The New York herald., 1875-07-18
Tn. Indian Question.

! The detailed and accurate narrative OF our
special correspondent in the Sioux country
has produced profound impression In WASH
ington This narrative contained, as our
! readers will remember, addresses to the
HERALD from several prominent chiefs OF the
Indian tribes, showing that they had been
robbed by agents and keepers Of trading
stores; that the solemn promises OF the
1 government had been broken; that they were
compelled from sheer starvation to eat their
ponies and dogs that the beef and pork,
/ -four, coffee and tobacco distributed to them
were unfit for use, and that the farming u!en-
sils they were to use for agricultural purposes
to learn how TO till the soil were valueless
In brief, the whole story was that the Indians
were robbed. The agents and traders grew
rich while the Indians starved. Those who
robbed them we're protected by q strong infu-
ence at Washington. This influence could be
understood when it was known that the prin-
! cpal trader was the brother OF the President.
| These complaints of our correspondent,
circumstantial, accurate and calmly told, are
confirmed by the narrative of Professor
| Marsh, of New Haven. This gentleman, a
man OF science and learning, found himself
! in the Indian country on an errand of science
He there saw the manner in which the govern
ment authorities treated Red Cloud and the
Indians. He showed that at time when the
Indians were suffering from hunger they were
reported at the Indian Department TO have
received over two hundred and seventy thou
J de &c hot
paid for this beef, which was never delivered.
He showed frauds in CATTLE blankets and in
the quality Of the provisions furnished. He
showed also that the authorities in Washing
ton knew of these facts and sustained the
criminals. Professor Marsh's evidence amply
confirms that of the HERALD's commissioner.
In answer we have carefully prepared de-
spatches from Washington, evidently in
spired by the Indian Ring and intended to
break the force of our exposures. There is a
gleam of hope in the fact that the President
has taken alarm and has summoned Pro-
fessor Marsh to Long Branch to communicate
with him personally. We have no doubt the
end will be the dismissal of the Secretary of
the Interior and the Commissioner OF Indian
Affairs
We do not desire to have these officers dis
missed without hearing but the country
will not tamely witness the wrongs that have
been perpetrated by the government upon
these helpless tribes. The Indian Ring is one
of the abest, most skilfully organized and un-
scrupulous around the government 1t has
fourished for years. 1t was strong under
Buchanan and Lincoln. 1t had political
power enough to save Andrew Johnson from
impeachment 1t has always had dominant
influence in Congress. 1t has named its own
committees and arranged its own appropria-
tions 1t drove General Cox out of the Inte-
rior Department, and appointed the facile
Delano to succeed him. 1t defeated Grant by
compelling him to abandon his wise and
humane policy 1t has confirmed this victory
by taking the Presidents own brother into
its circle and giving him the most profitable
store in the Sioux country. ALI the time the
Ring has been discreet, silent and wary. 1t
has handled the telegraph with mastery skill,
and has thus far defied an honest inquiry.
But its rule must come to an end.
Facts like these furnished by our correspond
ent, who, at great danger to himself and large
expense to us, pushed into the Indian country
with his own servants and interpreters and
saw the truth for himself, cannot be explained
away. Nor can their perpetrators be allowed
to go unpunishel. The time has come
to press this matter. The Indian question
has been for too many generations
cancer in the system. 1t is the dark
est stain upon CIR history--darker even
than slavery, for we freed the negro, while
we have only robbed the Indian and propose
to exterminate him. We found the Indian
tribes on this Continent, where they had
lived for centuries, on lands that had been
given them by God. We drove them out of
their homes by our superior civilization. In
stead of striving TO lead them to our own
level we have robbed and murdered them.
determination has become the settled policy
of the frontier Between the pioneers and
the In 1ans there is incessant, pitiless warfare,
and as we move on and on we drive the Indian
away or destroy him. He may resist and
strike back some cruel startling blow; but it
is only for an hour. His revenge is barren,
and he surely dies.
This is not noble outlook for free, civil
ized generous, humane people, as we claim
to be. 1t is not pleasant to think that we can
only plant an empire here by numbering our
predecessors. Yet this we have done, and
this we are doing every day. The exposures
of the Sioux country, exposures which show
the Presidents own brother at the head Of a
ring of traders, are only new chapter in the
melancholy and disgraceful history.
The GERMAN GOVERNMENT, it is said, guar
antees to keep secret the submission of
Catholic priests to German laws, in order
70 secnre them from nltramnntane nor