The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-08-07
Tho Indian ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Bat
tie on the Rosebud.

we prluL tulS uIufHiub iAiPOie"he AAS"S
from the Indian country. One despatch
announces that the Indians are concentrat-
ing in front of Terry tor q general battle
Another conveys the information from Cen
eral Terry himself that he hopes to make his
advance on Thursday. While we are waiting.
therefore, for what we trust will be decisive
news from the Indian country, we may urge
upon the thoughtful consideration of our
statesmen duty which they, without regard
to party should accept and decide-the duty
of solving the Indian question. The first
phase is the suppression of the Sioux rebel
lion, and We trust Terry will succeed in doing
so. An Indian war is always disagreeable,
but in the present case it is not to be avoided.
1t is no longer question Of right or wrong,
but of the protection Of our frontiers and
the opening Of the Western countries to
civilization. Whatever sentiment we may
cherish about the Indians We must put
an end to the career of the rowing tribes on
the Plains and in the country of the Yellow
stone. The old legend about treaties and
reservations is at an end. Experience, and
in many cases bloody experience, has
taught us that an armed Indian
is sure at some time or another to
be an enemy. The conditions of Indian
war are SO terrible that the mere prospect OF
an uprising of these tribes is certain to
throw settlement into panic. AS General
Sherman said with so much force, in his con-
versation with the House Committee on Mil
itary Affairs the other day, it would be
shameful thing it, after inviting emigration
from other lands, we were to permit COM
pany of emigrants to be butchered. There
is no duty SO important to us as nation as
the building up of these Commonwealths in
the West Now that Colorado leaves her
territorial probationship and takes her place
in the family of States we must give our at
tention to the new Territories-Mon
Idaho, Dakota and others-which are IN
ripening condition, and sooner or later to
be ready for the honors of sovereignty. So
long as the Indians are permitted to roam at
will in these Territories so long will our
civilization be ct the mercy Of Sitting Bull
and his confederation. The time has come to
change that relation, and the massacre of
Custer and his command should stimulate
us to enter upon the work with promptitude
and firmness.
This is in no respect party question.
Democrats and republicans are united as to
our duty with the Indians. For this reason
the leaders of the two parties should enter
into the work with conscientious energy.
Tr }ba ROT ,,Ioco rva rct Civa all tho cod Ell
power to our military commands. The
country is we'll satisfied with Sherman and
Sheridan in council, with Terry and Crook in
the field, and what they ask will be granted.
We now see that our military authorities
moderated the Indian strength. What was
Yellowstone region is seen to be for
midable and aggressive war with the most
powerful confederation of Indian tribes on
the continent We sacrificed Custer and
the Seventh cavalry to learn that lesson, and
since that deplorable event we have done
overcome the enemy. If such blunder is
repeated it will be the fault Of our mil
itary authorities, for the disposition of Con-
gress is to give Sherman and Sheridan as
many men as they want. 1t is even now q
question in many minds whether we have
troops enough in the Territories to overcome
Sitting Bull. He has many advantages.
He knows his country. He has the Brit
ish Possessions as a base of supplies and
as q retreat in case of disaster. He is on
his own ground. His men have given their
lives to war. He may unite his forces and
attack us in detail, or, if we are too powerful,
divide into small bands and elude our
troops. We fight the Indian with every
odds against us. The wilderness, which is a
wilderness indeed to us, is an open book to
him. He knows every hill, ravine and
stream. The forbidding secrets of these wild
lands all have q meaning for him. We
depend upon civilization for the means of
waging our war. We cannot make a days
march without aids which he would
despise. The clouds as they drift over the
sky, the .tufted, grassy plain, the trail which
only Indian eyes can see, the column Of
smoke from camp ffe, arc all SO many
advantages to him. The Indian can ride
by night and by day, live on roots and in
sects, endure hardships, and has undaunted
courage. He neither asks nor grants quar-
ter. His mind burns with passionate ha-
tired of the white race. He knows how this
broad continent was once his dominion how
the pale face came and robbed him of his
hunting grounds, how he has been
driven from the homes and graves of
his ancestors, how every treaty with
him has been broken. He broods
over centuries of wrong, and he sees no
other alternative but to destroy the invader
or be destroyed. There is not an Indian in
the West who does not hate the whites. If
any of them are at peace it is from cupidity
or fear Some of them, like Red Cloud and
Spotted Tail, have seen US in our homes and