The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1874-05-21

population, have attained that point il
civilization where they are enabled TO msin
tam themselves, and if they could be pro
tected by just and permanent govemmen
would become prosperous and progressive
They are found to be peaceable, quiet ans
comparatiYely industrious, reasonably IN
geniOus, and capable OF performing almos
any character of laborttat nav be REQUIRED
not alone in agriculture, but in the variou,
arts necessary in carrying on theSbuslness o.
their country. A great number of them an,
now employed in the factories at Montere,
as operatives; and the experiment has beer
altogether satisfactory to the wealthy
English company that is continually adding
70 the machinery aud extending the bust
ness Of their large establishments
How was this Accomplishment Let us look
for a-single moment az this question. II
has been accomplished in part through the
lnstrumentality the system called peOnage
and governmental control, exercised, where
found necessary, by the military power 81
that government, but much is due to the
Immediate direction of the faithful self
denying Catholic missionaries who have
gone forth and established, where they did
not already exist, what are called through
that country the Pue5Ios being small vii
lagos or settlements, with local governments
OF defined limited authority. Prominent
~ these establishments is the Catholic
: Church, and accommodations of shelter and
1 comfortfor the dependent, with ground on
which they are required TO labor and be-
come able to support themselves! As pro
gress is made, the right of raising and graz
ing stock on a common pasture land is
added to other advantages. A military
barracks, where is stationed sufficient mil
itarY force to protect the civilized portion
of the population from outbreaks and mas
sacres, and to enforce obedience on the
part of the Indian, constitutes neces-
sary part of the policy Through
that process, from the time the Span.
iards ceased to massacre and butcher
the Indians, their civilization has gone on
until it has reached the present plane.
True, that the work has in many places
ceased. For the last thirty years little
effort has been made in that direction.
Where the efforts have ceased, where the
Indians are no longer kept under the influ-
5ences to which have referred in the north
ern and eastern portions of Mexico, we find
them as troublesome as they are among our
selves, where they are likewise neglected.
If we, with our superior intelligence, our
greater and almost unlimited resources,
have failed, while the Mexicans-with their
inferior means, circumscribed in every 6,rec-
tion in respect to all the materialities of
government and sustenance-have succeed
ed, may we not-believe that their theory and
their method of civilizing the Indians has
something in it that does not belong to
ours
No distinguishable.s difference will be
found between the missionaries that have
gone out among our Indians and those of
Mexico. From the time of the earliest
French settlements on the st. Lawrence to
the present moment, they have been as self
denying as devoted, as unselish, and as
sincere as probably could be found among
the Mexicans and Spaniards. The differ
ence, then, must have been in this, that our
Indians were not under proper control. If
success Is to be achieved they must be
brought into subjugation to the authority
of the government it must take control
over them and require that they shall work
and earn their bread by the sweat of their
face; and where failure has been the result
OF our policy it has in every instance, so
far as we are enabled to ascertain, been be-
cause of want OF, the necessary ingredient
OF the power by which you are enabled to
exercise this control over the Indians.
Sir, if you go to-day to the banks of the
Pecos, the San Juan, or the beautiful San
Saba, you will find there the meuldering
ruins of church cdifces that have been put
up for the purpose of establishing these
pueblos, and where they were established,
but were afterward destroyed in conse-
quence of their remoteness from the power
of the government or from the internal
wars that those people have been devastated
by for great length of time. From the
feeble light that we can obtain from imper-
feet church history traditions, and the memo
rails of the moulderng ruins along these
beautiful streams we learn that the mission
aries were massacred because the Indians be-
came dissatisfied and there was no sufficient
power to control them there. In conse-
quence of this these places remain desolate
and in ruins monuments of the sad history
of the results of the self-sacriicing efforts
of these devoted persons.
Sir, there may not be much necessity for
the exercise of military interference further
than to compel the Indians to remain on
the reservations; but if we are to have the
peace policy it must for a-time necessarily
be somewhat duplex in the means and man
ner of It's execution. Military force cannot
be dispensed with in the management of
the Indians so long as they are disposed to
roam and commit depfedations Many Of
the tribes do not now require the presence
of the military, much less their active in
reference, to restrain them on the fesefva-
tions; but as to those tribes that are un-
governed and ungonernable, and refuse to
submit 70 authority, say that it is the duty
of the government, it, is due to the people
of the United States, it is due to the citi..
zens whose money is to be appropriated fer
the purposes Indicated IN this bill, that it
should be SO used that benefits should flow
from it-benefts not only to the Indians
but benefits to the whites. @ -.
There are but tive sections Of the country
in which Indians remain now, which may
be said to be ungovernable by the interposi-
ton of the missionary agents and the agents
that the government sends out. The In
dians Of this character are, first, the differ
ent bands of Sioux, estimated variously at
from twenty-five to thirty-five thousand,
and sometimes as high as forty-five thou
sand. will remark, en- PEASANT, that it is
safe always to take one-haIf the number, of
population as nearer the fact than what we
get from the unreliable sources that we-are
dependent on for information as to the
number Of Indians. The other Indians of
the character Ihave described are those in
the Indian Territory on the Fort Sill reser=,
vatiOn, being the Comanches, the KioV
the Apaches, the Cheyennes, and tt,
tas. Some of these tribes are 10
posed to war, but the Comar
and Apaches, have conn
upon the settlements
earliest history Of
present time.
propriations