The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-05-22
WRITES AxD INDIANS.
Senator Ingalls, Comes 10 the Rescue Of
the Frentiermen.
lie Gets After Couple of Respectable
Sentimentalists.

was under consideration, when Mr.. |
Buckingham, of Conn.,. offered an
providing for distri-
button of arms among Indians |
who are exposed to intrusion and
by white Settlers
Mr.. ingalls,, of this state, asked him
Il he seriously intended to insist
upon this amendment. Mr. Buck
ingham said that he "saw no reason
why, If one class of men on the bor-
der should have arms TO defend
themselves with, another elias
should not" He finally, however,
the amendment, and of
fered another requiring the author
tiles of Nebraska to furnish the
government with sufficient
bonds TO prevent the use of such
arms and ammunition for any other
purpose than that herein named.o
Mr.. ingalls, thereupon spoke as fol-
lows:
l confess that I am at g loss to
perceive exactly the purpose of the
senator from Connecticut in the
amendments that he proposes to
the pending bill. Whether his Gus
tomary and characteristic gravity
has deserted HIM and he intends to
be facetious, or whether he serious
~ desires to invite a war of exter-
mination between the races, or
whether he merely wishes to en-
phasize his belief that in all the
wrongs upon the border the white
man is uniformly the aggressor, he
leaves entirely to conjecture. But
if he had been familiar, as 1 have
for the last fifteen years, with the
bloody annals of the frontier, he
would withdraw his amendment
and withhold his opposition TO the
bill.
II is not necessary at this time to
enter into discussion of what is
popularity known as the Indian
policy of the government. l shall
take some future opportunity to ex-
press to the senate the views / en-
terrain on the subject, aud endeuvor
to enforce the apparently forgotten
dogma that upon the frontier the
white man has some rights that
even an Indian is bound TO respect.
But irrespective of that question,
irrespective of the value.of the In
| dian policy, or of the rights or
wrongs of the Indian and white
man, whether of aggression or re-
taliation, no one can deny that the
first duty, the least obligation, that
the government owes to the settler
/ Ng hn I'm
skirmish line of civilization. is pro.
lection. He is not as the senator
from Connecticut and tho senator
from Maine would seem TO in
innate, an outlaw; neither is he q
tresspaszer nor tenant of sufferance
on the public domain. The gov
ernmcnt surveys the land; it estab-
fishes land districts; it appoints
officers and invites purchase and
settlement; and the remotest home
steader or pre-emptor is as much
entitled to security for his life and
property as though he stood upon
the floor of this capitol. lie en-
dures enough of hardship, enough
of danger, in his unequal contest
| with the stubborn forces of nature
without being exposes to the added
horrors Of pillage and massacre
know, sir, that it is fashionable
with certain class of sentimental.
lists on this floor and elsewhere to
deplore what are commonly called
the wrongs of the Indian, and tc
affect to believe that in all the Dor
der outrages the white man is thC
aggressor. Acting upon thi.
theory the government has assumed
the guardianship of the Indian; i
has made him its ward; it hai
placed him upon reservations upol
which no white man has the righ
TO cnier even to recover his prop
erty that has been stolen or to re
capture his wife or children who
may have been seized and carried
within those sacred precincts
Here the Indians are fed, nurturetl
propogated at an annual expense o
millions of dollars to the publ,
treasury.
With regard TO the wisdom O
this policy l have serious doubts
for L believe it would be as wise t.
treat with and place upon a reser
vation the rattlesHakc and coyot
as the Apache and Cheyenne; blu
the treaties have been made an(
they must be respected. 4 grea
nation cannot afford TO break il
faith even with irresponsible crimi
nails. But, sir, if the Indian mad
war upon the rules and tactics O
Turenne, Mcclellan and the othe
great captains, there might be SOM
ground for. the objection urged b,
the senator from Connecticut ant
the senator from Maine. Unfortu
natelY Indian war is not scientific
While the settler is at work in hi
field, Red Cloud or Spotted Tail
with their band OF bronze devils
, crawl through the grass aud in al
hour the cabin is a heap of ruins
the mother and children are cap
tured, and the Indians have fed t,
their reservations beyond The reacl
of purs ait.
The federal government has as
sumed the exclusive control OF thu
Indians; the state has no right {,
punish an Indian or pursue an OF
} fender; the civil law is powerless
because the settlers themselves ar,
often in exposed localities in unor
ganized districts, and unable to as
sociate for protection.
: The senator from Maine the 9th
or day, when this bill was befor
the senate, expressed q regret tina
these arms were not to be places
in the hands of somesregularly or
ganized military force for the pro
lection eff the exposed localities
fully sympaihiZe with the senti
ment. L should be glad to hav
these arms placed in the hands o
| tho militia al
ganized force; but that is not th
policy of the government. | q
further than the senator and say
that l anticipate with pleasure ant
; satisfaction the day when the mill
tary authorities shall have entire
control of the Indian department
with full power to make ali con
tracts, expend and disburse all ap
preparations, and punish all infrac
tions of law by whomsoeYer com
mitted. The profession of arms i
the profession of honor, and wheI
the administration of this brancl
of service confined to the army. The
American people will have the sat
isfactioD of knowing that it is il
the hands of people who do no
: know how to lie, aud have neve
; learned how to steal. But unit
this consumation ia reached, tn,
only method of protecting the set
tiers within the reach of hostile In
+ dams is in the manner proposed b,
the bill.
The idea of relying upon the mil
fila, the law, the state, or the civi
authorities for projections is who'll.
untenable, and shows an entire
. want of appreciation of the natur,
! of the danger to be unprecedented
1t would be as sensible to talk O
relying upon these agencies Il
, guard against the pestiIenee tina
walketh in darkness, the destruc
ton that Wastelh hv llnnns1ax OF