The New York herald., 1876-07-19
TIE Indian Question-Wendcll Phil
lips to General Sherman.

We print elsewhere an eloquent letter, ad-
dressed to General Sherman by Wendell
Phillips. There is nothing that man OF
the character and genius of Mr.. Phillips can
write that will not meet the consideration of
the people. Mr.. Phillips is one of those
men who are to America what John Bright
is to England. He took up righteous
cause in its infancy, he fought for it in good
and bad report with sek-denial, with pa
tience, with enduring valor, to the end, and
he now lives in the enjoyment Of the honor
and leaders The enthusiasm which Mr..
Phillips showed for the negro he now shows
for the Indian, and his letter to General
Sherman is vehement arraignment of the
Commander of the Army for saying, as the
reporters charge that he has said, that the
only way to settle the Indian question is to
exterminate the Indians.
Mr.. Phillips has our sympathy in all that
he says of the Indians and the wrongs the
Indian has suffered at the hands of the white
man. But we are confident that he does
General Sherman an injustice when he at
tributes to that distinguished officer desire
for the determination Of the Indians There
are few people on the frontiers who hold
this most extreme notion and think the only
good Indian is dead one. This is the
opinion held by humane Christian commu-
mites, and it is painful fact that genera
ton Of contact between the white and the
red communities should produce this feel
80 h. 1x~~t
savages are unspeakable in their variety and
character. We can readily understand how
the resident of Denver or Cheyenne who has
seen friend or kinsman butchered by an
Arapahoe, not only butchered, but with
every form of cruelty and outrage, will have
Mr.. Phillips To him the Indian is terrible
fact, a fact which comes home to the country
when it takes the shape of II massacre like
that of Custer and his men. Mr.. Phillips
objects to the word massacre" and says we
do not use the word when we speak of
and Sedan prisoners were not slain, the
wounded were not tortured, all was accord
ing to the humane laws of war which have
prevailed in our later years. This is the
rule we apply to the Indians-we capture
them when we can, but they never capture
us except to kill.
We shall not enter with Mr.. Phillips into
the sad history of the Indians. If there was
any way of atonement we should accept it.
But our duty now is to end this Indian bust
ness. We do not mean to kill the Indians
or to impose any privation upon them.
Even if we were to capture Sitting Bull,
Rain in the-Face or any of the chiefs who
warred upon Custer, we should advise no
policy of vengeance or retaliation.
What they did was from their rude,
savage notion of warfare, and should be SO
considered. More than all, they are savages
and we nre Christians, and we are bound to
respect the difference. But we should insist
upon their coming under our authority.
We should no longer tolerate tribal feuds
and tribal wars. We should regard murder
as murder, and the possession of scalp
circumstantial evidence that murder had
been DONE We should feed, clothe, protect
the Indian, and strive to educate him, but
compel him to accept our authority. There
should be no more treaties, no more
concessions to sentiment. If more
white people than there are Indians
on the whole continent can live in
Brooklyn, then the Indians could live in
a State as large as Massachusetts,. We should
select some quarter fitted for them, large
enough to enable them to pursue the avoca-
tions of civilized life, and there they should
remain under the military arm Of the gov
ernment.
In order that this may be done we are in
favor of q campaign against the Indians of
most comprehensive character. We would
have General Sheridan take an army large
enough to do the work and bid him 90
into the field and not come home until it
was done We would not have him kill a
single Indian but what was necessary in ac-
tual warfare And we are convinced that n
would not shed drop of useless blood.
This is the only way to settle the Indian
question. 1t will prevent those perfidies on
the part of traders and irresponsible agents
of which Mr.. Phillips complains. 1t will
prevent those atrocities toward settlers
which every year shock the country. 1t will
give peace to the red man and the white and
enable us to GO on in the work of develop
ing and extending our civilization.
The Alleged Plano Frauds.
We print a letter this morning from Mr..
George T. Bristow, the composer and one of
the judges of award at the Centennial Ex-
v>.,c;fion defeulino him celf aoaipct ;mp,to