The Weekly Arizonian., 1870-07-02
CEN, sHERMAN's LETTER.

General Sherman having declined an invi- tation to be present in New York, at meet ing of the o-called Indian Commission and having at the same time proposedto meet the Commission at Fort Sully, or some other point on the frontier, several of the New York pa pers were pleased to fling odium at him for having so wantonly hurt the feelings of tha carpet hypocrites who comprise that ostensibIe body. Our Delegate in Congress having ob-. servd this most unjust criticism on truly merited rebuke. senta communication to the N Y. Herald signed "Pioneer" from which we take the following concluding part;
 'ssLn our judgment General Sherman has seIlom done g. better thing than this l ia absolutely impossible for men to sit in New York and inteligently discGss 6 question of which they know little, if anything from prac- tical observation. No great question is more generally misunderstood at the East than this-involvng the character, claims and treat
 nent of the red man. In the name of human itY aad Christianity there has been display of ignorance and misrepresentation absolutely shocking. At every meeting such as that con- vened in New York, men whose motives We wiilnotimpugn, have committed the grave error ot discussing what they do not understand and making charges which cannot be sustained The Indian character is not noble or grateful, but low and treacherous; and while the red man may, in instances. have been wrongeG
 by the whites, he has ever been, ashe isto-day, his own worst enem7 For ore outrage per petrated in return for unfair treatment he i5 guilty of a dozen conceived in au unrrovok- ed but natural thirst for plunder and blood At this writing he IS, in almost every Territory of the Union, committing the most wanton and brutal depredations, mugdering in cold blood defenceless travellers and settlers, who have raised no hand against him and violated no treaty stipulation.
 "Under such state Of affairs 1t Is not to be wondered at that General Sherman should deem 1t bs tier for the Commission to meet upon the frontier than in New York. The Indian mnst be seen to be understood, and hi4 ha bits must be studied to be rightly appreciated l. Is the misfortune of the Commission that its agents go to the Indian country, if at all, so much prejudiced against the whites and so bent upon gIorifying the savage, that their reports are seldom impartial or reliable statements, however conscientously made Indeed, TO correct idea of the Indian character or the Gif- fculties with which the whites in the Terri tories have to contend can be formed from hur- ried visits aud superficial observations. Long residence among the Indians is essential to this and conclusions put forth by those who have not had such experience should cautious ly received, especially by those whose desire seems to be to do equal justice to all.
 The facts about the Indian business is that there are tribes who are disposed to peace and with whom mild measures are desirable and proper, while there are others with whom war IS inevitable, and the more promptly and se- yerely it is made the better will the interests of humanity be served. This distinction should always be borne in mind in discussing the Ins dian question,