought to be recogniz
cd that no title is good, which is not secured
by actual settlement and cultivation of tn,
soil. Let the Indians understand that they
can secure their territory only by actual oc
cupation and cultivation, and that each In
dian has in the soil only the right of tn,
white man, the right to an 100 acres onl,
through actual use that he is not to have
dollars subsidy for his right of eminent do
main, that he is to have no reservation, tina
be is to have his lot only on the condition 0
occupying and using it, and that he is to hay
the same rights Of property and person tina
any other man has, no less and no more anC
then, if he will not abandon his savage ifi
and customs, his wild, untamable habits, hi
ferocious robberies and massacres, and worl
by degrees into the forms and usages of
civilized society, let him be ground to powder
under the onward movement of a civilization
he is so yainly and hopeessly and with sucl
inadequate resources, striving to resist.
the government adopts this right and equa
policy, offers to the Indian every privilege o
person and property, that its most iayore,
citizens enjoy, and if by this process it sue
ceeds in developing the manhood, the indus
try, the social life Of the Indian tribes, thi
vexed question will have received its bes
solution. But ifbo stolidly orsternly refuse
all these rights, if he will not dress and keel
the ground which God has given him, if he i
so in love with his wandering, savage, hunting
life, as to repudiate and reject the methods
the labors and the gains of civilization, if h
still contends and fights with his immeasura
BILE crueltos against the benefcent power tina
would rescue him from savage life anc
crown him with its own equal privileges an,
rights, then there would be few who woul,
wish HIM any better or other fate than tn
determination which his madness invites.
But that there should be a change in GU
Indian policy, no intelligent man can doubt
Our present system is cumbrous, false in prin
ciple, distasteful aud injurious to the Indian
expensive to the government, useful only t.
Indian agents and traders, and productiy,
merely Of cruelties, hatreds and wars. Tn,
whole Indian system is tracked along il
entire course by perfdy fraud, broken trea
ties and infuriate carnage on the part Of tn
whites and by dislike, revenge, cruelty an,
massacres on the part of the Indians. Tn
wisdom of our Christian civilization has beer
unable to solve, in hundred years, one o
the simplest questions of governmental policy
and that merely, because it has been try
ing to do it on a wrong principle, 1t viii
DO successful, if at all, only when it shall