Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1876-09-23
INDIAN IMBROGLI0.

Well. after ali, General Crook has
managed to scare up just enough OF a
!sht to save himself from utter disgrace.
me hundred and fifty of his advanced
.uard, some fifteen miles ahead OF the
aain army, came across about thirty
edges OF Indians and, in exact lmita-
of poor Custer. made a surprise at
ack. without letting General Crook
now anything about it. This unwar-
.anted breach of discipline would be
,,ehly censured, under other lrcum-
stances, but General Crook was coming
home in such bad odor that he IS glad
to appropriate the skirmlsh'
especially as it was a gallant anu
successful effort. A few Indians were
killed and the others ran of; a consld-
cradle number OF ponies were taken, M
some provisions. So Crook now we
thinks he can afford to show
his face once more among his fellow
officers. But, according to u news
General Crook is not the only who
has gained little but discredit in this
Sioux Indian war, from first to last.
The povernment itself has acted a
most inconsistent, no1 1osaJ ~s-L
part. Commissioners are nov at Red
Cloud agency for the purpose OF making
a new treaty. Under instructions from
General Grant and the interior depart
ment, they propose terms that the Indians
will find hard to comply with. Several
OF the principal Sioux chiefs are at the
agency, including Sitting Bull and Spot
ted Tail. 1t has only been a few years
since these very chiefs made a treaty
with the United States, and the treaty
was signed on the part of the Indians by
both of the chiefs above named, n
now at Red Cloud. and on the part OF
the United States by General Terry,
General Sherman aud General Harvey.
1t was ratified by a vote of two-thirds OF
the United States senate on the 10th day
of February, 1869, and was signed by
the president four days after its pas
sage. Well. that treaty yet stands.
Article sixteen in it reads as follows:
'sThe United States hereby agrees and stipu-
latcs that the country north Of the North Platte
river, and east of the submits of the Big Horn
mountains shall be held aud considered to be
uneeded Indian territory; and also stlpuiates
and agrees that no schite person or persons
shall be permitted to settle upon or 0scupy
aug portion. of the same or without the con-
sent Of the Indians first being obtained, to pass
through the same; and it is further agreed by
the United States that within ninety days alter
the conclusion of peace with all the bands oil
the Sioux nation. the military pests now estab-
lished in the territory in this article named
shall be abandoned, and that the roads leading
to them, and by them to the settlements in the
territory of Montana, shall be closed.'
The most ignorant OF our readers
know how this treaty has been observed.
They know that the very territory Sc
cured to the Indians by this treaty has
been trespassed upon-not by n or a
dozen men, but by the hundreds and
thousands of miners who tiocked to the
Black Hills. To give the devil his due,
Sitting Bull was only fighting for the
rights that our government had already,
by treaty, guaranteed him.
One would suppose that the commits
sioners would hesitate to face these saw
ages after our plighted faith to them has
been so unceremoniously broken; but ii
seems if there is any one thing with
more check than a government mule, ii
is a government commissioner. See the
very first article they propose to the In
dams by way Of beginning a new treaty
The meaning Of it is about this: They
(the Sioux. shall relinquish all claims
to all the country outside of their reser
vations, and article sixteen, of the
treaty of 1868, is thereby abrogated."
The commissioners further modestly
propose that the Sioux abandon thai
vast country, larger than many states
altogether, and go down among thu
Cherokees, off southwest Missouri ant
Arkansas. And right here a question
naturally suggests itself. How do thu
Indians know,-supposing they MAKE
another treaty.-that the government
will keep faith this time any better thai
before? We give it up! 1t is clearly
another doctor Fulkerson case" Blu
to proceed. These Indians are being
driven into a corner. Having beer
forced into wal because white men tres
passed on their country in violation o
treaty %stipulations, the administration
proposes, as a peace measure, that they
relinquish all claim to the country the!
were born in. and over which they hav'
hunted all their lives, and which wa
solemnly guaranteed to them a few
years ago, by our government, and that
at a great distance from the only coun
try they know, they revolutionize thei
manner of life and engage in agricultu
raj pursuits.
Spotted Tail and Red Cloud have s
far been exerting their influence TO
peace. If there is a flare up this time
the probabilities are that they, wit
other chiefs, will decide now as the
announced last year. when on a visit t.
Washington City: 1--WE shall not leav'
our country it is better that we shout
die in it." But supposing their consen
to a new treaty could be obtained, sti
there remains, or would remain, if on
government cared anything for plighte
faith, seemingly, an insurmountable OF
stacle to their relinquishing the Blac
Hill country. Their consent to tn
treaty would be worthless unless the
are sustained by three-fourths of tn
whole Sioux nation, including all VIII
are now on the war-path against tn
whites. The twelfth article of tn
treaty. already referred to, reads:
, "N treaty for the cessiOn of any portion {
part of the reservation herein described, wnic
may be held in common, shall be of any vali'
ity or force, rs against the said Indians, unle'
executed and signed by ut least three-fourths
all tn. sdult Indians, interested in the same.
Taken altogether, from first to las
this Indian business has been a complet
botch alike d~isgraceiul to the genera
who have carried ON a weak campaig
in the field. and the administration