The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-10-28
The Canadian Indians.

/ ultclIlplcu W llltcreSI tlle IHttlulS o.
British America in the war which he is
now waging, is going the rounds of the
! press, and in many quarters is meeting
with implicit belief. 1t is quite natural
that the Sioux should desire as many al
lies as possible. and considering their
nearness to the Blackfeet of Manitoba.
it is very probable that the Sioux leaders
have attempted to draw these into an
entangling alliance. Further color of
! truth is given to the narrative by the facts
that the Blackfeet have applied to the
Canadian Government to know if they
would be protected by English soldiers
against the Sioux, should the latter at
/ tempt to take vengence on them for
their refusal, and that the authorities
| have guaranteed them the fullest possible
security.
Whether the report is true or false
matters little; its animus serves to
show the difference in the feeling
entertained toward the whites by the
| Indians of the two countries. Nothing
is palmer than that our Indians are al
ways ready to go upon the war-path.
while the Canadian Indians can not he
! bullied into fight. They were origin
ally of the same neighboring tribes.
their dispositions were the same. and
their feeling toward the writes were
identical. The causes which have made
our Indians the vile, treacherous, blood
thirsty brutes they are, while the nations
under the control of Canada are tract
able, industrious and semi-civilized.
must be looked for in the difference of
the ludan policies Of the two countries.
1t is no news to the people of the
United States to say that our Indians
have been occupying anomalous posi-
tons. They have been treated rs in
feriors, as equals, and. sometimes. as
superiors as wards of the country, and
rs independent nations rs men having
not the slightest moral responsibility,
and as men having the very highest de-
gree OF self-command at times within
the pale of the law, and at others ex-
empt from all restrictions.
The English policy on the contrary.
has been uniform. The Indians who
have come under the control of the Can
adian Government have always been
treated as subjects, to be legislated for,
cared for, and partially provided for.
There was the same measure of justice for
Indians as for whites, and the savages
soon learned that to violate law was to
invite certain punishment. Meanwhile
whisky was kept from them, and the
white man who was caught selling liquor
of any kind to Indians received one of
the severest punishments known to Can
adian law. The use of firearms was al
lowed them to alimited extent, but they
were never given any pretext to employ
them against the whites, and so would
much sooner have gone to war with
each other than with those who provided
them with seed and agricultural nipple
ments, with clothing, and with the best
o. school instructions and police guar
dainship.
The consequences of these contrary
policies have been that while the United
States have lost thousands of lives and
millions OF treasure in the attempt to
settle the Indian problem, in Canada the
Indian question has settled itself There
has never been an Indian war in British
America, and it is not likely there ever
will be one. The Indians are treated
with strict Justice, and as human beings
having rights and feelings of their own,
which others are bound to respect. So
the Canadian Indians have the best pos
sible reason for not wishing to cast their
lots with Sitting Bull and his braves.
They are well off as they are are con-
tented, many of them arc making money,
some are already rich. Their treaties
with the whites have ever been sacredly
respected on both sides. For them to go
to war, however numerous their chances
would be suicidal act, and they have
good sense enough to preceive it. Their
condition when compared with that Of
our own tribes, is so entirely different
as to cause the most serious reflections
in regard to our past course toward
the Indians, and to ask whether there
might not yet be time for radical
change in our method of dealing with
the Indian problems. Louis Giobe
Democrat.
GENERAL HARVEY on THE WAR;
Gen. w. 5. Harvey, whose reputation
as an Indian fighter was won in many IL
hard fought contest among the Florida
everglades and on the Western plains,
was recently interviewed by reporter
Of the St. Louis Repujiica~, to whom
he gave his views on the present Sioux
war: ''If they had carried ont the
treaty / made with the Sioux at Fort
Pierre. in 1854. there would have been
no war; The Indians are fond of dis
tinction, and l originated scheme, in
wiling the young warriors to become
soldiers of the United States. They
were to receive uniforms; be formed into
companies, and hold themselves in readi-