Arizona citizen., 1873-05-24
INDIAN POLICY EPIrO HEED.

that General Crook Is carrying strictly
 out the peace policy ill accordance with the instructions of the President,
 through General Sherman, lSSded two years ago. In tneS. Instructions It Is
 especially stated that all psacea ole
 In liaus on the reservations are to Oe
 protected by the military from out
 side interference, while those who
 refuse to go on reservations are not
 only to be prevented, as far as pos
 sibie, from committing depredatIons,
 but are to be sumIEarily punished for
 miSdeetls. The instructions arc the
 same to all commanders ill Indian
 localities, and these are given as an
 exposition of the peace policy as
 practiced under the orders of the Pres
 ident." Statements often repeated
 similar to the above are very lia ole to
 mislea0 the public and are often
 doub btless made for that purpose.
 They are made with an ingenuity and
 with sufficient truth to cover over their
 falSity so that those at a distance
 aud unfamiliar with the workings of
 the peace policy are very liable to De
 deceived. What we propose now to
 deal with are facts and the practical
 execution and result of this policy.
 In the first place, for the first time i'll
 the history of our government the
 Church has been intrrsted with the
 almost exclusive cnntrel-of- an im-
 portant branch of it. Plainly as thls
 Is at war with the chief cornerstone
 of our liberties, and one of the most
 cherished and loved principles of the
 republic 1t Is nevertheless true. For
 the first time the government has said
 that for one of our most sacred and
 trusted duties, we abandon the old
 idea that the children of free America
 shall be received and trusted accord
 ing as their intelligence and conduct
 make them deserving, and practically
 says though you may have piled up
 your charities mountain high, no
 matter what your capacity may be,
 or the sacrifices you have made for
 your country, if outside of the Church
 you must stand aside, for we put none
 but Churchmen on guard in this
 branch of our service. Now, if any
 great practical good resulted from
 this departure from the we'll settled
 policy of our fathers, it might be
 pardonable, though we could not
 forget nor shut our eyes to the fact that it was dangerous Aggression.
 The historian would search the pages
 of history in vain to find other results
 from the interference of Church with
 State than those of oppression and
 wrong. Nor would it be necessary to
 go far back to prove this truth. At
 our very doors we see in consequence
 of this system poor Mexico bleeding at every pore, her country in ruin and
 her people in poverty and ignorance.
 Spain in the throes of revolution, writhing in misery from the effects ot persecution and wrong, with all the improved implements of tor rture of the dark ages still unburned. Italy strug- gling manfully to throw off the yoke, with her people impoverished and in l ignorance, from the effects of centuries of Church rule. England with her bishops and priests rolling in wealth while tens of thousands of her peo- pie daily hunger for bread. But we need not further discuss this branch of our subject. What we have to deal with is the practical working of . the peace policy. A Board of peace 7 commissioners is selected ill the east who know nothing of the subject with which they have to deal, but are chosen } mainly perhaps for an interest they : have taken in the question from in- : formation impracticable and to a 7 great extent false. By these, agents superintendents and inspectors are sent to the far west, to engage in the arducus work of civilizing and Chris 5 tianizing the much abused Indians t These are mainly selected because they pray long and loud Tn public places, and because they possess the 9 fiuency of language at class meetings l and in prayer meetings to descan 9 upon the wrongs of the red men anC 8 the brutal barbarous abuses of tn. , frontier-men toward him until tht ] faithful congregation weep in sorrow l and the women discover ill thelr meel = countenances and their ardent love e something saintlike. Our martyrs ar d rive on their field of duty and admit C ting them to be honest fanatics, Gas i e sometimes the case, the Indian