The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-08-11

despatch from Washington about the Indian
question. The Indian Ring manages Its
press department with ability and never
loses an occasion of arousing our feelings
The latest despatch informs US that ''great
dissatisfaction is felt that Congress has
given neither the Secretary OF the Interior
nor the Commissioner Of Indian Affairs au-
thority to adjudicate matters with the lndi-
ans before the next session Of Congress III
case the hostiles should become subdued
and willing to agree on terms of peace. No
appropriations have been made to enable
the department to meet the expenses which
might be incurred in taking the necessary
steps to this end" Furthermore says the
DESPATCH" Indian Department officials
are DESTROYS that Sitting Bull and his fol-
lowers shall be we'll whipped before they
shall be allowed to propose any terms for
their future peaceful management and con-
troll. Commissioner Smith has taken broad
and practical views of the settlement of the
Indian question, and is giving his attention
to a careful study Of all its complications,
and he is determined that the power of tho
national government shall be felt by the In
dian as we'll as the white people of the
country. His peace policy is more in ac-
cord with the War Department than has OBJ
tanned in the views or line of action adopted
by his predecessors.
The meaning of this despatch is that the
chiefs of the Indian Ring are afraid that Con-
gress, in response to an outraged public
opinion, will take away all the power over
the Indians from the Interior Department
and give it to the army. Our readers can
only form faint idea Of the power of this
Ring and the influence of its members over
Congress. Thus the House passed an act
transferring the Indians to the War Depart
ment. A juster measure was never passed.
But it was defeated in the Senate, and rather
than consent to it the Senate was willing to
defeat one of the most important appropria-
ton bills of the session. This talk about the
Indian Department making peace with the
hostile Indians, or doing anything toward
humane solution of the question, is folly.
We owe all the wars on the Plains and in
the Yellowstone region to the corruption and
incnpacity of the Indian Department. While
the English authorities in Canada have kept
peace with their Indian tribes we have kept
ours in a state of continual irritation and
war. We have robbed them. We have vio-
lated treaties We have starved them. For
tunes have been made out Of rotten tobacco,
chicory coffee and widowed cloth. At one
agency-Standing Rock-the incapacity and
villany Of the agents of the Indian Depart
ant cd han fhat ho Ind an .
were compelled to eat their ponies and dogs.
The brother of the President was one Of the
agents in this nefarious business. Wherever
the department has had anything to do with
these Indians it has robbed and be-
trayed its charge that its agents might
amass fortunes. In other words, the whole
business of the Indian Department has been
to cheat the Indians, madden them with
rum, supply them with arms and ammuni-
ton, drive them out on the warpath and
then send for the army to fight them. AS
soon as the army had secured peace they
resumed their nefarious practices.
We are glad to hear that Commissioner
Smith is taking 'broad and practical views
Of the settlement of the Indian question"
We know nothing about Smith, and have no
doubt he is q Christian statesman; but the
country wants none of his ''views," and it
looks upon the department over which he
presides as q sink Of iniquity. We trust
Congress will not give Smith or his depart
ment dollar. We are tired of that In
are Sherman and Sheridan. The idea of
commissioner who never saw an Indian,
most probably, except on the stage or in the
parlors of hotel, mere civilian, sitting in
Washington and dividing contracts and
patronage between quarrelsome Congress-
men and their friends, knowing anything
about the practical working of the Indian
question is farce. The army should take
charge of the Indian. There is no man so
tender and considerate as the soldier. There
are no two men more capable of handling the
Indians than Sherman and Sheridan. They
know when to use humanity and when kind
ness. They are men of honor, character and
high intelligence. Let us intrust the
whole question to them. We think the
House should remain in session for six
months rather than permit the Indians to
remain under the control Of the Indian
Ring. Let us have an end of this corrupt
Indian Department and allow the Indians to
pass under the control Of the army.
The August Meteors.
Nature works on such a grand scale that
we look forward with the liveliest interest to
any extraordinary exhibition of her power
predicted by science. Whether it be the
progress of the great cyclone from the equa-
tor;al seas. the violent eruption of the giant