The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-02-02
AN INDIAN CoNFEDERACY.
From the Chicago Tribune.

The Indians located in the territory
south of Kansas held q general council
recently at Ocmulgee, at which certain
members of the Board of Indian Commits.
sioners were present. Delegates were in
attendance from the Cherokees, Creeks,
Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Otta
was, Eastern Shawnees, Quapaws Senecas,
Wyandottes Confederates, Peorlas, Sacs
and Foxes, Great and Little Osages, and
Shawnees The council was in session
several days, and the proposition to ask
for the permanent organization of the Ter,
r1tory into an Indian Government,subjec
TO the several treaties with the various
tribes, after a long discussion, was adopted
by vote of 4S to 5. The council, having
resolved upon this, also considered and
adopted, as the basis of their proposed
government, a bill of rights, the same,
essentially, as that in the Constitution Of
Illinois. The plan, which is recommend
ed by the Board of Indian Commissioners,
is for Congress to organize this Ter
ritorial Government for the Indians, Civ
ing tribe or nation now in the Territory
a representative, and additional ones, &C
cording to population. The Commission
ask for such legislation as will absolutely
protect the Indian Territory, both east
and west of the Goth parallel of west
longitude, from settlement by the whites,
in order to preserve the same permanently
for the location of such other tribes as
may be induced to settle their.
The Indians in the Territory are more or
less civilized the Cherokees, Creeks,and
Choctaws fully so. They have all
abandoned the nomadic habits, and now
follow agriculture. The Cherokees and
Choctaws have for many years cultivated
cotton, and when the Territory shall be
brought nearer to market, by means of
railways, there is no reason Why these In
dams may not become wealthy com
munity. The climate and soil are well
adapted to all crops, and especially adapt
ed to stock raising Industry or that in
dustry which is shown in persevering
physical labor, is matter of slow growth
among a people whose habits and tradi
tions, to the remotest period, have held it
to be degrading It is difficult to reduce
nomadlc tribes to the comparatively
uninteresting drudgery of the farm. Yet
it has been done. The example of the
Cherokees has had its effect upon the
neighboring tribes, and one after another
they have resotred to agrlculture,tO stock
raising, and to the general business of
earning their living by labor. With
laborious habits, thrift has been promoted
and, with plenty to eat and drink and
wear, there has sprung up an ambition to
be something better. The family relation
has been purified, and education en-.
Outraged, and, while they have surround
ed themselves with the comforts of civil
ization, their isolation from the white
race has preserved them from many OF
its vices. These men think their safety
depends upon the continuance of their
absolute separation from the whites, and
no DOUBT they are correct. 1t they can
be given a general government, composed
CT their own people, which, without
violating the tribal relations, will au-
thorlze general supervision of the local
affairs; Will enable them to make roads,
ana regulate the management of property
and adjust personal and political differ
ences, they think they can SO promote
the General welfare that many other
tribes, now eking out miserable and un-
certain subsistence on the plains, will
be drawn In aud become members of the
community. Civilized Indians are not
warlike- If those predatory tribes, who
give so much trouble, and are so expen.
sive to control whether in peace or at
war, can be induced to Join their for
tunes with the Indian Confederacy, the