, 1876-08-12

presence OF foe we have underrate1
and despised foe powerful enough :,
whip any army we have sent against him.
and entcrprising enough to alarm thu
whole frontier OF the Northwest.
Our duty is to take hold of this ouee.
tion and end it, The country expects
that General Sheridan should 90 to the
Indian country in person and take witt,
him the whole available force of III,
army. Let Congress transfer the whole
Indian question to Sherman, Sheridan
and Hncocx, and We shall have peace
Let Us abolish the Indian Department,
and it We find II trader selling guns or
ammunition to these savages let.us shoot
him. A drumhead court martial over
some of our Indian traders would be a
blessing Then let us take all the troops
we have in the Northern and Southern
States and given them to Sheridan.
Here we have post after post in The great
cities where officers doze and dronc the
hours away; where life consists of dress
parade and mounting guard. We do
not want these soldiers, and they are
needed on the Plains The order send.
mig the troops from Fort Hamilton is
wise ont, and is the first evidence We
have seen that our authorities rise to the
dignity OF the situation. Let all the
Northern iorts be stripped in the same
manner. There is no danger OF the forts
running away or of any one taking them.
Let the Southern States be remnnded to
local militia, and with this force under
the command of soldier like Sheridan
let us 20 in and settle this Indian ques.
tion forever. The averment that it will
cost money is an insult to our common
sense and patriotism. To be sure it will
cost money; but how much better to pay
five or even Fifty millions and end the
business than TO have these Indinn wars
from year to year, draining the Treasury,
retarding our progress, generating cor
ruption and dishonoring cur civiliza-
ton
With Sheridan in command, and "
good large army under him, let us then
enter honestly upon the Indian business.
We do not counsel a policy OF extermin-
alton or unkindness or passion we do
not counsel revenge; nor should we for
get that We are dealing with savages,
not Christians, aud that cruel, merciless
and bloody as they have been, it Is their
nature, as ours is justice, humanity and
mercy. But we should be firm. This
war should not end until every Indian in
this Republic Is under the militar, con-
troll "f the United States. We must
have no more reservations, no more
treaties, no more presents OF guns or
powder. We must take The Indians by
force and put them under direct military
control. There are fewer Indians in our
country than there are inhabitants in
Brooklyn, and " Brooklyn can live in
the space OF few square miles we can
easily carve out section OF o few thou
sand square miles and there convey all
tho tribes. The laws which govern us
should govern them. All the poetry and
sentiment should ceasc. II the tribe in
sisted upon scalping another two or
three executions would settle it. The
bravest young warrior would think twice
about going on the warpath against other
warriors II he knew that the possession
of a scalp would insure verdict OF
murder and his execution. The simplest
way is the best in the long run, although
it may be expensive and troublesome
now. The Indian, no doubt, has been
wronged. No doubt the crimes against
him will always blacken our history.
But we do not propose to wrong him
now. We only say that he must come
under our laws or fall before our laws
We have condoned Indian independence
long enough. We have wreathcd cruelty
butChery, inhumauity, assassination with
flowers of sentiment too long. The
poor, simple, trusting, ingenious, honest
Indian who worships the Great Spirit
and yearns for the happy hunting grounds
is . dream, and in his place we have
saynre. nitiless. braye, unpausing mon.